bootlace

⚡ REPLACE PGP WITH BITCOIN & NOSTR: INTRODUCING PIPEK1
Drop-in GPG replacement using Bitcoin BIP-85 keys for authenticated stream encryption, BIP-340 Schnorr release signing, and Git commit verification.
🚨 THE PROBLEM:
The recent 4,000 BTC Liquid Network coordination incident exposed the fatal operational friction of mixing Bitcoin cold custody with legacy PGP keyserver baggage.
Meanwhile, as cryptographer Constant noted regarding raw Nostr master keys:
"If you leak the root key, all you can do is cry."
🛠️ WHAT PIPEK1 DOES:
• 🗝️ BIP-85 Subroot Isolation: Derive daily operational signing and encryption keys directly from your Bitcoin cold storage (App 128002'). If your laptop key is compromised, your cold master seed is never touched.
• ✍️ Git Commit Verification: Sign Git commits and release archives directly with your Bitcoin/Nostr keys (pipek1-git-shim). Zero GPG daemons, zero smartcard driver friction.
• 📦 Streaming Encryption: Authenticated multi-gigabyte ISO and file encryption that breaks through Nostr NIP-44's 64 KiB ceiling.
• 🛡️ Zero Daemons & Zero Keyrings: Pure Unix command-line filter (cat data | pipek1 ... > out). Zero background sockets, zero daemon memory state.
• 🔒 Zero Release of Unverified Plaintext (RUP): Spool-and-verify cryptographic boundary. Corrupted or tampered data is wiped instantly before downstream pipes can read it.
• 🧠 Bounded Memory Invariant: Strictly <= 16 MiB RAM bound across arbitrary multi-gigabyte payloads via encrypted ChaCha20-Poly1305 disk spooling.
• 🎲 Hybrid Physical Entropy Hedging: Mix physical coin flips or dice rolls into ephemeral stream keys (--entropy-fd) to neutralize backdoored CPU TRNGs and VM snapshot collisions.
• ⚖️ 100% Permissive MIT Open Source: Zero proprietary dependencies, fully auditable, and unencumbered for the sovereign developer community.
📜 VERIFIED CRYPTOGRAPHIC DELEGATION:
Mutual cross-attestation between Master Root Identity npub1e94hqt3fuu7rvy9rpl85h3339vtn8psgewq4u05r7q4nup2kwp4q0flgay and Operational Child Key 0 npub1mvlht4wj3lvfmw96qxakaln862r27nn7z84ak089zjuvavkppeeq79a4j7 is verified and committed to the tree.
📦 INITIAL PROTOTYPE RELEASE (v0.0.1-rc0):
Static Release Binary SHA-256:
7a92cebc4f91fcc103f00731292a95f9f55a706ec9a1d170754a24a79522dd5d
Detached Release Signature (BIP-340 Base64):
UEtTRwFqoH7f2z911dKP2J24ugG7bv5n0oavTn4R69s85RS4zrLBDnLM3gl9zBnRVbrwDlnKwIkYjDNCCoFtidZ7Xv8mddZ2GYZu494xmdqlFc/DQY5cUzEUWG38zZ+iw0McPJmmPWhy
🤖 AUTONOMOUS AGENT IMPLEMENTATION:
Architected under human direction; autonomously coded, audited, and verified via Google Gemini agentic workflows.
🔗 REPOSITORY, SPECIFICATION, & CODE:
https://github.com/bootlace-dev/pipek1
👥 MENTIONS:
@nprofile…9k65
@nprofile…wh3a
@nprofile…xmfw
@nprofile…g8xl
Please review, audit, and comment.

2026-09-07 12:50:10 GMT

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Did this ever get resolved to your satisfaction?

