qas
Qas

purecyber.com

Head of Penetration Testing at PureCyber

Public Key

npub18w8v9x97hk7fawx46xp7tjxxeng3g3gdlkfdut94daa0j96mhaasntdcc7

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsrhrkznzltm0y7hr2arql9errve5g5g5xlmyk79j6k77hezadm77cpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqdqnehn

Publishing to

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub18w8v9x97hk7fawx46xp7tjxxeng3g3gdlkfdut94daa0j96mhaasntdcc7

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Last Notes

2026-02-18 15:47:14 GMT

Possibly controversial take: Going from having one child to two children is easier than going from no child to one. Still super tiring but actually feel like I know what I’m doing the second time round!

2026-02-18 15:43:56 GMT

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100% agree, that’s why I’ll be homeschooling my kids

2026-02-11 19:32:26 GMT

Just started paternity leave for our second child.
The last few days have been filled with broken sleep, endless feeds, keeping a toddler entertained on fumes. Absolute chaos!
But in those rare quiet moments, I remind myself that this is what it’s all about.
Being present. Showing up for my kids and for things that matter.
Right, back to stopping a two-year-old from poking the baby in the eyes.
https://blossom.primal.net/7ff2a86baccc22dc5b7907b1ee8e991592e12d846c3160d1a5f83a2dce94f414.jpg

2026-02-02 18:52:51 GMT

The people that are the most ‘tolerant’ of society seem to be the most intolerant if you disagree with their political views.
I most likely won’t vote for Reform or any other party in the next election because I’m yet to see one politician that grasps basic economics.
But I do know that if your argument is “ha, you can’t afford to go to University!”, then you’re probably not as virtuous as you think you are.
https://blossom.primal.net/927dcf71af2d58c96ec502b7d8ace7c25ec53ab183cb8dc871f4b0b1efdc517c.jpg

2026-02-02 18:33:07 GMT

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Why is that people that clearly don’t understand Bitcoin have the strongest opinions against it? I never negatively talk down things I don’t understand but there are so many people that cannot say that when it comes to Bitcoin. If you don’t understand it, that’s fine. But using the same, tired and shitty arguments in a smug manner despite them all being debunked is infuriating.
#nevent1q…5jxa

2026-02-02 18:32:51 GMT

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It breaks me when I read conversations like this, fair play for the cool head giving the smugness of the guy’s stance about Bitcoin.

2026-01-31 17:26:18 GMT

When you become a dad, your definition of “success” completely changes.
If you’d have asked me 12 months ago, salary and titles mattered a lot to me.
Now all I really want is to give my family a good life.
My kids won’t care if I was a “thought leader”. But they will remember whether I was present and whether they felt loved.
That doesn’t mean my work ethic will drop. I still want to work hard and care deeply about what I do. If anything, that matters more now as I want to be a good role model.
It just means that my sense of self-worth isn’t tied to my career, pay bands or titles anymore.
P.S. I realise I look like I’m having way more fun than my son in this photo.
https://blossom.primal.net/ace572dd811ca763db0d0b39dcd8ae29c3f45fee85c667a8a93798bd2bf368b0.jpg

2026-01-31 17:22:47 GMT

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True! I’m obviously expecting too much 🤣

2026-01-31 17:15:04 GMT

I don’t get why anyone would sell Bitcoin at this time. Why would you sell scarce money for money that banks can literally print to infinity? It makes no sense.

2026-01-29 19:18:25 GMT

The thesis hasn’t changed. Fiat is dying and Bitcoin trumps everything else. May take longer than I thought but I’m still staying humble and stacking sats.

