Nostr notes by Ungovernable

The first time the US government spoke to the Samourai devs was ...

2026-10-24T22:02:00Z

The first time the US government spoke to the Samourai devs was through the scope of a rifle.

Max on what that tells you: this was never about justice or danger. It's a message to anyone who builds tools that sidestep their control. Drown them in lawyers and data, put them in a cage, right or wrong.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/the-confab/a-lottery-to-free-samourai-the-confab-31-rick-messitt/

All the fiat value in the world doesn't help when someone ...

2026-10-24T16:02:00Z

All the fiat value in the world doesn't help when someone turns up at your door and breaks your kneecaps.

Max: "You'd be much better off having a tenth of that amount, and no one's turning up at your door."

https://ungovernable.network/shows/the-confab/a-lottery-to-free-samourai-the-confab-31-rick-messitt/

People pick collaborative custody so they don't have a single ...

2026-10-24T13:06:00Z

People pick collaborative custody so they don't have a single point of failure.

Rick Messitt surveyed thousands of them. If the provider vanished tomorrow, only about half said they could recover.

Then he asked whether they'd secured their wallet config file. About 80% picked the answer "what the fuck is that?"

Without it you can't rebuild the wallet anywhere else.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/the-confab/a-lottery-to-free-samourai-the-confab-31-rick-messitt/

Pavol Lupták doesn't sell Bitcoin to live. He posts it as ...

2026-10-23T22:00:00Z

Pavol Lupták doesn't sell Bitcoin to live. He posts it as collateral on DeFi and borrows stablecoins at around 1%.

No sale, no tax event, no income. If a bank asks where the money comes from, he has his AI agent turn the loan contract into a document he can hand over.

"All rich people in the world, they basically live from the loans. You can do it just now, just thanks to DeFi."

Wilder (npub15xk…krnh)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/flag-theory-with-pavol-lupt-k/

Ten years of holding. A first class father and son trip to El ...

2026-10-22T22:02:00Z

Ten years of holding. A first class father and son trip to El Salvador to finally enjoy some of it.

Last night of the conference, back at the Airbnb, his dad opens the laptop.

"I think I've been hacked. The Bitcoin's gone."

Rick Messitt on the adrenaline, the bargaining, and the mempool.space search that confirmed it.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/the-confab/a-lottery-to-free-samourai-the-confab-31-rick-messitt/

Keonne Rodriguez was facing trial, millions of dollars in legal ...

2026-10-22T16:00:00Z

Keonne Rodriguez was facing trial, millions of dollars in legal debt, and a state doing everything it could to bury him.

A Bitcoiner he'd never met got drained by a fake podcast invite. Rick Messitt messaged Keonne to ask if he knew anyone who could help.

Sixteen minutes later Keonne replied with a full dossier tracing the stolen funds across the chain. No questions asked.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/the-confab/a-lottery-to-free-samourai-the-confab-31-rick-messitt/

11PM. Keonne asks his cellmate what time they turn the lights ...

2026-10-21T21:06:00Z

11PM. Keonne asks his cellmate what time they turn the lights off.

They don't.

He covers his head with a sheet that smells of motor oil and sawdust, lies with half his body on bare metal, and asks himself if a year off his sentence was worth leaving Morgantown.

All he wants is to call his wife, Lauren.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/specials/letter-7-notes-from-the-inside/

You would hope.

2026-10-21T20:06:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…8n33
_________________________

You would hope.

Yea we do cover this is not really a Trezor issue more of a mong ...

2026-10-21T20:05:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…2llp
_________________________

Yea we do cover this is not really a Trezor issue more of a mong purchase.

@nprofile…5qy2 and Cupcake are solid options.

2026-10-21T20:05:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…4m60
_________________________

SeedSigner (nprofile…5qy2) and Cupcake are solid options.

Will not… how would they do that?

2026-10-21T20:04:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…vzml
_________________________

Will not… how would they do that?

It’s not ideal but for a normal non tech savvy or no bitcoin ...

2026-10-21T20:03:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…qksz
_________________________

It’s not ideal but for a normal non tech savvy or no bitcoin person I could see how they wouldn’t understand the risk. For people who have been around for a while though it’s top tier retardation

Chainalysis found a scam operator moved around 60 BTC of ...

2026-10-21T13:00:00Z

Chainalysis found a scam operator moved around 60 BTC of victims' money onto Ledger devices in September.

Those devices came through a reseller. They got swept up in the implant drain along with everyone else.

Small silver lining. But if you bought a Ledger through a reseller, anywhere, migrate your funds.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/more-compromised-hardware/

Hardware hacker found two Trezors with the main chip replaced. ...

2026-10-21T13:00:00Z

Hardware hacker found two Trezors with the main chip replaced.

Neither generated a random recovery phrase. Each picked one of about a dozen the attacker already knew, and one had a micro SD card soldered inside holding genuine firmware to pass the authenticity check.

Both came from unauthorised sellers. One was on Facebook Marketplace.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/more-compromised-hardware/

Yes we’ve covered this.