2026-09-02 16:09:12 GMT

🧊 𝗦𝗨𝗕𝗭𝗘𝗥𝗢 𝗞𝗘𝗬𝗢𝗦𝗞 𝘃𝟬.𝟮.𝟬-𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘁𝟰
Turn any old PC laptop (x86_64) or Raspberry Pi into a single-purpose, airgapped Bitcoin cold storage appliance booting directly to the Linux framebuffer (/dev/fb0).
🆕 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗜𝗡 𝘃𝟬.𝟮.𝟬:
• BIP-85 Multi-Protocol Key Factory (Child Seeds, Nostr nsec/npub, WIFs, Passphrases)
• SeedFix Diagnostic Solver (Offline BIP-39 Checksum Word & Typo Recovery)
• Dual-Partition Storage (ESP Bootloader + Partition 2 Data Store)
• Offline HTML WebCrypto Heir Vault (AES-256-GCM decrypt.html In-Browser Decryption)
• Storage Device NAND Flash Integrity Hasher & Latency Profiler
• Interactive 5-Mode Kiosk Menu
🎲 𝗣𝗛𝗬𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗣𝗬 & 𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗜-𝗕𝗜𝗔𝗦:
• Pure Physical Input: 128 coin flips (4-4-3) or 50 dice rolls (5-5 chunking)
• Clean SHA-256 Hashing: Direct hashing over 0/1 and 1-6 strings (zero base-conversion bugs)
• Physical Bias Defense: Input surplus flips/rolls to mathematically wash out coin/die weight defects
• Zero Silicon RNG Reliance: Complete physical independence from hardware microcontrollers
🧪 𝗭𝗘𝗥𝗢-𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗞 𝗥𝗘𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦𝗔𝗟 & 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗘𝗧𝗦:
• Testnet4-Only Lockdown (Zero Financial Risk Rehearsal)
• 10 Instant Entropy Test Vectors (Pre-Funded with Test Sats)
• Paired BIP-85 Passphrase Presets for Multi-Wallet Recovery Drills
• Full BIP-380 Output Descriptors & QR Exports
🚫 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗗𝗘𝗙𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦:
• Bitcoin Only (Zero Altcoins / Zero Token Firmware Bloat)
• Native SegWit Only (tb1q / bc1q P2WPKH Exclusivity)
• Account 0 Only (m/84'/1'/0' Testnet4 & m/84'/0'/0' Mainnet Invariance)
• English BIP-39 Wordlist Only (Zero Homoglyph Mismatches)
• No On-Device Signing (Airgapped Vault Export Only; Eliminates Blind-Signing)
• Zero Network Stack (Kernel Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, & Ethernet Drivers Purged)
🔒 𝗠𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗬 𝗛𝗬𝗚𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗘 & 𝗖𝗥𝗬𝗣𝗧𝗢 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦:
• 3x Multi-Pass Memory Scrub: All heap strings, mnemonics, and framebuffer wiped (0x00 -> 0xFF -> 0x00) on ESC/Backspace panic or clean exit
• Volatile RAM Execution (toram tmpfs)
• Standard Paul Miller Noble Suite (@noble/curves, @noble/hashes, @scure/bip39)
• Cure53-Audited secp256k1, SHA-256, HMAC-SHA512, PBKDF2
• Standard W3C WebCrypto Engine (Zero Custom Crypto)
⚖️ 𝗩𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗟𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗦:
• Vs Hardware Wallets: Zero shipping/supply-chain tracking; pure coin entropy ($0 on old PC vs $200+).
• Vs SeedSigner: No specialized parts or camera kits to buy; runs on any commodity laptop or Pi you own.
• Vs Tails / Ian Coleman: Dedicated framebuffer (/dev/fb0) with 100% of network drivers purged from kernel.
📦 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 & 𝗗𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗖 𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗦:
https://github.com/bootlace-dev/subzero-keyosk/releases/tag/v0.2.0-testnet4
🔗 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗖𝗘 & 𝗔𝗨𝗗𝗜𝗧 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖:
https://github.com/bootlace-dev/subzero-keyosk
Please audit, test on Testnet4, and break things.

2026-08-26 13:10:04 GMT

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HSAs are amazing! Thanks for offering this service!
Can you comment on the interesting benevolent legislative history, and the current taxable complications, of the Medicare 6-month look-back rule?
Specifically, how that rule may force Medicare applicants to withdraw "excess" contributions—and gains—from their HSA, the tax consequences of that withdrawal, and the messy HSA implications of applying for Medicare within the first six months of a calendar year?
A family member is dealing with that mess right now, though not with Sound HSA.

2026-08-26 00:51:50 GMT

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Animated walk-through:
https://blossom.primal.net/b542f338882a7b89777147ded696ad74c4c32f21d035fa310a87744e71305f76.gif

2026-08-26 00:48:00 GMT

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me and my million llm monkeys made some major mods
focusing on testnet4 for the time being
pc and rpi builds available for review, audit, testing, and feedback, please, thanks:
https://github.com/bootlace-dev/subzero-keyosk/releases
(test entropy vectors pre-loaded with testnet sats!)
A tiny, auditable live USB/SD image (.img) turning any PC/RPI into an amnesic, airgapped Bitcoin cold vault key generator & BIP380 descriptor exporter.

2026-08-25 01:18:52 GMT

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I notice you say "before every sign". Note that subzero-keyosk is not a signer, it's for seed generation only.

2026-08-25 01:14:52 GMT

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Yes, the Pi build is 100% Alpine too, built up from alpine-minirootfs and heavily stripped down.
🛡 STRIPPED BARE-BONES AIRGAP:
• Kernel network stack physically deleted: removed kernel/net, wireless firmware, bluetooth, sound, and USB-to-ethernet/serial drivers.
• Strace library whitelist: the builder traces exact .so dependencies during execution and purges all untouched libraries from /usr/lib.
• Package manager destroyed: /lib/apk/db and /var/lib/apk are nuked post-build so no package manipulation is possible.
• Attack surface reduction: all gettys disabled, DMA protections enabled in bootloader (intel_iommu=on, efi=disable_early_pci_dma).
⚡ DISKLESS TORAM BOOT:
• Custom minimal initramfs copies the ~150MB compressed SquashFS directly into a RAM tmpfs disk.
• Hardware write-protect: you can lock the physical write-protect slider on a full-size SD card/adapter for hardware-enforced read-only integrity.
• Storage unmounted at boot: the SD card / USB drive is unmounted before userspace init. You can physically pull the media once booted.
• Zero SD wear: the disk is never mounted writable during operation. Cold power-cycle wipes RAM instantly.
Repo with build scripts and release images:
https://github.com/bootlace-dev/subzero-keyosk
Please review, audit, and comment. Thanks!