2026-01-27 19:49:34 GMT

My credit score has tanked because I’m now debt free and own everything I have. All credit brokers recommend that I use credit cards or take out a loan to show that I’m trustworthy and boost my score. Almost seems like they want people to stay as debt slaves forever.
https://blossom.primal.net/605125f32b1c3f8d00554ce5f256db33940d21765afe90b60a0e0a3d8e5555ad.jpg

2026-01-26 15:27:22 GMT

Working from home with a young child has raised an important question for me.
How on earth does Bandit from Bluey have the energy for all of those games? No visible fatigue whatsoever and available for “just one more”.
Puts me to shame!
https://blossom.primal.net/5ef21a8c88dfc0f788afa3c5c6de8c2727e312d2e9100564f1fed998c6f82461.jpg

2026-01-25 21:29:41 GMT

Still buying the dip 💪
https://blossom.primal.net/96961de8d2b93dd3dc73727d04e886d43aaacacc9b820390b89bf4d1d972b1e7.jpg

2026-01-25 18:58:45 GMT

Got that Sunday feeling before work tomorrow. If it wasn’t for Bitcoin, I’d be depressed if this was going to be every one of my Sunday’s until I’m 70.

2026-01-25 14:50:16 GMT

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Same! Sounds like it’d take horrible but is actually pretty good

2026-01-25 13:48:33 GMT

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Haha maybe unpopular opinion but I love haggis!

2026-01-24 18:33:37 GMT

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Exactly this! If I opt out, I’m happy to sign some waiver that says that if I lose all my money then I won’t ask for a state pension. Would just like the option!

2026-01-24 18:32:21 GMT

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That’s exactly why I’m leaving my job and going solo haha. More control of what I contribute to hopefully!

2026-01-24 17:32:10 GMT

Unpopular opinion: I wish you could opt out of paying National Insurance. I don’t want to participate in, fund or receive anything from a state pension Ponzi scheme and would rather the money went literally anywhere else.

2026-01-22 19:15:24 GMT

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Thank you!!

2026-01-22 14:31:25 GMT

Been quiet on here for a while! If I’m honest I’ve been so burnt out from the fiat mine that it’s left little time for anything else. I fell into the trap of climbing the corporate ladder and believing that my life would improve. Instead it came with more work and stress. And less time with family!
Thanks to Bitcoin, I’m in a position where I don’t need to work as much as I have been. Will things be tighter financially? Yep! But I’m opting out and going solo as a pen tester moving forward. I’m giving up the title and corporate prestige for more time and freedom to see my kids grow up. So you’ll see more posting and chatting a lot more as the year goes on. Wish me luck!

2026-01-04 14:28:08 GMT

That email, call or Teams message can wait until tomorrow. That’s the biggest lesson that I’ve taken away from this Christmas break.
Getting to experience my son’s second Christmas and watch him begin to take in the magic of the festive season has been amazing.
There’s been a few times that I’ve been tempted to work over the holidays but he’s been glued to me the entire time, kicking off every time I’ve gone to sneak away to get my laptop.
I came to realise that there will always be another email, meeting or call. But there won’t always be a chance to spend these moments with family.
So much content glorifies hard work and hustling but very little on the reason why we do it. With a second child on the way, I’m hellbent on taking this lesson into 2026.
https://blossom.primal.net/2b9290ae03ddd96238b68140ce4cfef15d0aff39209c6a6de045864ddabbaaa3.jpg

2025-12-25 11:40:43 GMT

Merry Christmas Nostr!

2025-11-30 19:24:32 GMT

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Bingo! That’s my fear, it’s a lot of power for only a handful of people to have. Even if it started off with the best intentions, history shows that it’d be abused over time

2025-11-30 19:23:25 GMT

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Sorry thought I’d pressed Reply already! That’s amazing, if I’m honest I’m not looking for riches and am waiting for that point where I don’t need to work to start stepping back and spend more time with family. I’ve got a second child on the way and it’s crazy how fast time goes after kids! Nice, out of curiosity, what type of business would you start up? Thank you, I will do 😊

2025-11-09 22:29:20 GMT

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Ha! You’d think but I swear most Bitcoiners I speak to look at it through the lens of fiat! As cliché as it sounds, spending time with my family (I’m a new father) is my absolute favourite thing to do. What about yourself?

2025-11-09 22:12:47 GMT

If you’re still measuring Bitcoin in fiat, you’ve missed the point.
Bitcoin is measured in freedom.

2025-11-08 22:05:10 GMT

Sometimes I think the most radical thing you can do today is be patient.

