Seth For Privacy

Privacy is a human right and necessary for freedom.

- VP of Operations at Cake Wallet
- Privacy advocate
- Host of optoutpod.com, a privacy-focused podcast

Public Key

npub1tr4dstaptd2sp98h7hlysp8qle6mw7wmauhfkgz3rmxdd8ndprusnw2y5g

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs936kc97s4k4gqjnmltljgqns0uadh08d77t5mypg3anxkneks37gpzemhxue69uhhsmtj9e6hxetwdaehgu3wdaexwqgswaehxw309ahx7um5wgh8w6twv57a4c4c

Publishing to

nostr.portemonero.com

Author Public Key

npub1tr4dstaptd2sp98h7hlysp8qle6mw7wmauhfkgz3rmxdd8ndprusnw2y5g

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Last Notes

2025-09-26 14:11:53 UTC

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See you all there, can't wait to chat with Matt as always 🫡
#nevent1q…2sdl

2025-06-03 12:50:28 UTC

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Nothing like just sitting down and chatting with an old friend to revive your spirit and make you want to keep pushing out more freedom tech.
Immensely grateful for @nprofile…zx3h and all he's done for freedom tech and for me personally over the years. Absolute legend and one of the few heros I won't have to slay 🧡
#nevent1q…9h9a

2025-06-02 14:36:01 UTC

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See you all there, folks 🫡
Honored to be joining the man, the myth, the legend after so long but tons to cover in the Bitcoin space, can't wait.
#nevent1q…edrz

2025-03-12 18:02:36 UTC

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🔥🔥🔥
Absolutely amazing work, thank you for your tireless efforts educating us plebs.
I wouldn't be here at all if it weren't for you, literally eternally grateful.

2025-03-12 18:01:52 UTC

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I know I'm rarely (if ever) on Nostr, but I see my favorite robot doing amazing work I zap it and I reshare it.
Keep kicking ass, @nprofile…cycq 🔥
#nevent1q…vwe6

2024-08-12 00:46:42 UTC

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Tagging is always a struggle bus for me no matter the client...

2024-08-11 21:06:35 UTC

# I'm leaving Foundation and joining Cake Wallet
It's time for a new chapter in my journey building freedom tech, and I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be jumping in to help Vik run Cake as VP of Operations starting in September.
## Why Cake?
I've known Vik for many years in the space, and have been watching from the sidelines as he's worked hard to bring together an amazing team to build out a wallet that prioritizes ease-of-use and powerful privacy no matter what cryptocurrency people prefer. That all started with being the first Monero wallet on iOS, and has rapidly grown to being a cross-platform, multi-cryptocurrency wallet used by hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
The best part? Cake Wallet has been paving the way in the privacy space for many years, including the latest push to be the first mobile wallet to include Silent Payments for Bitcoin and MWEB for Litecoin. My vision for Cake is to carry this privacy-first vision even further, continuing to push the envelope and let users access powerful privacy features with an intuitive, beautiful user experience that makes privacy easy.
The first three objectives I have will be improving and expanding Silent Payments support (especially improving the sync experience!), building out an amazing (and privacy-preserving) Lightning experience, and fine-tuning and improving the existing Cake Wallet that you all know and love across the board.
I can't wait to step into this larger role, especially with friends that I've already gotten the chance to meet and get to know over the years. I'm also thrilled to be able to dedicate a bit more time to expanding access and ease-of-use for Monero, especially in the wake of the takedown of Samourai Wallet and the broad attacks against Bitcoin privacy.
Monero is a more important tool than ever, and Cake has been a key part of making Monero more useful over the years.
## Grateful for Foundation
I have nothing but amazing things to say about Foundation and the incredible people I've gotten to work with so closely over the past two years. We've gotten the chance to build the best Bitcoin hardware wallet out there in Passport, and turn Envoy from a simple companion app for Passport to a powerful standalone mobile wallet with the best coin control in the space.
I especially wanted to shout out Zach Herbert and @qna, as they have been close friends and allies, giving me the chance to get started in the space and grow into what became a much larger role than originally planned with Foundation. Zach has gone above and beyond to empower me over the past two years, and his tireless efforts to drive Foundation forward and ensure we ship the best possible products has been inspiring.
@qna is the reason I'm even in Bitcoin in the first place, and was the key voice of reason that helped me understand the how and why of privacy in Bitcoin, as well as the power (and necessity) of going no-KYC-only. We've built a great friendship over the past two years and I'm honored to be able to have learned so much from him.
This has to be the most bittersweet move of my life, but I'm thrilled with the new prospects at Cake and know that those taking over in my place at Foundation are going to bring a unique approach to help them take the next step forward as well.
Now let's get back to building 🫡
P.S. - Keep an eye out, Cake and Foundation will be working closely together in the near future 👀

2024-05-30 20:19:19 UTC

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100% agreed.

