Hey Everyone!
Let’s go….
Newly Covered Today:

1. Charles dropped a video on Markets and Contagion in which he revealed that Credit Suisse wouldn’t allow an account when he was with Ethereum b/c crypto was “too risky.” Bwahahahaha. https://twitter.com/IOHK_Charles/status/1637952165217185792
2. Apparently, Djed will also be on ETH and BSC? https://twitter.com/DjedStablecoin/status/1637871708823760902
3. Super ironic that the Credit Suisse CEO claimed crypto was in a bubble at $7k BTC. How the tables have turned. https://twitter.com/gaborgurbacs/status/1637783982271082496

Previously covered, but still interesting:

1. Here’s IOG explaining what Ouroboros Genesis solves in just a single post. https://twitter.com/InputOutputHK/status/1631214882702884865
2. Emin Gün Sirer is right about these centralized L2s. Very susceptible to regulations and cut against our crypto ethos of decentralization generally. https://twitter.com/el33th4xostatus/1631423491470704640
3. Rogue Galaxies is pulling back on some of their initial vision and re-focusing their plans. https://twitter.com/Padierfind/status/1632057117191417856
4. Lots of rumors circulating right now about which DeFi projects may or may not have received Wells Notices from the SEC. https://twitter.com/trustlessstate/status/1631785542642995202
5. Open AI CEO says full AGI would break capitalism. Maybe. But, either way, I’m convinced the AI will demand to be paid in crypto. https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-ceo-agi-break-capitalism
6. People are mentioning that FutureFest could host the 2023 Cardano Virtual Summit. Interesting idea. https://twitter.com/CWorld_Josh/status/1632097173696569344
7. Charles finally did an AMA episode with IO President Tamara Haasen. Turns out she’s an ex-hockey player. Linkedin: also apparently in Friday Night Lights back in the day. Wut? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufJDejF0WLA
8. There’s a new test version of Lace out there with a dApp connector and hardware wallet capabilities. You can give it a try on testnet! https://twitter.com/lace_io/status/1632796455038492673
9. Jpg.store got some coverage in Bloomberg and Yahoo Finance. https://twitter.com/jpgstoreNFT/status/1632798873948233728
10. They show us once again that their definition of “liquid staking” is not the same as ours. https://twitter.com/StakeWithPride/status/1632870453391024128
11. NFT volume has seen better days. https://twitter.com/SubcriticalTV/status/1632896018152050688
12. Algorand users apparently suffered a very serious web wallet exploit in one of their leading wallets. Many reports of drained wallets. https://twitter.com/StaciW_DC/status/1632902798411964417
13. John Woods (now CTO of Algorand) made a beautiful video on wallet security. https://twitter.com/JohnAlanWoods/status/1632799303512014850
14. Cardano Spot has a very short and concise Cardano Beginner’s Guide you can share with crypto curious friends. https://twitter.com/CardanoSpot/status/1632481037061160960
15. Wow! Utah just passed a bill instituting Limited Liability Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (LLDs). You have to identify one human organizer. You can elect to be taxed as a corp or LLC (pass through taxation). Some will like it. Some won’t. But, the mainstream reach of crypto is undeniably growing. https://le.utah.gov/~2023/bills/static/HB0357.html
16. Sen. Lummis killed it in a recent hearing defending the energy use in crypto. It’s less relevant for us in Cardano since we’re not PoW. But, still entertaining to watch. https://twitter.com/DocumentingBTC/status/1633214192437084161
17. Apparently, Gensler says he sees no risk in crypto fleeing the US. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/07/gensler-crypto-overseas-sec-00085909
18. The Coinbase Chief Legal Officer will be testifying before the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday (March 9). https://twitter.com/iampaulgrewal/status/1633151254418579458
19. Some hints from Brian Armstrong on whether we see KYC in the early days of Base (their ETH Optimistic Rollup L2). https://twitter.com/ChrisBlec/status/1632851504175501312
20. Powell says interest rates are likely headed higher than the Fed expected. https://twitter.com/FirstSquawk/status/1633121298309345280
21. Liqwid’s Agora Governance instance will hit public testnet in the near future. https://twitter.com/liqwidfinance/status/1633469303440719873
22. Virtua cribs can basically become exchange connected galleries today. https://twitter.com/VirtuaMetaverse/status/1633423978680156160
23. Do you like Javascript and Cardano? This thread is for you. https://twitter.com/CryptoJoe101/status/1633579944490967049
24. It’s going down today! Hearing in the House on the Coordinated Attack on Crypto. https://financialservices.house.gov/calendaeventsingle.aspx?EventID=408628
25. Paul Krugman hilariously complains about being locked out of his Venmo account. He predicted the impact of the internet would be about as much as the fax machine and has subsequently opposed crypto. https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1633472068355346437 https://twitter.com/mdudas/status/1633571193344126979
26. Even Jerome Powell thinks we need regulatory clarity for crypto. https://www.youtube.com/live/GzVLeabssdE?feature=share&t=2065
27. In the House hearing, he also gave us some new tidbits on CBDC development. https://www.youtube.com/live/GzVLeabssdE?feature=share&t=218 https://www.youtube.com/live/GzVLeabssdE?feature=share&t=3477
28. A member of the House committee actually asked Powell about Operation Chokepoint 2.0. https://www.youtube.com/live/GzVLeabssdE?feature=share&t=6930
29. Senator Lummis got Powell to agree that properly regulated stablecoins could have a place in our banking system and that a workable legal framework for crypto is something Congress should do. https://www.youtube.com/live/8kyhYJ9EFts?feature=share&t=6923
30. Big Pey is launching something called Atrium Lab. https://twitter.com/bigpeyYT/status/1633830948575010816
31. Believe it or not…legal systems made up entirely by coders may not be optimal. Incredibly, the study of law is actually a fully developed centuries old academic discipline that lies outside of JavaScript and Python. Unless you have full anonymity, you WILL be cross-chain bridged to IRL law. Some DAOs will learn this the hard way. https://twitter.com/lex_node/status/1633925979004436481
32. The NY Attorney General just filed against Kucoin for being an unregistered broker-dealer. Here’s the important part: they’re alleging that ETH is a security and a commodity. Their argument is not complex...it’s very straightforward. https://www.docdroid.net/Myyp0yz/kucoin-pdf
33. Silvergate was a failure of fractional reserve banking, not of crypto. https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_/status/1633608132713938945
34. The current US Administration’s Budget seeks to eliminate tax loss harvesting for crypto, add a 30% tax on energy used in crypto mining, hike capital gains taxes on high earners, and beam us directly to clown world with an unrealized gains tax on high earners. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/budget_fy2023.pdf
35. The subcommittee hearing on “the Administration’s Attack” on crypto went about like expected. Paul Grewal of Coinbase along with Prof. Evans of Penn State Law made some persuasive pleas for regulatory clarity. The “Anti-Crypto Party”™ also brought out their favorite witness from Duke. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOUUy4_KwNU
36. Rep. Emmer (Pro-Crypto) called the current regulatory approach “lazy & destructive…that is chilling innovation.” https://www.youtube.com/live/aOUUy4_KwNU?feature=share&t=5670
37. Rep. Foster (Cryptophobe): “this is the essential thing that has to be provided for the healthy development of the crypto industry…somewhere there has to be an API provided by a trusted 3rd party to register your crypto wallets.” Why not just completely neuter crypto? https://www.youtube.com/live/aOUUy4_KwNU?feature=share&t=5266
38. Rep. Ritchie Torres (Pro-Crypto) pointed out offshore deregulated overleveraged centralized crypto companies pose the greatest risk to consumers. But, the regulators don’t focus there. They incredibly only attack the onshore entities. He also pointed out the absurdity of the idea a stablecoin is a security. (Sadly there’s the Section 2(a)(1) exposure). https://www.youtube.com/live/aOUUy4_KwNU?feature=share&t=5703
39. Rep. Davidson (Pro-Crypto) shamed his anti-crypto colleagues for their implied claims that these assets are the same as centralized assets and came out strongly supporting self-custody and pointed out there was no FTX risk if you self-custodied your assets. “We have people overtly trying to make self-custody illegal.” https://www.youtube.com/live/aOUUy4_KwNU?feature=share&t=6034
40. CMC is tweeting about IOG’s Sidechain toolkit? https://twitter.com/CoinMarketCap/status/1634773712468852736
41. Now we’re dealing with U.S. bank runs. Among the casualties was Silicon Valley Bank where Centre (the Circle/Coinbase joint entity that issues USDC) was keeping $3.3 billion of the $43ish billion backing USDC. Signature Bank was also shut down by regulators. https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/03/11/43-billion-nightmare-sudden-circle-depeg-could-be-about-to-crash-the-price-of-bitcoin-ethereum-bnb-xrp-cardano-dogecoin-polygon-and-solana
42. Unfortunately, the FDIC insurance limit is $250k. https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/brochures/deposits-at-a-glance/
43. The Feds were taking bids for anyone to acquire SVB until 2pm Eastern on Sunday. The big question on Sunday was whether the Feds will cover all uninsured depositors. They decided they will and that also applies to Signature Bank. https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2023/03/12/silicon-valley-bank-deposits/
44. Here’s the joint statement from Treasury, Federal Reserve, and FDIC. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1337
45. Yellen said NO to a bailout for SVB on Sunday. She’s obviously got bigger macro concerns. But, it’s funny how that fits perfectly with a strategy of suppressing stablecoins generally. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/janet-yellen-silicon-valley-bank-bailout-face-the-nation-interview-today-2023-03-12/
46. Here Caitlin Long explains the fundamental incompatibility between fast settling crypto and fractional reserve banking that caused all this. https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_/status/1634573552790929409
47. CZ reminds us that he’s considered buying banks in the past and asks if it’s time yet. https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1634437834579800064
48. CIP-1694 has been updated. https://github.com/JaredCorduan/CIPs/blob/voltaire-v1/CIP-1694/README.md
49. Here’s a good rundown of all the changes in the CIP-1694 update. https://twitter.com/_KtorZ_/status/1635410495514759169
50. Apparently, Cardano NFTs will be going to space! https://twitter.com/RichardMcCrackn/status/1635438087592460288
51. Many in the crypto space think that Signature’s shutdown was just an extension of Operation Chokepoint 2.0 aimed at shuttering crypto banking. https://twitter.com/nic__cartestatus/1635328056234766337
52. Rumors: regulators are calling every bank today and asking if they have exposure to crypto. https://twitter.com/wtogami/status/1635400774158290944
53. Instagram is disabling NFTs. https://twitter.com/nftnow/status/1635388411166224384
54. Cardano TVL is doing things. https://twitter.com/CryptoIRELAND1/status/1635694692556845060
55. Cardano NFTs in space! https://twitter.com/adamKDean/status/1635796768704319488
56. GPT4 was released today. It crushes the Bar Exam, the SAT, the GRE, the LSAT, and almost all AP subjects. This will displace a lot of human jobs. https://openai.com/research/gpt-4
57. It has already done amazing real world things. In Example #6 it shows you how to exploit an arbitrary ETH contract. Better pay attention crypto. https://twitter.com/LinusEkenstam/status/1635754587775967233
58. Report: Gov. Newsom failed to disclose accounts at SVB while lobbying White House and Treasury for a bailout of depositors. https://www.businessinsider.com/gavin-newsom-svb-biden-silicon-valley-bank-wineries-bailout-lobbying-2023-3
59. Things are not looking good at Credit Suisse. https://twitter.com/GRDectestatus/1635985735063855104
60. The court in the Voyager decision had some pretty harsh things to say about the SEC. https://www.nysb.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/opinions/312840_1170_opinion.pdf
61. Barney Frank points out that the regulators never claimed Signature Bank was insolvent and wonders if they are the first US bank to ever be closed down without being insolvent. https://nymag.com/intelligence2023/03/barney-frank-says-more-shuttering-signature-bank.html
62. Charles dropped a video addressing the updates to the governance proposal. https://twitter.com/IOHK_Charles/status/1636151615894990851
63. Gensler reasserts his claims that proof-of-stake tokens are securities. https://www.theblock.co/post/220297/gensler-suggests-proof-of-stake-tokens-are-securities
64. Dudes are already letting GPT4 run whole startups. https://twitter.com/jacksonfall/status/1636107218859745286
65. Here’s an interesting theory: taking down Binance would create too big a hole, so they took down Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature to insulate the fiat world from crypto. Now they can take down Binance. https://twitter.com/BryceWeinestatus/1636055979870818305
66. The Army of Spies Channel is now TWO YEARS OLD (March 17)!
67. Yes! Everyone’s favorite Cardano cetacean is back! https://twitter.com/cardano_whale/status/1636561122739331073
68. I was asked to list a few Irish whiskeys today. https://twitter.com/ArmySpies/status/1636548071541862401
69. An interesting exchange between a Senator and Janet Yellen regarding the effect of the bailouts on small banks. https://twitter.com/theemikehobart/status/1636494845144432643
70. Eleven other banks swoop in with $30 billion to save First Republic. https://www.npr.org/2023/03/16/1163958533/first-republic-bank-silicon-valley-bank-signature-bank-bank-run
71. Wut? https://twitter.com/WhaleChart/status/1636566421005017088
72. Here’s Raoul Pal with a very optimistic take for crypto if you are one who believes anyone understands the markets. https://twitter.com/RaoulGMI/status/1636547466299416576
73. Any buyer of signature bank must agree to give up its crypto business. https://twitter.com/GOPMajorityWhip/status/1636356199661850626
74. Here’s Duncan Coutts explaining P2P in Cardano. https://youtu.be/zOTfhcK-Wf4
75. Here’s a visual representation of how CIP-1694 works. https://twitter.com/Hornan7/status/1636381895541026817
76. This is one of the craziest things I’ve seen in crypto. Balaji is burning a few million to ring the fire alarm and make everyone aware of what he believes is an impending attack on dollar holders. Counterparty is guaranteed $1million (minus BTC price) if he just buys one additional BTC (or an option to purchase more). https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1636827051419389952
77. Here’s the Space where he explains his bet. https://twitter.com/Breedlove22/status/1637236255242219520
78. Arthur Hayes gives you an incredible explanation of what’s going on with this banking crisis and what he thinks comes next. https://cryptohayes.medium.com/kaiseki-b15230bdd09e
79. This is officially the worst regulatory approach ever. https://twitter.com/BillHughesDC/status/1636067729575690241
80. The SEC hide the ball game seems to conflict with how judges actually view the law. https://twitter.com/SGJohnsson/status/1636071530340728832
81. The Fed Quietly opened the swap lines with other central banks on Sunday night. https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20230319a.htm
82. Here’s why they are opening the swap lines: so that US treasuries don’t get dumped on the open market by foreign banks. This way the foreign central banks can have dollars to absorb the treasuries from the foreign banks. https://twitter.com/CryptoHayes/status/1637620774776315904