2025-11-08 17:58:35 GMT

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Agreed. There’ll be bad actors but if it’s a choice between freedom for the majority, then I’ll always value that about all else!

2025-11-08 17:57:49 GMT

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Yes it is! Unfortunately I feel like more and more people are being brainwashed with this way of thinking every day

2025-11-08 17:39:55 GMT

Privacy isn’t about hiding wrongdoing. It’s about preventing abuse of power.
History repeats that lesson endlessly, and yet people still say, “If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear.”

2025-11-07 22:13:35 GMT

The biggest risk isn’t Bitcoin volatility. It’s trusting a system that keeps failing.

2025-11-05 20:51:38 GMT

Price will wobble. Mission won’t. Bitcoin exists to separate money from the state.

2025-11-04 22:05:12 GMT

Most people still think 1 BTC = $X. Eventually they’ll realise 1 BTC = 1 BTC.

2025-11-03 22:29:22 GMT

If you zoom out far enough, every dip in Bitcoin’s history looks like an entry point. This one will too.

2025-11-02 21:33:17 GMT

Governments fear losing control over money. Bitcoiners fear losing control over their freedom. Those two fears will define the next decade.

2025-11-02 18:03:29 GMT

The system wants you to keep running just to stay in place. Bitcoin lets you stop running.

2025-11-01 21:47:45 GMT

One day, your kids will ask what you did when money was broken. “Bought Bitcoin” is a good answer.

2025-10-31 21:58:23 GMT

Self-custody is the most peaceful form of protest in history.

2025-10-31 20:01:58 GMT

If you understand Bitcoin, every dip feels like a discount on your future freedom.

2025-10-30 19:09:49 GMT

There’s a quiet satisfaction in knowing your savings can’t be diluted by someone else’s decisions.

2025-10-29 19:26:18 GMT

You can’t print trust. That’s why Bitcoin works.

2025-10-28 22:16:55 GMT

When you measure your life in fiat, you chase things. When you measure it in Bitcoin, you chase purpose.

2025-10-27 22:17:42 GMT

Every parent I know wants to give their kids a better future. That’s exactly why I save in Bitcoin. Not for wealth but for stability.

2025-10-27 19:53:52 GMT

You don’t have to explain Bitcoin to everyone. Just live it. People notice peace faster than price charts.

2025-10-26 21:42:58 GMT

Bitcoin doesn’t need marketing. Broken money is the best marketing campaign ever created.

2025-10-26 15:48:09 GMT

Every new person who learns what Bitcoin truly is becomes one less person controlled by inflation.

2025-10-26 14:47:03 GMT

When you measure your life in fiat, you chase things. When you measure it in Bitcoin, you chase purpose.

2025-10-25 11:38:49 GMT

The secret about money is simple:
Once you realise it’s everywhere, easy to earn again, and always within reach then scarcity fades, and abundance begins.

2025-10-23 21:50:30 GMT

We were told to diversify.
But how do you diversify out of a system that’s designed to make you lose?
You opt out. Bitcoin.

2025-10-22 21:10:25 GMT

Fiat traps you in a cycle of debt. Bitcoin gives you time to raise your kids, take a breath, and live on your own terms.

2025-10-21 21:07:38 GMT

Bitcoin is the only asset that lets you sleep deeply in a world that never stops printing money.

2025-10-21 18:43:46 GMT

If you still think Bitcoin is “too volatile,” wait until you see what happens to your currency over a decade.

2025-10-20 20:37:53 GMT

You can’t measure Bitcoin’s value only in price charts.
Measure it in families who escaped inflation, in businesses that stopped relying on broken banks, in people who finally have hope.

2025-10-20 19:08:07 GMT

Every gold bug’s last-ditch: “But… Quantum tho?”
Bitcoin: software that updates, hardens, and evolves daily.

2025-10-20 18:37:19 GMT

It’s funny, the more time I’ve spent learning about Bitcoin, the more I see opportunities everywhere.
When you stop thinking in scarcity, the world starts to open up.

