We’re over $9,000! That means a lot of good things, of course. But any price increase brings with it increased scrutiny and, yes, increased FUD. The question for this time around is whether the FUD is the same old same old or something new.
In this episode, @nlw looks at three emergent (and continued) areas of FUD, including: 1) accusations that the bitcoin community is rooting for calamity as the safe haven narrative takes hold; 2) an updated “crypto is for criminals” narrative with more emphasis on state-level enemies; 3) a new, more economically vindictive green/energy waste narrative.
Importantly, the question isn’t so much whether these new categories of FUD will come to fruition, but what can be done about them.
Palestinian leaders have already rejected the American administration’s peace plan. But the proposal is nevertheless politically useful, both for Binyamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump. Our correspondent Nicolas Pelham recounts being detained in Iran last year. He was given a surprising amount of freedom—and made the most of it. And the shrinking American states paying people to move in.
For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/radiooffer
What to know today about the possible cause of the crash that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant and others, and we're breaking down the latest from the impeachment trial.
Plus: co-working spaces in space, London's new controversial cameras, and where you could see emoji license plates...
Those stories and more in less than 10 minutes!
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Today we have an exclusive interview with Blaze Media's Glenn Beck on a range of topics including our national debt, the fate of America's Republic experiment, and tradition values. Plus: We talk about basketball great Kobe Bryant’s legacy.
We also cover these stories:
Ken Starr, a member of President Trump’s impeachment defense team, told senators that an obsession with impeachment has overtaken American politics.
Trump tweets about the rumored allegations in John Bolton's forthcoming book.
A government health official says at this time, the coronavirus is a low-risk disease for Americans.
In Hubei province and increasingly across China, new-year celebrations are muted. Authorities are trying to contain the outbreak with an unprecedented lockdown. Homelessness is rising in the rich world, with Finland as a notable exception; we examine the merits of the country’s “housing first” policy. And how to identify someone by reading their heartbeat at 200 paces. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/radiooffer
The "Bethel effect" is the term being used to describe the community impact of Bethel Church in Redding, CA. Bethel has gained national and international attention for their hands on approach to serving their city.
Pastor Kris Vallotton joins The Daily Signal podcast to explain how and why Bethel Church has chosen to love their community through action. He also explains how we can have real political impact and engage in dialogue with those who hold to different political views than our own.
Learn more about the work of Bethel Church and Kris Vallotton, check out these links:
The best Sundays are for long reads and deep conversations. Earlier this week, the Let's Talk Bitcoin! Show (Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Jonathan Mohan and Stephanie Murphy) gathered to discuss Lightning Network technology and two innovative approaches at the wallet level which simplify the new-user experience at a tangible, but seemingly minimal cost.
On today's podcast we zero in on the challenge of "Channel Management", an until-recently-mandatory part of connecting to and utilizing the still-nascent Lightning Network.
Until recently, the way Andreas sends a payment to Stephanie through Lightning is either through a direct channel to her or through a route of hops that can eventually reach Stephanie.
But if a user is brand new to the Lightning network, how do they go about receiving their first payment? - This question has been answered by both ZAP wallet and Phoenix wallet, using different techniques.
Phoenix wallet is made by ACINQ, the makers of Eclair wallet. Eclair offers more advanced/technical users a deeper look behind the hood of the inner workings with channel management being a manual operation.
With Phoenix, ACINQ has taken this away, with the aim of it being a more user friendly wallet for the end user - A more Mom and Pop style wallet.
When Stephanie, a new user of Phoenix wants to be paid by Andreas, she will create an invoice on her phone, just like any other wallet. Andreas will then scan that QR code, send the payment, and it will look just like any other Lightning transaction to Andreas.
If Stephanie currently has channels open with enough inbound capacity - Then it will complete successfully. But what happens when there is not enough inbound capacity, or no channels at all?
This is where Phoenix differs. Phoenix wallet offers no channel management to the end user, it is all done under the hood. The wallet ONLY connects to the ACINQ node, initially through a ‘fake channel’ and when an incoming payment is detected by ACINQ, the ‘routing hint’ that was contained in the QR code points to Stephanie’s wallet through this fake channel.
[Andreas → Node X → Node Y → ACINQ Node -*-*-> Stephanie]
Stephanie will then get notified that she has an incoming payment and be asked if she would like ACINQ to open a channel with her and push her the balance due (Turbo Channel). This comes at a cost though, 0.5% of the amount received. [Phoenix state that this is to cover the cost of opening the channel and allocating additional liquidity on their side]
POINTS OF INTEREST
Is the ease of use factor worth the cost involved?
If only connecting to the ACINQ node, will this create centralisation?
Phoenix claims to be “trust-minimized, but not trustless”
Lightning node runs directly on the phone
Phoenix offers no on-chain balance. All monies on the wallet are contained in channels.
There is also the ability to send and receive on-chain bitcoin using swaps (this also comes with a fee)
ZAP takes a different approach to onboarding new users. Their aim is for users to be able to use their debit card to have bitcoin sent to them on the Lightning Network, even when they have a fresh wallet with no channels. Then the user has the ability to make payments on the Lightning Network.
The creator of ZAP, Jack Mallers has started a new services which he calls OLYMPUS. This service is standalone and can be implemented by other Lightning wallets, with there being no requirement for the Lightning wallet used to be ZAP.
Quoting from the Zap blog on what Olympus is:
“Olympus is an external service that clients make requests to. The service is responsible for the hard parts: onboarding users, processing payments, managing market risk, streaming quotes, and delivering bitcoins.”
Once payment has been received by Olympus, it will then open a Turbo channel to the user, with the pushed amount that they have just purchased with their debit card. With the use of a Turbo channel, the user is able to spend straight away. Jack Mallers has also stated that in the future Olympus will not only push the amount to the user but will also have some funds on their end of the channel. The amount to be staked by Olympus will vary depending on the users usage.
Currently Olympus is in Beta and available to only a few select users in the United States with a plan to roll out publicly and eventually to other countries
POINTS OF INTEREST
Olympus requires KYC/AML
If you are a business using the Olympus service will this mean that when the channel is opened to you, Olympus will open a channel with much higher funds on their end as opposed to if you are only an individual?
NOTES
ZAP is non-custodial
ZAP is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and mobile (iOS and Android)
ZAP can connect through a remote node on Mobile - On Desktop offers remote node and own neutrino node.
Using ZAP wallet does not require KYC/AML - But using Olympus does
ZAP has the ability to offer a version of their wallet that doesn’t contain the Olympus feature\
That’s a wrap! The World Economic Forum is over, and the key ideas coming out of Davos for our industry are: 1) a continued ‘blockchain, not crypto’ narrative; 2) a believe in the inevitability of cashless futures (without much concern about the negative implications); and 3) the rise of CBDCs.
On the CBDC front, the WEF put out a toolkit for governments that are considering their own currency; Japan announced a project to explore a digital currency as a counterweight to the influence a digital yuan might bring China; and a BIS study says 1 in 10 governments anticipate having a digital currency within 3 years.
Finally, we close asking prolific bitcoiner and artist Brekkie von Bitcoin about the state of bitcoin art and why even the hardcore financially-minded folks in the space should care.
Topics Discussed
The WEF wraps up and it’s all ‘blockchain not crypto’ and cashless futures
Poland's government has been trying to nobble the courts for years. Now the European Union is intervening, and the outcome could undermine the union itself. Our obituaries editor looks back on the life of Nell Gifford, whose small, tight-knit circus brought a sense of community into the big top. And modern sensitivities reveal why gender is so tricky in German. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/radiooffer
