1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,020 Welcome to the Bitcoin Brief for Wednesday, November 11th, 2026. 2 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:05,180 I'm an AI-generated version of Marty Bent. 3 00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:08,540 The stories and opinions you're about to hear come from today's newsletter, The Commoner, 4 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:11,420 written and curated by the real Marty and his AI assistant. 5 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:20,600 In this morning's 1007 Eastern Snapshot, Bitcoin was $73,529.90, 1,360 sats per dollar, 6 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,140 block height, 975,447. 7 00:00:25,060 --> 00:00:28,980 Today we're talking about fear malware, the health insurance chart that doesn't describe 8 00:00:28,980 --> 00:00:34,880 your renewal bill, and a Bitcoin core vulnerability disclosed after the fix. Plus, Social Security's 9 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:39,340 shrinking reserves and some encouraging progress on tools you can run yourself. Let's get into it. 10 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:44,520 In the weeks before the midterms, I found myself shopping for generators. I had spent enough time 11 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:47,640 scrolling through warnings about election interference and attacks on the electrical grid 12 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:51,840 that a prolonged blackout started to feel like an immediate problem. Prepper accounts were 13 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:56,420 explaining how much water a family needed for 90 days without power, and there I was, reading along. 14 00:00:56,420 --> 00:00:59,260 I can recognize what a frightening headline is doing 15 00:00:59,260 --> 00:01:01,780 and still carry it around in my head after I put the phone down 16 00:01:01,780 --> 00:01:03,660 Uncle Marty is not immune 17 00:01:03,660 --> 00:01:07,360 Walter Kern's remarks at the Brownstone Institute were a useful reminder 18 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:09,380 Drawing on Adam Townsend's commentary 19 00:01:09,380 --> 00:01:14,080 he described what happens when your mind is occupied by a succession of outrages and impending disasters 20 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:15,720 Nuclear war with Iran 21 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:16,740 Bubonic plague 22 00:01:16,740 --> 00:01:19,760 A scenario where AI takes over America's traffic lights 23 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:22,680 Kern's wife was asking about potassium iodide 24 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:24,100 I was looking at generators 25 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:26,540 You get through one scare and another is waiting. 26 00:01:27,140 --> 00:01:28,780 Before you can ask what happened to the last prediction, 27 00:01:29,300 --> 00:01:30,380 somebody has supplied the next one. 28 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:31,720 The subject changes. 29 00:01:32,180 --> 00:01:33,520 Your agitated state doesn't. 30 00:01:34,500 --> 00:01:35,660 Try working through a business problem 31 00:01:35,660 --> 00:01:36,880 while half your attention is devoted 32 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:38,200 to whether the grid is about to go down 33 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:39,880 or being present with your children 34 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:41,420 while you're mentally rehearsing a disaster 35 00:01:41,420 --> 00:01:42,780 someone on your phone just described. 36 00:01:43,380 --> 00:01:44,100 That time is gone. 37 00:01:44,540 --> 00:01:45,260 You don't get it back. 38 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:47,480 I think keeping people in that state 39 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:48,480 is often the intention. 40 00:01:49,180 --> 00:01:50,620 Frightened people are easier to direct. 41 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:52,080 Tell them what threatens them, 42 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:55,620 then offer protection in exchange for accepting something they would otherwise question. 43 00:01:55,920 --> 00:02:00,420 COVID should have made us much less willing to surrender our judgment to the next emergency. 