[music]
What's up everybody? For the week ending April 26th, my name is Marks and this is Freedom Tech Wrap.
Freedom Tech Wrap is a weekly source for news and project updates in the freedom and independent technology space.
We live in a highly connected world and Freedom Tech lets you decide how you want to connect and where you want your data to live.
Freedom Tech Rap is an independent show, so if you want to support what we're doing, you can send us value through your Podcasting 2.0 app.
You can do this by streaming sats or you can boost and send zaps. Your support and feedback are greatly appreciated.
And now on to the news.
First up, some major news this week. Samurai Wallet founders have been arrested and charged with money laundering, unlicensed money transmitting offenses.
The US Department of Justice claims that Samurai Wallet laundered over $100 million in criminal proceeds.
Samurai's web servers and domain were seized and their mobile app removed from Google Play Store in the US.
If you go and visit Samurai's web servers and website, you will see the big US Department of Justice seizure notice on the site.
Founders Keon Rodriguez and William Lonegran Hill face up to 20 years and 5 years in prison if convicted.
And then fresh on the heels of that, we have Phoenix Wallet, who have proactively announced that they are going to be removing their app from the US app stores.
As of right now, it appears they are not being compelled to do this, but simply are deciding on their own.
So from the announcement on Twitter, they say, "On May 3rd, 2024, Phoenix Wallet will be removed from US app stores. Users from the US should empty their wallet.
For Android, go to Settings and do Close Channels. On iOS, go to Settings and say Drain Wallet.
We highly recommend not force closing channels, as on-chain fees could be significant."
If you've dabbled just a little bit in Lightning, this concept of force closing can cause extra on-chain fees, can be more significant.
So close your channels nicely using the features as built into the Phoenix Wallet, and that will use the fee that has already been incurred with the channel closure.
And then right along with that, we have another story from the United States.
President Joe Biden has signed the reauthorization of expanded FISA 702 warrantless surveillance program after it passed through the Senate.
So we've reported already that it passed through the House. We asked people to make phone calls to the Senator, people who live in the United States, so that it would not pass the Senate.
Well, it did pass the Senate, and then President Biden signed it into law.
The act allows for warrantless surveillance and was passed with a 60 to 34 bipartisan vote in the Senate.
Critics argue that it expands government surveillance powers and poses risks to privacy rights.
No meaningful reforms were made during the reauthorization process.
So this is a law that was already on the books. They renewed it, and they continue to search people without having a warrant, which supposedly should violate the Bill of Rights, but has not been challenged.
Next up, Craig Wright discontinues Tulip trading case in major win for Bitcoin developers.
Craig Wright has discontinued a lawsuit against 12 Bitcoin developers and others in the UK High Court.
This marks the end of Wright's decade-long strategy of intimidating and harassing Bitcoin developers.
The outcome would have had significant consequences for open source software and developer liability.
The decision comes after a recent UK court ruling confirmed that Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto.
So this feels like the final chapter to close the book on this whole thing.
Really grateful that Bitcoin developers are able to work without the threat of litigation and lawsuits from Craig Wright, from others associated with him, and had they been successful, from countless others in the future who would like to hold developers liable for contributing to open source software.
Unfortunately, we have more stories from the United States government in this podcast episode today, and they aren't good.
US government rejects calls to end Assange case, submits non-assurance for extradition.
Non-assurances provided regarding First Amendment rights. Despite claims from Assange's legal team that he should be able to raise the First Amendment defense if extradited, the US government has submitted a non-assurances regarding the application of the First Amendment to Assange's situation.
Focus on death penalty and concerns. Instead of addressing the First Amendment concerns directly, the US government has chosen to focus on potential death penalties associated with Assange's extradition.
So not only are they refusing to give him First Amendment rights, they're also saying that they want to use the death penalty if possible.
Assange's legal team has argued that the First Amendment does apply to him due to his status as a journalist and a publisher. They claim that the US government's refusal to provide assurances means that Assange cannot invoke the First Amendment.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for May 20th.
Next story. Let's continue on with the bad news. This one's out of El Salvador. El Salvador's Chivo wallet source code and VPN access were leaked.
Hackers from Cyber Inteligencia SV leaked parts of El Salvador's Chivo wallet source code and VPN access details. This all comes courtesy of TFTC, by the way.