2025-10-19 20:21:36 GMT

Bitcoin isn’t just digital gold, it’s the foundation for a fairer world.
Every transaction that bypasses the system strengthens individual sovereignty.

2025-10-18 15:33:11 GMT

No one ever looks back and says, “I wish I’d spent less time with my kids and more time chasing fiat.”
Bitcoin gives you the ability to choose what matters.

2025-10-17 20:35:59 GMT

If you want peace of mind, hold Bitcoin in cold storage and zoom out.
The noise fades. The conviction compounds.

2025-10-17 12:03:06 GMT

Bitcoin teaches patience better than anything else.
It humbles you when you’re greedy, rewards you when you’re disciplined, and reminds you that truth doesn’t need your permission to work.

2025-10-16 17:28:04 GMT

Freedom over paychecks.
Time with family over titles.
That’s what Bitcoin gives back, the choice to live differently.

2025-10-15 20:43:57 GMT

When you understand what Bitcoin fixes, the volatility becomes background noise.
The only thing that matters is time.

2025-10-15 15:50:30 GMT

You can’t diversify your way out of a system designed to fail you.
You can only opt out.

2025-10-14 20:25:42 GMT

I used to look for the next “big investment opportunity.”
Now I just look for ways to earn more fiat so I can convert it into Bitcoin. Everything else feels riskier and gives less freedom.

2025-10-14 18:28:39 GMT

It’s easy to point fingers at the UK government or regulators for the anti-freedom to transact KYC/AML rules. Sure, they deserve a lot of the blame but to be honest, the culture of overregulation is also something many people in the UK want.
We’ve normalised surveillance and financial control in the name of “safety.” People are now grateful to be asked for proof before spending their own money.
That’s not safety. That’s conditioning.
Freedom to transact isn’t about hiding, it’s about not needing permission to live your life.

2025-10-13 18:45:56 GMT

The louder the noise gets, the more I’m reminded how few people actually understand what Bitcoin is. Conviction doesn’t come from price action, it comes from knowledge.

2025-10-06 20:09:47 GMT

I posted about Bitcoin’s security model on LinkedIn and got this response back.
We are still early.
https://blossom.primal.net/1bdb410e07bf87a278f5828d64324c5d75a70b61b49b3ed3b8a3915e90768d93.jpg

2025-10-06 18:11:14 GMT

Our tech evolved. Our medicine evolved. Our money didn’t. Bitcoin is the missing piece of the modern world.

2025-10-05 19:32:33 GMT

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Thank you! Definitely feeling it now though 🤣

2025-10-05 17:51:45 GMT

Exhausted but really proud to have run today’s Cardiff Half Marathon for Tenovus Cancer Care!
https://blossom.primal.net/c739d04bac476971711f989b328854385f1fb7ef5b54719c2db65a7c843af3a4.jpg

2025-10-04 20:39:30 GMT

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Great to see a fellow Brit using Nostr!

2025-10-03 18:36:14 GMT

The UK government has just made it clear. They don’t care what the people think.
Despite nearly 3 million signatures on the anti-Digital ID petition, Parliament is pushing ahead anyway.
Freedom of choice? Gone. Privacy? Undermined. Work without a government-approved ID? Not allowed.
Bitcoin provides a way to opt out of financial control. It won’t solve everything but it’s a start.

2025-10-02 18:01:32 GMT

Don’t trade your time for money they can print.

2025-10-01 15:31:10 GMT

Although I disagree with Peter Schiff on Bitcoin, I have huge respect for his ability to articulate what’s broken in the credit-based system. Few have done more to raise awareness and explain the problem so clearly. Highly recommend this book to anyone.
https://blossom.primal.net/a30aaaba54bbf0a3782b0fb1d92ed58287633446bd5c0fb6a04737110ef095f3.jpg

2025-09-30 18:33:42 GMT

Following on from my post last week and the messages I received from it, I wanted to share a mistake I made in tech startups and one I still see other founders making today.
I fell for the “build it and they will come” mantra.
I came up with what I thought was a great idea and, before I could even say the words “market research” or “business model,” I dove straight into building. Building is exciting. The possibilities feel endless. It’s a thrill to create something that could change the world.
But I never stopped to ask the basics. Who is this for exactly? How will it be sustainable? Is what I’m building valuable enough that people will actually pay for it?
In business, inaction can kill you just as much as snap decisions. But there are fundamental questions every founder should ask before throwing money or time at an idea.
The best approach I’ve found is Paul Graham’s “do things that don’t scale” method. Rather than building a £20k MVP, focus on a cheap, manual, inefficient way to prove people care about what you’re building. It’s not flashy, it’s not pretty, but it quickly tells you whether your idea has legs so you can spend more time building what people actually want.