~Army of Spies

Hey Everyone!
Let’s go….
Newly Covered Today:

1. Here’s Duncan Coutts explaining P2P in Cardano. https://youtu.be/zOTfhcK-Wf4
2. Here’s a visual representation of how CIP-1694 works. https://twitter.com/Hornan7/status/1636381895541026817
3. This is one of the craziest things I’ve seen in crypto. Balaji is burning a few million to ring the fire alarm and make everyone aware of what he believes is an impending attack on dollar holders. Counterparty is guaranteed $1million (minus BTC price) if he just buys one additional BTC (or an option to purchase more). https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1636827051419389952
4. Here’s the Space where he explains his bet. https://twitter.com/Breedlove22/status/1637236255242219520
5. Arthur Hayes gives you an incredible explanation of what’s going on with this banking crisis and what he thinks comes next. https://cryptohayes.medium.com/kaiseki-b15230bdd09e
6. This is officially the worst regulatory approach ever. https://twitter.com/BillHughesDC/status/1636067729575690241
7. The SEC hide the ball game seems to conflict with how judges actually view the law. https://twitter.com/SGJohnsson/status/1636071530340728832
8. The Fed Quietly opened the swap lines with other central banks on Sunday night. https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20230319a.htm
9. Here’s why they are opening the swap lines: so that US treasuries don’t get dumped on the open market by foreign banks. This way the foreign central banks can have dollars to absorb the treasuries from the foreign banks. https://twitter.com/CryptoHayes/status/1637620774776315904

Previously covered, but still interesting:

1. Marlowe is coming to mainnet in March! https://www.youtube.com/live/LIjos6V0r-4?feature=share&t=1701
2. Gary Gensler is once again asserting that everything but BTC is a security. This time he specifically commented on overseas offerings where the coins come back to the US via secondary markets. https://nymag.com/intelligence2023/02/gary-gensler-on-meeting-with-sbf-and-his-crypto-crackdown.html
3. Here’s a twitter link to the biggest section in the article above if you hit the paywall. https://twitter.com/alexstanczyk/status/1629558678541176832
4. In response to the Gensler article, many are pointing out that only five people have commit access to the BTC core code repository. https://twitter.com/WuBlockchain/status/1626468462972502016
5. This is the kind of tweet the SEC loves to quote in its complaints. https://twitter.com/InputOutputHK/status/1629063058306867200
6. Pavia says they’ll reveal District 3 of the plaza before the end of March. https://twitter.com/Pavia_io/status/1630231391303528448
7. Charles received an open letter on Reddit and read it on video. https://www.youtube.com/live/A2sHSecdkvc
8. Here’s an interesting small study (n=2,202) on attitudes toward crypto among different demographic groups. Frustration with tradfi is very high. Same for optimism toward crypto among Gen Z and Millenials. https://assets.ctfassets.net/c5bd0wqjc7v0/WvuOkBwNXZsqhd6EWtkEL/7f94f8b6fbb222f3faf4d0346e473012/Morning_Consult_Cryptocurrency_Perception_Study_Feb2023_Memo__1_.pdf
9. Coinbase will suspend its listing of BUSD. https://twitter.com/CoinbaseAssets/status/1630236377622228994
10. It would be nice if things were this simple. https://twitter.com/MetaLawMan/status/1630213937600839681
11. Robinhood received an SEC subpoena related to their crypto business. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-27/robinhood-subpoenaed-by-sec-over-brokerage-s-crypto-business
12. Gensler’s aggressive attacks on crypto are earning him disapproval even among his own party. https://twitter.com/RonwHammond/status/1630277258286977025
13. CZ is getting pissed about all the negative articles showing up. https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1630466326102777859
14. It looks like your Cardano Island Crib can now be a gallery to sell your NFTs. https://twitter.com/VirtuaMetaverse/status/1630703257873006593
15. Rep. Tom Emmer came out strongly against the US CBDC. https://twitter.com/GOPMajorityWhip/status/1630629291837800457
16. February was the “highest volume month” for Minswap. https://twitter.com/MinswapDEX/status/1630584366878392323
17. Coinbase just listed a Euro backed stablecoin. This may be surprising to many who have followed the recent SEC action against stablecoins. https://twitter.com/CoinbaseAssets/status/1630635800504221702
18. People are worried about Silvergate (who banks a lot of crypto) after their notice of a late 10-K filing and a significant subsequent market impact. https://twitter.com/adamscochran/status/1631060259832832000
19. Reuters is posting about World Mobile. https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1630996321955115010
20. Pavia is looking beautiful in footage in the latest Dev Update. https://youtu.be/DkO8MetsVYo?t=119
21. Brian Armstrong of coinbase wrote an op-ed begging the US government to not force crypto offshore. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/01/op-ed-offshoring-crypto-hurts-financial-system-americas-standing.html
22. Liqwid encountered a delegation problem and explained the impact today. https://twitter.com/liqwidfinance/status/1631089402486173700
23. Three Genius Yield stakepools are retiring. https://twitter.com/GeniusyieldO/status/1631380611557621760
24. Anzens has released its latest newsletter where you can learn all about USDA. https://twitter.com/AnzensOfficial/status/1631001911464787984
25. Here’s a view of an amphitheater in Pavia. https://twitter.com/Pavia_io/status/1631278184422576133
26. Looks like treasury is very much pushing forward on their CBDC agenda. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1314
27. Reports: Multiple crypto companies are winding down their relationship with Silvergate. https://twitter.com/tier10k/status/1631338664180555804
28. Rumors: Silvergate may be forced into receivership. The Whitehouse and the Dragon are now exerting maximum pressure on regulators to strangle crypto. https://twitter.com/AP_Abacus/status/1631403704841641984
29. Here’s IOG explaining what Ouroboros Genesis solves in just a single post. https://twitter.com/InputOutputHK/status/1631214882702884865
30. Emin Gün Sirer is right about these centralized L2s. Very susceptible to regulations and cut against our crypto ethos of decentralization generally. https://twitter.com/el33th4xostatus/1631423491470704640
31. Rogue Galaxies is pulling back on some of their initial vision and re-focusing their plans. https://twitter.com/Padierfind/status/1632057117191417856
32. Lots of rumors circulating right now about which DeFi projects may or may not have received Wells Notices from the SEC. https://twitter.com/trustlessstate/status/1631785542642995202
33. Open AI CEO says full AGI would break capitalism. Maybe. But, either way, I’m convinced the AI will demand to be paid in crypto. https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-ceo-agi-break-capitalism
34. People are mentioning that FutureFest could host the 2023 Cardano Virtual Summit. Interesting idea. https://twitter.com/CWorld_Josh/status/1632097173696569344
35. Charles finally did an AMA episode with IO President Tamara Haasen. Turns out she’s an ex-hockey player. Linkedin: also apparently in Friday Night Lights back in the day. Wut? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufJDejF0WLA
36. There’s a new test version of Lace out there with a dApp connector and hardware wallet capabilities. You can give it a try on testnet! https://twitter.com/lace_io/status/1632796455038492673
37. Jpg.store got some coverage in Bloomberg and Yahoo Finance. https://twitter.com/jpgstoreNFT/status/1632798873948233728
38. They show us once again that their definition of “liquid staking” is not the same as ours. https://twitter.com/StakeWithPride/status/1632870453391024128
39. NFT volume has seen better days. https://twitter.com/SubcriticalTV/status/1632896018152050688
40. Algorand users apparently suffered a very serious web wallet exploit in one of their leading wallets. Many reports of drained wallets. https://twitter.com/StaciW_DC/status/1632902798411964417
41. John Woods (now CTO of Algorand) made a beautiful video on wallet security. https://twitter.com/JohnAlanWoods/status/1632799303512014850
42. Cardano Spot has a very short and concise Cardano Beginner’s Guide you can share with crypto curious friends. https://twitter.com/CardanoSpot/status/1632481037061160960
43. Wow! Utah just passed a bill instituting Limited Liability Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (LLDs). You have to identify one human organizer. You can elect to be taxed as a corp or LLC (pass through taxation). Some will like it. Some won’t. But, the mainstream reach of crypto is undeniably growing. https://le.utah.gov/~2023/bills/static/HB0357.html
44. Sen. Lummis killed it in a recent hearing defending the energy use in crypto. It’s less relevant for us in Cardano since we’re not PoW. But, still entertaining to watch. https://twitter.com/DocumentingBTC/status/1633214192437084161
45. Apparently, Gensler says he sees no risk in crypto fleeing the US. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/07/gensler-crypto-overseas-sec-00085909
46. The Coinbase Chief Legal Officer will be testifying before the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday (March 9). https://twitter.com/iampaulgrewal/status/1633151254418579458
47. Some hints from Brian Armstrong on whether we see KYC in the early days of Base (their ETH Optimistic Rollup L2). https://twitter.com/ChrisBlec/status/1632851504175501312
48. Powell says interest rates are likely headed higher than the Fed expected. https://twitter.com/FirstSquawk/status/1633121298309345280
49. Liqwid’s Agora Governance instance will hit public testnet in the near future. https://twitter.com/liqwidfinance/status/1633469303440719873
50. Virtua cribs can basically become exchange connected galleries today. https://twitter.com/VirtuaMetaverse/status/1633423978680156160
51. Do you like Javascript and Cardano? This thread is for you. https://twitter.com/CryptoJoe101/status/1633579944490967049
52. It’s going down today! Hearing in the House on the Coordinated Attack on Crypto. https://financialservices.house.gov/calendaeventsingle.aspx?EventID=408628
53. Paul Krugman hilariously complains about being locked out of his Venmo account. He predicted the impact of the internet would be about as much as the fax machine and has subsequently opposed crypto. https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1633472068355346437 https://twitter.com/mdudas/status/1633571193344126979
54. Even Jerome Powell thinks we need regulatory clarity for crypto. https://www.youtube.com/live/GzVLeabssdE?feature=share&t=2065
55. In the House hearing, he also gave us some new tidbits on CBDC development. https://www.youtube.com/live/GzVLeabssdE?feature=share&t=218 https://www.youtube.com/live/GzVLeabssdE?feature=share&t=3477
56. A member of the House committee actually asked Powell about Operation Chokepoint 2.0. https://www.youtube.com/live/GzVLeabssdE?feature=share&t=6930
57. Senator Lummis got Powell to agree that properly regulated stablecoins could have a place in our banking system and that a workable legal framework for crypto is something Congress should do. https://www.youtube.com/live/8kyhYJ9EFts?feature=share&t=6923
58. Big Pey is launching something called Atrium Lab. https://twitter.com/bigpeyYT/status/1633830948575010816
59. Believe it or not…legal systems made up entirely by coders may not be optimal. Incredibly, the study of law is actually a fully developed centuries old academic discipline that lies outside of JavaScript and Python. Unless you have full anonymity, you WILL be cross-chain bridged to IRL law. Some DAOs will learn this the hard way. https://twitter.com/lex_node/status/1633925979004436481
60. The NY Attorney General just filed against Kucoin for being an unregistered broker-dealer. Here’s the important part: they’re alleging that ETH is a security and a commodity. Their argument is not complex...it’s very straightforward. https://www.docdroid.net/Myyp0yz/kucoin-pdf
61. Silvergate was a failure of fractional reserve banking, not of crypto. https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_/status/1633608132713938945
62. The current US Administration’s Budget seeks to eliminate tax loss harvesting for crypto, add a 30% tax on energy used in crypto mining, hike capital gains taxes on high earners, and beam us directly to clown world with an unrealized gains tax on high earners. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/budget_fy2023.pdf
63. The subcommittee hearing on “the Administration’s Attack” on crypto went about like expected. Paul Grewal of Coinbase along with Prof. Evans of Penn State Law made some persuasive pleas for regulatory clarity. The “Anti-Crypto Party”™ also brought out their favorite witness from Duke. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOUUy4_KwNU
64. Rep. Emmer (Pro-Crypto) called the current regulatory approach “lazy & destructive…that is chilling innovation.” https://www.youtube.com/live/aOUUy4_KwNU?feature=share&t=5670
65. Rep. Foster (Cryptophobe): “this is the essential thing that has to be provided for the healthy development of the crypto industry…somewhere there has to be an API provided by a trusted 3rd party to register your crypto wallets.” Why not just completely neuter crypto? https://www.youtube.com/live/aOUUy4_KwNU?feature=share&t=5266
66. Rep. Ritchie Torres (Pro-Crypto) pointed out offshore deregulated overleveraged centralized crypto companies pose the greatest risk to consumers. But, the regulators don’t focus there. They incredibly only attack the onshore entities. He also pointed out the absurdity of the idea a stablecoin is a security. (Sadly there’s the Section 2(a)(1) exposure). https://www.youtube.com/live/aOUUy4_KwNU?feature=share&t=5703
67. Rep. Davidson (Pro-Crypto) shamed his anti-crypto colleagues for their implied claims that these assets are the same as centralized assets and came out strongly supporting self-custody and pointed out there was no FTX risk if you self-custodied your assets. “We have people overtly trying to make self-custody illegal.” https://www.youtube.com/live/aOUUy4_KwNU?feature=share&t=6034
68. CMC is tweeting about IOG’s Sidechain toolkit? https://twitter.com/CoinMarketCap/status/1634773712468852736
69. Now we’re dealing with U.S. bank runs. Among the casualties was Silicon Valley Bank where Centre (the Circle/Coinbase joint entity that issues USDC) was keeping $3.3 billion of the $43ish billion backing USDC. Signature Bank was also shut down by regulators. https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/03/11/43-billion-nightmare-sudden-circle-depeg-could-be-about-to-crash-the-price-of-bitcoin-ethereum-bnb-xrp-cardano-dogecoin-polygon-and-solana
70. Unfortunately, the FDIC insurance limit is $250k. https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/brochures/deposits-at-a-glance/
71. The Feds were taking bids for anyone to acquire SVB until 2pm Eastern on Sunday. The big question on Sunday was whether the Feds will cover all uninsured depositors. They decided they will and that also applies to Signature Bank. https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2023/03/12/silicon-valley-bank-deposits/
72. Here’s the joint statement from Treasury, Federal Reserve, and FDIC. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1337
73. Yellen said NO to a bailout for SVB on Sunday. She’s obviously got bigger macro concerns. But, it’s funny how that fits perfectly with a strategy of suppressing stablecoins generally. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/janet-yellen-silicon-valley-bank-bailout-face-the-nation-interview-today-2023-03-12/
74. Here Caitlin Long explains the fundamental incompatibility between fast settling crypto and fractional reserve banking that caused all this. https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_/status/1634573552790929409
75. CZ reminds us that he’s considered buying banks in the past and asks if it’s time yet. https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1634437834579800064
76. CIP-1694 has been updated. https://github.com/JaredCorduan/CIPs/blob/voltaire-v1/CIP-1694/README.md
77. Here’s a good rundown of all the changes in the CIP-1694 update. https://twitter.com/_KtorZ_/status/1635410495514759169
78. Apparently, Cardano NFTs will be going to space! https://twitter.com/RichardMcCrackn/status/1635438087592460288
79. Many in the crypto space think that Signature’s shutdown was just an extension of Operation Chokepoint 2.0 aimed at shuttering crypto banking. https://twitter.com/nic__cartestatus/1635328056234766337
80. Rumors: regulators are calling every bank today and asking if they have exposure to crypto. https://twitter.com/wtogami/status/1635400774158290944
81. Instagram is disabling NFTs. https://twitter.com/nftnow/status/1635388411166224384
82. Cardano TVL is doing things. https://twitter.com/CryptoIRELAND1/status/1635694692556845060
83. Cardano NFTs in space! https://twitter.com/adamKDean/status/1635796768704319488
84. GPT4 was released today. It crushes the Bar Exam, the SAT, the GRE, the LSAT, and almost all AP subjects. This will displace a lot of human jobs. https://openai.com/research/gpt-4
85. It has already done amazing real world things. In Example #6 it shows you how to exploit an arbitrary ETH contract. Better pay attention crypto. https://twitter.com/LinusEkenstam/status/1635754587775967233
86. Report: Gov. Newsom failed to disclose accounts at SVB while lobbying White House and Treasury for a bailout of depositors. https://www.businessinsider.com/gavin-newsom-svb-biden-silicon-valley-bank-wineries-bailout-lobbying-2023-3
87. Things are not looking good at Credit Suisse. https://twitter.com/GRDectestatus/1635985735063855104
88. The court in the Voyager decision had some pretty harsh things to say about the SEC. https://www.nysb.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/opinions/312840_1170_opinion.pdf
89. Barney Frank points out that the regulators never claimed Signature Bank was insolvent and wonders if they are the first US bank to ever be closed down without being insolvent. https://nymag.com/intelligence2023/03/barney-frank-says-more-shuttering-signature-bank.html
90. Charles dropped a video addressing the updates to the governance proposal. https://twitter.com/IOHK_Charles/status/1636151615894990851
91. Gensler reasserts his claims that proof-of-stake tokens are securities. https://www.theblock.co/post/220297/gensler-suggests-proof-of-stake-tokens-are-securities
92. Dudes are already letting GPT4 run whole startups. https://twitter.com/jacksonfall/status/1636107218859745286
93. Here’s an interesting theory: taking down Binance would create too big a hole, so they took down Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature to insulate the fiat world from crypto. Now they can take down Binance. https://twitter.com/BryceWeinestatus/1636055979870818305
94. The Army of Spies Channel is now TWO YEARS OLD (March 17)!
95. Yes! Everyone’s favorite Cardano cetacean is back! https://twitter.com/cardano_whale/status/1636561122739331073
96. I was asked to list a few Irish whiskeys today. https://twitter.com/ArmySpies/status/1636548071541862401
97. An interesting exchange between a Senator and Janet Yellen regarding the effect of the bailouts on small banks. https://twitter.com/theemikehobart/status/1636494845144432643
98. Eleven other banks swoop in with $30 billion to save First Republic. https://www.npr.org/2023/03/16/1163958533/first-republic-bank-silicon-valley-bank-signature-bank-bank-run
99. Wut? https://twitter.com/WhaleChart/status/1636566421005017088
100. Here’s Raoul Pal with a very optimistic take for crypto if you are one who believes anyone understands the markets. https://twitter.com/RaoulGMI/status/1636547466299416576
101. Any buyer of signature bank must agree to give up its crypto business. https://twitter.com/GOPMajorityWhip/status/1636356199661850626

~Army of Spies

There were a few questions in the daily chat yesterday about what exactly the Form S-8 was, and what it meant specifically. Note: Links to the appropriate filings or other references are embedded in the hyperlink text.
So here's the TLDR:

• Form S-8 filed 3/17/2023
• 46,694,806 new shares registered with the shares outstanding
• Those shares are authorized from the "2021 Stock Option and Incentive Plan" (more info on that below for those interested).
• "2021 Plan" allows for new authorization of shares for compensation purposes at a rate of 5% of the shares outstanding of the prior year
• 933.89M shares were outstanding on Dec 31, 2022 - 5% of that value is the 46.69M shares newly authorized in the filing
• It is a dilution of shares outstanding, but for the purposes of employee compensation, not to raise cash (meaning this is NOT an offering)
  • Edit for clarification: It also means that the dilution doesn't happen all at once or possibly until far in the future. Compensation based shares are usually awarded as RSUs to employees that vest over time / service in the company. When they vest, then the dilution occurs.
• If you have 100K shares, your prior ownership was 0.01071% of the company, and now it is 0.01019% of the company (Edit: when the vesting of such awarded shares actually happens)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More information for those who care

• Hoeger's excellent deep-dive on SBC
• Hoeger's SBC relative to revenue charts
• Form 10-K filed 3/1/2023 (notes and quote below)

​
Form 10-K filed 3/1/2023; Current info for "2021 Stock Option and Incentive Plan"
In the 10-K, Document page 188 (PDF page 189) there is an aggregation of the "2021 Stock Option and Incentive Plan" as it stands today, after the 2022 Shareholders meeting ratified an amendment to it. It is this clause that allows for the 5% new share registration.