2024-05-30 19:39:59 UTC

Summarizing my thoughts on ecash
For some reason this ecash trend seems to be gaining steam instead of going away, so I'll try my best to detail my thoughts on ecash into one post.
1. The incentives are broken
Ecash finds itself between a rock and a hard place. For users to trust the mint, they need to know that the people behind the mint are trustworthy. If the people running the mint reveal their identities (or even just nyms), they're a trivial target for regulators and law enforcement as it's clear a mint is an MSB.
If the people behind a mint don't reveal their identities or nyms, users of that mint are subject to trivial rug pulls with no recourse. Which do you prefer as a user? Mint operator rug pulls or government rug pulls?
If a mint had been targeted like Samourai Wallet was, instead of just a potential privacy loss, all users would have lost all of their Bitcoin.
2. Ecash is not "self-custodial"
For some reason this concept of ecash being "self-custodial" is a thing, merely because the tokens themselves are self-custodied (and require proper backups of seed phrases etc.) While the lines get a bit weird, it's important to separate two things:
1. The asset people want is Bitcoin, not ecash tokens.
2. The asset people give up custody on is Bitcoin.
The ecash tokens themselves are completely worthless IOUs without the Bitcoin behind them, so even if I can take custody of my ecash tokens, I have 100% given up custody of my sats to a third-party.
Because of this, talking about ecash as self-custodial is disingenuous -- no one wants empty IOUs, they want Bitcoin. When they use ecash they do not have custody of their Bitcoin.
3. Ecash still requires all of the hurdles of Bitcoin self-custody
The hardest hurdle for many people to adopting Bitcoin is the simple first step -- writing down 12 words and making sure not to lose them. With ecash you still have this single greatest barrier of entry as you must backup a seed phrase or secret in order to restore your ecash tokens.
4. There is no incentive for custodians to implement ecash
While a custodian could switch to ecash out of the goodness of their heart, the incentives are broken for custodians. Not only does ecash harm the UX their users are used to (not having to store a secret seed phrase), it also introduces additional infrastructure complexity. Instead of just running a database, now they have to run additional mint software to provide their users with tokens, and handle support cases where users lose their tokens.
In theory a custodian could just also store the seed phrase for their users, but then have we actually improved on custodians at all? They even have custody of the ecash tokens in that case.
5. Custody is a line that cannot be crossed
The core of what makes Bitcoin unique is that we can actually take custody of it ourselves, gaining immense freedom and self-sovereignty through a bit of personal responsibility. Even though I am a massive proponent of building better privacy tools, sacrificing custody to get better privacy is a non-option for me.
Surely we can do better and build privacy tools on top of Bitcoin (or directly into Bitcoin's consensus layer) that allow us to have both privacy and self-sovereignty via self-custody.
I will not give up custody of my Bitcoin, no matter what, and you shouldn't either. "Better custodians" are just custodians with extra steps, and still strip us of self-sovereignty and thus freedom.
6. Time is a more scarce resource than even Bitcoin
Even though I have been very outspoken on what I view as a pointless venture, I am not here to stop anyone from building what they enjoy in the space. Devs working on ecash are free to do so as of course I have no control over them, though I fear that time spent on improving custodians is time that we will not get back. It's clear that the US gov and many in the EU are seeking to ramp up their attacks on Bitcoin privacy and self-custody, and our time to build tools to route around them is growing shorter and shorter.
P.S. - None of what I write is a direct attack on any ecash dev, and I have immense respect and personal relationships with most of the people working on this stuff. Respect for an individual doesn't have to mean I agree with them on every avenue they pursue.
https://i.nostr.build/oM0YW.jpg

2024-05-23 16:34:16 UTC

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Yeah just closed beta Cake for now but out publicly soon.
That will be the go to for a while it looks like!