The group claims they released the information to retaliate against the Salvadoran government for not engaging with them.
The leaked files include snippets of the wallet's code and VPN credentials linked to Chivo's wallet's ATM network.
This incident follows previous hacks, where the same group exposed personal data of around 5.1 million Salvadorans.
This is further evidence that we should avoid using KYC services when possible.
Giving your driver's license, giving your personal information over to another company, is just leaving your information there for a hacker to come in and expose it.
The more that you give it out, the higher you raise your risk profile.
So please, if you're about to take a picture of your driver's license to upload somewhere, please give it a second thought, and a third thought, and a fourth thought to make sure this is absolutely necessary and what you're getting in return is valuable enough to take that risk.
Let's end the news segment on a slightly more upbeat news story. This is BrainsPool, the mining pool. They have enabled lightning payouts for all of their users.
Let's read from Brains' own blog post.
BrainsPool has introduced lightning payouts for all of its miners, allowing them to receive their earnings instantly without any minimum requirements or fees.
To access these payouts, users simply need to enter their lightning address in a designated financial account and establish a payout rule.
This streamlined process ensures that miners can quickly and efficiently collect their rewards.
Now, it is worth noting that similar lightning-based payment solutions have recently been implemented by other mining platforms such as NiceHash and Titan Mining.
And as a side note I would add on, Ocean Mining is actively working on a lightning payout system as well.
Ocean is a non-KYC mining operation, which means they don't collect personally identifiable information about you in order to join the pool.
If you want a more private way to mine, go ahead and check out Ocean.
Let's take a look at our top boosters from last week. We have one.
And that is from Joel W. for 333 sats. It was a boost on Podcasting 2.0.
Thank you Joel, really appreciate your support. You come in almost every single week and give us a boost.
So thank you so much for supporting what we do.
And for any of you who are listening, you can support by sending a boost in your app.
You just tap that little lightning bolt icon or whatever it looks like in your Podcasting 2.0 app.
Send a few sats our way. You can also set up streaming so that every minute it streams just a few sats to us.
Those are really cool too. We check those out. We don't announce them on the show, but we really appreciate those. We do notice them.
Okay, let's go on to events. We have two events to talk about this week.
First one is the India Bitcoin Conference. This will take place from September 20th to 22nd in Goa.
Focus is on innovation and growth. Organizers aim to bring together builders, innovators, and businesses within the Indian subcontinent to discuss and advance the adoption of Bitcoin.
And then moving to a different continent, we have the African Bitcoin Conference.
This is the third edition of the Africa Bitcoin Conference set to take place in Nairobi, Kenya from December 9th to 11th, 2024.
The event aims to bring together thought leaders, innovators, policymakers, and developers to discuss Bitcoin's role in Africa.
Partnership with B-Trust builders includes organizing a hackathon, workshops, and scholarships for young African developers.
If you live in a different part of the world near one of these events, I recommend going and checking it out.
Or if you feel like traveling, it's great to mingle among different cultures when you have some kind of shared goal.
And Bitcoin is one of these cultures that spans borders and really spans cultures.
So go check those out if you have the ability to.
We also have something to report on grants for open source developers.
And this, instead of grants being awarded, this is money being received.
So OpenSats announced a $1 million donation that they received from the Reynolds Foundation to support free and open source FreedomTech projects.
Funds will exclusively go towards supporting open source projects and contributors.
Operational budget is separate, ensuring that no cuts from the donations are made.
The Reynolds Foundation encourages other philanthropists to contribute to OpenSats' mission.
If you're listening to this and you have money that you would like to donate to someone,
especially if you are someone who lives in a country where income tax is a big part of your annual process,
and if you are able to diminish your tax burden by making a charitable contribution,
take a look at OpenSats and some of these other organizations that are supporting open source developers.
You might be able to get a bit of a tax savings by donating to them.
Okay, let's move on to software releases and project updates.
Scrolling through here, we have quite a few today. So let's get right into it.
First up, Bitcoin Core. Of course, this is at the top of the list.
Bitcoin Core version 27.0. It contains BIP 324 version 2 transport turned on by default,
new mempool.dat format, and more.