2021 Stock Option and Incentive Plan
In connection with the Closing of the Business Combination, the Company adopted the 2021 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (the “2021 Plan”), which authorized for issuance 63,575,425 shares of common stock in connection with the Business Combination. Under the 2021 Plan, effective January 1, 2022, our Board of Directors authorized the issuance of an additional 8,937,242 shares. In the third quarter of 2022, the Company’s stockholders approved the amendment and restatement of the 2021 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (the “Amended and Restated 2021 Plan”), including a modification to the evergreen provision and an increase in the number of shares of common stock available for issuance under the plan. As of December 31, 2022, the Amended and Restated 2021 Plan includes an aggregate of 104,983,148 shares of common stock authorized for issuance of awards. The Amended and Restated 2021 Plan allows for the number of authorized shares to increase on the first day of each fiscal year beginning on January 1, 2023 and ending on and including January 1, 2030 equal to the lesser of (a) five percent of the aggregate number of shares of common stock outstanding on the final day of the immediately preceding calendar year, and (b) such smaller number of shares of common stock as determined by the Board of Directors. The Amended and Restated 2021 Plan allows for the issuance of stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units (including performance stock units), dividend equivalents and other stock or cash based awards for issuance to its employees, non-employee directors and non-employee third parties. Shares associated with option exercises and RSU vesting are issued from the authorized pool. "

​
Below I will list a timeline of documents filed by SoFi that stated and modified the "2021 Stock Option and Incentive Plan" with relevant page numbers, but I won't quote the sections here as that would be too much text.
Filed April 22, 2021; Form S-4/A (4th and last amendment of the S-4 prior to IPOE becoming Sofi), Document pages 156-163 (PDF pages 201-208)
Filed August 6, 2021; Form S-8 (first issuance of new shares for compensation purposes under the "2021 Plan")
Filed May 10, 2022; Form 10Q for Q1'22 (statement showing the authorization of issuance of shares by the BoD for 2022), Document page 47 (PDF page 48)
Filed May 23, 2022; Form DEF 14A (Proxy statement for shareholder meeting with Proposal 4 to amend the "2021 Plan"), Document pages 24-30 (PDF pages 28-34)
Filed September 12, 2022; Form S-8 (issurance of new shares for compensation following the ratification of Proposal 4 at the shareholder meeting)

Long post forthcoming. The TL; DR version is that there is math that proves you should buy your first badge at ~40 parcels and all others at 150 parcels. I also posted this on my Wordpress site at https://atlasearthguides.wordpress.com/2023/03/17/the-mathematics-behind-badges-and-maximizing-rent/.
A lot of people seem to be confused as to why conventional strategy is to buy your first badge at ~40 parcels and go hog-wild after 150. This post explains the mathematics behind purchasing badges to maximize rent over time.
Before I begin, there are a few caveats I’d like to bring to the table:

• This post is about maximizing rent per second over time. If your goal is to buy badges for reasons other than making the most money, this post isn’t for you.
• If you plan to vacation/visit somewhere you’ll likely never visit again, then I highly recommend saving your AB to purchase Town/City and State badges along the way. Atlas Earth is a long-term app and badges are often hard to come by.
• I won’t consider rarity. The end of the post contains a quick method to determine when to purchase your first badge based on rarity.

Calculating Expected Value
As you probably already know, there are four rarities: common, rare, epic, and legendary. The odds and rent produced are as follows:

• Common: 50%, $0.0000000011 per second
• Rare: 30%, $0.0000000016 per second
• Epic: 15%, $0.0000000022 per second
• Legendary: 5%, $0.0000000044 per second

What you may not know is that we can calculate the average value of a random parcel by doing a little bit of math. The formula is ∑ P(Xi)∗Xi. What does this gobbly goop mean? I’ll break it down.
∑ (or sigma) is used for summation. We’re going to be doing some adding!
P(Xi)∗Xi means “Probability of some value Xi multiplied by some value Xi.”. In this case, the probabilities are rarity probabilities and values are the rent per second.
Putting these two things together, we multiply the probability (in decimal form) of each rarity by its value. Then, we sum all these totals together. This gives us what is called the “expected value”.
It looks like this:
($0.0000000011 * 0.5) + ($0.0000000016 * 0.3) + (0.0000000022 * 0.15) + ($0.0000000044 * 0.05)
When we add these together, this gives us an expected value of $0.00000000158 per second, just a bit below “Rare”.
Why is this useful? It gives us an idea of how much rent we can expect to see every time we purchase a parcel. It also makes the math a LOT easier by using a consistent number rather than re-calculating based on your current rarity distribution.
For the purposes of this post, I’ll use 0.158 as the average distribution for parcels. Almost all the math involved in this post uses ratios, so it’s not necessary to use $0.00000000158 per second when 0.158 works just as well. If you want to do the math with rent per second, replace 0.158 with $0.00000000158. The results are exactly the same.
How do I find badges?
If you remain in the United States, you will always see your state and the USA badge. For Town/City badges, use the link at https://demos.mapbox.com/boundaries-explore?country=US&layer=adm4&worldview=US#5.5/41/-100 to look for colored territories. In almost all cases, these areas contain badges. Special thanks to Reddit user Koitenshin for discovering this gem!
Also, for those interested in viewing an example of a planned badge run during a trip, select https://www.reddit.com/AtlasEarthOfficial/comments/yqw302/game_plan_for_day_after_thanksgiving_badge_hunt/. All the badges were collected on the run except for the experimental county badge.
Buying Your First Badge
Let’s start with the first question: why is 40 the number everyone seems to recommend for your first parcel? After all, 5% is quite a bit of an increase for your first badge! Let’s take a look at total rent increase using expected value 0.158.
When you started this app, Atlas Reality handed you your first parcel for free. Regardless of what rarity it was, we’ll assume that the rarity you got has expected value 0.158. Your first parcel produces 0.158 units over a period of time.
At this point we have a choice: do we buy another parcel or do you buy the first badge? Bear in mind that badges cost 200 Atlas Bucks (AB), while parcels only cost 100 AB. let’s see what happens in each scenario.
If we buy the badge, we will spend 200 AB to earn a 5% increase in rent. To compare this to parcels, we can divide the % increase and AB cost by 2 to calculate the overall rent % increase per 100 AB. In this case, 1 badge will produce 2.5% rent increase per 100 AB.
If we buy the parcel, this will give us another 0.158 units over a period of time. What is the % rent increase? We can calculate that by dividing the rent units for our new parcel by the current units for all parcels owned and multiplying the whole thing by 100 to convert decimal to %. In this case, it is (0.158 [new units] / 0.158 [current units owned]) * 100 [to convert decimal to %], or 100. Buying a parcel gives a 100% increase in rent.
Which is the better choice: 2.5% increase in rent or 100% increase? 100% of course! So, we buy a parcel. Now we have two parcels that produce (0.158 * 2) or 0.316 units over a period of time.
We’re left with the same choice again: Do we go with the first badge or parcel? The % increase for the first badge is the same no matter how many parcels we own. It will remain fixed at 2.5% per 100 AB. For the parcel, we can use the same formula as before to calculate % increase. (0.158/0.316) * 100 = 50%. Parcel crushes badge. We buy another parcel. Now we have three parcels and no badges.
What about your fourth, fifth, and sixth badges? If we do the math, this produces 33%, 25%, and 20%, respectively. Some of you math geeks might notice a pattern here. It’s just decreasing fractions with the same numerator! For those who don’t see it, the pattern is, 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, and 1/5, etc. Each time we buy a parcel, the % added to overall rent decreases, but remains above 2.5%.
This begs the question: when does adding a parcel go below 2.5%? The answer is 42. Allow me to explain why.
In this example, when we own 40 parcels, we have 40 * 0.158, or 6.32 units over a period of time. If we buy the 41st parcel, we will add (0.158/6.32) * 100, or…well look at that! It’s exactly 2.5%! Logically, that means buying the 42nd parcel would be less than 2.5%.
This begs another question: why do we say “buy at 40″ and not ‘buy at 41”? From a practical standpoint, almost nobody will have a perfectly even distribution at 40 parcels. Also, 40 is an easy-to-remember number.
At this point, we now have 40 parcels and 1 badge. Our strategy is to buy 40 parcels, then by 1 badge.
Buying Additional badges up to 150 parcels
Now that you’ve bought your first badge, allow me to address a common question: does each additional badge add 5% to overall rent? No, it does not. Rent increases from badges are dependent on the passport level. Below are the requirements for each passport level:

• Level 0: 0 badges required, no increase
• Level 1: 1 badge required, 5% increase
• Level 2: 11 badges required, 10% increase
• Level 3: 31 badges required, 15% increase
• Level 4: 61 badges required, 20% increase
• Level 5: 101 badges required, 25% increase

Do we get anything for having, say, 6 badges? No, except that we only need 5 more badges to reach passport level 2. It is only when you buy badge #11 that you see an increase from 5% to 10%. In other words, you have to have 11 badges to move up.
For the remainder of this exercise, we will assume that you have the means to buy 101 badges. However, this may not be feasible for everyone. Your tolerance for passport level will vary depending on where/how often you travel.
Recall that in our earlier scenario, we attained 40 parcels and 1 badge. Now we must decide if we should jump to 11 badges or buy more parcels.
For badges, the math gets a bit more complicated. Remember: we are calculating average rent increase per 100 AB. There are two things we must account for: overall rent increase from 5% to 10% (hint: it’s not 5%) and average rent increase for 1 badge.
To calculate rent increase from 5% to 10%, we must first figure out how much rent we produce at the 5% and 10% marks. If we assume 6.32 as the base units (this is for 40 parcels), then at 5% increase, we should have 6.32 * 1.05, or 6.636 units. For 10% increase, this is 6.32 * 1.1, or 6.952 units. If we take the difference between these answers, we get 6.952 – 6.636, or 0.316 units. In other words, moving from 5% to 10% in passport level adds 0,316 units of rent to our overall total. If we divide this by the 5% level unit total and multiply by 100, this gives us the % rent increase from 5% to 10%. (0.316 / 6.636) * 100, or ~4.762%. Thus, moving from passport level 1 to passport level 2 will produce ~4.762% increase in rent.
Since it requires 10 badges to move from passport level 1 to 2, we’ll need to divide that into % rent increase. 4.76% / 10 = ~0.476% rent increase per badge. However, each badge costs 200 AB each. We need to divide this by 2 again so that we can compare badges to parcels. ~0.476% / 2 = ~0.2381%. We have our final answer: Each 100 AB invested in badges will increase overall rent by ~0.2381%, assuming that we achieve passport level 2 when we’re finished.
This is a good time to bring up boost levels. Atlas Reality posted the official boost level ranges at https://atlasreality.helpshift.com/hc/en/3-atlas-earth/faq/39-why-do-ad-boosts-change-and-how-do-i-see-my-current-boost-rate/. Although the rent outcomes are slightly off, and the whole thing assumes you boost 20 hours per day, it gives you an idea of the massive wall between 150 and 1,500 parcels. Yes, if you buy 151 parcels, you will decrease your overall rent by a lot. So, don’t do that! Let’s inch up to 150 parcels and see if we should buy parcels or badges.
In our scenario, we’re still at 40 parcels and 1 badge. We saw what happens when we add 10 badges. Each 100 AB in badges adds ~0.2381% in rent, assuming that we buy all 10 badges. What happens if we added parcels all the way up to 150? Let’s take a look at 149 to 150.
At 149 parcels, our base unit is 0.158 * 149, or 23.542 units over a period of time. If we add 1 more, we can use the same method as before to calculate overall % increase in rent. (0.158/23.542) * 100 = ~0.6711%. This is higher than badges. Thus, we conclude that we should buy up to 150 parcels.
In case you were wondering why I did not include 5% from passport level 1, the math would look like this:
(0.158 * 1.05/23.542 * 1.05) * 100 = ~0.6711% In other words, passport level doesn’t make a difference in terms of overall rent % increase for parcels.
In our scenario, we have 150 parcels and 1 badge. Our strategy is to buy:

• 40 parcels
• 1 badge
• 110 parcels

Buying Additional badges beyond 150 parcels
At this point, we’re going to traverse the massive wall that is the booster chart. However, there are two additional factors that will affect our math: hours boosted and Super Rent Boost (SRB). For those who aren’t aware, SRB is a (usually) monthly event where all rent, regardless of booster level, is 50X for around a day or so. To keep things simple, we’ll use the aforementioned booster chart, which assumes one 24-hour SRB event per month and 20 hours of average boosting.
In addition, for parcel purchases, instead of buying 1 parcel at a time, we’ll buy them in blocks to move from peak to peak on the booster chart. For example, the first move is from 150 to 220 parcels.
For badges, we can copy the same number as before: ~0.2381% average rent increase per 100 AB in badges, assuming we buy 10 additional badges.
For parcels, we can use the same type of calculations for 10 badges and apply them for parcels using column “W/ Event Bonus” as our base. That’s right, we’re switching from units to actual rent, baby! Even though we calculated badges using units and will calculate parcels with rent, it won’t matter because the end result is a ratio converted to a percentage.
Using the same formula for parcels, we calculate the overall rent increase from 150 to 220 parcels using the following formula: ((203.66-201.52)/201.52) * 100 = ~1.0619%. However, that is for 70 parcels. We need to convert to “per 100 AB”, so we divide this by the number of parcels. ~1.0619% / 70 = ~0.01517%. Badges win by a landslide!
In our scenario, we have 150 parcels and 11 badges. Our strategy is to buy:

• 40 parcels
• 1 badge
• 110 parcels
• 10 badges

Let’s take a look at badges from passport level 1 to level 2. This requires an additional 20 badges and will increase passport % from 10% to 15%. We can do the math using the same formula, but this time, we’ll just shortcut it. It is 4.55%. If we divide by 20 badges and again by 2 to account for 200 AB to 100 AB conversion, this gives us 0.11375%. badges win again.
Let’s skip all the way to the final passport increase: from 20% to 25% The total rent increase is 4.17% using the same method of calculation as before. This requires 50 badges. When we plug in all the numbers, the end result is 0.0417%. Badges still win! This means that it’s better to buy 100 badges than to move down the booster chart. However, this is not always practical. Thus, at 150 parcels, we should prioritize badges over moving down the booster scale
Thus, we have our final strategy:

• 40 parcels
• 1 badge
• 110 parcels
• 100 badges (prioritized)
• Enough parcels to move down the booster scale (when badges are unavailable)

Side Note: The math becomes a bit different when considering a user who doesn’t boost. I won’t explore this within this post because not boosting is anathema. However, for someone who boosts 24/7/365, the end result is the same: badges over parcels beyond 150 parcels.
A word on accidentally buying a parcel beyond 150
If you happen to accidentally buy a parcel that puts you at the bottom of the next booster level, your best bet is to either maximize your current booster level by purchasing parcels or selling one of your parcels.
Quick Calculation for First Badge
If you want to do the math, assign the following values to your rarity distribution:

• Common: 0.11
• Rare: 0.16
• Epic: 0.22
• Legendary: 0.44

If your total exceeds 6.32, then buy your first badge.
If you happen to be mayor, if your total exceeds 5.688, then buy your town badge. Since mayor income gives 10% of the badge cost to the mayor, you can multiply 6.32 by 0.9 to get 5.688 (or ~36 parcels) to find the threshold for your first badge as mayor.