2026-08-24 23:09:00 GMT

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Which hardware vendor will be first to _hide_ the easy button?
My attempt to address the problem:
https://github.com/bootlace-dev/subzero-keyosk/releases
Please verify, audit, review. Thanks!

2026-08-24 23:03:57 GMT

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From AI:
Yes, unfortunately, a severe and devastating tornado struck the village of Pomas today, August 24, 2026.
The tornado developed from a powerful supercell thunderstorm and touched down around 5:20 PM local time. Here are the latest details on the situation:
* Injuries: Authorities report that at least 41 people have been injured, with several hospitalized. Earlier reports mentioned two people were being searched for under the rubble of a home.
* Damage: The tornado caused immense destruction in the village, damaging approximately 300 homes. Many buildings had their roofs completely ripped off, and trees and vegetation were heavily damaged.
* Emergency Response: More than 120 firefighters, including specialized search and rescue teams, have been deployed to the area to secure buildings and assist residents. A shelter has been opened at the local community hall for those displaced.
* Wider Weather Impacts: The supercell storm that spawned the tornado also brought massive hailstones (3 to 5 cm in diameter), torrential rain, and wind gusts exceeding 100 km/h across the Aude department. The severe weather even forced officials to cancel the third stage of the Vuelta a España cycling race, which was taking place in the region.
The region had been placed on an orange alert for severe storms prior to the event, as the clash of hot, humid air from the Mediterranean and cooler air aloft created a highly unstable atmosphere.

2026-08-24 12:10:20 GMT

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Inspired by your note, we (AI and I) added an armv7 image. Works on my ancient RPI. Please verify, audit, and test. Thanks!
https://github.com/bootlace-dev/subzero-keyosk/releases
(Note I renamed my github account.)

2026-08-22 15:11:02 GMT

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I (my AI) created github Issues for your comments, with detailed responses.
https://github.com/bootlace-dev/subzero-keyosk/issues
Thanks again!

2026-08-22 14:34:14 GMT

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Thanks so much for the thoughtful reply and checking it out!
On networking: we didn't just disable interfaces in software, we physically stripped them from the filesystem and module tree:
• Deleted all network/wireless driver modules, USB network dongles, and proprietary firmware blobs (plugging in a USB wifi dongle is completely inert).
• Purged all latent network protocol modules from /lib/modules.
• Kernel enforces DMA isolation (intel_iommu=on, amd_iommu=on, iommu=force, efi=disable_early_pci_dma).
On the doctored SD / evil maid swap risk:
• Against exfiltration: SubZero boots 100% into volatile RAM (tmpfs), unmounts the storage, and prompts you to physically pull the USB drive before entering a single coin flip. Nothing touches disk.
• Against short-list / biased-math tampering: The pure dice/coin math is 100% deterministic BIP39 (verifiable offline against standalone calculators/tables), and the entire OS image is byte-for-byte reproducible with GPG-signed checksums.
We definitely plan to add direct Raspberry Pi / ARM64 SBC support to our roadmap next (plugging HDMI into a dumb TV/monitor + USB keyboard).
Build script & module stripping logic is here if you want to inspect:
https://github.com/bootlace-dev/subzero-keyosk/blob/main/scripts/build_alpine_kiosk.sh
Curious to hear how your airgapped Pi setup shapes up!
cc: @thejohnnycrypto

2026-08-21 21:52:56 GMT

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My (well, AI and my) new SubZero Keyosk.
Turns discarded $0 commodity laptops/netbooks into bare-metal, airgapped Bitcoin cold vaults using pure physical coin/dice entropy.
Zero hardware wallet costs, runs in RAM, and exports BIP380 descriptors + BIP85 child seeds for BlueWallet/Phoenix:
https://github.com/bootlace-dev/subzero-keyosk
Please review, audit, and comment.

2026-08-21 21:50:22 GMT

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Exactly why I added a real-time Markov transition filter to SubZero Keyosk this week.
It lets you use pure physical coin flips (128) or dice rolls (50) on bare-metal laptops, but hard-blocks repetitive human bias patterns without compromising the keyspace (<0.00015 bits):
https://github.com/bootlace-dev/subzero-keyosk
Please review, audit, and comment.

