sedited

thecharlatan.ch
🇿🇦

Public Key

npub196cr58e3ds70njgqul6ndm3gu4yxxjgx00sp32t95lru5k600u7q2ftlhg

Profile Code

nprofile1qqszavp6ruckc08eeyqw0afkac5w2jrrfyr8hcqc49j60372td8h70qpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqprdmhxue69uhkummnwshxy6t5vdhkjmn9wgh8xmmrd9skcqguwaehxw309ahx7um5wghxy6t5vdhkjmn9wgh8xmmrd9skcrz33tq

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nos.lol

nost.bitcoiner.social

nostr.bitcoiner.social

Author Public Key

npub196cr58e3ds70njgqul6ndm3gu4yxxjgx00sp32t95lru5k600u7q2ftlhg

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Last Notes

2026-07-31 20:37:23 UTC

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Johoe ❤️

2026-07-23 06:06:35 UTC

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The secp pull request just got merged: https://github.com/bitcoin-core/secp256k1/pull/1765

2026-07-23 04:31:20 UTC

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Replaced it with our own implementation. It got increasingly difficult to keep it patched, since its upstream is not actively maintained. Also frees the project from yet another supply chain.

2026-07-22 16:49:42 UTC

v32 is shaping up nicely.
landed:
- Removed libevent
- Removed boost signals
- Added support for BIP 434 and 323
- A >30% improvement in IBD and validation speed
- Improvements to the txospenderindex, shrinking it by 20% and making its creation faster
- Continued p2pv2 rollout
- A host of improvements to the ipc mining interface
likely to make it:
- OpenRPC specification for automatically creating and documenting RPC clients
- Proper mempool based fee estimation for avoiding over-estimating fees
- Support for caching RPC responses
- Fixing a bunch of RPC and REST denial of service bugs
- Reducing txindex size by over 60%, as well as making its creation faster

2026-07-19 12:06:46 UTC

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Sure, if you are going to publish a UASF client that activates on minority hash, this might be something nice to provide, but I don't think this is really a big deal. The goal of a UASF is to become the heaviest pow chain at the fork height, or very shortly thereafter. From their delusional perspective that seems coherent to me.

2026-07-19 07:24:14 UTC

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I don't know, is it really a bug? If you want to change to a lower pow chain, run invalidateblock.

2026-07-13 14:04:10 UTC

Cash on the internet.
No auto-updates.

2026-07-12 21:07:41 UTC

Took an evening stroll over the hills and saw the ISS rise up from the Jura.

2026-07-07 17:47:50 UTC

The notion that the filter split wouldn't have happened with more alternative clients is ill-conceived. There are many alternative clients. To my knowledge exactly two of them (core and knots) allow significant policy tweaks. Exactly one of them filters aggressively.

2026-07-05 17:33:58 UTC

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Apparently so.

2026-07-05 08:29:04 UTC

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Yes, that proof generation is already possible and has been done by a few people now. It is the main motivation behind this work. Long term the goal is to have the same capability for full block validation.

2026-07-04 19:52:39 UTC

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Just commenting on the Rugby from earlier.

2026-07-04 17:33:10 UTC

'n proper klapping

2026-07-04 07:04:47 UTC

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This interview is eye opening. People just can't seem to wrap their heads around the fact that there isn't a single group or person to bully.

2026-07-03 21:06:15 UTC

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And he's the staff-level officer to run it.

2026-07-03 06:09:41 UTC

Bitcoin Core now tracks the ability to compile the script interpreter to a bare metal target. This allows for transaction script validity checks in constrained environments, be it embedded, enclaves, or proof generation engines.
https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/31425

2026-07-01 11:25:36 UTC

Still feel the same way.
#nevent1q…xm7h

2026-06-30 18:23:30 UTC

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Heh, funny that you posted that the other day.

2026-06-30 10:06:08 UTC

One of my goals doing maintenance the past half year was trying to get through a lot of the pull request backlog. Managed to get through a good chunk of it, but the rest seems to require increasingly more effort.
The project needs to find a better way to reward and surface good and dedicated reviewers. Review work is tedious, often boring, and not something that can be easily measured. This makes it hard to both surface to the public and for developers to build their prestige around it.
I am curious how I can improve my leadership in this respect. I found the pull request review club not effective in this regard. The amount of effort spent on preparing it usually did not pay off. We need to find some way to better reward review.
https://dergoegge.github.io/bitcoin-core-github-metadata-stats/?tf=quarter&repo=bitcoin-bitcoin#pr-days-destroyed

2026-06-28 21:46:34 UTC

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You can still limit datacarriersize in v31 if that is what you mean. There is nothing under handed about this. The project just doesn't have the resources to endlessly backport. That said, the v29 backport we just shipped as a release candidate, has some of these improvements included as well.