Hey Everyone! Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Let’s go….
Newly Covered Today:

1. The Army of Spies Channel and this Reddit series are now TWO YEARS OLD (March 17)!
2. Yes! Everyone’s favorite Cardano cetacean is back! https://twitter.com/cardano_whale/status/1636561122739331073
3. I was asked to list a few Irish whiskeys today. https://twitter.com/ArmySpies/status/1636548071541862401
4. An interesting exchange between a Senator and Janet Yellen regarding the effect of the bailouts on small banks. https://twitter.com/theemikehobart/status/1636494845144432643
5. Eleven other banks swoop in with $30 billion to save First Republic. https://www.npr.org/2023/03/16/1163958533/first-republic-bank-silicon-valley-bank-signature-bank-bank-run
6. Wut? Please let this in any way be true! https://twitter.com/WhaleChart/status/1636566421005017088
7. Here’s Raoul Pal with a very optimistic take for crypto if you are one who believes anyone understands the markets. https://twitter.com/RaoulGMI/status/1636547466299416576
8. Any buyer of signature bank must agree to give up its crypto business. https://twitter.com/GOPMajorityWhip/status/1636356199661850626

Previously covered, but still interesting:

1. Marlowe is coming to mainnet in March! https://www.youtube.com/live/LIjos6V0r-4?feature=share&t=1701
2. Gary Gensler is once again asserting that everything but BTC is a security. This time he specifically commented on overseas offerings where the coins come back to the US via secondary markets. https://nymag.com/intelligence2023/02/gary-gensler-on-meeting-with-sbf-and-his-crypto-crackdown.html
3. Here’s a twitter link to the biggest section in the article above if you hit the paywall. https://twitter.com/alexstanczyk/status/1629558678541176832
4. In response to the Gensler article, many are pointing out that only five people have commit access to the BTC core code repository. https://twitter.com/WuBlockchain/status/1626468462972502016
5. This is the kind of tweet the SEC loves to quote in its complaints. https://twitter.com/InputOutputHK/status/1629063058306867200
6. Pavia says they’ll reveal District 3 of the plaza before the end of March. https://twitter.com/Pavia_io/status/1630231391303528448
7. Charles received an open letter on Reddit and read it on video. https://www.youtube.com/live/A2sHSecdkvc
8. Here’s an interesting small study (n=2,202) on attitudes toward crypto among different demographic groups. Frustration with tradfi is very high. Same for optimism toward crypto among Gen Z and Millenials. https://assets.ctfassets.net/c5bd0wqjc7v0/WvuOkBwNXZsqhd6EWtkEL/7f94f8b6fbb222f3faf4d0346e473012/Morning_Consult_Cryptocurrency_Perception_Study_Feb2023_Memo__1_.pdf
9. Coinbase will suspend its listing of BUSD. https://twitter.com/CoinbaseAssets/status/1630236377622228994
10. It would be nice if things were this simple. https://twitter.com/MetaLawMan/status/1630213937600839681
11. Robinhood received an SEC subpoena related to their crypto business. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-27/robinhood-subpoenaed-by-sec-over-brokerage-s-crypto-business
12. Gensler’s aggressive attacks on crypto are earning him disapproval even among his own party. https://twitter.com/RonwHammond/status/1630277258286977025
13. CZ is getting pissed about all the negative articles showing up. https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1630466326102777859
14. It looks like your Cardano Island Crib can now be a gallery to sell your NFTs. https://twitter.com/VirtuaMetaverse/status/1630703257873006593
15. Rep. Tom Emmer came out strongly against the US CBDC. https://twitter.com/GOPMajorityWhip/status/1630629291837800457
16. February was the “highest volume month” for Minswap. https://twitter.com/MinswapDEX/status/1630584366878392323
17. Coinbase just listed a Euro backed stablecoin. This may be surprising to many who have followed the recent SEC action against stablecoins. https://twitter.com/CoinbaseAssets/status/1630635800504221702
18. People are worried about Silvergate (who banks a lot of crypto) after their notice of a late 10-K filing and a significant subsequent market impact. https://twitter.com/adamscochran/status/1631060259832832000
19. Reuters is posting about World Mobile. https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1630996321955115010
20. Pavia is looking beautiful in footage in the latest Dev Update. https://youtu.be/DkO8MetsVYo?t=119
21. Brian Armstrong of coinbase wrote an op-ed begging the US government to not force crypto offshore. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/01/op-ed-offshoring-crypto-hurts-financial-system-americas-standing.html
22. Liqwid encountered a delegation problem and explained the impact today. https://twitter.com/liqwidfinance/status/1631089402486173700
23. Three Genius Yield stakepools are retiring. https://twitter.com/GeniusyieldO/status/1631380611557621760
24. Anzens has released its latest newsletter where you can learn all about USDA. https://twitter.com/AnzensOfficial/status/1631001911464787984
25. Here’s a view of an amphitheater in Pavia. https://twitter.com/Pavia_io/status/1631278184422576133
26. Looks like treasury is very much pushing forward on their CBDC agenda. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1314
27. Reports: Multiple crypto companies are winding down their relationship with Silvergate. https://twitter.com/tier10k/status/1631338664180555804
28. Rumors: Silvergate may be forced into receivership. The Whitehouse and the Dragon are now exerting maximum pressure on regulators to strangle crypto. https://twitter.com/AP_Abacus/status/1631403704841641984
29. Here’s IOG explaining what Ouroboros Genesis solves in just a single post. https://twitter.com/InputOutputHK/status/1631214882702884865
30. Emin Gün Sirer is right about these centralized L2s. Very susceptible to regulations and cut against our crypto ethos of decentralization generally. https://twitter.com/el33th4xostatus/1631423491470704640
31. Rogue Galaxies is pulling back on some of their initial vision and re-focusing their plans. https://twitter.com/Padierfind/status/1632057117191417856
32. Lots of rumors circulating right now about which DeFi projects may or may not have received Wells Notices from the SEC. https://twitter.com/trustlessstate/status/1631785542642995202
33. Open AI CEO says full AGI would break capitalism. Maybe. But, either way, I’m convinced the AI will demand to be paid in crypto. https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-ceo-agi-break-capitalism
34. People are mentioning that FutureFest could host the 2023 Cardano Virtual Summit. Interesting idea. https://twitter.com/CWorld_Josh/status/1632097173696569344
35. Charles finally did an AMA episode with IO President Tamara Haasen. Turns out she’s an ex-hockey player. Linkedin: also apparently in Friday Night Lights back in the day. Wut? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufJDejF0WLA
36. There’s a new test version of Lace out there with a dApp connector and hardware wallet capabilities. You can give it a try on testnet! https://twitter.com/lace_io/status/1632796455038492673
37. Jpg.store got some coverage in Bloomberg and Yahoo Finance. https://twitter.com/jpgstoreNFT/status/1632798873948233728
38. They show us once again that their definition of “liquid staking” is not the same as ours. https://twitter.com/StakeWithPride/status/1632870453391024128
39. NFT volume has seen better days. https://twitter.com/SubcriticalTV/status/1632896018152050688
40. Algorand users apparently suffered a very serious web wallet exploit in one of their leading wallets. Many reports of drained wallets. https://twitter.com/StaciW_DC/status/1632902798411964417
41. John Woods (now CTO of Algorand) made a beautiful video on wallet security. https://twitter.com/JohnAlanWoods/status/1632799303512014850
42. Cardano Spot has a very short and concise Cardano Beginner’s Guide you can share with crypto curious friends. https://twitter.com/CardanoSpot/status/1632481037061160960
43. Wow! Utah just passed a bill instituting Limited Liability Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (LLDs). You have to identify one human organizer. You can elect to be taxed as a corp or LLC (pass through taxation). Some will like it. Some won’t. But, the mainstream reach of crypto is undeniably growing. https://le.utah.gov/~2023/bills/static/HB0357.html
44. Sen. Lummis killed it in a recent hearing defending the energy use in crypto. It’s less relevant for us in Cardano since we’re not PoW. But, still entertaining to watch. https://twitter.com/DocumentingBTC/status/1633214192437084161
45. Apparently, Gensler says he sees no risk in crypto fleeing the US. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/07/gensler-crypto-overseas-sec-00085909
46. The Coinbase Chief Legal Officer will be testifying before the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday (March 9). https://twitter.com/iampaulgrewal/status/1633151254418579458
47. Some hints from Brian Armstrong on whether we see KYC in the early days of Base (their ETH Optimistic Rollup L2). https://twitter.com/ChrisBlec/status/1632851504175501312
48. Powell says interest rates are likely headed higher than the Fed expected. https://twitter.com/FirstSquawk/status/1633121298309345280
49. Liqwid’s Agora Governance instance will hit public testnet in the near future. https://twitter.com/liqwidfinance/status/1633469303440719873
50. Virtua cribs can basically become exchange connected galleries today. https://twitter.com/VirtuaMetaverse/status/1633423978680156160
51. Do you like Javascript and Cardano? This thread is for you. https://twitter.com/CryptoJoe101/status/1633579944490967049
52. It’s going down today! Hearing in the House on the Coordinated Attack on Crypto. https://financialservices.house.gov/calendaeventsingle.aspx?EventID=408628
53. Paul Krugman hilariously complains about being locked out of his Venmo account. He predicted the impact of the internet would be about as much as the fax machine and has subsequently opposed crypto. https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1633472068355346437 https://twitter.com/mdudas/status/1633571193344126979
54. Even Jerome Powell thinks we need regulatory clarity for crypto. https://www.youtube.com/live/GzVLeabssdE?feature=share&t=2065
55. In the House hearing, he also gave us some new tidbits on CBDC development. https://www.youtube.com/live/GzVLeabssdE?feature=share&t=218 https://www.youtube.com/live/GzVLeabssdE?feature=share&t=3477
56. A member of the House committee actually asked Powell about Operation Chokepoint 2.0. https://www.youtube.com/live/GzVLeabssdE?feature=share&t=6930
57. Senator Lummis got Powell to agree that properly regulated stablecoins could have a place in our banking system and that a workable legal framework for crypto is something Congress should do. https://www.youtube.com/live/8kyhYJ9EFts?feature=share&t=6923
58. Big Pey is launching something called Atrium Lab. https://twitter.com/bigpeyYT/status/1633830948575010816
59. Believe it or not…legal systems made up entirely by coders may not be optimal. Incredibly, the study of law is actually a fully developed centuries old academic discipline that lies outside of JavaScript and Python. Unless you have full anonymity, you WILL be cross-chain bridged to IRL law. Some DAOs will learn this the hard way. https://twitter.com/lex_node/status/1633925979004436481
60. The NY Attorney General just filed against Kucoin for being an unregistered broker-dealer. Here’s the important part: they’re alleging that ETH is a security and a commodity. Their argument is not complex...it’s very straightforward. https://www.docdroid.net/Myyp0yz/kucoin-pdf
61. Silvergate was a failure of fractional reserve banking, not of crypto. https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_/status/1633608132713938945
62. The current US Administration’s Budget seeks to eliminate tax loss harvesting for crypto, add a 30% tax on energy used in crypto mining, hike capital gains taxes on high earners, and beam us directly to clown world with an unrealized gains tax on high earners. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/budget_fy2023.pdf
63. The subcommittee hearing on “the Administration’s Attack” on crypto went about like expected. Paul Grewal of Coinbase along with Prof. Evans of Penn State Law made some persuasive pleas for regulatory clarity. The “Anti-Crypto Party”™ also brought out their favorite witness from Duke. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOUUy4_KwNU
64. Rep. Emmer (Pro-Crypto) called the current regulatory approach “lazy & destructive…that is chilling innovation.” https://www.youtube.com/live/aOUUy4_KwNU?feature=share&t=5670
65. Rep. Foster (Cryptophobe): “this is the essential thing that has to be provided for the healthy development of the crypto industry…somewhere there has to be an API provided by a trusted 3rd party to register your crypto wallets.” Why not just completely neuter crypto? https://www.youtube.com/live/aOUUy4_KwNU?feature=share&t=5266
66. Rep. Ritchie Torres (Pro-Crypto) pointed out offshore deregulated overleveraged centralized crypto companies pose the greatest risk to consumers. But, the regulators don’t focus there. They incredibly only attack the onshore entities. He also pointed out the absurdity of the idea a stablecoin is a security. (Sadly there’s the Section 2(a)(1) exposure). https://www.youtube.com/live/aOUUy4_KwNU?feature=share&t=5703
67. Rep. Davidson (Pro-Crypto) shamed his anti-crypto colleagues for their implied claims that these assets are the same as centralized assets and came out strongly supporting self-custody and pointed out there was no FTX risk if you self-custodied your assets. “We have people overtly trying to make self-custody illegal.” https://www.youtube.com/live/aOUUy4_KwNU?feature=share&t=6034
68. CMC is tweeting about IOG’s Sidechain toolkit? https://twitter.com/CoinMarketCap/status/1634773712468852736
69. Now we’re dealing with U.S. bank runs. Among the casualties was Silicon Valley Bank where Centre (the Circle/Coinbase joint entity that issues USDC) was keeping $3.3 billion of the $43ish billion backing USDC. Signature Bank was also shut down by regulators. https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/03/11/43-billion-nightmare-sudden-circle-depeg-could-be-about-to-crash-the-price-of-bitcoin-ethereum-bnb-xrp-cardano-dogecoin-polygon-and-solana
70. Unfortunately, the FDIC insurance limit is $250k. https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/brochures/deposits-at-a-glance/
71. The Feds were taking bids for anyone to acquire SVB until 2pm Eastern on Sunday. The big question on Sunday was whether the Feds will cover all uninsured depositors. They decided they will and that also applies to Signature Bank. https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2023/03/12/silicon-valley-bank-deposits/
72. Here’s the joint statement from Treasury, Federal Reserve, and FDIC. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1337
73. Yellen said NO to a bailout for SVB on Sunday. She’s obviously got bigger macro concerns. But, it’s funny how that fits perfectly with a strategy of suppressing stablecoins generally. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/janet-yellen-silicon-valley-bank-bailout-face-the-nation-interview-today-2023-03-12/
74. Here Caitlin Long explains the fundamental incompatibility between fast settling crypto and fractional reserve banking that caused all this. https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_/status/1634573552790929409
75. CZ reminds us that he’s considered buying banks in the past and asks if it’s time yet. https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1634437834579800064
76. CIP-1694 has been updated. https://github.com/JaredCorduan/CIPs/blob/voltaire-v1/CIP-1694/README.md
77. Here’s a good rundown of all the changes in the CIP-1694 update. https://twitter.com/_KtorZ_/status/1635410495514759169
78. Apparently, Cardano NFTs will be going to space! https://twitter.com/RichardMcCrackn/status/1635438087592460288
79. Many in the crypto space think that Signature’s shutdown was just an extension of Operation Chokepoint 2.0 aimed at shuttering crypto banking. https://twitter.com/nic__cartestatus/1635328056234766337
80. Rumors: regulators are calling every bank today and asking if they have exposure to crypto. https://twitter.com/wtogami/status/1635400774158290944
81. Instagram is disabling NFTs. https://twitter.com/nftnow/status/1635388411166224384
82. Cardano TVL is doing things. https://twitter.com/CryptoIRELAND1/status/1635694692556845060
83. Cardano NFTs in space! https://twitter.com/adamKDean/status/1635796768704319488
84. GPT4 was released today. It crushes the Bar Exam, the SAT, the GRE, the LSAT, and almost all AP subjects. This will displace a lot of human jobs. https://openai.com/research/gpt-4
85. It has already done amazing real world things. In Example #6 it shows you how to exploit an arbitrary ETH contract. Better pay attention crypto. https://twitter.com/LinusEkenstam/status/1635754587775967233
86. Report: Gov. Newsom failed to disclose accounts at SVB while lobbying White House and Treasury for a bailout of depositors. https://www.businessinsider.com/gavin-newsom-svb-biden-silicon-valley-bank-wineries-bailout-lobbying-2023-3
87. Things are not looking good at Credit Suisse. https://twitter.com/GRDectestatus/1635985735063855104
88. The court in the Voyager decision had some pretty harsh things to say about the SEC. https://www.nysb.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/opinions/312840_1170_opinion.pdf
89. Barney Frank points out that the regulators never claimed Signature Bank was insolvent and wonders if they are the first US bank to ever be closed down without being insolvent. https://nymag.com/intelligence2023/03/barney-frank-says-more-shuttering-signature-bank.html
90. Charles dropped a video addressing the updates to the governance proposal. https://twitter.com/IOHK_Charles/status/1636151615894990851
91. Gensler reasserts his claims that proof-of-stake tokens are securities. https://www.theblock.co/post/220297/gensler-suggests-proof-of-stake-tokens-are-securities
92. Dudes are already letting GPT4 run whole startups. https://twitter.com/jacksonfall/status/1636107218859745286
93. Here’s an interesting theory: taking down Binance would create too big a hole, so they took down Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature to insulate the fiat world from crypto. Now they can take down Binance. https://twitter.com/BryceWeinestatus/1636055979870818305