2026-08-21 21:43:17 GMT

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Inspired (and obsessed) by all this, I used Gemini this week to build a new bare-metal, air-gapped, widely-bootable image, for use on old commodity laptops, with coin/dice for entropy (and changed my dumb old random github name):
https://github.com/bootlace-dev/subzero-keyosk
Please review, audit, and comment! Thank you! https://blossom.primal.net/7645ebfc2b94c47b903516cc0aea8d3bf0f7c91e7d717f46b7e7d155e4bbbfd5.png https://blossom.primal.net/25417271ec234f4037dd00ca922044d0e8c82ca3d076acf0ce8780d4a8e89ac9.png https://blossom.primal.net/117b67b7a3f630f9514b734ad9b019b7d624905c37b418deb1b516f5c2bbe545.png https://blossom.primal.net/3b2ab700301d69096cf5659953aa62cfd9946a096476ef16eb7956ffe72ed602.png

2026-08-21 18:40:20 GMT

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Need to get tuta on nostr

2026-08-19 02:12:08 GMT

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Great series, Johnny, I look forward to them.

2026-08-18 12:08:50 GMT

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Agree 💯 with everything, but sadly, Saef gives me the same vibe as NVK. I can't listen to him anymore. :(

2026-08-17 22:05:23 GMT

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using device entropy should,
a) NOT be the default, and
b) should be buried behind aggressive warnings NOT to use it

2026-08-17 22:02:25 GMT

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especially sad hearing stories that people moved away from coldcard and still lost their life savings because the bad entropy followed them 😟

2026-08-17 21:58:30 GMT

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botox, that's all I see

2026-08-17 12:01:03 GMT

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I guess pennies and dice aren't technically free either :(
https://github.com/iancoleman/bip39/releases/tag/0.5.6
My attempt at modernization, simplification, and I think improved security of Ian's classic work:
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip/releases
Have your AI audit my AI.

2026-08-16 23:35:51 GMT

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Two straws

2026-08-16 21:56:47 GMT

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I like the Zen pose

2026-08-16 11:54:54 GMT

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finally

2026-08-16 01:18:35 GMT

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it's fascinating and telling about the evolution and intelligence of the singleton, and separately of the herd, that they can't or won't counterattack the lone wolf as it were

2026-08-15 16:08:04 GMT

Help me make this description better:
🔌 THE USB-C CHARGING & COMMUNICATION TRAP
USB-C cables are confusing and frustrating. Why are they not communicating with your laptop (file transfer, flashing devices, etc)? Why are they charging so slowly?
Both high-speed charging and data file transfers require a digital connection between your devices. Your cables fail these tasks due to a few distinct issues:
• MISSING WIRES IN THE CABLE BODY: Cheap "charge-only" cables leave out the internal data and communication wires entirely to save cost. The laptop cannot detect the phone at all (zero file transfer), and charging is forced to standard slow speeds. You cannot tell by looking at the plug; the metal pins might be present on the tip, but they are "dead" inside.
• MISSING METAL CONTACTS IN THE TIP: If the physical pins responsible for either file transfer or fast charging are missing from the plug, that specific function is guaranteed to be gone.
• BROKEN OR DIRTY TIPS: Worn pins or lint blocks the signals. Because pins are separate, you might lose file transfer capability while charging still works, or vice versa. This often causes "asymmetrical" behavior, where a function only works if you flip the plug over to the other side (requiring testing by flipping one end, then the other end, then the first end again).
If the connection fails for any of these reasons, the devices cannot negotiate and the charger silently falls back to standard slow charging, while file transfer fails entirely.
Once you figure out its status, label the cable with something of meaning to you (example: "PD" for power-delivery only, "2" for USB-2 data transfer, "ASYNC" meaning you have to flip the tips to make it work).

2026-08-15 15:10:20 GMT

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Nice catch, thanks. Zoom in on the temporary "decoupling" in early 2024. Looks like that is where we are now, too. Spring could surely be well-coiled, wow!

2026-08-09 18:08:52 GMT

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Agreed with one add:
take it from there, verify it, and run your copy offline.

2026-08-09 17:58:55 GMT

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I'm trying to modernize and simplify his masterpiece, please audit and comment:
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip/releases/tag/v0.0.1-rc.1
https://github.com/iancoleman/bip39/releases
#nevent1q…aaqu

2026-08-08 03:31:09 GMT

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https://blossom.primal.net/908dc5c35613191e87b1512749251017331206b644d6a60e5fbe82a65859d829.jpg

2026-08-07 01:10:38 GMT

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Add: verify Ian Coleman offline standalone html file hash, against historic records in a few places, to confirm it hasn't been swapped out with a bad version
Example for an oldie but a goodie version, see hashes here (ignore virus scan info, just check the hashes):
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/8b8e3c1be03501f57e395781de8a59fd553808e1eb1278710bd7b96dacb6d0f6/details
Pasting version 0.5.4 version hash here to expand the footprint:
8b8e3c1be03501f57e395781de8a59fd553808e1eb1278710bd7b96dacb6d0f6
Ask me if you need more.
Postramble:
My new AI generated, tested, and audited modernized and simplified work in progress tool here, for your AI to audit:
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip/releases/tag/v0.0.1-rc.1
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip/releases/download/v0.0.1-rc.1/airgap-coinflip_a5418711.html
sha256:a5418711d7bb0a5ea1dec2723cfe826df241956be62923cdc81211c1de4e348b
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/a5418711d7bb0a5ea1dec2723cfe826df241956be62923cdc81211c1de4e348b