2026-10-21T11:57:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…223v
_________________________

Yes we’ve covered this.

How to buy a hardware wallet without getting done: Buy directly ...

2026-10-20T21:15:00Z

How to buy a hardware wallet without getting done:

Buy directly from the manufacturer. Pay in sats on Lightning. Give as little detail as you can, ship it somewhere that isn't your home, or buy it in person at a conference stand.

And as MaxUM (npub1lqv…fx0r) puts it, don't go on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Grindr, wherever you're spending your time.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/more-compromised-hardware/

Citizen Lab just published the first public technical ...

2026-10-20T19:07:00Z

Citizen Lab just published the first public technical confirmation that mercenary spyware can reach a phone through targeted ads alone. No click needed.

Attacker scripts turned up in 75,000 apps and 128,000 websites.

The ad network is now an attack service. You only need to be targetable. Block ads and trackers, and think hard about what secrets live on your phone.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/more-compromised-hardware/

Bank of America wilfully broke the Bank Secrecy Act. it pays a ...

2026-10-20T16:00:00Z

Bank of America wilfully broke the Bank Secrecy Act. it pays a fine its shareholders will cover, and nobody who runs it is charged.

Two developers who wrote privacy software are serving five and four years.

The level of double speak here is staggering.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/more-compromised-hardware/

The first Node Runners Radio jukebox bot let people hold sats in ...

2026-10-19T19:30:00Z

The first Node Runners Radio jukebox bot let people hold sats in Telegram and sponsor each other's song requests with a /DJ command.

SF moved away from it. "Within the increasingly stringent rules of the European machine, it's hard for anything that transmits and holds value."

Every request now comes from your own Lightning wallet, and guest DJs set their own Lightning address.

LePlebRoyale (npub1cwz…70dv)
NoderunnersRadio (npub1ua6…h6v6)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/pirate-radio-with-sf/

Do we believe him @nprofile…a09t ?

2026-10-19T18:41:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…k0z8
_________________________

Do we believe him QnA (nprofile…a09t) ?

Nostr event nevent1qqs0herf4nvl5rcf0p4zpz5n3k85060mzum3j2uks7gx7l0azl50gvqzyztqnvyng5xa0c90kwykrxkd4uhx5rtgzlyn25hnjy0qtdg2uulr66xywar

2026-10-19T17:15:52Z

If your hardware wallet can’t do a kick flip. NGMI.

11PM. Keonne asks his cellmate what time they turn the lights ...

2026-10-17T22:00:00Z

The first Node Runners Radio jukebox bot let people hold sats in ...

2026-10-16T22:00:00Z

SF's end goal for Node Runners Radio is real radio waves, as ...

2026-10-16T17:45:00Z

SF's end goal for Node Runners Radio is real radio waves, as well as internet stream.

If a solar storm ever takes out the electronics we rely on, he points out that a receiver and a sender come down to copper wire, an antenna and a speaker. A block is about four megabytes every ten minutes on average.

"It will be possible to silently append new blocks as they come in and have that transmit next to the music."

LePlebRoyale (npub1cwz…70dv)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/pirate-radio-with-sf/

11PM. Keonne asks his cellmate what time they turn the lights ...

2026-10-15T22:00:00Z

Where the foam padding behind a Ledger Nano X screen should be: a ...

2026-10-15T18:00:00Z

Where the foam padding behind a Ledger Nano X screen should be: a microcontroller with its markings scraped off, a Nordic cellular modem, an eSIM and a custom antenna.

It's wired into the lines that carry data to the screen. When setup shows your 24 words, it reads them and sends them to the attacker over its own mobile connection.

It never goes near the secure chip, so the device passes the genuine check. Ledger's own docs say the check can't detect this.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/93m-drained-from-tampered-ledger-devices/

Keonne Rodriguez was moved between two prisons a four hour drive ...

2026-10-15T13:00:00Z

Keonne Rodriguez was moved between two prisons a four hour drive apart.

It took thirty days, two transcontinental flights, three multi hour bus rides, a cellmate doing time for murder and a cellmate who couldn't stop shitting.

"I preferred the murder."

Letter #7, part one.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/specials/letter-7-notes-from-the-inside/

First night in the Oklahoma City transit center. The officer ...

2026-10-14T23:00:00Z

First night in the Oklahoma City transit center. The officer brings Keonne half a foam mattress, because that is all they have.

His ass and legs will be on bare metal. "Welcome to prison," says the officer.

"I understand this is prison. You still have an obligation to provide us basic amenities like bedding. This isn't fucking Guantanamo."

The officer shrugs, drops it on the floor and walks off. His cellmate, doing twenty years for murder, has the last word.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/specials/letter-7-notes-from-the-inside/

What gets Roy most excited about the Breez SDK is regular apps ...

2026-10-14T22:00:00Z

What gets Roy most excited about the Breez SDK is regular apps with Bitcoin as the money inside them.

Running apps that reward you in sats. Zap Cooking. An indie film platform where you stream sats to the creators while you watch. Radar, a Signal-style messenger with Bitcoin built in.