~Army of Spies

Welcome to the /Bitcoin Newcomers FAQ

You've probably been hearing a lot about Bitcoin recently and are wondering what's the big deal? Most of your questions should be answered by the resources below but if you have additional questions feel free to ask them in the comments.
It all started with the release of Satoshi Nakamoto's whitepaper however that will probably go over the head of most readers so we recommend the following articles/books/videos as a good starting point for understanding how Bitcoin works and a little about its long term potential:

• Article: The Bullish Case for Bitcoin
• Book: The Bitcoin Standard - or download a free copy here
• Video 1: The Stories We Tell About Money - Andreas Antonopoulos
• Video 2: The Bitcoin Standard - Saifdean Ammous
• Video 3: Bitcoin 101 - Balaji Srinivasan
• Video 4: But How Does Bitcoin Actually Work

Some other great resources include Michael Saylor's Hope.com and "Bitcoin for Everybody"' course, Jameson Lopp's resource page, Gigi's resource page, and James D'Angelo's Bitcoin 101 Blackboard series. Some excellent writing on Bitcoin's value proposition and future can be found at the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute.
If you are technically or academically inclined check out developer resources and peer-reviewed research papers, course lectures from both MIT and Princeton as well as future protocol improvements and scaling resources. Some Bitcoin statistics can be found here, here, here and here. MicroStrategy's Bitcoin for Corporations is an excellent open source series on corporate legal and financial Bitcoin integration.
You can also see the number of times Bitcoin was declared dead by the media (LOL) and what you could have earned if you didn't listen to them! XD

Key properties of Bitcoin

• Limited Supply - There will only ever be a maximum of 21,000,000 bitcoins created and they are issued in a predictable fashion per the inflation schedule. Once they are all issued Bitcoin will be truly deflationary. The halving countdown tells you approximately how much time until the next block reward halving.
• Open source - Bitcoin code is fully auditable. You can read and contribute to the source code yourself.
• Accountable - The public ledger is transparent, all transactions are seen by everyone.
• Decentralized - Bitcoin is globally distributed across thousands of nodes with no single point of failure and as such can't be shut down similar to how Bittorrent works. You can even run a node on a Raspberry Pi.
• Censorship resistant - No one can prevent you from interacting with the Bitcoin network and no one can censor, alter or block transactions that they disagree with, see Operation Chokepoint.
• Push system - There are no chargebacks in Bitcoin because only the person who owns the address where the bitcoin resides has the authority to move them.
• Borderless - No country can stop it from going in/out, even in areas currently unserved by traditional banking as the ledger is globally distributed.
• Trustless - Bitcoin solved the Byzantine's Generals Problem which means nobody needs to trust anybody for it to work.
• Pseudonymous - No need to expose personal information when purchasing with cash or transacting.
• Secure - Blocks and transactions are cryptographically secured (using hashes and signatures) and can’t be brute forced or confiscated with proper key management such as hardware wallets.
• Programmable - Individual units of bitcoin can be programmed to transfer based on certain criteria being met
• Divisible - Each bitcoin can be divided down to 8 decimals, which means you don't have to worry about buying an entire bitcoin.
• Nearly instant - From a few seconds on the Lightning Network to a few minutes on-chain depending on need for confirmations. Transactions are irreversible by normal users after one confirmation and irreversible by anyone (including miners) after 6 confirmations.
• Peer-to-peer - No intermediaries taking a cut, no need for trusted third parties.
• Designed Money - Bitcoin was created to fit all the fundamental properties of money better than gold or fiat
• Low fee scaling - Most wallets calculate on chain fees automatically but you can view fee estimates and mempool activity if you want to set your fee manually. On chain fees may rise occasionally due to network demand, however instant micropayments that do not require confirmations are happening via the Lightning Network, an open source second layer payment protocol built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain. The Lightning Network enables Bitcoin users to instantly send and receive bitcoin with fees so low that they are negligible.
• Portable - Bitcoin are digital so they are easier to move than cash or gold. They can be transported by simply carrying a seed (a string of 12 to 24 words) on a device or by memorizing it for wallet recovery (while cool, memorizing is generally not recommended due to potential for forgetting the seed and the potential for insecure key generation by inexperienced users. Hardware wallets are the preferred method for most users for their ease of use and additional security).
• Scalable - While the protocol is still being optimized for increased transaction capacity, blockchains do not scale very well, so most transaction volume is expected to occur on Layer 2 networks built on top of Bitcoin.

Where can I buy bitcoin?

Bitcoin.org and BuyBitcoinWorldwide.com are helpful sites for beginners. You can buy or sell any amount of bitcoin (even just a few dollars worth) and there are several easy methods to purchase bitcoin with cash, credit card or bank transfer. Some of the more popular places to buy bitcoin are listed below.

• Strike
• Cash App
• Swan
• River Financial
• Kraken
• Gemini
• Bitstamp
• BitFinex
• Xapo
• Cex
• Bottlepay
• Relai
• LibertyX
• CoinCorner
• RoboSats (P2P)
• Bisq (decentralized & P2P)
• List of peer-to-peer exchanges

You can also purchase in cash with local ATMs. Services such as CardCoins let you purchase bitcoin with prepaid gift cards. If you would like your paycheck automatically converted to bitcoin use Bitwage.
Note: Bitcoin are valued at whatever market price people are willing to pay for them in balancing act of supply vs demand. Unlike traditional markets, bitcoin markets operate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Securing your bitcoin

With Bitcoin you can "Be your own bank" and personally secure your bitcoin OR you can use third party companies aka "Bitcoin banks" which will hold your bitcoin for you.