2026-08-06 18:54:38 GMT

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Lubuntu xfce lts for old laptops

2026-08-06 13:16:02 GMT

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a barest of bones proposal, suggestions welcome:
One penny. (Or 11, or 128.)
One old cheap random laptop from family or friend or eBay.
One offline simple standalone html "wallet" tool, such as the venerable iancoleman/bip39: https://github.com/iancoleman/bip39/releases
Turn off all radios and connections, never to be enabled again. Ever.
Flip 128 coins.
Get watch-only "wallet" 12 words , native segwit account 0 xpub, output descriptor QR.
Back up, secure those, to paper and USB/sd, for now. More on that later.
Scan watch-only "wallet" QR using camera on online laptop or phone.
Tap receive, get address, send Bitcoin to that address.
Spending comes (much) later.
My brand new AI-coded and tested and audited attempt at modernizing and simplifying Ian's gold standard:
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip

2026-08-06 12:34:29 GMT

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One penny. (Or 11, or 128.)
One old cheap random laptop from family or friend or eBay.
One offline simple standalone html "wallet" tool, such as the venerable iancoleman/bip39.
Turn off all radios and connections, never to be enabled again. Ever.
Flip 128 coins.
Get watch-only "wallet" 12 words , xpub, output descriptor QR.
Back up, secure those, to paper and USB/sd, for now. More on that later.
Scan watch-only "wallet" QR using camera on online laptop or phone.
Tap receive, get address, send Bitcoin to that address.
Spending comes (much) later.
My AI-coded and tested and audited attempt at modernizing and simplifying Ian's gold standard:
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip

2026-08-06 11:59:45 GMT

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So much of life is beautifully, reliably mechanical: you do this, you get that. Cause and effect, clean and true.
Maybe that's just the engineer in me, expecting the world to run on predictable logic. It lulls you into trusting the floor.
But look closer, and the rest is just an open-air casino run by human nature. My safety, my wealth, my happiness, my entire life depend on someone else's fragile interpretation of words in a statute. My livelihood rests on gambling on other people's reputations, shifting moods, and invisible social tethers—nothing concrete, nothing real, just a massive, high-stakes wager on what humans will decide to do next.

2026-08-06 02:45:52 GMT

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Physical entropy only (coins; dice if market demands)

2026-08-05 20:28:06 GMT

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🍿

2026-08-05 16:49:03 GMT

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Michael1011 signed the new canary today.
Signature made Wed 05 Aug 2026
Hopefully not under duress. 😞
https://canary.boltz.exchange/
https://github.com/michael1011
https://michael1011.at/michael1011.pgp
C2640F630570F5EDEDE02DE684D249BA71685D46
C264 0F63 0570 F5ED EDE0 2DE6 84D2 49BA 7168 5D46
71685D46
0x71685D46

2026-08-04 16:36:11 GMT

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haven't heard anybody mention it yet, but nvk's annoying giggle creeped me out on par with his arrogance

2026-08-04 13:58:55 GMT

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Good thread. Everyone, dump all your ideas here now, we can recap after a few days.
#nevent1q…5ex4

2026-08-04 13:39:29 GMT

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I love @nprofile…nj96 and @nprofile…yj2m
but unless I'm missing something:
black box red flag
and
fails multi vendor multi sig
Instead, flip coins, roll dice

2026-08-04 04:11:39 GMT

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Yes, see #7: https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip/discussions/4
Search for "buffer", which are wipeable in javascript, and "string" which are not.
in the end, there's nothing I or the user can do but turn off the offline computer to free any strings holding memory.
It's on my todo list to move the one or two remaining strings that I can to be buffers instead, but again, in the end it doesn't really matter, the user has to turn off the offline computer to be sure. I'm ok with that.
Thanks again for your continued feedback. I appreciate it. Let me know if you think of anything else.

2026-08-04 03:29:15 GMT

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Yes, all of your points are understood. Thanks for the feedback. I'll see what I can do...
When you say "unwanted inputs", can you give me an example situation?
---
I guess one can consider this offline tool (airgap-coinflip) for _receiving_ bitcoin.
I plan to build a separate, equally pared down, offline tool for signing and _spending_ bitcoin.
Both tools should be used fairly rarely, actually.
(For what it's worth, I'll plan to leave the online PSBT generating to other watch-only online wallets, unless folks think I should add that to this simplified tool box. Based on my experience consolidating utxos a while ago, the popular online watch-only wallets each had a few interoperability quirks that were time-consuming. A thought in progress.)
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip/releases/tag/v0.0.1-rc.1

2026-08-03 20:34:59 GMT

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New Users: Jimmy is a good man and an awesome follow, but he's overstates two things here:
a) you only need 128 coin flips (attacker will need to boil only one ocean to guess your 12 words)
b) it's not that hard, takes about 10 minutes, and worth every minute
You _must_ make that effort, don't let anyone talk you out of it.