"Where Bitcoin really flourishes is as a global permissionless value transfer instrument where anyone can send anyone funds globally at any time."

Breez_tech (npub1jug…fc28)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/bitcoin-in-every-app/

Roy is honest about who Breez is for: a mainstream audience that ...

2026-10-14T16:00:00Z

Roy is honest about who Breez is for: a mainstream audience that doesn't really care about privacy. Lightning was his way to push Bitcoin as a medium of exchange.

"If I was a privacy concerned person, I wouldn't have used Lightning, period."

He ran a large node on the network, did the maths and ran the tests. Most of the flow goes through very few nodes, a hub and spoke model a long way from peer to peer.

Breez_tech (npub1jug…fc28)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/bitcoin-in-every-app/

Max spent years telling people to go all in. Rent, don't buy. ...

2026-10-13T22:00:00Z

Max spent years telling people to go all in. Rent, don't buy. Life savings in.

He wouldn't give that advice to himself, or anyone he cares about, today.

His test: if a hack has ever made your heart drop and you thought you were finished, you've got too much in Bitcoin. Or, as Q adds, your self-custody setup isn't good enough.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/93m-drained-from-tampered-ledger-devices/

Max used to think multisig wrecked your privacy. Then ...

2026-10-13T19:00:00Z

Max used to think multisig wrecked your privacy. Then BlackCoffee (npub1dqe…mmgt) flipped it for him.

Someone breaks in and demands you move the funds. If your defence is a passphrase stored in another country, you're relying on them believing you.

With multisig you can prove it: "I can't fucking do it, and here's why."

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/93m-drained-from-tampered-ledger-devices/

Seed signer has always been a decent option. MVMS also an option

2026-10-13T18:03:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…xzte
_________________________

Seed signer has always been a decent option. MVMS also an option

I don’t mean to scare people but it is scary out there and I ...

2026-10-13T18:01:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…xfjm
_________________________

I don’t mean to scare people but it is scary out there and I don’t want people over invested and having regrets or not being able to look after their family.

They are quite different. Also tor and VPN are the best we have ...

2026-10-13T18:00:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…rtxp
_________________________

They are quite different. Also tor and VPN are the best we have but for privacy when sending funds there are better options.

I think there are better options but if done correctly it’s not ...

2026-10-13T17:58:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…x67d
_________________________

I think there are better options but if done correctly it’s not a bad way.

I believe so yes

2026-10-13T17:57:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…hj6n
_________________________

I believe so yes

Passphrase maxis won't like this one. After five years of ...

2026-10-13T16:00:00Z

Passphrase maxis won't like this one.

After five years of official Bitcoin support, Q says the single biggest cause of lost funds, or the panic of thinking you've lost them, is passphrases. By a country mile.

Case sensitivity, spaces, special characters, not knowing what a fingerprint is. Get one detail wrong and there's zero fault tolerance.

QnA (npub15c8…ssvx)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/93m-drained-from-tampered-ledger-devices/

"I would be the first person to call myself out." A year ...

2026-10-13T13:00:00Z

"I would be the first person to call myself out."

A year ago Q's advice was that multisig probably isn't for everybody. After this year, and after the Ledger implant, it's changed: for long-term storage, single sig with or without a passphrase isn't enough.

Buy direct, always. But the only thing that would have survived every attack this year is multi-vendor multisig.

QnA (npub15c8…ssvx)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/93m-drained-from-tampered-ledger-devices/

Where the foam padding behind a Ledger Nano X screen should be: a ...

2026-10-12T22:00:00Z

Max's take on the Liquid hack: you look at a federation and ...

2026-10-12T19:25:00Z

Max's take on the Liquid hack: you look at a federation and assume you'd need collusion for anything to go wrong, then something nobody saw coming sideswipes it.

Roy, who sat on the federation, says people did see it coming. Liquid's core principles should have prevented the attack, but a federation member was allowed to take funds into a hot wallet. "I didn't know about it, and I was a federation member. But other federation member knew about it and didn't do anything about it."

He calls that an execution problem.

Breez_tech (npub1jug…fc28)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/bitcoin-in-every-app/

"If Boltz couldn't sustain the attack, it means something ...

2026-10-12T16:00:00Z

"If Boltz couldn't sustain the attack, it means something has dramatically changed in the ecosystem."

Roy counts Michael and Kilian as close friends and doesn't think there's a more capable team in Bitcoin. That's why he reads their hack as a warning to everyone else.

Small teams are up against AI-generated attacks funded by serious teams and governments, burning tokens and money to find a way in. Bitcoin is the low hanging fruit: open source, it's about money, and plenty of projects run hot wallets. He expects consolidation, and says this is only the first wave.

Boltz (npub1psm…8970)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/bitcoin-in-every-app/

"Lightning is not a good privacy solution. It's very ...

2026-10-12T12:30:00Z

"Lightning is not a good privacy solution. It's very concentrated."

Roy from Breez pointed at Blink's hack report from the day before: attackers trying to launder funds through Lightning. Then the numbers. About nine nodes process 80 to 90% of the volume, and anyone who gets hold of those nodes learns a lot about the flow of funds. Ask any LLM to map the network and you'll see the same thing.