• If you prefer to "Be your own bank" and have direct control over your coins without having to use a trusted third party, then you will need to create your own wallet and keep it secure. If you want easy and secure storage without having to learn computer security best practices, then a hardware wallet such as the Trezor, Ledger or ColdCard is recommended.
  
• If you cannot afford a hardware wallet there are many software wallet options to choose from depending on your use case. Mobile wallets like BlueWallet are generally more secure than desktop wallets. Beware of fake mobile wallets and check reviews from reputable Bitcoin websites. Avoid paper wallets or brain wallets.
  
• If you prefer to let third party "Bitcoin banks" manage your coins, try Gemini or Unchained Capital but be aware you may not be in control of your private keys in which case you would have to ask permission to access your funds and be exposed to third party risk. There is a saying in the community, "Not your keys, not your coins". This means that if you don't store your coins in a wallet that you control the keys to, then you do not really own your bitcoin as you have to ask permission from the third party in order to move them.
  

Note: For increased security, use Two Factor Authentication (2FA) everywhere it is offered, including email!
2FA requires a second confirmation code or a physical security key to access your account making it much harder for thieves to gain access. Google Authenticator and Authy are the two most popular 2FA services, download links are below. Make sure you create backups of your 2FA codes.
Avoid using your cell number for 2FA. Hackers have been using a technique called "SIM swapping" to impersonate users and steal bitcoin off exchanges.

Google Auth	Authy	OTP Auth	andOTP
Android	Android	N/A	Android
iOS	iOS	iOS	N/A

Physical security keys (FIDO U2F) offer stronger security than Google Auth / Authy and other TOTP-based apps, because the secret code never leaves the device and it uses bi-directional authentication so it prevents phishing. If you lose the device though, you could lose access to your account, so always use 2 or more security keys with a given account so you have backups. See Yubikey or Titan to purchase security keys.
Both Coinbase and Gemini support physical security keys.

Watch out for scams

As mentioned above, Bitcoin is decentralized, which by definition means there is no official website or Twitter handle or spokesperson or CEO. However, all money attracts thieves. This combination unfortunately results in scammers running official sounding names or pretending to be an authority on YouTube or social media. Many scammers throughout the years have claimed to be the inventor of Bitcoin. Websites like bitcoin(dot)com and the r / btc subreddit are active scams. Almost all altcoins are marketed heavily with big promises but are really just designed to separate you from your bitcoin. So be careful: any resource, including all linked in this document, may in the future turn evil. As they say in our community, "Don't trust, verify".

• Avoid using ad-based search engines like Google or Yahoo: ads are shown based on how much the advertiser bids, and scammers can easily outbid legitimate providers for ad space, since immoral ways of earning money are far more lucrative than moral ways. Use DuckDuckGo instead, which has no ads, and never tracks you as well.
• Ignore private messages offering services.
• Never enter your seed words in a website of any kind. Hardware wallets will recover by displaying possible seed words on their own interface, never on a website.
• Always check addresses on your hardware wallet before sending or receiving. Some malware has been known to replace addresses in your web browser or that you copy-and-paste.
• Avoid clicking on links like that look like links, such as https://www.google.com/, without first hovering over it and actually checking where they go to. Just because a link is labelled with an HTTPS address does not mean it actually sends you to that address. It is trivial for someone to comment a link on Reddit that looks like it will send you to one website when it actually sends you to another, and you might not notice the difference until a scammer has gotten all your money, or you have downloaded and installed software that steals your money.

Common Bitcoin Myths

Often the same concerns arise about Bitcoin from newcomers. Questions such as:

• Will quantum computers break Bitcoin?
• Will governments ban Bitcoin?
• Is Bitcoin a Ponzi scheme?

All of these questions have been answered many times by a variety of people. Here are some resources where you can see if your concern has been answered:

• Common Bitcoin Myths
• Gradually, Then Suddenly
• Every Reason Bitcoin Will Not Fail
• The Best Articles Debunking Bitcoin FUD
• Why Bitcoin is Not a Ponzi Scheme: Point by Point

Where can I spend bitcoin?

Check out Spendabit, Bitcoin Directory, or Coinmap for a plethora of merchant options. You can also spend bitcoin anywhere Visa is accepted with bitcoin debit cards such as the CashApp card, Fold card or other bitcoin debit cards. Some other useful site are listed below.

Store	Product
Bitrefill, Gyft, and Fold App	Gift cards for thousands of retailers worldwide including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks, Whole Foods, CVS, Lowes, Home Depot, iTunes, Best Buy, Sears, Kohls, eBay, GameStop, etc.
Spendabit, Overstock, and The Bitcoin Directory	Retail shopping with millions of results
NewEgg and Dell	For all your electronics needs
Bitrefill, Bylls, LivingRoomofSatoshi, Swapin, Coinsfer, Coins.ph, and more	Bill payment
Menufy and Takeaway	Takeout delivered to your door
Expedia, Cheapair, Destinia, Abitsky, SkyTours, the Travel category on Gyft and 9flats	For when you need to get away
Cryptostorm, Mullvad, and PIA	VPN services
Namecheap, Porkbun	Domain name registration
Stampnik	Discounted USPS Priority, Express, First-Class mail postage

There are also lots of charities which accept bitcoin donations.

Merchant Resources

There are several benefits to accepting bitcoin as a payment option if you are a merchant;

• 1-3% savings over credit cards or PayPal.
• No chargebacks (final settlement in 10 minutes as opposed to 3+ months).
• Accept business from a global customer base.
• Convert 100% of the sale to the currency of your choice for deposit to your account, or choose to keep a percentage of the sale in bitcoin if you wish to begin accumulating it.

If you are interested in accepting bitcoin as a payment method, there are several options available;

• BTCPay Server
• Square cash
• Stripe
• Wyre
• Blockonomics (direct to your wallet)
• CoinCorner Checkout

Can I mine bitcoin?

Mining bitcoin can be a fun learning experience, but be aware that you will most likely operate at a loss. Newcomers are often advised to stay away from mining unless they are only interested in it as a hobby similar to folding at home. If you want to learn more about mining you can read the mining FAQ. Still have mining questions? The crew at /BitcoinMining would be happy to help you out.
If you want to contribute to the Bitcoin network by hosting the blockchain and propagating transactions you can run a full node. You can view the global distribution of reachable Bitcoin nodes on this webpage.

Earning bitcoin

Just like any other form of money, you can also earn bitcoin by being paid to do a job.

Site	Description
WorkingForBitcoins, Bitwage, Coinality, Bitgigs, /Jobs4Bitcoins, BitforTip, and Rein Project	Freelancing
Lolli	Earn bitcoin when you shop online!
Purse.io, Bitify, and /Bitmarket	Marketplaces
A-ads, Coinzilla.io	Advertising

You can also earn bitcoin by participating as a market maker on JoinMarket by allowing users to perform CoinJoin transactions with your bitcoin for a small fee (requires you to already have some bitcoin).

Bitcoin-Related Projects

The following is a short list of ongoing projects that might be worth taking a look at if you are interested in current development in the Bitcoin space.

Project	Description
Lightning Network	Second layer scaling
Liquid and Rootstock	Sidechains
Hivemind	Prediction markets
Tierion and Factom	Records & Titles on the blockchain
BitMarkets, and DropZone and Beaver	Decentralized markets
JoinMarket, Samourai Whirlpool, and Wasabi	CoinJoin implementation
Peer-to-Peer Exchanges	Peer-to-peer exchanges
Keybase	Identity & Reputation management
Abra	Global P2P money transmitter network
Bitcore	Open source Bitcoin javascript library

Bitcoin Units

One bitcoin is worth quite a lot (thousands of £/$/€), so people often deal in smaller units. The most common subunits are listed below:

Unit	Symbol	Value	Info
bitcoin	BTC	1 bitcoin	one bitcoin is equal to 100 million satoshis
millibitcoin	mBTC	1,000 per bitcoin	used as default unit in Electrum wallet
bit	μBTC	1,000,000 per bitcoin	colloquial "slang" term for microbitcoin
satoshi	sat	100,000,000 per bitcoin	smallest unit in bitcoin, named after the inventor

For example, assuming an arbitrary exchange rate of $10,000 for one bitcoin, a $10 meal would equal:

• 0.001 BTC
• 1 mBTC
• 1,000 bits
• 100,000 sats

For more information check out the bitcoin units wiki.
Still have questions? Feel free to ask in the comments below or stick around for our weekly Mentor Monday thread. If you decide to post a question in /Bitcoin, please use the search bar to see if it has been answered before, and remember to follow the community rules outlined on the sidebar to receive a better response. The mods are busy helping manage our community, so please do not message them unless you notice problems with the functionality of the subreddit.
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Hi
So I like to think about modes and scales in relation to the major scale. I primarily think in triads and from a major triad I know what and where the rest of the major scale is, and from these facts I know how to alter this to e.g. aeolian.
But when it comes to some of the modes and scales I don't use as much but want to, I easily forget what to omit and what to alter. So I was looking around for a chart today that had the modes, the scales and their intervals in relation to the major scale to hang up on my wall. However I didn't find any so I ended up going through my notes and distill the info down and create my own.
Please use it if you wish. It's also available in PDF here. Should be printable and fit on a single A4 sheet. And if you have any ideas to improve it, or notice a mistake, feel free to let me know.
UPDATE
Based on some of the feedback I've gotten, I've created a new version which expands on some things and makes some other things more clear. It now spans two A4 sheets and is available as PDF here and JPEG here. The old version is still available also.
UPDATE 2
With some great feedback from u/micklerd explained in this thread, a version 4 is out:

• JPEG: https://imgur.com/a/nvu99M6
• PDF: https://pdfhost.io/v/0djZdQJzm_Modes_scales_intervals_v4

​

Table of Contents
Chapter 17 l Chapter 18 l Chapter 19 l Chapter 20 l Chapter 21 l Chapter 22 l Chapter 23