2024-05-23 15:42:27 UTC

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Excited to learn more about this one 👀
#nevent1q…lhev

2024-05-21 18:20:50 UTC

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Silentium (use with caution!) and Cake Wallet in beta.

2024-05-21 18:20:29 UTC

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Yup, in beta.

2024-05-21 18:20:13 UTC

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https://silentpayments.xyz/docs/comparing-proposals/bip47/

2024-05-21 18:17:55 UTC

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Hell yes!
Would love to see this paired with your proposal which I'm watching closely 🙂 Have been an OpenAlias user for years and love the step forward this is.

2024-05-16 19:42:10 UTC

Say hello to https://silentpayments.xyz/
Wanting to learn more about Silent Payments, see which wallets support them, or find out how to integrate them into your wallet?
I've built out a website with all of that info and more to do what I can to speed up Silent Payments adoption. https://i.nostr.build/EnGDG.jpg

2024-04-26 01:25:52 UTC

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😅😅😅

2024-04-25 19:23:05 UTC

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They seized all servers, and Samurai self-hosted Gitlab so code went down with them.

2024-04-25 19:22:29 UTC

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yes

2024-04-25 19:21:36 UTC

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Absolutely.

2024-04-25 15:50:17 UTC

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No, they didn't run the service so hopefully are safe.

2024-04-25 15:49:53 UTC

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yeah, never happened though in production AFAIK

2024-04-25 15:49:02 UTC

If you were a Samourai Wallet user and confused about how to restore your funds elsewhere, we've got you covered:
https://freedom.tech/samourai-to-sparrow/
https://v.nostr.build/4oMGr.mp4

2024-04-25 01:40:12 UTC

Everything actionable you need to know about what this indictment means for you as a Samourai Wallet (SW) or Whirlpool user 👇
As a Samourai Wallet user (no Dojo)
Unfortunately, the architecture of SW meant that your xpub (a master public key, allowing anyone holding it to derive all your past/present/future Bitcoin addresses) was at some point in time held by Samourai, and could now possible in the hands of the DOJ.
Though it's a worst-case scenario, you should assume that your xpub was compromised, and thus all previous mixes you have done have been unwound and are now traceable. You should also assume that the gov can now derive all past/present/future addresses of yours and track movement of funds if so desired.
In addition, Samourai's coordinator and backend sync server was seized, and so SW will no longer sync, show received funds, or allow sending funds out. As such, you have to migrate funds to another wallet like @SparrowWallet following the docs here:
https://docs.samourai.io/wallet/restore-recovery#export-to-external-wallet
In addition, I would recommend migrating funds to a new seed phrase to prevent anyone holding the xpub from seeing all future received/spent funds.
You should also disable automatic updates in the Play Store (if used) to ensure no malicious updates are pushed.
As a Samourai Wallet user (using your own Dojo)
Thankfully, you avoided having your xpub potentially compromised. The worst case scenario for you is that your previous mixes may not have the full anon set you expected if non-Dojo users xpubs were compromised.
You will still be able to sync/send/receive from your Samourai Wallet app, but should also migrate funds eventually as no further updates will come out for Samourai Wallet. If you want to migrate, use the docs below:
https://docs.samourai.io/wallet/restore-recovery#export-to-external-wallet
You should, however, disable automatic updates in the Play Store (if used) to ensure no malicious updates are pushed.
As a Sparrow Wallet user
Thankfully, you avoided having your xpub potentially compromised as well. The worst case scenario for you is that your previous mixes may not have the full anon set you expected if non-Dojo/Sparrow users xpubs were compromised.
There is no real need to rotate to a new wallet etc, and Sparrow is still an excellent option. Unfortunately you will no longer be able to mix in Sparrow as the Samourai coordinator was seized.
Next steps for privacy
If you (like me) relied on Samourai Wallet for privacy on Bitcoin, it's time to look elsewhere sadly. As of today I have two recommendations:
Use Monero for spending, keep using Bitcoin for savings
Yes, this isn't Bitcoin, but its by far the most used and most practical privacy coin out there with strong (and growing) ways to swap in/out of it without a centralized, KYC exchange. My recommendation is buying enough to cover your normal spending of Bitcoin for a month at least, and spend out of that lump sum as needed.
Learn more:
getmonero.org
Where to get Monero:
bisq.network
Trocador.app
In Cake Wallet's exchange feature
Wallets:
Feather Wallet
Cake Wallet
Monerujo Wallet
Merchants that accept Monero:
monerica.com
cryptwerk.com/pay-with/xmr/
Use JoinMarket
JoinMarket is a decentralized Coinjoin protocol that brings together peers to mix funds together, gaining strong privacy without relying on a central coordinator, without giving fees to a central entity, etc.
The best way to get started today is using the new UI built around JoinMarket, @jamapporg:
jamapp.org
Have any more questions? Drop them below and I'll do my best to answer them.