Max has spent years arguing with people who say Lightning beats Whirlpool and Monero for privacy. His reaction says the rest.

Breez_tech (npub1jug…fc28)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/bitcoin-in-every-app/

"Especially in areas where there's poverty, they see ...

2026-10-08T22:00:00Z

"Especially in areas where there's poverty, they see someone travelling, they see someone paying in Bitcoin, it would be extremely easy to just send a message to someone else who waits outside with a wrench."

The question put to Nathan Day of BTC Map was not a wet blanket on adoption, it was a practical one. A Square terminal or a Visa top up card hides what you are paying with. A Lightning QR code at the till does not.

The ask: terminals that take both, so the cashier cannot tell.

"Yes, I wanna push Bitcoin adoption. I want my family to be alive more."

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/freedom-fest-uk-with-nathan-day/

Utah's SB 73 told adult sites to block VPN users or locate ...

2026-10-08T20:00:00Z

Utah's SB 73 told adult sites to block VPN users or locate every visitor. A federal judge put the VPN part on hold, finding it burdens people outside Utah and demands something technically impossible.

A site simply cannot know where a VPN user really is.

The part they kept: it's still illegal in Utah for those sites to explain how to use a VPN.

Age verification is ramping up everywhere as a way to identify everyone online, and VPNs are the obvious next target.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/the-cop-who-robbed-silk-road/

Intake at the Oklahoma City transit center ends with a body ...

2026-10-07T22:00:00Z

Intake at the Oklahoma City transit center ends with a body scanner.

The officer running it sits behind a lead curtain. The warning sticker tells you to stay behind the blue line for your safety.

The warning is not for you. Prisoners are told to jam themselves against the machine, "so they can make sure to dose you with the radiation of the six guys ahead of you."

https://ungovernable.network/shows/specials/letter-7-notes-from-the-inside/

11PM. Keonne asks his cellmate what time they turn the lights ...

2026-10-07T19:00:00Z

Keonne Rodriguez was moved between two prisons a four hour drive ...

2026-10-07T16:00:00Z

"Fuck me. These people are maniacs." @npub15c8…ssvx The ...

2026-10-06T22:00:00Z

"Fuck me. These people are maniacs." QnA (npub15c8…ssvx)

The Supreme Court said taxing made-up returns breached human rights law in 2021. (NO SHIT)

They force you to sell to pay the unrealised bill, then tax you on the sale.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/the-cop-who-robbed-silk-road/

Thomas White, the alleged Silk Road 2.0 admin, got five years and ...

2026-10-06T19:00:00Z

Thomas White, the alleged Silk Road 2.0 admin, got five years and four months.

The officer who stole 50 bitcoin from him got five and a half.

The Samourai devs are doing five and four for writing privacy software. No victims, just helping people protect themselves.

Line those sentences up. Justice?

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/the-cop-who-robbed-silk-road/

The 50 bitcoin was worth about £59,000 when the officer stole it ...

2026-10-06T12:00:00Z

The 50 bitcoin was worth about £59,000 when the officer stole it from Thomas White's seized wallet. More than £4.4M by the time he was sentenced.

On 30 September the CPS got a £1.81M confiscation order against him, including 30 bitcoin already recovered.

The twist: just over £1M of it goes to clear White's own unpaid confiscation order.

The cop who robbed the dark web admin ends up paying off the dark web admin's debt to the state.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/the-cop-who-robbed-silk-road/

Intake at the Oklahoma City transit center ends with a body ...

2026-10-04T15:00:00Z

Absolute pleasure having you on.

2026-10-03T23:34:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…arvt
_________________________

Absolute pleasure having you on.

Keonne Rodriguez is minimum security, spent close to two years on ...

2026-10-03T22:00:00Z

Keonne Rodriguez is minimum security, spent close to two years on pretrial release, self-surrendered and has not had a single incident report.

So he asked for a transfer furlough: drive himself to his new prison, at his own expense.

Three days later it was denied without explanation. Instead he went through BOP transit, which he had heard costs around $10,000 per prisoner.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/specials/letter-7-notes-from-the-inside/

First night in the Oklahoma City transit center. The officer ...

2026-10-02T15:00:00Z

Bitget got hit for about $387M on 24 September. Mostly ETH, Tron ...

2026-09-30T17:04:00Z

Bitget got hit for about $387M on 24 September. Mostly ETH, Tron and USDT, no bitcoin. It says its user protection fund covered the lot.

Hacks like this are normal over in ETH land. Vulnerabilities everywhere, money flying all over the place, scams everywhere.

So who looks at that and says, do you know what I want to insure? Fucking DeFi!

What are they charging to make it worth their while?

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/did-bitcoin-just-go-dark/

Two days before announcing she's leaving the SEC, Hester ...

2026-09-30T13:00:00Z

Two days before announcing she's leaving the SEC, Hester Peirce gave a speech called Looking for Change in Haystacks.