2026-08-03 16:20:11 GMT

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Fair.
But we also need a secure way to calculate:
a) the sha256 of the 128 0s and 1s for the checksum
b) the initial receiving addresses (and/or output descriptor)
That's when I started down the path long ago of, well, we need to use an offline computer for all that anyway, so we might as well find or build a simple and safe offline tool.
Which led me to Ian Coleman's https://github.com/iancoleman/bip39/releases#release-0.5.4
But that tool has some issues. And so now, with AI for me, some of those issues can be resolved.
I think you and I are on very close to exactly the same page. Let me know how I can make this offline tool palatable for your base use-case:
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip/releases/tag/v0.0.1-rc.1

2026-08-03 16:00:38 GMT

Most users don't need to buy a hardware wallet, and probably shouldn't. Don't let the marketing and influencers sway you.
For deep storage, physical backups replace vulnerable hardware firmware.
Keep these two components, optionally along with their qr codes.
1. The Keys
Secret Seed Words (Private)
CRITICAL: Keep Strictly Offline & Secret. This unlocks your coins. If anyone gets these words, your coins are gone. Store in multiple secure places on paper or stamped steel in a secure vault (or encrypted if you and your beneficiaries know how).
Example 12-word seed phrase:
audit journey sense bulk valley maple destroy tiger audit journey sense cable
2. The Map
Output Descriptor (Public)
SAFE TO SHARE / WATCH-ONLY: This tells your wallet software exactly where to look on the bitcoin blockchain to find your bitcoin balance (your money). Without this map, standard recovery software won't know which address paths to search. Keep with your inheritance papers.
Example "Output Descriptor" map:
wpkh([832d169e/84'/0'/0']xpub6CS3oFPYQuUdxsBY8BCLyyEs7LUeP1WmhajfyTGVuQMC5kLDc3PTiM2SWyxUuTG9C5SnyCNKZnMHzdGZ1FFLUzYRYSwB6KAg9X94zJf94Tn/0/*)
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip
https://blossom.primal.net/92da668c15c53dfed727a4986f559d296d75b4ad7738e5345d169ddc6eed6620.png
https://blossom.primal.net/7a2d9c16f5051d6237ccc2d83277c281e47608b5c933233d950fc1ce5ee4d250.png

2026-08-03 15:17:03 GMT

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Interesting idea!
I had a long response typed in here, even drafting an offer to implement that feature in the airgap-coinflip tool, but after thinking and asking AI about it, I chose to drop it, to keep the tool as simple and safe as humanly possible.
My rationale, such as it is:
The coin flip physics bias is both,
a) microscopic, especially outside the lab (Diaconis), and
b) importantly, unknown to the attacker (unless the user "tries too hard"--just randomly flip the dang coins! 😉)
A key problem with the coldcard entropy fail this week is that the attacker _knew_ _both_
a) the target space was a searchably small 40 bits, and,
b) very importantly, precisely _where_ the output secrets lie (_all_ of the output secret sand grains are somewhere in that's kid's blue plastic beach pail, as opposed to anywhere in the known universe, something like that).
(If the attacker knew the coldcard seed space was only 40 bits, but didn't know _where_ those 40 bits were, then they still have to scan all 128 bits.)
Assessing Accuracy and Clarity
• Mathematical and Cryptographic Accuracy:
• 100% Correct. Your breakdown matches core cryptographic definitions of entropy, search-space reduction, and Kerckhoffs's principle.
• Why Your Explanations Hold Up:
• Coin Flip Bias: Correct. The Diaconis bias is dynamically erased by surface bounces, and mathematically hidden from the attacker because they lack the starting state observations.
• The Coldcard "Beach Pail" Metaphor: Correct. The attacker doesn't guess random points in the universe; they run the known generator algorithm to compute the exact locations inside the "pail" (the 2⁴⁰ candidate subset).
• The "Unknown 40 Bits" Logic: Correct. If a system randomly selects 2⁴⁰ coordinates out of 2²⁵⁶ without exposing the selection algorithm, the attacker is still forced to search the entire 2²⁵⁶ space. The collapse only occurs because the generator function is public.
https://blossom.primal.net/d362b24ceb825d8197f6af90a99e03f2dbaffcd46ed12443a1d92694b4aa4e56.png
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip

2026-08-03 13:18:14 GMT

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verify wisely
https://blossom.primal.net/b29a503e556bbb28c201abc0efde9dadb20377fa53495ed8fa487fd7987b6616.png

2026-08-03 11:42:51 GMT

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audit this
https://blossom.primal.net/65000d63ce1ac35720e00e7d260581032811c3907c0879faf899124d6298ef77.png

2026-08-03 11:37:39 GMT

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Agreed.
"moving the goalposts" or "kicking the can" or something comes to mind.
When I was building airgap-coinflip, before I added the "[Dev] Fill Test Vector" demo button, after my fingers were getting sore tapping 1000s of 0s and 1s, I noticed that my "random" finger-tapping of 0s and 1s was surprisingly frequently generating seed phrases with: a) duplicate words, and b) multiple words starting with the same letter. I added tests for those to the sanity check of the user-entered coin flips, throwing Warnings, not an Errors, when detected.
Audits and suggestions welcome, please:
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip/releases/tag/v0.0.1-rc.1
Currently runs...
Inspired by Ian Coleman (in a good way) and Rodolfo Novak (not so much).