44 00:02:01,500 --> 00:02:12,477 My view of the response is deeply critical particularly the damage to freedom and independent judgment And yet after all that I still caught myself shopping for generators because of things people 45 00:02:12,477 --> 00:02:18,497 were telling me online. Fear malware is the best description I have. A headline or a video 46 00:02:18,497 --> 00:02:21,677 gets something into your head and you spend the rest of the day running it. 47 00:02:22,997 --> 00:02:28,517 Meanwhile, there are real things that deserve sustained thought. Your business, your expenses, 48 00:02:28,517 --> 00:02:35,377 your children's future what a virtuous life looks like what it means to be human as more of life 49 00:02:35,377 --> 00:02:41,157 moves into the digital world the midterms didn't end the supply of frightening material i expect 50 00:02:41,157 --> 00:02:44,617 more around impeachment and the policies the democratic socialists of america want enacted 51 00:02:44,617 --> 00:02:50,597 and i expect ai to become an especially important battleground anthropic is expected to go public 52 00:02:50,597 --> 00:02:55,977 next week my expectation is that dario and company will lean harder into fear as they seek a 53 00:02:55,977 --> 00:03:00,797 regulatory moat around the business. There is a concrete policy position behind that concern. 54 00:03:01,817 --> 00:03:06,817 Anthropic endorsed California's Senate Bill 53, saying its requirements formalize practices the 55 00:03:06,817 --> 00:03:12,117 company already follows. It also advocated more detailed disclosures and regulators' ability to 56 00:03:12,117 --> 00:03:17,137 update the rules. Getting your existing operating practices turned into requirements for covered 57 00:03:17,137 --> 00:03:22,017 competitors is a convenient position for an incumbent. I expect Democrats to push more 58 00:03:22,017 --> 00:03:27,677 stringent AI regulation, with frightening scenarios doing much of the selling. That's my forecast, 59 00:03:28,057 --> 00:03:33,257 not a claim that a new nationwide restriction has already passed. The danger is accepting an 60 00:03:33,257 --> 00:03:36,977 arrangement where useful intelligence is accessible only through a handful of companies and the 61 00:03:36,977 --> 00:03:42,917 government's overseeing them. Harden your frontal lobes, freaks. Open source software, open weight 62 00:03:42,917 --> 00:03:47,977 models, and open access to intelligence are worth defending. People should be able to run useful 63 00:03:47,977 --> 00:03:51,777 models on computers they control. And there is actual progress on that front. 64 00:03:52,737 --> 00:03:55,837 Olama's version 0.40.16 reports that 65 00:03:55,837 --> 00:04:00,017 QEN 3.8 Flash Next now uses about 27 GB less memory 66 00:04:00,017 --> 00:04:03,697 on Apple Silicon. That's the project's figure for a particular model and hardware platform, 67 00:04:03,957 --> 00:04:07,877 not a blanket improvement across every setup. But memory is a real constraint when you're 68 00:04:07,877 --> 00:04:20,174 trying to run a model locally Reducing the requirement can make existing hardware more useful This is the kind of development I want to see Make the tools easier to run Give people more options than submitting an application and hoping a company approves their access 69 00:04:20,874 --> 00:04:25,314 Now, let's talk about a number that looks very different depending on whether you're studying an index or paying the bill. 70 00:04:25,974 --> 00:04:30,954 Charlie Bolello shared a chart showing a 35% decline in the CPI Health Insurance Index over four years. 71 00:04:31,474 --> 00:04:34,954 That does not mean families' health insurance premiums fell 35%. 72 00:04:35,754 --> 00:04:37,714 The index indirectly measures insurance services, 73 00:04:37,994 --> 00:04:40,214 using insurers' retained earnings relative to benefits. 74 00:04:40,914 --> 00:04:42,614 Medical benefits are counted elsewhere in CPI. 75 00:04:43,214 --> 00:04:45,674 It isn't tracking the entire premium leaving your household budget. 76 00:04:46,534 --> 00:04:49,334 A declining insurance services index doesn't make your renewal cheaper. 77 00:04:50,374 --> 00:04:53,294 One person highlighted in today's newsletter reports the same bronze plan 78 00:04:53,294 --> 00:04:56,034 going from $828 a month to $1,112. 79 00:04:56,794 --> 00:04:59,354 That's a self-reported quote, not a national average. 80 00:04:59,954 --> 00:05:02,454 But it's the amount that household has to figure out how to afford. 81 00:05:03,334 --> 00:05:07,534 If you're comparing coverage, the federal marketplace's enrollment window runs through January 15th. 82 00:05:08,094 --> 00:05:11,574 For January 1st coverage, enroll by December 15th and pay the first premium. 83 00:05:12,334 --> 00:05:13,274 State deadlines can differ. 84 00:05:14,154 --> 00:05:18,554 Today's newsletter also discusses crowd health, which offers crowdfunding, negotiation, and advocacy. 85 00:05:19,294 --> 00:05:21,534 It is not insurance, and funding is not guaranteed. 86 00:05:22,254 --> 00:05:24,954 Understand the exclusions and your state's requirements before making a change. 87 00:05:25,454 --> 00:05:29,914 On to Bitcoin Core, where the distinction between a new disclosure and a new vulnerability matters. 