2024-04-05 17:09:33 UTC

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Yeah, I switched it back to my Primal LNURL for Zaps 😅

2024-04-05 17:02:11 UTC

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what Nostr client or wallet?

2024-04-05 17:00:17 UTC

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Same, but looks like someone else was able to 🤔

2024-04-05 16:50:08 UTC

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magical

2024-04-05 16:49:54 UTC

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Migrated my zap URL there as well already 👀

2024-04-05 16:48:55 UTC

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And just like that I have my own simple, non-custodial, entirely self-hosted LN stack in seconds.
Bravo, amazing work Phoenix and 1f52b_xyz
https://sethforprivacy.com/lnurl
If you want to test it out, don't tip me, tip the creator of this awesome LNURL tool 1f52b_xyz!
https://1f52b.xyz/lnurl
Once we finalize the Docker image + publishing for this and phoenixd, you will literally just register a domain, create a text file, run a single command, and have self-sovereign LN, LNURL, Zaps, etc.
#note1468…vukf
https://m.primal.net/Hrdj.jpg

2024-03-25 14:37:40 UTC

Working on making a guide for running this with phoenixd directly in Docker Compose with @npub1xv8…lk3x!
Really excited to get this up.
#note18s2…fgk7

2024-03-14 14:34:46 UTC

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ARE YOU EVEN A REAL BITCOINERS?!?
Funnily enough I bought mine with Monero 😅

2024-03-14 10:34:08 UTC

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What sold you on the XM5s over XM4s? It was the fancy new looks, wasn’t it 🤔

2024-03-14 10:26:06 UTC

GM ☕️
Heading to Dallas for Finney Forum, pumped to reconnect with old friends, learn about new freedom tech, and be in the midst of some of the best community crossovers in the space.
Any of you Nostriches attending?

2024-03-14 10:24:53 UTC

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Same here, so damn good.
Glad I could finally move on from true wireless buds back to over the ear that are comfortable and have kickass noise cancellation.

2024-03-14 10:24:17 UTC

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What did you settle on 👀

2024-03-12 01:25:58 UTC

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Thanks, Mark, glad to hear it 🤝

2024-03-11 18:14:17 UTC

1M sats on offer 👀👀👀
#note15lu…ym9c

2024-03-11 18:13:50 UTC

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Great option too

2024-03-11 15:12:38 UTC

Big week ahead, kicking off with a brand new domain and website for all of our freedom tech at https://foundation.xyz 🥳
Check it out and let me know what you love/hate/would change on the new site!
Good suggestions might just get some sats/piconeros sent their way (zaps make things damn easy) 😉
#note1j2m…zgwk

2024-03-11 15:11:29 UTC

Favorite Nostr client just got way better 🧡
#note1lup…plz8

2024-03-11 15:11:06 UTC

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MULTI-ACCOUNT SUPPORT I LOVE YOU MILJAN 🧡

2024-03-11 12:40:34 UTC

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GM and thank you for building a badass LN wallet 🧡

2024-03-06 14:04:44 UTC

Been secretly enjoying RBF and the new address and amount formats for what feels like an eternity 😅
Now it’s live for all you lovely Envoy users out there on all platforms 🫡
#note1s0h…jmyn

2024-02-28 12:12:42 UTC

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That was a great idea! I went through his follows manually and was able to get a bunch that I know I want to follow from there.

2024-02-28 12:07:10 UTC

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Yup, never had any issues.
Mostly IVPN.

2024-02-28 12:05:38 UTC

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Remind me, is splicing live or a WIP?