2026-06-28 19:26:26 UTC

Looks like v32 will ship a big improvement in block validation and ibd speed.

2026-06-24 08:49:34 UTC

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Ek's van die Klein Karoo af, so ek ken goed van die hele area.

2026-06-23 22:02:29 UTC

Got rid of libevent. That leaves just the boost multi index headers as an external dependency for bitcoind. https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/34411

2026-06-20 08:58:32 UTC

For the love of preserving vernacular, please stop shipping piss colored websites.

2026-06-20 08:10:31 UTC

Cash on the internet.
No auto-updates.

2026-06-12 06:26:15 UTC

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I think it is one of those french loan words.

2026-06-11 20:52:14 UTC

Bafana vat nog n rooi om vinniger thuis te wees.

2026-06-07 07:36:27 UTC

https://thecharlatan.ch/Validation/

2026-06-05 13:09:55 UTC

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Been listening to your music since Vollmilch, thank you for that!

2026-06-04 14:13:53 UTC

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My experience so far has been the opposite. Either creating needlessly complex generics, or completely failing to understand them.

2026-06-02 06:50:18 UTC

Cash on the internet.
No auto-updates.

2026-05-29 08:07:33 UTC

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Really? I think I'm the most bullish I've been.

2026-05-27 18:59:11 UTC

Not once have a found myself saying "I wish I had date-prefixed branch names"

2026-05-27 17:54:16 UTC

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Epic. And the two patches he mentioned are somewhat known issues.

2026-05-25 16:28:25 UTC

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Yes, and this patch is slated for v32: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/30951

2026-05-18 19:35:24 UTC

https://npub196cr58e3ds70njgqul6ndm3gu4yxxjgx00sp32t95lru5k600u7q2ftlhg.blossom.band/8cb004797f1750629fb8dcc56a08b9ddd282b38db39fa233560ea5b02924c32b.jpg

2026-05-17 20:35:45 UTC

It's time to repost this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsDXvvIRIy8&t=2s

2026-05-15 12:31:05 UTC

kernel-node now has a tiny silent payments wallet
https://blossom.primal.net/f8f9afd16d7913f92c2131ffd16772c95662f69cd86a66abc7643a18e3b51001.png

2026-05-10 11:40:40 UTC

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Keyword there be being "open", not "drafted" ;)

2026-05-10 11:39:34 UTC

And: PSBTv2, the oldest open PR at the time, was finally merged.
https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/21283

2026-05-09 12:24:22 UTC

Surfing with the Duskys. https://npub196cr58e3ds70njgqul6ndm3gu4yxxjgx00sp32t95lru5k600u7q2ftlhg.blossom.band/a3044d96cced35950da35e8d8b846430941644070b269b78c420d1587583fff5.jpg https://npub196cr58e3ds70njgqul6ndm3gu4yxxjgx00sp32t95lru5k600u7q2ftlhg.blossom.band/c2bf8ffdb9bcceb15e6379652a92ffbd058b0fb298c84b0ddde9f241f7763242.jpg

2026-05-09 11:45:15 UTC

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Literally all that is to it.

2026-05-04 10:42:14 UTC

Curious ladies
https://npub196cr58e3ds70njgqul6ndm3gu4yxxjgx00sp32t95lru5k600u7q2ftlhg.blossom.band/1f7250fc7c885049dd2a67ca3f438bfd1b81876a7846dd5817310a08f33e0a85.jpg https://npub196cr58e3ds70njgqul6ndm3gu4yxxjgx00sp32t95lru5k600u7q2ftlhg.blossom.band/af0cc082a35d7a84ee2dbc8a573ba365787bda4f9325b80de0647fe5609c1dc2.jpg

2026-04-27 04:58:56 UTC

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I don't think many use it, but the barrier to do so is as low as it can get at the moment.