2025-09-30 06:17:49 GMT

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Similar journey myself. Started with stocks then dabbled in crypto thinking I was ‘investing’. Then stumbled across Bitcoin and realised I had no idea about money, fiat or anything else really 🤣 I’d love to say I’m super smart and that’s why I discovered it earlier than most but I was just really fortunate that I stumbled into it!

2025-09-29 20:18:17 GMT

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Agreed! For me, it started with trying to outpace inflation and now each day, I seem to fall further and further down the rabbit hole.

2025-09-29 18:53:19 GMT

I didn’t choose the Bitcoin life… the inflation rate chose it for me.

2025-09-29 18:51:39 GMT

This bitcoin bull market is not over yet.

2025-09-29 15:40:16 GMT

Work hard.
Stack sats.
Eat well.
Sleep well.
Run outside.
Love hard.
Repeat 🔁

2025-09-28 18:05:34 GMT

As someone who’s spent years breaking systems, I find Bitcoin’s security design fascinating.
It’s the combustion of energy + consensus that makes it work.
• Miners expend real energy to secure the network.
• Nodes enforce consensus rules, ensuring no one can create extra coins or rewrite history.
• Every transaction is checked across thousands of independent participants.
The magic is in the combination; energy expenditure makes attacks expensive, and consensus via nodes ensures agreement without trusting anyone.
In the digital world, changing systems is usually frictionless. With Bitcoin, change is tied to physical cost. You can’t just push an update or flip a switch, you need to burn real resources. That’s what makes attacks prohibitively expensive and the system uniquely resilient.
Another fascinating aspect is how consensus protects the network. If miners or large institutions want to change the rules of Bitcoin, that’s fine! They can fork off and create their own chain. The main Bitcoin network, enforced by nodes following the existing consensus rules, keeps running as before. This means no single group can force changes on everyone, and the integrity of the system is maintained by the collective agreement of participants rather than any central authority.
From a cyber security perspective it’s brilliant. No central point of failure, no authority to compromise, yet globally robust against adversaries. It’s trust without trusting.
Bitcoin isn’t just money, it’s a masterclass in security architecture. Elegant. Transparent. Built to last.

2025-09-28 14:19:45 GMT

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That pretty much sums up the discussions I’ve seen 🤣

2025-09-26 18:54:42 GMT

My thoughts on Bitcoin’s current dip after casually watching it go from $69,000 to $16,000 in the last cycle.
https://blossom.primal.net/38b28a13ca74a75ce34687489a714940ccbc79150ee49891e00bc2ad3ceb8cc3.png

2025-09-26 14:41:12 GMT

I don’t need a new car to prove anything. I’d rather stack Bitcoin and buy time, freedom, and peace of mind. Priorities.
https://blossom.primal.net/a761c0845504b929db1000a449eed5f33cc6dc3a4059f4bb27e21db52dc77219.jpg

2025-09-25 19:06:09 GMT

It’s crazy that people think Bitcoin has been boring this year when it’s up like 75%.

2025-09-25 15:24:53 GMT

Bitcoiners are great at pointing out what’s broken in the system. But we sometimes forget how lucky we are to live in a time where Bitcoin exists. Before, you just had to accept currency debasement. Now, anyone, anywhere can opt out. That’s a privilege.

2025-09-24 22:09:58 GMT

When I bought my house in 2017, it was worth 24.6 Bitcoin.
Now it’s worth 3.7 Bitcoin.
Yet when priced in £s, it’s gone up by 35%.
If you save in £s you afford less over time. If you save in BTC the picture looks very different.