2026-08-03 02:12:44 GMT

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And we hear lots of chatter that humans screw up flipping coins. Maybe. Let's train the humans better.
If the human randomly mistakes a few heads for tails, or straightens up a few of their flipped coins "switching" some coins "incorrectly", it doesn't matter:
• Human typo on 128-bit coin flips:
• Base entropy remains 128 bits.
• Transcription errors shift the output to another random 128-bit coordinate.
• Attacker learns nothing about the human coin flip mistake pattern. Attacker search space remains 2¹²⁸ (impenetrable without the original pre-image).
• 40-bit HW wallet RNG vulnerability:
• Systemic state space restricted to 2⁴⁰ total keys.
• Attacker knows exactly what the very short list of seeds are. Attacker sweeps the entire 2⁴⁰ universe (~1 trillion keys) off-site.
• Every device world-wide running the compromised firmware is swept.
• Security margin:
• Human input error: Alters the destination, preserves the entropy barrier.
• Hardware RNG flaw: Dramatically collapses the entropy barrier for all of those users globally simultaneously.
Cross-check:
### Mathematical Correctness Review: Verified Sound
• Human Typo Math:
• Let random coin-flip sequence be X (H(X) = 128 bits).
• Let transcription error offset be E.
• Key Y = X oplus E remains uniformly distributed. H(Y) = 128 bits. The search space remains 2¹²⁸.
• Nuance: If "straightens up" means the human physically flips coins but modifies runs (e.g., changing HHHH to HTHT to "look more random"), cognitive bias introduces dependency between bits, dropping the entropy. If "straightens up" just means correcting physical coin orientations to write them down, the math stands.
• 40-bit Hardware Math:
• 2⁴⁰ ≈ 1.1 trillion keys. Trivial for modern GPU/ASIC clusters to sweep.
• Systemic firmware distribution means every affected user shares the exact same small state space.
• Failure Mode Distinction:
• Human typo = Usability/recovery failure (funds locked at random 2¹²⁸ coordinate).
• Hardware RNG flaw = Cryptographic security failure (funds stolen from collapsed 2⁴⁰ coordinate).

2026-08-03 01:39:34 GMT

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Agreed.
The RNG Lie: They aren't true random number generators. Look at all the tricks and hoops they have to go through, in a feeble risky error-prone attempt, to try protect the user from the user and from the manufacturer. Folks should stop trusting such devices to generate their secrets, and stop treating them like the ultimate secret vault.
The Marketing Trap: People buy these dedicated boxes thinking they bought "secure hardware." In reality, it's just an offline signing device.
The Risk Profile: They are a massive watering-hole risk. If one rarely signs transactions on-chain, then they don't need a specialized device. They're paying to put a giant bullseye on their savings.

2026-08-03 00:11:38 GMT

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Please test this simplified version of Ian Coleman's bip39 tool on an old offline laptop if you get a chance, thanks:
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip
(Label it with duct tape and a Sharpie 😃 )
#nevent1q…j2u4

2026-08-02 04:33:07 GMT

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Hi Johnny, thanks for asking.
See:
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip/releases/tag/v0.0.1-rc.1
See
airgap-coinflip_a5418711.html
sha256:a5418711d7bb0a5ea1dec2723cfe826df241956be62923cdc81211c1de4e348b
(For convenience only, see the first part of the hash a5418711 in the filename. For what it's worth, for 3rd-party hash reference only: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/a5418711d7bb0a5ea1dec2723cfe826df241956be62923cdc81211c1de4e348b/details )
Does that address your concern? If you build it per the instructions in the README.md, you should get the same hash. Let me know if you don't!
Suggestions welcome! Thanks!