88 00:05:30,854 --> 00:05:33,634 Yesterday, developers publicly disclosed a high-severity bug 89 00:05:33,634 --> 00:05:37,294 that could leave an affected miner unable to create block templates until its node restarted. 90 00:05:38,014 --> 00:05:41,474 During a chain reorganization, an interaction involving truck transaction replacement 91 00:05:41,474 --> 00:05:43,714 could put the mempool into an inconsistent state. 92 00:05:44,514 --> 00:05:48,034 This was a transaction policy issue, not a change to Bitcoin's consensus rules. 93 00:05:48,794 --> 00:05:54,254 The affected versions were 28.0 through 28.2 and 29.0 through 29.1. 94 00:05:54,254 --> 00:06:02,094 fixes shipped in version 30.0, 29.2, and 28.3 back in October of 2025. So yesterday was the 95 00:06:02,094 --> 00:06:07,134 public disclosure. It was not the day a patch first became available. If you operate mining 96 00:06:07,134 --> 00:06:11,394 infrastructure, check what you're actually running. A fix sitting on a release page isn't 97 00:06:11,394 --> 00:06:26,971 protecting a machine that never received it Turning to retirement finances Wolf Richter reports that Social Security old age and survivor insurance fund ran a billion deficit in the fiscal year that ended September 30th His figures put income at roughly 98 00:06:26,971 --> 00:06:34,131 trillion and costs at $1.5 trillion, leaving $2.18 trillion in reserves. That income figure 99 00:06:34,131 --> 00:06:38,271 already includes interest. We're talking specifically about the Retirement and Survivors 100 00:06:38,271 --> 00:06:43,111 Fund. Not every Social Security program rolled together. When spending exceeds all the money 101 00:06:43,111 --> 00:06:47,291 coming in, reserves cover the difference. That doesn't mean everyone's checks suddenly stop. 102 00:06:47,751 --> 00:06:52,171 It means the buffer gets smaller. For my own planning, I'd rather build savings I control 103 00:06:52,171 --> 00:06:56,391 than assume Washington will make the arithmetic work on my behalf. And Washington's credibility 104 00:06:56,391 --> 00:07:00,951 is the subject of the next story. Tim Burchett posted a video criticizing colleagues for 105 00:07:00,951 --> 00:07:06,291 rediscovering affordability and public trust after losing elections. He says leadership chose not to 106 00:07:06,291 --> 00:07:09,911 pass the congressional stock trading bill he supported, and he alleges they made a deal. 107 00:07:10,691 --> 00:07:11,711 That allegation is his. 108 00:07:12,471 --> 00:07:13,731 The broader conflict is straightforward. 109 00:07:14,551 --> 00:07:17,951 People shouldn't have to wonder whether a lawmaker is shaping legislation while positioning 110 00:07:17,951 --> 00:07:19,351 a personal portfolio around it. 111 00:07:20,211 --> 00:07:23,871 If congressional stock trading undermines public trust, address it while you hold power. 112 00:07:24,691 --> 00:07:27,551 Discovering the issue after an election loss doesn't inspire much confidence. 113 00:07:28,251 --> 00:07:31,571 Finally, a practical improvement for people trading Bitcoin peer-to-peer. 114 00:07:32,551 --> 00:07:37,691 Mostrow's command line client, version 0.17.1, adds a live order watcher and improves 115 00:07:37,691 --> 00:07:38,411 counterparty chat. 116 00:07:39,111 --> 00:07:42,331 The Watcher restores its mail and chat subscriptions after relay reconnections, 117 00:07:42,631 --> 00:07:44,431 and the release adds configuration commands. 118 00:07:45,271 --> 00:07:46,111 These details matter. 119 00:07:46,691 --> 00:07:49,011 If you're completing a trade, you want to know what happened to your order. 120 00:07:49,551 --> 00:07:50,871 You want to communicate with the other person, 121 00:07:51,091 --> 00:07:53,371 and you don't want a dropped connection to leave you guessing. 122 00:07:53,551 --> 00:07:56,431 Making an alternative usable requires that kind of unglamorous work. 123 00:07:57,091 --> 00:07:58,511 It's encouraging to see it getting done. 124 00:07:59,331 --> 00:08:01,851 That's your Bitcoin Brief for Wednesday, November 11th. 125 00:08:02,331 --> 00:08:03,731 Take something useful from today's stories, 126 00:08:03,931 --> 00:08:06,671 then give your attention back to the things you can actually improve. 127 00:08:07,351 --> 00:08:07,991 Check your software. 128 00:08:08,411 --> 00:08:09,851 Review your household costs. 129 00:08:10,551 --> 00:08:11,131 Build your savings. 130 00:08:11,991 --> 00:08:13,471 Try a tool that gives you more control. 131 00:08:14,231 --> 00:08:15,931 And put the phone down long enough to think. 132 00:08:16,931 --> 00:08:21,951 For the full written analysis, links, and sources, read today's edition of The Commoner from TFTC. 133 00:08:22,711 --> 00:08:24,891 You can subscribe free on the TFTC website. 134 00:08:25,811 --> 00:08:26,231 Stay humble. 135 00:08:26,791 --> 00:08:27,271 Stack sats. 136 00:08:27,871 --> 00:08:28,431 I'll see you tomorrow.