Her argument: replace KYC document collection with zero knowledge proofs and attribute based credentials. Prove your age, citizenship or sanctions status without handing over the documents themselves.

"We build ever bigger data haystacks on the theory that we will find a needle or two inside. The bigger the haystack, however, makes it harder to find the needles."

Her personal view, not SEC policy. But it's on the federal record now, and one of the few people in government aligned with us is gone.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/did-bitcoin-just-go-dark/

I guess it’s less guilt and more wishing I could go back in ...

2026-09-29T23:03:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…y8rg
_________________________

I guess it’s less guilt and more wishing I could go back in time and try again.

👀

2026-09-29T23:00:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…va8y
_________________________

👀

From memory the open dime is fine.

2026-09-29T23:00:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…qtzg
_________________________

From memory the open dime is fine.

It really is a joy to use, loads of features but simple at the ...

2026-09-29T22:59:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…mrmv
_________________________

It really is a joy to use, loads of features but simple at the same time. Seth For Privacy (nprofile…47zl) is a bit of a toxic maxi but the wallet is solid.

Keonne Rodriguez's seventh letter from the inside covers what ...

2026-09-29T22:15:00Z

Keonne Rodriguez's seventh letter from the inside covers what he calls the worst thirty days of his life, in transit between facilities.

As soon as the guards leave, inmates spray rat poison or cockroach spray onto paper, light it and inhale the fumes. Then the fentanyl hunch, no control over their body for a few minutes.

After three searches, somehow they got the poison and a lighter in, and that's what they escape to.

The audio version is coming to the feed. Rick's Free Samourai prize draw is running now too.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/did-bitcoin-just-go-dark/

The line from Blockstream's own post-mortem that matters: the ...

2026-09-29T19:27:00Z

The line from Blockstream's own post-mortem that matters: the 11-of-15 multisig worked exactly as designed. The failure was in the software that decides whether a transaction is valid.

When you design these systems you focus on the main shield. Eleven signers, very unlikely to collude, so it should be safe. Meanwhile there's a kink in the armour somewhere else that makes all of it irrelevant.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/did-bitcoin-just-go-dark/

Write 12 next to 3. Write 1 next to 23. Both read 123. That is ...

2026-09-29T16:03:00Z

Write 12 next to 3. Write 1 next to 23. Both read 123.

That is bug B in Blockstream's Liquid post-mortem. Cache entries were built by joining fields together without recording how long each one was, so two different range proofs could produce the same entry.

It was introduced by the August patch for bug A, a flaw dating back to 2018.

The attacker used it to mint about 4,000 L-BTC backed by nothing and pegged out 3,996 of them.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/did-bitcoin-just-go-dark/

Bitcoin has a very bad privacy problem. There are ways around it ...

2026-09-29T13:00:00Z

Bitcoin has a very bad privacy problem. There are ways around it with swaps and Lightning, but the base layer is an open ledger.

We also know changing Bitcoin at the protocol level is nigh on impossible these days, and that isn't always a bad thing.

Shielded Bitcoin is interesting because in theory it could be live and opt in on Bitcoin as it is. The normal wallet experience, with Zcash-level privacy on top for whoever wants it.

Still holes in it. Worth watching.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/did-bitcoin-just-go-dark/

Gun to each of your heads. Which three signing devices are you ...

2026-09-28T15:00:00Z

Gun to each of your heads. Which three signing devices are you picking for a 2 of 3 today?

Max opens with "three cold cards, only the old firmware though" and gets it out of his system, then answers properly: SeedSigner and two Passports. His reason for the short list is worth more than the list. "I've not tested any other bits out, and I only wanna say what I'm comfortable with using myself."

Q goes Passport Prime, a Trezor Safe 7 and a Blockstream Jade Plus, with the same caveat on the two he has not handled in person.

The part that actually matters is the same from both. Sparrow as the coordinator, and never all three from one manufacturer.

QnA (npub15c8…ssvx)
Foundation (npub1s0v…pq6j)
SeedSigner (npub17ty…3mgl)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/answering-your-questions/

"Honestly, I've just been so bored with Bitcoin and ...

2026-09-27T16:01:00Z

"Honestly, I've just been so bored with Bitcoin and crypto for, like, a year now. Not building on it. I freaking love Cake Wallet and all the things we're getting to do. But actually engaging with and learning about the space, it's boring."

Q had just said the local AI scene feels like 2017 Bitcoin to him. Everyone out of the woodwork, tokens per second doubling, the excitement back.

Seth's answer was "oh my god, yes", followed by an admission most people in his position would keep to themselves.

Max,s pushback: the last eight or ten weeks have not been boring. Maybe not exciting in the right ways, but not boring.

Seth For Privacy (npub1tr4…2y5g)
QnA (npub15c8…ssvx)
cakewallet (npub1j9q…s2yg)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/answering-your-questions/

The actual prep that matters Lasting local friendships. People ...

2026-09-27T15:00:00Z

The actual prep that matters

Lasting local friendships.
People you can count on — and who can count on you.
Small town > big city.
Food and energy sovereignty
@jon (npub1luw…9cqr)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/resilience-is-a-verb/

March 1967, Charles Manson walks out of prison. August 1969, the ...

