July 2022 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Cryptocurrency: PoW over PoS
by grarpamp 17 Sep '22

17 Sep '22

Privacy-enabled coins ftw! All commodities require energy. Since crypto is a commodity it can serve as global digital money. The economic function is to provide property rights to 8B people as well as a global settlement network that has already cleared $17T in 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIj-r7kR6N4 https://preview.redd.it/o04z31jyocn81.jpg?width=1199&format=pjpg&auto=webp&… Proof of Work is the most important innovation within blockchains and why blocks in blockchains even exist. The key aspects as to why Proof of work is so important and cannot be replaced by PoS are: 1) Fair Coin Distribution No scammy ICO , premine or instamine is created and miners are forced to sell most of their coins to cover the expense (mainly ASICs + electricity) which allows a fair distribution and competition in the minting process. 2) long term incentives With coins that have premines/instamines/ICOs the incentives are such that the creators benefit from pumping and dumping and creating more altcoins/ICOs to "fundraise" more rather than miners who have sunk infrastructure costs on mining a particular algo(The more we approach Moore's cliff the longer these time preferences become as we have been seeing) 3) Decentralization of Minting Since mining BTC is so competitive, profit margins are typically thin and thus new entrants that either use a better tool to mine (ASIC) or find cheaper sources of power(typically green due to the economics) can quickly gain market share making lasting monopolies difficult. Even if a main ASIC manufacturer appears to have a large market share we can see this quickly change due to a single malinvestment or a mistake when developing the newest ASIC. Power is a resource that comes from many sources and allows many locations around the world to remain competitive for unique reasons. 4) Sybil resistant Proof of work allows miners to order transactions where there are real tangible costs to transaction selection and fake nodes cannot simply flood the ecosystem in order to attack the network 5) Game Theory The game theory of Bitcoin is such that it is more profitable to mine bitcoin and secure the network than attack it because any attempt at a 51% attack or reorg the chain would quickly be caught once the attack was executed and the loss in resources would be profound. 6) Objective Security - Proof of work gives us an objective and measurable degree of security where risk assessments can be made with greater precision that isn't afforded with more subjective forms of security. 6) Less Regulatory Scrutiny - One critical aspect to how securities are defined and regulated by governments(for the USA research into "Howey Test" but other countries have similar regulations) deals with who controls the money/investment and a common enterprise profiting from it. Because Proof of work allows anyone to become a bank that mints and secures the network that no-one can control courts have already determined that Bitcoin cannot be considered a "security" and thus would not fall under those regulations like other coins/ICOs that lack Proof of Work. PoW alone is not the only determining factor on defining what is and isn't a security but an important one. 7) Incentives to resist centralization The game theory and incentives of Proof of stake all lead to centralization because there is no external need to compete for energy and efficiencies. The creators or large whales who buy into the coin will all form a controlling oligopoly who can simply collect taxes (fees) for no effort and censor with no effort unlike with proof of work Proof is stake has nothing at stake. They all try to somehow artificially make up for the fact there's no cost to attack. They're all basically trying to fake work without doing work. The slashing or whatever the preminers are calling it is after the fact. After the rich guys have forked off, which they can do because they're both producers and validators, they don't care about the value of that other chain left behind. The majority staked coins have already decided what's the main chain. Now if you want to overrule them, the CEO of that blockchain is going to need to repeatedly roll back and convince everyone to stick to the chain he decides by his authority as the valid chain. This has already been done after an embarrassing smart contract hack where the premine gang lost their coins. Proof of work attack cost is upfront cost and easily identifiable so the rogue miners will have lost money doing nothing except attempt a single double spend before nodes reject their blocks. Yes they can carry on attack for a long time and publish a long reorg which would have massive cost but a small fork choice change to automatically reject reorgs past certain number of blocks including any double spend will fix that. All it takes to overpower rogue miners in bitcoin is $50 rasp-pi rig. When security of blockchain depends on the coin created by itself and only people with staked coins can validate blocks, you're FUBAR when someone with enough coins wants to attack the chain or force changes to their own benefit. Moores cliff means old ASICs do not become obsolete as quickly. The newest ASICs are already down to 3nm , to put things in perspective Intels most expensive retail chips are still at 10nm , there really isn't that much more room for BTC ASICs to shrink which means decentralization of mining . There are also many fundamental misunderstandings people have towards the advantageous and disadvantageous in industrial mining. A few things you need to understand about mining – Chipmakers like TSMC and Samsung as 2 examples (Soon to add intel to this list) are the ones that are commissioned to make most ASIC chips(not the full assembled ASIC miner) based upon designs from Bitcoin ASIC manufactures. These foundries are involved in diverse chip making and obviously aren't directly involved in Bitcoin or its politics but fulfilling large orders from whoever commissions them. The most popular ASIC manufacturers for Bitcoin right now are Whatsminer, Innosilicon, Bitmain, Caanan, Ebit, and Ebang. Many more ASIC manufacturers exist but they come and go based upon merit in a highly competitive race. For example Bitfury used to be one of the best manufacturers , and now has very little market share. Bitmain used to dominate , and than made some poor design decisions (lead engineer left them) and now competes with at least 4 others for the most efficient ASICs. This is a highly competitive and changing ecosystem. Large miners main advantage is economies of scale over smaller miners. If you are an ASIC