2024-02-28 12:02:59 UTC

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So strange, my main account has only ever been used behind a VPN and I’ve never had issues.
Wonder what the trigger is for yours?

2024-02-28 11:59:38 UTC

There is no second best when it comes to a full LN node in your pocket 🔥
#note1k8c…5wzh

2024-02-28 11:56:54 UTC

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Very, best wild game I’ve had TBH!

2024-02-24 21:00:09 UTC

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Yuck… odd it let me buy with only providing an email alias.
Means surely there will be shotgun KYC later

2024-02-24 20:48:18 UTC

Uhh how the hell does @npub12vk…pugg do no-KYC purchases of Bitcoin?
Is it KYC-lite or something? Can’t find any info on it.

2024-02-24 20:23:48 UTC

CANNOT WAIT to do my first in-person workshop teaching Bitcoin self-custody from scratch alongside @npub15c8…ssvx.
If you're in NYC, get your tickets ASAP before it's full!
#note1e44…rq83

2024-02-24 20:22:02 UTC

Just used the latest Phoenix Wallet and Passport releases to top up my Lightning wallet from Taproot to Taproot 🔥
So glad to see the promise of Taproot FINALLY starting to pay off in the wild with better privacy and lower fees.

2024-02-15 16:31:40 UTC

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may god be with your sats 🫡

2024-02-15 16:27:36 UTC

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this was a CC, they allow you to use only dice rolls for entropy, and still don't enforce minimum rolls on Mk3 or older Mk4 firmware.
you can even still so a single dice roll for a temp seed.

2024-02-08 13:46:49 UTC

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Sent, sorry it took so long!
https://m.primal.net/HbTI.jpg

2024-02-04 19:14:11 UTC

Bringing back #Bitcoin #SkepticismSundays 😎
One of the things that showed me the intellectual honesty of the Monero community and helped to force the community to stay grounded in reality and always laser focused on their core ethos was their weekly "Skepticism Sunday" Reddit threads. These threads allowed the community to come together, ask hard and skeptical questions about the design of Monero, the privacy provided, the economic approach, and much more.
In my time in Bitcoin I've never seen anything similar, but the nuanced and high-signal crowd on Nostr seems like a perfect fit to fire things up and see how it goes.
The goal of this thread (which I'll post weekly on Sunday's) is for discussing the uncertainties, shortcomings, and concerns some may have about Bitcoin. Things like what makes it difficult for you to use Bitcoin, what pain-points you have, etc.
NOT the positive aspects of it.
Discussing things with a critical thinking approach and level-headed discussion helps us learn where Bitcoin and its community can improve and go from there.
P.S. -- I try to take a break from social media on Sundays so I will follow up and reply whwre I can tomorrow!

2024-01-31 03:13:28 UTC

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will give it a try, thanks!

2024-01-31 02:51:44 UTC

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Of course not, definitely appreciate the same things about it 🙂

2024-01-31 02:42:36 UTC

NGL, loving the overall @npub12vk…pugg experience so far!
Favorite client I've used to date.

2024-01-31 02:12:24 UTC

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Not telling people to use X at all, just defending my use and pointing out the lies or misconceptions of others.

2024-01-31 02:11:49 UTC

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thank you for the long post!

2024-01-31 02:06:22 UTC

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correct!

2024-01-31 02:05:48 UTC

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Ive spoken and written widely on the benefits of Nostr.
im also entitled to speak on the tradeoffs. Feel free to check my Twitter, I think I've made two total negative posts about Nostr.

2024-01-31 01:44:09 UTC

This FUD is super confusing, literally no one has to KYC to use X, and you can easily use things like SMS verification services, email aliases, and crypto-funded debit cards to even have a blue check without giving personal info.
I understand people want X users to move to Nostr, but lying to them isnt a moral or effective strategy.
If that changes to require KYC, of course everyone sane should leave and invite every follower off to Nostr.
But let's please not lie to try and bring people to Nostr.
#note14w5…k4ce

2024-01-31 01:39:42 UTC

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don't give up, it's worth the battle 🫡

2024-01-31 01:37:16 UTC

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I didnt give ID, real number, or real email to X.
No one has to. Not sure why this lie persists on Nostr when it's demonstrably false.