My Bitcoin, Lightning, and Nostr Journey Intro
Welcome to my Bitcoin, Lightning, and Nostr Journey.
Introduction
My purpose for writing this documentation is both for myself and more importantly to ease the path for others to follow. I'm going to assume the reader as limited computer skills, not fearful of installing software, and is capable of following instructions.
I'll also assume that this is an individual first exposure to Bitcoin and related technologies. My job isn't to sell you on Bitcoin, because only you can do this.
A typical response from an individual not understanding our current fiat based monetary system that I hear is that Bitcoin is just a ponzi scheme
. From this response, I know that the individual has zero knowledge about our fiat monetary system. There for I recommend reading the book last published in 1994 before continuing on this journey with me.
The Creature from Jekyll Island
You can skip the above reading assignment, if you are already aware that our fiat monetary system is the true ponzi scheme that we have been using for over last 100 years.
You can skip the above reading assignment, if you are already aware that our fiat monetary system is the true ponzi scheme that we have been using for over last 100 years.
I didn't wake up to this realization until after the 2008 collapse, when I read the above book. In 2008, I had a conflict with my employer of 28 years and I quit that job. This sent me on several IT related jobs until 2022 when my current employer mandated the jab as a condition of employment which I declined. It wasn't until 2017 that I woke up to the realization that Bitcoin offered. Perhaps if I wasn't so focused on doing different jobs, I would have woken up sooner.
So basically, I'm a computer geek and have been since 1981.
This journey is going to happen in the reverse order of how I experienced it. This is because there is a mountain of knowledge to become aware of and we are starting at the base of the mountain.
First up on the journey will be getting a 'Lightning wallet' created and exposure to using 'nostr', but before starting this journey one needs to know how to store sensitivity data securely on your computer. Unfortunately, there are like a thousand and one ways to do this. My desired preferences are: (don't need to be yours)
Rule One
Absolute control of sensitive data that is encrypted and offline when not in use (usually termed 'Cold Storage').
Absolute control means no third party can prevent you from assessing the data.
I currently use KeePassXC on my Linux desktop and have used Password Safe (on Windows Only) too. The default install of either of these software packages will not enable cold storage capability. This will be accomplished later in the journey.
I also break rule one, by keeping sensitive data in a KeyBase vault but the data is duplicated in KeePassXC so if KeyBase disables my account I'd still have access to the data. I do this for convenience because I typically run multiple computers at the same time and with KeyBase I can access the data currently. I never put financial sensitive data in KeyBase.
Step One
Install Alby Lightning wallet and Nostr by reviewing BTC Session youtube presentation on how to do this.
Primal.Net is a web based client that has worked well for me.
Conclusion
Now that you have your nostr client of choice running, you are likely in need of funds. You can follow me on nostr at cadayton and I can zap you some sats to get you going.
Another way to earn sats is to load Bitcoin Magazine's mobile app. They pay you in sats for reading various articles. Then after you accumulated a certain amount of sats you can transfer the sats to your lightning wallet.
The remainder of this journey is going to be determined either by myself or based on your feed back.
Currently, my plans is to document the stuff that I have implemented on Linux so far which includes:
PowerShell code for using REST API from Alby, LNBits, and Zapit.
Running a Bitcoin Full node with the following components.
Running Lightning Node (LND) using BTCPay Server from Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
Documenting the PowerShell scripts that automate maintaining the above software stack.