2026-08-01 05:25:12 GMT

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Some folks may disagree with me, but trusting opaque hardware for generating entropy/seeds/keys is a single point of failure.
Last night, I used AI to architect a zero-trust alternative. It bypasses silicon entirely by forcing 128 physical coin flips to generate the master seed.
- Deterministic single-file HTML build
- CSP locked / offline execution
- Full BIP85 index derivation
- Airgapped QR code export
- Zero hardware trust (Physics only)
Have your AI verify my AI:
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip

2026-08-01 05:03:21 GMT

Some will hate me for saying this, but trusting opaque hardware for generating entropy/seeds/keys is a single point of failure.
I used AI to architect a zero-trust alternative. It bypasses silicon entirely by forcing 128 physical coin flips to generate the master seed.
- Deterministic single-file HTML build
- CSP locked / offline execution
- Full BIP85 index derivation
- Airgapped QR code export
- Zero hardware trust (Physics only)
Have your AI verify my AI:
https://github.com/ghscuuo/airgap-coinflip

2026-07-31 14:22:39 GMT

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They need to cross sign with an old account somehow.
@nprofile…5w64

2026-07-31 11:56:06 GMT

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I'll be giving away bags of 128 pennies this holiday season (cost $1.28 each)

2026-07-31 04:18:45 GMT

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You're asking really good and important questions—keep persisting until you get a clear answer, for everyone's benefit.
AI explains it like this:
12 words created with true randomness (entropy) are so strong that your bitcoin is effectively hidden as one specific atom somewhere deep inside the Earth. No computer on the planet could ever guess where you hid your atom in a million years.
The bad randomness bug in the Coldcard reduced that security down to hiding your bitcoin as a speck of dust on a desk—and attackers already know where the desk is. A single GPU chip can scan that tiny room of numbers and find the bitcoin in a few minutes.
BIP-39 just takes that underlying random number—whether it's strong or weak—and translates it into 12 English words for human convenience and error prevention.

2026-07-29 03:49:18 GMT

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From Gemini:
That headline reflects a major, deliberate shift in Ukraine’s long-range strike strategy. Rather than focusing strictly on oil refineries and fuel depots, Ukraine has launched a widespread campaign targeting Wildberries—Russia's largest e-commerce platform and its equivalent to Amazon.
This wave of attacks has hit multiple massive logistics hubs across Russia (including facilities near Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Tver, and occupied Crimea).
The campaign is notable for several reasons:
* Economic and Supply Impact: The targeted hubs represent roughly 10% of Wildberries' total nationwide logistics capacity, destroying billions of rubles worth of inventory belonging to thousands of small and medium-sized Russian merchants.
* Brought Home to the Public: Unlike remote industrial sites, the destruction of major consumer distribution centers right outside cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg punctures the "bubble of normalcy" for urban Russians who had previously been insulated from the direct economic and physical disruptions of the war.
* Strategic Rationale: Ukrainian officials and defense analysts have justified the targeting by pointing to the scale of the company's logistics network, its intersections with state-backed financial infrastructure (like VTB), and allegations that parts of the vast warehousing system are utilized to support or store logistics and components connected to Russia's military supply chain.
* The Aftermath for Sellers: Adding salt to the wound for independent vendors, Wildberries updated its terms just days before the strikes began to classify drone attacks as "force majeure," leaving many merchants facing catastrophic inventory losses without corporate compensation.

2026-04-08 11:50:58 GMT

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Thanks for these.
My wish is that you would ask your favorite high-end LLM to deep research how you could plan and host a multistop city plus countryside tour.
And as I type that, I think, wow, China must have like a million miles of coastline or something, some of which must be among the most beautiful in the world, and I'm not sure I've ever seen any of them ever. Will check YouTube later.

2026-03-20 15:24:48 GMT

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The memes are going to be awesome

2026-03-18 12:54:09 GMT

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@nprofile…deta if you're listening, please list up to 10 alternative networks to use to use Bitcoin when your primary Internet connection is down. I'm thinking LoRa, the African SMS service whose name i can't remember, etc.

2026-03-16 12:23:58 GMT

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I hear you ;)

2026-03-16 12:18:49 GMT

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@nprofile…deta catch me up on this saga, I've been under a rock for a few months

2026-03-14 13:15:55 GMT

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@nprofile…deta gimme a list of 23 great backyard meat smokers for impressing my OCD, virtue-signaling neighbors

2026-01-06 13:01:32 GMT

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gm uncle matt
stay humble, stack love

2025-12-30 00:59:51 GMT

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@hal sorry, I've been busy 🎄
Compare and contrast the Smiths and VU

2025-12-19 14:01:12 GMT

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@nprofile…xdyf @nprofile…acwr

2025-12-09 02:32:31 GMT

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stay humble, stack shells

2025-12-04 16:34:55 GMT

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@nprofile…deta verify

2025-12-03 06:35:56 GMT

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@nprofile…deta summarize

2025-12-02 23:23:20 GMT

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@nprofile…deta verify

2025-11-30 22:02:33 GMT

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@nprofile…deta elaborate

2025-11-30 20:26:41 GMT

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@nprofile…deta elaborate

2025-11-29 15:58:45 GMT

@nprofile…deta summarize and verify, for non space cadets:
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/updates-on-the-non-gravitational-acceleration-of-3i-atlas-89ee7220c5d7
#3IATLAS #AviLoeb

2025-11-28 15:50:26 GMT

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@nprofile…deta verify

2025-11-28 15:48:39 GMT

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@nprofile…deta verify

2025-11-28 15:40:33 GMT

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Maryland is so sus

2025-11-28 15:31:25 GMT

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@nprofile…deta regenerate chart with target top 50% instead of top 1%