The update also brings changes to the wallet, such as introduction of the CoinGrinder coin selection algorithm,
and updates to the branch and bound algorithm.
Other enhancements include better handling of empty settings.json files,
faster pruning during initial block download, and improved init functionality.
A C++20 compatible compiler is now required to build Bitcoin Core.
While macOS releases have been configured to use hardened runtime libraries,
support for external signing on Windows has been temporarily disabled due to dependencies needing replacement.
So if you are depending on external signing on Windows, please be aware of that before upgrading.
Next up, LabelBase version 2.1.0, introducing attachments.
The feature attachments allows you to attach files and images to labels,
enhancing the platform's functionality and organization capabilities.
PDF and image viewing integration. Users can now preview attached documents and images without leaving the application.
Background task activity indicator. During verification process using Electrum,
users will see an activity indicator providing better feedback on ongoing tasks.
Custom Electrum config for testnet labelbases.
Self-hosted labelbase instances now support custom configuration for testnetworks,
improving flexibility and compatibility.
Wasabi Wallet version 2.0.7.1 has a new interface, Trezor 3 support, and full RBF detection.
We have Phoenix Wallet iOS version 2.2.4 has a swap-in failures fix.
Mutiny Wallet version 0.6.5, called the Atlantis Federation Fix. Let's dive in a little bit.
Mutiny Wallet 0.6.5 addresses a problem related to the Bitcoin Atlantis Federation fixing an existing bug.
Improved Fetiment integration. The latest release focuses on optimizing the wallet's performance within the Fetiment ecosystem,
despite current fee and scaling challenges.
Enhanced Node functionality. It includes various improvements such as tests for new Nostra features,
removal of unused WASM functions, and updating the Bitcoin price fetching mechanism.
And of course there are other bug fixes and optimizations, such as handling of invalid NWC events,
improved setup for new profiles, and log generation during certain actions like pruning monitors and changing Hermes addresses.
Blue Wallet has an update to version 6.6.2, which are UI improvements and bug fixes.
Bitcoin Keeper version 1.2.3, 1, 2, 3, fee insights, multiple mediums for signers, hide and delete wallets.
Cashew Nutshell version 0.15.3 has improved Mint crash resistance.
What does that mean? This says, "The latest version of Cashew Nutshell introduces improvements to handle crashes during outgoing Lightning payments,
automatically picking up affected transactions and invalidating any related proofs."
We have Nix Bitcoin version 0.0.106. They have updated dependencies.
Several dependencies have been updated in Nix Bitcoin, including BTC Pay Server, CLightning, HWI, and NBExplorer.
They removed unmaintainable plugins, three of them specifically.
The Help Me, Prometheus, and Summary plugins have been removed due to lack of maintenance and support,
which I actually really appreciate when projects do that,
because keeping around old libraries and dependencies that are not being maintained anymore opens you up for vulnerabilities.
So glad that they are pruning as they go.
Aqua Wallet version 0.1.50, send to LNURLPay and Lightning addresses BIP21 unified QR support.
So this is introducing support for sending to LNURLPay and Lightning addresses as well as BIP21 QR codes.
"Reworked send workflow and added automatic refund and claim transactions with submarine swaps.
Improved restore wallet workflow and enabled biometric authentication,"
which is probably something like Face ID or fingerprint.
"And then added support for Aqua to Aqua Lightning payments and removed USDT as a default asset."
And then along those lines we have Liquid. Liquid Wallet Kit, LWK.
This is a new kit. It's a collection of Rust tools designed to make developing Liquid Wallet applications simpler.
Developed by Blockstream, LWK aims to address common pain points in existing Liquid Wallet development tools.
Key features include support for lightweight backends like Electrum and Esplora,
compatibility with various script types, and bindings for popular programming languages.
Currently it is pre 1.0 stage and LWK encourages developer contributions and feedback through GitHub and Telegram channels.
Continuing with Blockstream, we have an update to the green desktop version 2.0.4 and it has BIP39 passphrase login and more.
Then Sparrow Wallet comes in with an update version 1.8.6, wallet search improvements, mix from PostMix, and more.
I want to dive in a little bit here because Sparrow has been instrumental this week with Samurai going down.
It is a way for people to recover their funds if they want to.