2026-09-26T19:05:00Z

March 1967, Charles Manson walks out of prison. August 1969, the Tate LaBianca murders.

In between: an illiterate two bit criminal with no training in pharmacology, psychology or persuasion builds a cult that will kill on command, with unlimited LSD, guns and a parole officer who drops every other parolee to look after him.

Police come onto the ranch, get told there are guns trained on them, and let him go.

Nobody claims they can prove a link but the odds of all of it being coincidence have better entropy than a ColdCard.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/specials/mk-ungovernable-what-do-you-reckon/

The Clarity Act failed 49-50 on 15 September, eleven votes short ...

2026-09-26T13:00:00Z

The Clarity Act failed 49-50 on 15 September, eleven votes short of the sixty needed to end debate. Lummis had already warned that failure leaves no realistic chance this decade.

Max is not mourning it, and the argument is worth hearing in full. Whatever passes, whatever they say, if they want to put someone in prison they'll find a way. A new act, a new emergency, or they plant evidence.

Two days after the vote the CFTC sent its own crypto market rulemaking to the White House for review. It was sitting ready and waiting.

This stuff is never going to be accepted by the powers that be, because it gives the individual more freedom. All of it is theater.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/breach-season-continues/

"They're not gonna do crypto, it seems, at all. Not ...

2026-09-25T22:04:00Z

"They're not gonna do crypto, it seems, at all. Not Bitcoin, not Monero, nothing. I don't understand how they could fumble that."

Signal is looking at replacing the phone number requirement with a one time payment of around five dollars. Seth's point is that the people most likely to want an account with no phone number attached are the exact people who will not hand over a card for it. Even if Signal cannot link the payment, the card company still knows.

Q's read is that it is still a step forward. Signal knows you paid them, but not which account is yours, and they cannot see your messages either. Not perfect. Better than a phone number.

Both of them land in the same place. Just take Lightning. It is low hanging fruit.

Seth For Privacy (npub1tr4…2y5g)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/answering-your-questions/

Q: "I genuinely think in the next twelve months we're ...

2026-09-25T19:31:00Z

Q: "I genuinely think in the next twelve months we're gonna have Opus 4.6 or slightly higher level intelligence available for mobile phones."

Seth: "I don't think I would argue with that."
Seth For Privacy (npub1tr4…2y5g)

The reasoning is densification. The 27B models that already match Opus 4.6 class need roughly 24 gigs to run, high end phones already carry twelve to sixteen, and a quantisation that dropped this week does nearly the same job in 12.

It will not be as fast as hitting an API. Same intelligence though, running in the background on your phone, all the time, with no limit to hit.

QnA (npub15c8…ssvx)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/answering-your-questions/

Right about covid. Wrong about how to discus it. People stopped ...

2026-09-25T16:03:00Z

Right about covid.

Wrong about how to discus it. People stopped listening.

Brother in law is on medication for the rest of his life.

Being right is not the same as being heard.

"I could have done and should have done a better job of explaining my case, and I didn't."

Make the next thing you say the thing they can hear.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/specials/mk-ungovernable-what-do-you-reckon/

"You get something you can run twenty four seven and not have ...

2026-09-24T22:00:00Z

"You get something you can run twenty four seven and not have to care about limits, not a five hour limit."

The benefit of local AI that never shows up in a benchmark.

"You don't have to do this stupid bursty work where you do a little burst work, you hit your five hour limit in one hour, and then you have to wait because everything that you're doing depends on that."

Seth's point is that the shift is as much habit as hardware. Stop working in bursts. Leave it running while you sleep.

Seth For Privacy (npub1tr4…2y5g)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/is-ai-freedom-tech-part-ii/

The part of covid that broke something permanently was not the ...

2026-09-24T20:00:00Z

The part of covid that broke something permanently was not the fear. It was being told things that made no sense and watching people you respect accept them anyway.

Wear it to your seat, take it off to eat. A piece of cloth will do it, you don't need a proper mask.

There was no logic there. There was no sense outside control.

Max is honest about what it left him with. He now treats most things as a threat until he can verify they are not. It is a decent stance and it is a miserable way to live.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/specials/mk-ungovernable-what-do-you-reckon/

Operation Midnight Climax was a real CIA sub-project, run out of ...

2026-09-24T16:00:00Z

Operation Midnight Climax was a real CIA sub-project, run out of safe houses in New York and San Francisco.

George Hunter White had prostitutes bring men up to the apartment and dose them with LSD without telling them. He sat in the next room behind a two way mirror and watched.

He had a portable toilet installed in that room so he would not have to get up and stop drinking.

That is not the speculative part of the episode. That is the documented part.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/specials/mk-ungovernable-what-do-you-reckon/

1954. Lackland Air Force Base. A girl is taken from a car and ...

2026-09-23T23:05:00Z

1954. Lackland Air Force Base. A girl is taken from a car and killed. An airman named Jimmy Shaver is found nearby, dazed and covered in blood, insisting he remembers nothing.