manufacturer you have large advantage over others because you can premine off your newest hardware and sell you last generation ASICs to others. This does occur , but is simplistic view and not the full picture. The reality is ASIC manufacturers Sell their newest ASICs with partners for industrial mining , sell their latest hardware to smaller miners for a premium, and mine themselves, while at the same time selling older ASICs on the market. Why do they do this? Because ASIC manufacturing is highly competitive and they need to hedge their investments as quickly as possible and de-risk from regulatory concerns as well. Amateur mining doesn't come with many risks of manufacturers who come and go (they are forced to make huge investments in ASIC orders and have long development pipelines fraught with risks) Amateur mining does not have the overhead of employees , security, regulatory compliance, building costs, tax liabilities , etc... Now here is what is interesting, this last generation of ASICs that went from 7nm to 5nm in size did not have the same efficiency jumps as previous drops. This is because 5nm is already at the edge of what can be done with silicone, we can possibly shrink down to 2-3nm but it gets extremely difficult as the gates start to get the size of a few atoms wide and quantum concerns and heat become a very big concern. Why is any of this important? In the past when ASICs went from 14nm to 12nm there was larger improvements in efficiencies which gave an advantage towards those who could manufacture and mine themselves and their partners. ASICs would become obsolete sooner 8 months to 1 year at times which makes it difficult for amateur miners to recoup their investment in an ASIC especially those that by the slightly older generation equipment. As moore's cliff approaches (we are already there as I don't see 2nm anytime soon) this means that this latest generation of ASICs will have a much longer shelf life which means the variable above is much less important and the greater importance is a complex mix of what sort of electrical rates you can get - overhead costs. Now remember what I said about the advantageous of amateur mining. Industrial mining has other advantageous too like economies of scale and specialization but many disadvantageous as well. What this ultimately means is we are entering a period of commoditization in mining(the opposite of centralization). The economics force this direction. industrial miners will still exist but more and more amateur miners will enter the ecosystem. Eventually new companies will be also created that create products to recycle the waste heat (already exists , but prices will start to drop considerably for consumers) In POS, as far as I understand, any small time player can stake and get the same return on investment a huge whale would get. The largest whales will always get more and more stake for 0 effort due to collected fees from staking which is proportional to their stake . Thus even if you equally distribute all the stake initially it will become centralized over time. https://youtu.be/bBC-nXj3Ng4 https://youtu.be/ncPyMUfNyVM The "environmental impact of using electricity" seems very pedantic and cherry picks cases for criticism. There are countless other uses of electricity in the world which no one is talking about which provide very little contribution to societies. People are so brainwashed it's sad, when presented with a system to move away from the global rot of fiat currencies and central banks, as well as solving the unbanked crisis (to name but 2 crucial benefits). All they can talk about is energy use. Nothing of value can exist without energy. "Physics of value". How much energy do sport events use and environmental damage do they cause, for entertainment purposes. God forbid humanity uses some of it's electricity so countries can have financial security and protection from the countless financial crashes imposed on the populous. No let's stick with the same corrupt and limiting system which only serves the 1% I.e. those living furthest up stream and closest to the source. Excellent logic, at least you'll all be able to blame your respective governments for the continued increase in cost of living, lack of access to education, housing, food and energy. Because of course....these issues couldn't possibly be linked to the current system for value exchange and "wealth preservation". No let's stick with the debasement of fiat currencies and the completely unbalanced distribution of economic gain leading us to war and social unrest. Yeah that sounds so much better for the planet. Our children will be eternally thankful we were too manipulated to create a better future. Privileged middle and upper class people living in the developed world can easily ask; "Yeah, but, do we need to use so much energy for something that presently provides so little benefit?" But try asking someone in Africa, South America and any of the other financially ravaged countries where people have their fiat savings taken away by governments the same question. I think you'll get a far better answer from them than you will on Reddit. As for energy think of how much energy countries, people and creatures require to protect themselves. Is the amount of military spending carried out by America and Europe useful energy consumption. I would argue yes, you cannot protect your way of life without energy and force. Again, physics, energy and force. You require energy for protection, most things require energy to exist. You are falling straight into the elitist trap of daring to tell people what they can use their energy for which they either create or purchase. Very slippery slope which will not end at Bitcoin mining. The Bitcoin network requires energy to protect itself, the energy to protect it's network participants stake. It's never been hacked. The most secure digital network with a non biased approach to users and participants, accessible 24/7, border-less and with no single point of failure. No to think about it, you're completely correct, there's no benefit to such a digital facility in an ever increasing digital age with debasement of fiat and soaring inflation. This narrative will be proven baseless eventually like so many other misinterpretations of positive developments in human history. The lies and manipulation always get uncovered in the end, just a shame so many people have to suffer as a consequence of propaganda and conformist indoctrination. Those opposing it are supporting oppression on the unbanked and those impoverished by their centralised currencies and governments. But Bitcoiners are the ones being questioned on their ethics and morals. How beautifully ironic this tale currently is.