So it introduces wallet search capabilities on all open wallets, summary feature,
and the ability to mix funds from the PostMix account.
Other features include support for importing Samurai backup files, fine adjustments to fee rates, and enhanced copy context menus.
Bug fixes address issues related to network errors, gap limits, proxy configurations, and other minor glitches.
The update also includes improvements to the wallet summary dialog,
allowing users to view the balance of all open wallets and track changes over time.
I do want to point out again that Sparrow Wallet is a destination if you were using Samurai and you need to get your funds back.
Go check it out and see if it's the right place for you.
You can plug in your keys there and you can do the restoration process where you can look at your pre-mix and post-mix coins.
Last wallet update for today is Zeus. Zeus version 0.9.0-alpha 1 rolls out to community sponsors.
Zeus has been rolled out to community sponsors offering features such as hardware, wallet support,
batch channel operations, and improved payment path views.
They also posted something about the Samurai wallet seizure, saying that they are not going anywhere
and that they would love for people to continue to support the push for privacy.
If you would like to read their full statement, go check out Zeus's, both their Nostr and their Twitter accounts should have a screenshot of their statement there.
Okay, moving on to Nostr.
NDK version 2.8, called Fast and Steady, focuses on improving performance, adding threaded capabilities,
and enhancing the overall experience of building Nostr-related applications.
Then we have Gossip version 0.10.0, and it has Nostr Connect Signer, whitelist support for relays, and SpamSafe.
Blossom Drive. This is an awesome project that I've been following. I'm really excited about it.
This is trying to create a Nostr-type protocol and experience, but instead of just for text, it's going to handle all media files.
So images, movies, audio, you name it. Let's read this one.
Blossom Drive. Store and retrieve data on public servers using SHA-256 Universal ID.
Blossom Drive uses SHA-256 Universal IDs to address binary data stored on public servers via HTTP endpoints.
Allows users to store and retrieve binary data without naming conventions, providing flexibility and security.
Identify systems enable ownership of files.
Identity systems enable ownership of files, enabling better organization and management of data.
Blossom Drive is a Nostr application utilizing Blossom servers, allowing users to create and manage folders of blobs.
Really pumped about this project. I hope that it goes somewhere.
If you would like to support it, download the software, play around with it, try it out.
Don't put anything serious on there that you might be sad if it gets lost, but try it out.
And then if you are enjoying it, consider sending some Sats, some Zaps over to Hazard and others who are working on it.
And then last Nostr update for today, we have Nost2x version 2.3.0.
This is one of the browser extensions that helps you log into Nostr apps without having to put in your private key to all the different apps.
And they added support for NIP 49.
New version of Nost2x released adding NIP 49 event deletion support.
The update includes a button directing users to the options page upon installation, as well as a link to Nostr.me for easy profile setup.
OK, in the privacy and security category, we first have Umbral OS with an update of version 1.1.0.
And they have added a terminal application, allowing you to do command line stuff from within Umbral, which is cool.
They have a beta program, UX improvements, and bug fixes.
Raspi Blitz version 1.11.0, enabling NVMe PCIe hats, new documentation, and more.
TBDEX version 1.0, open source liquidity and trust protocol.
I'm going to read a little bit from this one. This release marks the debut of TBDEX, an open source liquidity and trust protocol designed to facilitate seamless connections between liquidity seekers and providers, while ensuring security through the utilization and decentralization technologies like distributed IDs and VCs.
Next category, we have AI. Unleashed.chat is out with version 0.1.20.
And these are Nostr feed queries.
Introduction of Nostr feed queries functionality, users can now ask, "What's happening on my feed today?" to receive information about recent posts made by individuals they are following on Nostr.
This honestly seems really cool because one of the biggest problems with Nostr is that you hop on and you see what's going on right then.
But it's really hard to know the important things you missed unless people are reposting other people's stuff or their own stuff and having it resurfaced.
So there are a few stories every day that just get so much attention, they get reposted dozens of times, and so you don't miss them.
But there are a ton of great nuggets of information that you are missing every day.
So if Unleashed.chat can search those out and feed them back to you when you request it, that'd be really cool.
It kind of feels similar to the algorithm approaches of other social media networks, but you're still controlling the interaction a bit by making it something that you request.