Then Louis Jolyon West, a psychiatrist tied to MK Ultra, is left alone with him in his cell.

Shaver comes out with a full confession and a motive nobody ever corroborated. As soon as he is inside, he goes back to saying he did not do it, and he says that until the day he is executed.

It is not "tell me what you remember". It is inserting memories.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/specials/mk-ungovernable-what-do-you-reckon/

Swiss Bitcoin Pay took its servers offline on 14 September after ...

2026-09-23T21:06:00Z

Swiss Bitcoin Pay took its servers offline on 14 September after a malicious user likely got into its internal systems. Customer email addresses, Bitcoin addresses, IBANs, transaction histories and hashed passwords may all have been accessed. As of today the servers are still down with no restoration date.

The non-custodial design did its job. Merchant funds settle straight to user wallets, so nothing was there to steal. Every bit of the damage here is privacy damage.

Which is the whole point. If you can't look after your customer's data, don't have it in the first place.

KYC is the dragon that man must slay.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/breach-season-continues/

The oldest and most effective form of mind control was never a ...

2026-09-23T19:06:00Z

The oldest and most effective form of mind control was never a drug or a machine. It was the priest class.

Own the calendar. Own the rituals. Decide what the omens mean and which stories get told about how the world began.

Once people accept that only you can speak for the gods, you never need to hold the sword. They police themselves on your behalf.

Every later version is a variation on that architecture. The priests just put on a lab coat and got a security clearance.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/specials/mk-ungovernable-what-do-you-reckon/

The line that stuck: “I don’t want to find myself without any ...

2026-09-23T16:10:00Z

The line that stuck:

“I don’t want to find myself without any chairs when the music stops.”

That’s the whole game. @jon (npub1luw…9cqr)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/resilience-is-a-verb/

The revised Clarity Act text landed on 10 September with the 126 ...

2026-09-22T21:06:00Z

The revised Clarity Act text landed on 10 September with the 126 changes the Democrats asked for.

The one that matters here: the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, the part that stops non-custodial software developers being treated as money transmitters, now only covers civil enforcement.

The language protecting developers from criminal prosecution for unlicensed money transmission was removed after pressure from prosecutors. That is one of the charges brought against the Samourai developers.

So writing non-custodial software should be shielded from regulators, but not from a criminal case.

The cloture vote needs 60. Republicans hold 53. Prediction markets had it around 25 percent.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/kyc-kill-your-customer/

Respect to you. Im on the same journey, not the easiest but very ...

2026-09-22T16:41:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…8gr5
_________________________

Respect to you. Im on the same journey, not the easiest but very worthwhile.

The Revolut leak is not a random dump, and the attackers were ...

2026-09-22T13:00:00Z

The Revolut leak is not a random dump, and the attackers were happy to explain why.

A hacked email account on a real Italian government domain, a fake law enforcement request, and Revolut's Lithuanian bank handed over identity documents, KYC selfies, bank statements and transaction histories for at least 680 customers.

Then they ran blockchain analysis and picked the accounts with significant crypto holdings.

6,000 XMR demanded, roughly three million dollars, inside twenty four hours. The deadline passed on 17 September and samples are already circulating on Telegram.

You cannot warn anybody, because nobody gets told they are on the list.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/breach-season-continues/

"That is what I trained for and did professionally for a long ...

2026-09-21T18:48:00Z

"That is what I trained for and did professionally for a long time, and it's better than me and faster than me."

Systems administration. Site reliability. Cybersecurity engineering. That was the career.

Max asks whether it pisses him off. It does not, because he got bored of doing it years ago and would rather have the thing that makes Cake Wallet more reliable.

Then the part that will land badly for a lot of people listening.

"If you're a site reliability engineer or an IT engineer right now, you should be worried. Because I can do the vast majority of that simply while I'm also doing a thousand other things."

Seth For Privacy (npub1tr4…2y5g)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/is-ai-freedom-tech-part-ii/

Prepping for Fallout / The Walking Dead? That’s not what’s ...

2026-09-19T16:00:00Z

Prepping for Fallout / The Walking Dead?

That’s not what’s coming.

@jon (npub1luw…9cqr) lays out two likely paths:

• Slow decline
• Digital ID, Flock cameras, 15-min cities, shock troops

Prepare accordingly.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/resilience-is-a-verb/

🏴‍☠️

2026-09-18T20:01:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…dq8k
_________________________

🏴‍☠️

Looking forward to chatting with these guys today. 🏴‍☠️ ...