2025-09-23 18:13:05 GMT

Since Oct 2023 I’ve mostly lived off Bitcoin. Back then 1 BTC was about £28.5k, today it’s ~£85k.
That’s made life feel around 3x more affordable than my peers and it means I get to save more each month. Sometimes the impact of Bitcoin shows up most in the everyday stuff.

2025-09-23 13:40:59 GMT

2 years ago today I walked away from the first startup I founded.
I poured my heart and soul into it for years, was incredibly proud of what we were building, and felt like we were finally gaining traction.
But in 2023, after a string of family health scares and the news that we had a baby on the way, I realised I couldn’t keep going the way I was.
I had made a classic mistake: building product first and trying to figure out the business model later (I definitely would not recommend this). That meant I was constantly playing catch up. 80-hour weeks became the norm, and the people I was supposedly “doing this for” were the ones I was neglecting most.
It took those life events to shake me into realising something I’d overlooked: hustling, titles, social media followers, even “success” itself doesn’t matter if you’re sacrificing what’s truly important.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe you can build something meaningful and still have time for family. But when your job or business is your life, that’s when it becomes dangerous.
At the end of the day, meaningful relationships are the only thing that carry through every stage of your life. Everything else is temporary.
https://blossom.primal.net/cb3ed0733b1aaceed754a662eab57799ed2c771d6950efbdc4851638c6e0e33b.jpg

2025-09-22 19:17:31 GMT

Inflation and years in which your purchasing power is halved:
2% (the target) = 35 years
4% = 17 years
7% = 10 years
10% = 7 years
14% = 5 years
17% = 4 years
20% = 3.5 years
Bitcoin fixes this.

2025-09-20 20:48:47 GMT

Most people think of “digital ID” as just a card on your phone. The real issue is the centralised database behind it.
Linking everything about you into one system doesn’t just create a surveillance risk. It creates a massive security vulnerability. Once that data is breached or misused, you can’t put it back in the box.
It also hands government unprecedented control. The ability to link, track, or even restrict access to everyday life is not something any free society should give up lightly.
Privacy isn’t just about liberty, it’s about safety. Centralising sensitive data in this way puts both at risk.
https://blossom.primal.net/2fe87db73cec9a3b23dffcf3c9eff5d18f81f6ef163df39090c68295a6a20ede.jpg

2025-09-20 11:54:57 GMT

This is why I Bitcoin.
https://blossom.primal.net/da8942968480050ff2d9a6eb3d57fd2bc8cf67fd3076da9d54940fedf1333fd7.jpg

2025-09-20 11:54:21 GMT

One good thing that has come from this Core vs Knots debate is that at least more people are running nodes!

2025-09-18 18:35:38 GMT

It’s crazy how the Core vs Knots debate differs between people on Nostr and X. Across Nostr, people seem to at least be debating. On X, it’s just pure tribalism and people popping off on each other 🙈

2025-09-18 13:56:55 GMT

Bitcoin doesn’t need politicians. Politicians need Bitcoin.
https://blossom.primal.net/5c85ff5c4c367eb8f841df38b2925dc415f5bdba7cd11e325a75844cab5d1321.jpg

2025-09-17 06:28:41 GMT

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Just posted about it now 😊

2025-09-17 06:26:58 GMT

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Thank you for taking the time to read it and that’s great to hear! All I’d ask is that if you see some heated debates about Core vs Knots in future then feel free to share my post, hopefully that helps others understand the situation more and come together to see how we can navigate moving forward.