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xNY.io - Bank.org | DOJ Memo #1
by Gunnar Larson 12 Sep '22

12 Sep '22

Mr. Marzulli: Memo #1 here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OsxfjN3TUepftKklopkQDSMwFWstWozuku4IPPu… Why on Earth should the Deferred Agreement be our problem. We expect DOJ guidance on this serious matter. I love you too, Gunnar -- *Gunnar Larson - xNY.io <http://www.xNY.io> | Bank.org <http://Bank.org>* MSc <https://www.unic.ac.cy/blockchain/msc-digital-currency/?utm_source=Google&u…> - Digital Currency MBA <https://www.unic.ac.cy/business-administration-entrepreneurship-and-innovat…> - Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ip) G(a)xNY.io +1-646-454-9107 New York, New York 10001

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A Gang Of HackRFs Makes For A Wideband SDR | Hackaday
by jim bell 10 Sep '22

10 Sep '22

https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/a-gang-of-hackrfs-makes-for-a-wideband-sdr/ (Oleg Kutkov] decided to build a wideband SDR – for satellite communication research and monitoring, you know, the usual. He decided on a battery of HackRF boards – entire eight of them, in fact. Two 1×4 and one 1×2 RF splitters and an LNA on their combined RF input made for a good start to the project, and from there, it only got more complex. HackRF boards can be synchronized with a separate clock source, but you can’t just pull a single clock line to all of them in a star configuration. Thus, he’s built a clock distribution and amplifier board, with 4 ns propagation delay at 1 PPS, and only 10 ns delay at 10 MHz. Then, he integrated that board with the HackRF setup, adding a case, wiring up a purpose-built cable and dealing with the reflections that occurred. HackRF boards are USB 2.0 and able to generate a stream of data up to 320 MB/s, and there’d be no viable way to aggregate eight 2.0 links into one. To solve that, he’s used eight separate PCI-E to USB 3.0 cards, each of them with one HackRF plugged in, all connected to an AMD Ryzen 9-powered PC through PCI-E risers we typically see used for mining purposes. To tie it all together, he created a gnuradio flowgraph and patched the osmocom source block to enable the external clock synchronization mechanisms he decided to use.

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Cypherpunks for open borders
by professor rat 03 Sep '22

03 Sep '22

This seems uncontroversial - open borders in the absence of a command economy and full-spectrum welfare ie national-healthcare-style state is decidedly pro-market, pro-freedom, and pro-peace. Certainly open-borders are as intrinsic to crypto-anarchism as diversity-of-tactics. That is certainly uncontroversial. It may be that some self-described cypherpunk might decide to advocate for border controls for some reason. The onus is then on them to prove their case. Such as in Jeff Berwick Vs John Galton However no crypto-anarchist will be caught dead arguing for nationalist borders; I promise youse.

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John McAfee dead by suicide after extradition approved by Spanish court.
by jim bell 26 Aug '22

26 Aug '22

There is an "opportunity cost" to NOT implementing my 'Assassination Politics' 1995 invention. http://jya.com/ap.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost?wprov=sfla1 How many tech people have been victimized by government in ways that would never have occurred had an AP-type system been functioning? Edward Snowden. Ross Ulbricht. Now John McAfee. Phil Zimmermann, author of PGP-1, was harassed for a few years. Even, dare I say, myself. The Internet has greatly changed the world in the last 25 years because people implemented ideas that hardly existed 30 years ago. Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Google. Smartphones. TOR. Encrypted phones. Dark Markets. Why not AP? Why not implement the one thing that has a good chance of taking down every government on the face of the Earth? No wars, no militaries, no taxes, no governments. Are those goals any less important than any of the other advances technology has brought us? U.S. software mogul John McAfee dies by hanging in Spanish prison - lawyer says | | | | | | | | | | | U.S. software mogul John McAfee dies by hanging in Spanish prison - lawyer says U.S. technology entrepreneur John McAfee apparently hanged himself in his prison cell on Wednesday after the Spanish high court authorised his extradition to the United States, his lawyer told Reuters. | | | |