2026-04-26 07:27:07 UTC

Cash on the internet.
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2026-04-26 06:15:23 UTC

Honestly though, you can pretty much live on it now. Gas stations, cafes, restaurants, grocery stores... was at a random cafe around the corner from where my family used to live and paid for a lunch there.
#nevent1q…vmg5

2026-04-25 12:51:19 UTC

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There's a government gazette for proposed legislation limiting pretty much everything. The tldr here does a good job of describing it https://ag.bitcoinzar.co.za/

2026-04-25 07:38:09 UTC

Using bitcoin in South Africa became so easy that the government decided to shut it down.

2026-04-10 19:59:56 UTC

https://npub196cr58e3ds70njgqul6ndm3gu4yxxjgx00sp32t95lru5k600u7q2ftlhg.blossom.band/a6be9cda4143678c71f1abcc11e14323906586b75a6c452676161b02450db5c9.jpg

2026-04-08 05:36:13 UTC

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Same for high temperature super conductors. There are a few now that are close to 0 Celsius, but they require such insane pressures that they are useless for most applications.

2026-03-24 19:01:08 UTC

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Lol, wouldn't have expected a sten

2026-03-21 17:54:49 UTC

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Waiting for the bitcoin core PR 🙄

2026-03-21 17:34:20 UTC

Thought this was going to happen these days
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/pull/2128/changes

2026-03-19 18:52:30 UTC

Cash on the internet.
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2026-03-15 22:13:27 UTC

So we pull up out of the bush through the khowarib rivier, completely caked in fine, flour-textured dust of the mopane savanah. It's been seven days since we set out into the wild from the brandberg. Suddenly we see a fence rise on our left side, punctured by holes, goats and other farm animals freely crossing through it, the odd herder waving at us as we drive past. In the distance a green tin roofed plaza appears: Kamdesha veterinary gate. The fence on either side of the plaza is busted, sections either lying flat on the ground, or missing completely. It should be part of the red line, the cordon dividing Namibia into a "safe" veterinary sector, supposedly FMD free, and the "wilderness" beyond. Some of us get out, talk to the warden, there is a brief back and forth, some favours are exchanged. A few men with rifles line either side of the plaza as our convoy of three vehicles rolls through, a goat scurrying away in front of us. It is another 20 kilometres from here to a marked road, following the rough dirt track we're on. Twenty minutes later I see truly wild giraffes for the second time in my life.
#nevent1q…js4g

2026-03-14 17:22:26 UTC

Much more cohesive from the stormers today and a decent watch too.

2026-03-13 16:40:16 UTC

This is probably the weirdest internal border that I know of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Line_(Namibia)

2026-03-13 13:27:34 UTC

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Loved the video, looked pretty chill.
I think that was in 2008. Crazy scenes on the Zambia/Botswana border too. The backlog on trucks trying to cross the border was a multi week wait. Both sides had soldiers patrolling them to avoid looting. Back then there was only a barge doing the crossing, iirc two trucks every 20 minutes or so. There is a bridge there now :)

2026-03-09 07:43:30 UTC

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It's a really funny document too.

2026-03-09 07:20:51 UTC

Not everything I hoped for, but
* Support for querying slices of a block
* The new txospender index for querying the transaction of a spent output
* Better handling of pruned nodes using an index
* A host of bug fixes that should make using indexes more robust
#nevent1q…4fj4

2026-03-07 19:58:28 UTC

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Probably the most depressing border I've been to. Was there when the situation was really bad again and people attempted to barter my clothing out of desperation.

2026-03-02 16:43:46 UTC

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This was with most of your patches applied :)
It's really cool to see though that it takes about the same time now that it took me when I benched it back in 2019.

2026-03-02 12:16:24 UTC

Synced bitcoin core on a seven year old rock pro 64 in 34 hours.

2026-03-01 07:07:58 UTC

The coverage of this by european newspapers is atrocious.

2026-02-27 18:27:13 UTC

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Exactly.

2026-02-25 10:10:21 UTC

Wow, hetzner hiking their prices by over 30 percent for their boxes.

2026-02-24 07:20:31 UTC

Some people seem confused about section eleven of the whitepaper.

2026-02-21 15:00:15 UTC

Cash on the internet.
No auto-updates.

2026-02-15 09:54:36 UTC

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Or now again.

2026-02-13 07:15:46 UTC

I still think so.
#nevent1q…5zsm

2026-02-12 10:22:06 UTC

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Indeed that would be bad.