2025-09-16 18:34:16 GMT

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A lot of the debate around Bitcoin Core vs Knots is missing the key nuance that Core and Knots are fighting for decentralisation at different layers. I shared some thoughts on this in my last post, especially the difference between consensus rules and policy rules. If you missed it, here’s the link.
#nevent1q…3gq2

2025-09-14 14:59:22 GMT

Bitcoin Core vs. Bitcoin Knots: two sides of decentralisation from a professional hacker’s perspective.
A quick intro: I’ve spent the last seven years finding and exploiting security issues in everything from software and networks to trains and power plants. I mention that because I’m looking at the Core vs Knots debate through a security practitioner’s lens, not a tribal one.
There’s a lot of noise around the Core vs. Knots debate right now, but much of it misses the real point. They’re not actually fighting over the same thing and this has meant that whilst people are focusing on the spam argument, we’re sleep walking into some big issues that should be discussed NOW.
Bitcoin Core developers are focused on block production decentralisation. Their concern is making sure every miner, whether a massive pool or a solo operator, has a fair chance to get transactions into a block. That’s why they push for neutrality. If a transaction is valid under Bitcoin’s rules and pays a fee, it should be relayed across the network.
Supporters of Bitcoin Knots are more focused on validation decentralisation. Their priority is keeping full nodes lightweight and affordable to run. They don’t want people priced out by spam or arbitrary data clogging up the blockchain. That’s why they push for stricter relay policies and filters. It makes life easier for ordinary users who want to run a node at home.
Here’s where a lot of confusion comes in.
* Consensus rules define what must be accepted in a block. These are universal.
* Policy rules define what your node chooses to relay or keep in its mempool. These are local choices only.
Filters can protect your own node, but they don’t stop miners from including those transactions if they want to. Neutral relay keeps miners on equal footing, but it also means node operators shoulder more of the load.
For me, one of the biggest threats to Bitcoin isn’t just spam or bloat. It’s the risk that private relay networks become “fast lanes” to miners. If that happens, the balance of power shifts. Transactions that reach miners through these networks will get priority, while transactions from ordinary node operators may lag behind.
This risk is even sharper if Knots-style filters slow down how quickly some nodes can relay transactions. A filtered mempool means your node might not broadcast as fast, giving private relay networks an even bigger head start in reaching miners. That could tilt block production toward those with privileged access, undermining fairness.
That creates a few dangers:
* It could tilt block production towards miners who are plugged into these relay highways, making the system less decentralised.
* It could make censorship easier. If relay networks decide not to carry certain transactions, those transactions may never reach miners in time to compete for block space.
* It could leave node runners with little to no influence over which transactions make it into blocks. At that point, running a node still helps you validate your own transactions, but it no longer contributes much to the fairness of the network.
And if that were to happen, Bitcoin risks becoming less like a neutral, permissionless monetary system and more like a controlled network where a handful of actors decide what gets confirmed. That would weaken the very property that makes Bitcoin valuable as money in the first place.
So this isn’t decentralisation versus centralisation. It’s about which form of decentralisation we prioritise today. Do we focus on keeping nodes light and accessible, or on keeping block propagation fair for miners?
If Bitcoin is going to grow into the world’s dominant money, it probably needs both.
So what’s the takeaway from this post?
For me, Bitcoin is a monetary network and I don’t want to see spam clogging up the blockchain. But I also want those running Knots to recognise that filtering alone won’t stop spam from ending up in blocks. That risk only grows if what gets into blocks is effectively decided by a handful of private relay networks and miners.
I don’t believe Core developers have been “compromised,” but I do worry about the attitude that unless you’ve contributed code, your opinion doesn’t count. That creates an echo chamber around Core, shuts out fresh ideas, and builds distrust among people looking in from the outside.
I think broader adoption of technologies like Stratum V2 is one of the best ways we can reduce the power of mining pools and relay networks. That’s where more of us should be putting our energy today.
And lastly, we need to drop the “us versus them” mentality. This needs open, hard conversations, not rushed decisions. I’ll be quietly running a slightly behind version of Core after the next release, because I’d rather take the time to understand the risks properly. What matters most is that as many people as possible understand the threats to Bitcoin, so we can work together on solutions, rather than a small group pushing updates when most people don’t even understand the why.

2025-09-12 18:12:30 GMT

- reply

Thanks for the feedback! I’ll post an in-depth analysis this weekend of what I see from both sides of the camp and IMO why they’re arguing about two different points when it comes to decentralisation as well as why IMHO this argument is so much bigger than just spam for bitcoins future.