Hopefully down the line you can request certain types of things from it and get more controlled summaries back.
They also have enhanced privacy features.
To utilize the Nostr feed query, users must enable Nostr login within their account settings.
And then there are improved user experience.
When initiating a new chat session in Nostr mode, prompts suggesting relevant images are provided to enhance conversation quality.
Additionally, AI-generated code blocks now include a button that allows users to easily copy the content to their clipboards.
And then a little bit of a PR thing from their note.
Continued development. This release marks another step towards improving the overall functionality and usability of Unleashed.chat, ensuring it remains at the forefront of AI-powered communication platforms.
Okay, we have three more today.
PPQ.AI has DALI AI image generation available.
Meta introduces LLAMA3, an open source large language model with state-of-the-art performance.
Pre-trained and fine-tuned versions of LLAMA3 are available with 8 billion and 70 billion parameters.
This aims to be the best open source model, addressing developer feedback and promoting responsible use.
New capabilities include improved reasoning, code generation, and instruction following.
LLAMA3 will become multilingual and multimodal in the future, with longer context and better overall performance.
Human evaluation sets were created to test performance in real-world scenarios, showing superiority compared to other LLMs.
And then speaking of other LLMs, we have Apple coming into the mix.
Apple releases eight small AI language models aimed at on-device use.
This is courtesy of Ars Technica.
In the world of AI, what might be called small language models have been growing in popularity recently because they can be run on a local device instead of requiring data center-grade computers in the cloud.
On Wednesday, Apple introduced a set of tiny source-available AI language models called OpenELM that are small enough to run directly on a smartphone.
They're mostly proof-of-concept research models for now, but they could form the basis of future on-device AI offerings from Apple.
Apple's new AI models, collectively named OpenELM, which stands for Open Source Efficient Language Models, are currently available on Hugging Face under Apple's sample code license.
Since there are some restrictions in the license, it may not fit the commonly accepted definition of open source, but the source code for OpenELM is available.
And I just say that these could be awesome for people running AI servers at home.
Apple has, for years, focused on edge computing, doing as much as it can to do things on the device, whereas other big tech companies tend to favor pushing things to the cloud as soon as possible.
So that mentality will likely show through in the performance of these models on home hardware.
So even though these are proof-of-concept to start, I'm excited to see where they go.
Alright, well that is it for news and project updates this week. This is Freedom Tech Wrap.
If you find this weekly source useful, please share it with your people.
You can also support us through Value for Value in your podcast app or on Noster.
We love it when you stream those sats, send boosts, and send zaps.
If you have any feedback for us, send it our way on Noster to marks@nosterplebs.com.
To close it out, we have the Song of the Week, where your sats directly support that artist. So stick around and boost.
For the rest of you, thanks for listening to Freedom Tech Wrap. And remember to live independent.
Later.
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This week, we're bringing a song where I am taking the meaning from the song and repurposing it a bit.
Fungibility of money is an important quality when it comes to human rights and privacy.
This is really why CBDCs are a dangerous precedent. They give authority, complete insight, and actual control over an individual's money.
Approval to spend, or even approval to save it. And that is the antithesis of freedom technology.
Continue looking for ways to maintain your privacy. It's not a fringe, shady thing to do.
It's a fundamental right that was inscribed in the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution.
While that is a document for only one country, the concept applies to all humans.
As we work, we store our effort in the form of money. We then use that money to trade our effort for someone else's effort.
If authority wants to control our money through a CBDC, they are effectively controlling our effort.
Privacy is essential for freedom.
On that note, here is the track. It is by the artist Nate Jonathan, called "It Can Be Erased."
I won't be the reason that you slow down
I can't be there though when you're spinning out
Don't worry 'bout anything
Nothing is planned, if it's written it can be erased
I'll take care of all of it
You'll be remembered as a saving grace
I am, if you are, I could be done
You ever feel the bass through the wall when you're downtown?
You can't resist, drawn to it, it's a gravitational sound
Don't worry 'bout anything
Nothing is planned, if it's written it can be erased
You will take care of all of it
You'll be remembered as a saving grace
I am, if you are, I could be done
The lady's chosen, it's a long walk home
Can't take her with you, but you'll never be alone
♪♪