2026-02-10 21:45:29 UTC

https://explained-from-first-principles.com/internet/

2026-02-07 10:29:11 UTC

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The issue is that with guidelines like
https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/post-quantum-cryptography
and
https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/pqc-migration-roadmap-unveiled
these institutions might be spooked to enact the migration in order to retain their licenses.
Nuts.

2026-02-06 18:08:22 UTC

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> Its increasing
There's not been a significant increase in usage of large op returns over the past half year. The utxo set has been steadily shrinking in the same time frame.
The chart you showed seems to be measuring small op_returns too, which bip110 does not stop.

2026-02-06 13:00:48 UTC

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Not against stopping spam, strongly disagree with the method.

2026-02-02 06:31:40 UTC

I wonder how many people still self host their own lightning node without the help of a third party.

2026-01-31 08:24:37 UTC

Cash on the internet.
No auto-updates.

2026-01-30 14:18:01 UTC

Bitcoin Core while reading UTXOs from disk
https://blossom.primal.net/d54d96b6d0760d2fec43c278899743f284eb74b3a470b12cdcb1382ea8b961f0.mp4

2026-01-26 21:19:01 UTC

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Maybe file an issue? I've looked at it on amethyst and primal. Amethyst also renders it a bit weirdly, but primal gets it right.
To calm your nerves "driebuffelsmeteenskotmorsdoodgeskietfontein" is an afrikaans hyperbole sometimes used to refer to the middle of nowhere, or some outlandish place. It also a real place and the longest afrikaans word :)

2026-01-26 19:51:40 UTC

https://maps.app.goo.gl/g7LhrSYEjt6PQGEPA

2026-01-24 19:22:59 UTC

Sacha's fancy stuff not working today, but seems like stuff is not gelling in general.

2026-01-23 15:36:26 UTC

First proper work week in the new role.

2026-01-22 21:45:15 UTC

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It is south :)
It's in my home town's area.

2026-01-22 16:59:39 UTC

Can't wait to be going back here again soon. https://image.nostr.build/15fe805ee35dc870e04b094a62dbaad4263187990a7ec1f150644da5cc022a0e.jpg

2026-01-20 23:08:18 UTC

This was solved by Marko Falke here https://gcc.gnu.org/pipermail/gcc-patches/2026-January/704817.html after days of sleuthing and bisecting. Looks like the underlying problem for this is good old c++ not having a canonical order for argument evaluation. Evalaution may work differently on different platforms, assigning a different name.
#nevent1q…jefe

2026-01-19 12:22:00 UTC

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In short: The gpg version I had running back then still used sha1 has a default digest to generate the base signature attesting to the first subkey generated automatically during key generation. Like a good citizen, I changed the default digest algorithm to something strong, generated the remaining [a]uth and [e]ncrypt subkeys with this configuration, and changed the expiry on all of them. Turns out, gpg never refreshes the base signature even you tell it to update a subkey, or change its configuration. So when the Bitcoin Core commit signature verifier ran with a strict no weak algos policy it tripped over this weak base signature.

2026-01-15 10:37:19 UTC

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Cash on the internet.

2026-01-15 03:04:06 UTC

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Lol, I would not trust that :P

2026-01-14 12:36:15 UTC

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Why is that proposed at all?

2026-01-12 03:49:19 UTC

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Idk, maybe that tournament is just one too many for our teams.

2026-01-11 13:32:40 UTC

That score line is looking horrible 🥴

2026-01-11 03:51:19 UTC

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Like now, for example.

2026-01-10 21:12:08 UTC

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It served me well so far, but sometimes it does feel like gpg makes it hard on purpose.

2026-01-10 03:55:24 UTC

Messed up my first merge commit because my smart ass back in 2017 thought it would be wise to run key generation on an old, airgapped ubuntu distro for trust purposes.

2026-01-09 11:51:09 UTC

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It's literally what got me into Bitcoin

2026-01-09 11:43:46 UTC

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Heh, thanks :)

2026-01-08 16:32:00 UTC

Cash on the internet.
No auto-updates.

2026-01-08 13:36:20 UTC

Some of the brickwork on the Manhattan skyscrapers is really nice.

2025-12-31 14:21:50 UTC

Oxtail heading towards the pan.

2025-12-27 22:26:49 UTC

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Was thinking about the protomolecule today. Does an artificial, formless, agentic, substance trying to trick you into thinking it is alive remind you of anything?