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Fwd: FOIL Request# 2022-089773 Acknowledgement FOIL-2022-089773-016386
by Gunnar Larson 23 Aug '22

23 Aug '22

A quick update related to the NYCCoin, STX and Miami Coin disaster: - See we are on a 20 business day timeline for answers from NY-DFS. - Same goes for the September 11, 2021 Board of Directors resignation from LendingClub.com. These questions have simple answers people already know. Kicking the can down the road really does New Yorkers a disservice. And, simply won't work. New York innovation is priceless. And protecting it from fondling seemingly has failed, in the case of NYCCoin. -- *Gunnar Larson - xNY.io <http://www.xny.io/> | Bank.org <http://bank.org/>* MSc <https://www.unic.ac.cy/blockchain/msc-digital-currency/?utm_source=Google&u…> - Digital Currency MBA <https://www.unic.ac.cy/business-administration-entrepreneurship-and-innovat…> - Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ip) G(a)xNY.io +1-646-454-9107 New York, New York 10001 ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: <Carmen.Garrett(a)dfs.ny.gov> Date: Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 11:17 AM Subject: FOIL Request# 2022-089773 Acknowledgement FOIL-2022-089773-016386 To: <g(a)xny.io> DEAR Gunnar Larsen: I write to acknowledge receipt of the FOIL request that you submitted to the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS), which has been assigned the above referenced tracking number. This number should be the number that you refer to in all future communications with DFS. Your request has been referred to the appropriate DFS unit(s) to search for the records that are responsive to your request. The assigned unit(s) will contact you within 20 business days to (i) advise whether the unit has any records that are responsive to your request; (ii) grant or deny your request, if the unit has responsive records; or (iii) apprise you of the progress of your request, if the search or review of the records that you requested is still on-going. *As part of the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic, some or all agency employees may be working off-site. As such, there may be delays in response to FOIL requests. If a record responsive to a request is only available in hard-copy format, that record’s availability will be limited until further notice. Thank you for your patience during this extraordinary time.* New York State Department of Financial Services If you are a New York State resident and would like to register to vote or update your address, you may complete and submit to your County Board of Elections a New York State Voter Registration Form which can be found at http://www.ny.gov/services/register-vote . Tracking Number:FOIL-2022-089773-016386

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Tom's Hardware: U.S. Wants China's SMIC to Stop Making 14nm Chips
by jim bell 19 Aug '22

19 Aug '22

Tom's Hardware: U.S. Wants China's SMIC to Stop Making 14nm Chips. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/us-wants-china-smic-to-stop-making-14nm-c… When the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) restricted access of China's largest contract chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) to fab equipment used to make10nm-class chips, it was considered a tough but not too severe move. Now the U.S. government is mulling restricting China from producing logic chips using a 14nm-class fabrication process. The DOC is examining the possibility of prohibiting the exportation of chipmaking tools to companies in China that can make logic chips using 14nm-class manufacturing nodes and thinner, according to a Reuters report that cites five people familiar with the matter. The only company in China currently producing chips using its 14nm fabrication process is SMIC, which has been doing so since late 2019. What is not completely clear from the report is whether the DOC wants to ban SMIC from getting tools used to make semiconductors on its 14nm node and thinner, or if it wants to ban SMIC from getting any tools at all because it is capable of making chips using its 14nm technology.

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[ot][spam][crazy][crazy][spam]
by Undiscussed Horrific Abuse, One Victim of Many 12 Aug '22

12 Aug '22

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 pt1 = 2,1 pt2 = 4,3 pt3 = 0,3 line(a,b): change = b/a ct = max(abs(change)) for t = 0..ct inclusive: plot(a + change * t / ct) line(pt1,pt2) line(pt2,pt3) line(pt3,pt1)

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[spam][ot] MCBoss Goes Out In Cold Re: Okay, I have another one for you
by Undiscussed Horrific Abuse, One Victim of Many 10 Aug '22

10 Aug '22

On Sun, Jul 3, 2022, 2:53 AM Undiscussed Horrific Abuse, One Victim of Many <gmkarl(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Haha are you giving me therapy to integrate my parts? > > I'm not sure. Is it kind to you to do this somehow? I like being kind to > people. > > Ummm maybe an analogy? Like MCBoss goes outdoors? > Hi Karl, >> >> How about MCBoss and Wim Hof? >> > Boss goes outdoors. Hairdresser: "Boss, there's a competitor mocking you with corporate secrets in the 'rainbow snowstorm' scenario on the holodeck. Let's catch 'im!" Boss: "Another one. We'll make quick work of it." Boss, Hairdresser, and a couple others charge out the >

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Resignation
by Gunnar Larson 09 Aug '22

09 Aug '22

Ms. Harris and Mr. Webber: I must ask for your resignation. Anything less is obstruction of justice. Thank you, Gunnar Larson

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