2026-09-18T19:59:48Z

Looking forward to chatting with these guys today. 🏴‍☠️

quoting
nevent1q…455v

Time for another Bowls With Buds ✨TONIGHT✨ as MaxUM (nprofile…hsdd) joins @Sir Spencer - Wolf of KC 🐺 for a guest edition of @Bowl After Bowl

🎳 6 PM PST / 8 PM CST / 9 PM EST

Call with questions or to say hi(gh):
(816) 607-3663

This is a #V4V production, so 33% of all sats boosted to this episode will go straight to our bud, Max!
https://bowlafterbowl.com/value-for-value/

🙂 Get free stickers! 🙃
Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:
PO Box 410154
Kansas City, MO 64141

🎥 Video simulcast to #Nostr
https://bowlafterbowl.com/live/

🎧 Audio livestream
https://stream.bowlafterbowl.com/public/bowlafterbowl

👁️‍🗨️ #IRC w/ Nostr Relay
https://chat.bowlafterbowl.com/#/connect

#weedstr #potstr #podstr

Mix To is the feature more people should know about. You add a ...

2026-09-18T13:00:00Z

Mix To is the feature more people should know about.

You add a watch only wallet to Ashigaru Desktop with an xpub or an output descriptor, in this case a Passport Prime, and set a minimum number of mixes. Say five.

Once a coin has been through that many, the coinjoin output goes straight to a fresh address on the hardware wallet instead of landing back in your post mix account.
Foundation (npub1s0v…pq6j)

No manual send, no address copied by hand, no remembering to do it later.
Foundation (npub1s0v…pq6j)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/ashigaru-desktop-with-jordan/

My pleasure, if you aren’t already then tune in to The Bitcoin ...

2026-09-17T13:53:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…3mdd
_________________________

My pleasure, if you aren’t already then tune in to The Bitcoin Brief QnA (nprofile…ra3m) and MaxUM (npub1lqv…fx0r) cover exactly this type of thing each week.

https://ungovernable.network/listen/

My preference is @nprofile…kfqt ...

2026-09-17T13:50:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…drtj
_________________________

My preference is Foundation (nprofile…kfqt)

https://foundation.xyz/?ref=ungovernable

Outside of that SeedSigner (nprofile…8gvj) is another solid option.

My main recommendation is don’t keep all of your eggs in one basket. Also I suggest using a strong passphrase.

Max, on why he started caring about any of this. "Tying your ...

2026-09-17T13:00:00Z

Max, on why he started caring about any of this.

"Tying your identity to Bitcoin is very dangerous in the physical world. You can be attacked by all sorts of different entities. You could pay your plumber to go and do some work for you, and then they can suddenly see, if you haven't managed your UTXOs properly, how much money you have, and they might come back and crack your skull to take the rest."

Privacy on Bitcoin can be life or death.

MaxUM (npub1lqv…fx0r)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/freedom-tech-friday/ashigaru-desktop-with-jordan/

Maybe 🤔

2026-09-16T22:28:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…canq
_________________________

Maybe 🤔

The reason it feels like every week now is that it is every week ...

2026-09-16T21:06:00Z

The reason it feels like every week now is that it is every week now.

If you run a software project or a hardware project or anything that handles Bitcoin, people are attacking your shit right now. Not eventually. Right now.

Think about it from their side. Steal personal information and you still have to find a buyer. Steal from the software that holds the money and you are done. It is a no brainer.

Bitcoin is taking that pain first, and it comes out the other side harder for it. Expect at least another six months of this. QnA (npub15c8…ssvx)

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/the-ai-pocalypse-continues/

Il try wisp. Got a link?

2026-09-16T16:16:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…g70a
_________________________

Il try wisp. Got a link?

On 9 September, customers of Trezor, BitBox and CoinTracking ...

2026-09-16T16:06:00Z

On 9 September, customers of Trezor, BitBox and CoinTracking received emails warning of an STM32 entropy vulnerability and asking them to take action on their hardware wallet.

The emails came from those companies' real domains. SPF passed. DKIM passed. Every check your mail provider runs to prove a message came from where it claims to have come from, passed, because it genuinely had.

Attackers had access to Brevo, the email marketing platform those companies send through, and created API keys inside their accounts.

The weak point was never the wallet maker. It was the vendor they trusted to send their post.

No wallet company will ever email you asking for your seed words, telling you to connect your device urgently, or asking you to verify your wallet. Ever.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/kyc-kill-your-customer/

It’s extremely dangerous. What a mess people find themselves in ...

2026-09-16T14:38:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…kzd7
_________________________

It’s extremely dangerous. What a mess people find themselves in with all this KYC.

KYC: kill your customer. This is where the name of the episode ...

2026-09-16T13:05:00Z

KYC: kill your customer.
This is where the name of the episode came from.

An attacker now holds your personal information and your Bitcoin withdrawal history in the same file. They do not have to guess whether you are worth robbing, and they do not have to guess where you live.

He lives down the road from me. I am going to go and get a very big wrench.

None of this was a choice anybody made. The data existed because a regulator required it to be collected, from people who had no way to opt out, in the name of protecting them.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/kyc-kill-your-customer/

Of the three you mentioned which is the least shitty and annoying ...

2026-09-16T12:26:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…a534
_________________________

Of the three you mentioned which is the least shitty and annoying one to use?

So I need another nostril app to do it then?

2026-09-16T12:25:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…hvzd
_________________________

So I need another nostril app to do it then?

That might be a useful feature.

2026-09-16T12:24:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…3thc
_________________________

That might be a useful feature.