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Top persistent myths about Bitcoin, refuted

There are a lot of myths about Bitcoin going around. Mostly because the technology is misunderstood, but sometimes narratives are made up to to compromise its credibility. Here are the seven most persistent myths about Bitcoin.

With fascinating innovations, such as Bitcoin, one can expect a lot of media attention. Authors have difficulties writing elaborate articles about Bitcoin (the protocol) because it consists of many concepts that are difficult to grasp. Mainstream media focuses on attention and clicks these days; short articles from journalists that lack sufficient time to research the topics they’re supposed to write about.
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Micropayments for games using LNP/BP (tutorial)

From time to time I choose a programming project to keep in touch with what’s important. This time I combined game development with cryptocurrency. I downloaded a Game Engine and created the World’s first Lightning Network (micro)payment solution for gamedevelopers to add to their Godot creations.

Because I’m fully aware being a Indie game developer is, from time to time, a harsh existence, I decided to Open Source this little project here and add this tutorial for those interested. It’s under MIT license but I appreciate attribution. Anyway: Have fun with it!


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Interview Bitcoin Magazine

Video of Wessel Simons interviewing me on various topics at the Blockchain Innovation Conference.

At the sixth edition of the Blockchain Innovation Conference I ran into Wessel Simons of Bitcoin Magazine. We had a nice chat about permissioned DLT versus permissionless blockchain, regulation, Facebook’s Libra, transition and the conference that day.


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BUIDLing a secure & low budget Hardware Wallet

In April of 2019 I’ve joined the world’s largest Blockchain and AI hackathon to build a handheld device for doing payments using blockchain technology. It became an epic event of enourmous proportions and possiblities. Unimaginable for those not joining.

For the past two years I attended two Dutch Blockchain hackathons and the hackathon of the European Union as a specialist. At all three events I was coaching the competing teams and had part in the judging process. This year I attended to the Odyssey Blockchain and AI Hackathon in Groningen once more, but this year I came with a team to create a solution for the Inclusive Banking challenge.
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The Blockchain minor

Last week, together with Jordi Jansen, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Blockchain Realists, Ronald Mulder and Lykle de Vries. These are two blockchain specialists from the first hour and leaders in the Netherlands on the subject. This resulted in a very nice talk in podcast style.

During the 50-minute interview (in Dutch), Jordi Jansen and I talk about the minor about Blockchain that we have developed for students at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, about the effort it takes to innovate in the educational sector and about the enthusiasm that blockchain education is currently unleashing.


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A critical addition to the Sovrin framework

Today I made a critical addition to the Sovrin framework that was accepted within the documentation of the Sovrin Foundation. Together with the ‘Blockchain governance’ working group of the Dutch Blockchain Coalition a thorough analysis of the governance structure proposed by Sovrin was conducted.

We concluded the present maturity of Sovrin’s proposal of a Secure Sovereign Identity (SSI) framework lacked a critical part regarding the autonomy of users of the proposed system.
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Regulating ICO’s in the EU

DAICO’s will empower individuals that use ICO’s for crowdfunding purposes and bring an end to some of the risks accompanied by current ICO’s. The proposed regulation within the EU unfortunately still focuses on the past paradigm and prepares the nation states for an unnecessary amount of paperwork.

Last week I was invited to join the discussion, at the European Parliament, about the way forward with regulating ICO’s in Europe. The debate was motivated by a draft report which proposed a new framework of regulation on crowdfunding through regular crowdfunding platforms and ICO’s.


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Cryptograffiti for a micropayment

The website satoshis.place has been thoroughly renewed and now offers the possibility to pay through micro payments via the Lightning Network. After years of innovation Bitcoin technology has overtaken the enormous influx of users and scaled the number of transactions per second to unprecedented heights.

In 2014 it was possible to pay with Bitcoin for a few cents per transaction. At the time many projects popped up online and so did the original version of satoshis.place. Originally inspired by the 2005 million dollar homepage satoshis.place was promoted as a free advertising platform that allowed users to claim some space on a webpage for a custom advertisement.


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The false dichotomy of Bitcoin maximalism

The term ‘Bitcoin maximalist’ should be replaced by the expression ‘sovereignty-maximalist’.

The term ‘Bitcoin maximalist’ has become mainstream within the cryptocurrency and blockchain space recently. As more people become acquainted with the term and have developed a sense of its purport, the more it gets used loosely and deviates from it’s proper meaning.


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The Geopolitics that will end the PetroDollar

The surge of crypto-assets and blockchain technology heralded the end of the PetroDollar. Recent insights in this transition -from atoms to electrons- show governments they need to act accurate and promptly or get left behind. Around the world jurisdictions such as the USA, Russia, Asia and the EU respond very different, as they try not to panic and react responsible.

As data swiftly becomes the primary asset in modern societies it is surpassing the importance of physical oil based assets; A remnant from the previous industrial age. With this shift a new base bearer instrument has sprung up: decentralised digitalassets, known as cryptocurrencies. According to Vladimir Putin, governments around the world are required to act informed and swiftly as those late to the race will lose independence to the leading nations of the blockchain space. 
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The humbling experience of implementing Lightning Network

How joining the lightning network became an emotional experience.

Today I’ve joined the Bitcoin Lightning Network mainnet with my dedicated raspberry pi fullnode and suddenly realised what is really happening.

The Lightning Network is an upgrade of the Bitcoin network that allows the network to scale globally. As currently more people want to use Bitcoin than the network can handle, a long needed upgrade of the throughput finally makes its entry: the Lightning Network.
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The developing conflict between regulators and crypto-anarchists

Recently I got married to the most wonderful woman on earth and enjoyed a great lengthy honeymoon. After returning home I found myself amidst an interesting mix of innovations, news and developments; together signalling a large conflict in the crypto-space.

Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve (FED) of the United States recently considered it fair to say that the American bond market is in a bubble that is not discounted in the market places. Irrational exuberance was the term coined by Greenspan in the nineties to explain that the markets were in a bubble. This time the term was appropriate to describe the markets again, according to the former chairman.


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Cryptocurrency regulation by identification is failing

While authorities around the world target the anonymity of digital currencies with impracticable regulation, the industry innovates at an exceptional speed, complicating effective regulation further. There is a better solution to the problems around regulation of digital currency, but it requires an innovative approach from the authorities.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) seek significant regulatory authority over the usage of digital currencies like Bitcoin. With a draft publishing, prepared by the EU Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs along with the Committee of Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs, MEPs are deliberating to extend the scope of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD) to include digital currencies.


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The Dutch blockchain hackathon

During the Dutch Blockchain Hackathon I was a mentor of dozens of teams that developed blockchain solutions. During the weekend I was interviewed about the ecosystem around Blockchain in the Netherlands (video).

Last week-end I participated as a Blockchain expert during the “Dutch Blockchain Hackathon”, the worlds biggest blockchain hackathon up to date. During this event, 55 teams developed their usecase, their business-model and their software-solution in an effort to win the grand prize of € 10.000, within their track.


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How steem could turn youtube into a data storage facility

Recently a new social media platform called steem, that is powered by blockchain technology, spiked into existence. The technology could turn Youtube in a hollow video repository, merely used for storage.

Recently a new social media platform named steem went live and became available for anyone interested. This new platform allows users to post all kinds of stories, video’s, images, short twitter-like posts and even questions in search for an answer.


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