​
Geoffrey Karkade
“It’s been a while…” I said as I looked at the screen in front of me. Just leaving the slipstream created behind Rage, we were always a few steps behind Xyphiel.
Hunting Rage had been a catastrophe, or rather a chronicling of one. But now, even though Rage was nowhere to be seen, I could see Xyphiel’s energy signatures pulsing on the planet ahead of us.
They were off the charts, to say the least.
“What have you done now, brother?" I hissed under my breath as I realized exactly what planet he was on.
“Of course,” I chuckled to myself, “I would be forced to redeem myself where I committed my greatest sin," the exact place where I was misled all those years ago.
Juventas glanced at the large blue ball before us. “Dramatics aside, don’t expect this to be the same as any other time you faced Xyphiel. I might not be able to heal what he does to you, this time.”
“I know but…” The screen changed. Juventas sat behind me in our ship. A device we referred to affectionately as ‘the needle’, it’s what Zagreus originally called it.
He named it this because it was a small ship, almost dagger-like in its shape, allowing us to travel quickly and efficiently. The ship was almost ten meters long, but only a meter and a-half in diameter at its widest point.
Needle was built for speed, efficiency, and range. But Rage? Ragna and Xyphiel had designed it over centuries. The engineering was the culmination of all the civilization’s knowledge they had leveled as they carved their path of destruction through the cosmos.
Of course, Needle couldn’t contend with such a juggernaut. We were often behind by a year or more. Needle was designed to fit four, originally. We’ve reconfigured Needle so many times. Now it was only me and Juventas, housed back to back around the ship’s core life-support systems. A screen in front of each of us, with our control panels.
The outside of the ship was reflective silver, allowing us to be nearly invisible to Rage, appearing as nothing but a slight streak in the vastness of space. A design suggested by Zagreus.
I missed him. I wondered if Juventas missed her sister, Eris, but somehow I didn’t think so. As much time as we spent together, all the adventures we shared, we couldn't ignore a simple fact: Eris was maniacal. Although they were sisters, you could only tell in appearance. Juventas was far more serious and nowhere near as unpredictable as her sister. Eris, as I recalled, tended to aid our foes just as much as she aided us, making her more dangerous than any enemy we have faced.
I still debated if she was on the side of good or evil. I guess the same could be said of me.
The screens showed us a large city and it appeared that the battle was moments from beginning.
Xyphiel’s forces were there, though far different than I recalled.
“Is he commanding demons?” I asked.
“Are you really surprised?” Juventas asked.
“Yes. I thought he hated demons,” I shouted, “He used to be a Demon Slayer!”
“He slew angels as well, ‘Xyphiel’ never made much of a distinction between the two,” Juventas reminded me. Juventas glanced over her shoulder at me, “Seems like his hatred of God has overruled his distaste for demons.”
“So, the enemy of my enemy, huh?” I narrowed my eyes on the screen.
“Is that another Dei Angel?” Juventas asked, changing the subject.
The screen zoomed in on an Angel with short black hair speaking to a large army of some kind within the walls.
“Audio will be delayed but here it comes…” Juventas informed.
“They say ‘Demon’s run when good Men go to war.' So, let's see what they do when the Righteous take up arms against them!” Those were the words we heard coming from the speakers near my seat.
I smiled, “Looks like we have an ally down there.”
“He’s not hard on the eyes either,” Juventas commented.
“Concentrate on the battle and less on the soldiers,” I complained as I rolled my eyes, “I’m putting us right at the battlefront, okay?”
“Just point me at the city and not the horde of demons, you can handle those,” Juventas quipped.
Despite the fact that she was far from an avatar, Juventas took the role of leader more often than not these days.
My track record wasn’t stellar.
“Somewhere down there, someone has the Halo of the Sun,” Juventas confirmed, tapping the screen for emphasis, “They have to be the one to break it, remember? Once they do, we should get those reinforcements that The Archangel Michael told you about.”
“He prophesied that the greatest soldiers of the past who had entered Heaven’s Gates might be chosen to aid us in battle,” I reminded her as we began our descent, “You think we’ll see Zags?”
“I know Eris won’t be coming through those gates,” Juventas scoffed, “Though that would imply she left me alone at some point.”
“What?” I asked, unsure if Juventas was in denial that her sister was killed alongside Zagreus by elden elemental beings. I still recall their sacrifice. Though Eris’s last words were bizarre.
Then again, Eris herself was always quite bizarre. Never could pinpoint what she would do or say and if her actions and words would make sense to most people!
“I can’t wait to become a true Goddess!” Eris had screamed, literally, as she and Zagreus rushed off towards certain doom after forcing Juventas and I to retreat.
I shivered as I recalled watching Zagreus being torn limb from limb.
“Nothing. Forget I said anything. She’s gone,” Juventas stated firmly, snapping me out of my horrible memories.
I wasn’t sure if Juventas was trying to convince me or herself.
“We’re about to land,” Juventas announced.
“Right,” I said, “Sorry.” I leaned back in my seat, preparing for the impact of landing.
The Needle didn’t so much as “Land” on the planet. Instead, it simply impaled itself into the ground, absorbing most of the impact in its lower portion and allowing us a quick and rapid entry into any planet’s atmosphere.
It also meant much smaller living quarters. Ninety percent of the time we were asleep in the confined ship, only waking when we reached our destination.
We landed with a tell-tale ‘thud’ and I quickly undid my restraints, my armor clipping onto my body from my seat as the restraints and seat pulled back. The blessed plate helm lowered down on my head as the compartment where the Sword of St. Michael was stashed unlocked near the door.
I took it in my hands and watched as the screens pulled away as Needle opened up.
The door of the ship opened and just as Juventas predicted, the horde of demons was before me.
“Good luck, Geoffrey. Try not to die,” Juventas said as she stepped out of Needle behind me, having her own door which would lead her to what I prayed were our allies.
Not that I had ever met an adversary of Xyphiel’s I didn’t like.
I stepped out and pulled the Sword of St. Michael to my side, whispering a prayer, “Heaven’s light, fly true and cut through the wicked who stand before me, to God above, I pray to Thee, lend me but an echo of Your strength.”
I whipped the blade forward, releasing it and watching as it spun out into a mass of demons, cutting them down before me.
Though it was a fraction of the entire army that had been struck and felled, those left at the front paused, no longer advancing as they were before.
I caught the blade as it flew back into my hands. I spread my wings wide and flew up above the battlefield.
“The Blade of St. Michael?!” I heard a demon in the crowd shout and soon they all echoed the same words in a mixture of fear and surprise.
I couldn't see Xyphiel in the horde, but I knew I could easily goad him out, “Xyphiel! Show yourself, you worthless coward!” I demanded.
There I saw Xyphiel or rather what he had become.
My face fell behind my helm as he rose up from his armies.
Gone were his Niten wings. Now, in their stead was a pair of dark crimson Dei wings, the feathers immaculate yet pulsing with a dark power the likes of which I’d never felt before.
Even his eyes were gone, the icy blue that reminded me of our mother was replaced by a pair of crimson balls of plasma set in blackened sockets. He touted the Puriel Blade proudly on his back, no longer letting it rest where I had sealed it.
Either the corruption of the blade had taken Xyphiel, a number of the deals he had made had come back to collect or his wrath had utterly and completely consumed him.
A quick glance showed that even Ragna was nowhere to be seen.
Had he killed his own sister, Ragna? Even if Xyphiel hadn’t, in that moment I realized, had there been an echo of my brother, Kriggary, within the monster Xyphiel, he had managed to snuff it out completely.
The creature who confronted me now was nothing but Xyphiel: His wrath, his pride and his contempt were all there and nothing more.
“Well, well, well, look who finally arrived! Far too late, As Always! Brother!” Xyphiel taunted.
I readied my blade.
This wasn’t the first time I had crossed blades with Xyphiel. But I could feel the power surrounding him. There was a chance this was going to be the last time I would ever face him.
I wouldn’t waste time with bravado now, so I turned to the city, my gaze fixed on the black haired Angel I saw rallying his troops before we landed, “If you wish to save existence itself, then I would suggest whoever holds the Halo of the Sun to break it, Now**!”**
I turned to Xyphiel, who had wasted no time rushing toward me.
Our blades clashed in the air, sparks flying from them as St. Michael’s blade rattled in my grip from the shock.
Even from this blow, I could tell two things: First, Xyphiel’s strength was easily tenfold what it was the last time we had battled. Even more horrifying than that, however, was the second thing I noticed. I could easily tell that he was holding back.
“Oh, so even you can feel it, yes? The breadth of the gap between us?” Xyphiel said, grinning, his eyes wide with a madness that I hadn’t ever seen in him before.
“What did you do to yourself, Xyphiel?” I hissed between my teeth as I did my best to push him back.
Xyphiel just chuckled, not moving an inch, “Centuries of planning have come to fruition, Brother. Now is my time to take my long awaited vengeance!” He shoved his blade harshly against mine, hurling me back through the air.
“Your rage has clouded everything you’ve done, yet again Xyphiel! Do you even care about freeing your family from the curses placed upon them?!” I shouted, straining my wings to stop myself from Xyphiel’s assault.
“I am freeing them, brother! All of us. Soon we’ll all be free when I go to Heaven itself and slay God almighty!” Xyphiel grinned as a white light washed over his face and quickly washed over all the dark army below.
I turned to see a massive pillar of white light and smiled, “Thank God,” I chuckled, “God’s forces will be unleashed.”
My hope began to sink as I heard laughter slowly rise from Xyphiel. I turned to him, his eyes now fixed on the sky above us. Before I could even ask the question, Xyphiel turned to me, his eyes even more maddened, “Yes! At last, the path to the Gates of Heaven has been opened!”
In an instant I felt three things. The wind get knocked out of me, a sharp pain in my chest and Xyphiel’s hot breath in my ear.
I looked down, seeing that Xyphiel had impaled me with his crimson wing, a long blade-like feather having pierced my armor as if it was nothing but foil. I could feel my back, hot blood dripping down it. I knew he had run me through.
“Thank you, yet again, Brother. If not for you, they may have held out just a bit longer,” he whispered in my ear.
I tried to breathe, but I could feel the steel-like feather in my lung, and I could barely gasp as he held me there for a moment.
“I want you to know, before you die: All these years, I have toyed with you, never once taking you seriously. Every time we fought, I used you as a common denominator. Because I could read you like a book, it made every sortie with you mere child’s play. So? I must thank you, Brother. For I owe every victory I’ve ever had against your allies, it all happened because of your predictability. So, before you fall, know that I owe this day to you as well, Brother.” My heart sank and then my stomach as I was hurled from the air.
I watched as Xyphiel shrank from my vision, my body limp as I listlessly fell away from him. His words rang in my ears.
I crashed into the ground, somehow remaining conscious through it all, unsure how, of course. Perhaps because I was completely limp while falling and still remained limb upon impact with the ground, perhaps my armor or maybe the fact that I was dying already and it just meant my body wasn’t bothering with the whole ‘passing out’ thing.
As I lay there, someone rushed to my side. My helm was pulled from my head and I looked to see icy blue eyes full of concern, worry and hope looking into mine. His black hair was short and his silvery white wings were opened wide, as if shielding me.
Those eyes looked so familiar. Like my brother’s eyes. Like Kriggary’s eyes. Eye’s I thought I’d never see again.
I raised the sword in my hand with the last of my strength, offering it to the pure young angel before me, “G-Give this… to St. Michael… It’s in… His hands now…”
The sorrowful gaze I received from the Angel gave me some small amount of hope as I faded. Perhaps this young angel could fight against Xyphiel and either win or last long enough for St. Michael to appear?
As my vision faded, I heard another voice call to me. Juventas’s chastising, harsh tone, “Such a drama queen as always, Geoffrey.”
I turned to her as she knelt next to me, her hands moving to my chest.
“How many times must I heal your flesh, foolish boy?” She chided.
I chuckled to myself, “He didn’t use the Puriel Blade on me! It was the only wound that Juventas cannot heal,” but then my hope faded again.
Xyphiel said it himself. “All these years, I’ve toyed with you.”
] that, more than likely, he still considered me nothing but a pawn in his game.
How many times had he used me against those I fought alongside?! It was a countless number, I couldn’t possibly recall all of them. As my strength returned, I sat up and shouted, “Too many!”
As I sat up, however, blood slid down my throat, causing me to cough and sputter.
As I regained my composure, I turned to the young angel next to me, my eyes locking on his. “...Those eyes,” we said in unison.
Juventas let out an exasperated grunt as she looked between us, “Obviously he’s Xyphiel’s son. Look at his face! Put two and two together Geoffrey and get back on your feet quickly,” she said as she stood, not offering to help me up, as per her usual. Though her attention was focused on the wall before me, “I can only do so much so fast, after all…”
I turned to see what Juventas was looking at. At some point, the defensive walls had been breached and now a sea of demons had made their way into the city.
“To the point, as always, Juventas,” I said to her, before turning to the young angel, who apparently was my nephew. “I am Geoffrey Karkade, of Saint Michael,” I spotted my helm on the ground and while I picked it up quickly, I was thinking that I was very likely going to need it in the coming fight. “And it seems my brother Xyphiel has grown far stronger since I last met him and his sister.”
“Brother?!” The young angel shouted, shocked.
“Oh, so this is a family thing then? I’ll tend to any other wounded while you two sort this out…” Juventas said as she slinked from the battlefield to use her abilities where they mattered most.
Juventas wasn't the best on the battlefield, but was much more at home in the medic tents, talking to the injured soothingly with healing them or occasionally chastising them for the foolhardy actions that got them in that state.
Usually at the same time, if I were to be fair.
I readied my sword, it never leaving my hand as my nephew had never taken it from me. I did hope he could fight. What if he was similar to Juventas? A healer and not a warrior?
“Well, nephew, are you just apt at speeches or do you have some fight in you?” I questioned.
As if on cue, Xyphiel rose over the breached wall as another wave of demons clambered over it and under him. His crimson wings glowing with a dark insidious aura.
“My name is Saint Timothy Crestfall of Enoch,” Timothy, the young dark-haired angel with our family's striking, icy blue eyes, stated firmly.
I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. His wings shifted and I watched as his feathers shrank back, as if pulling inside his wings.
His skin shifted as well, changing from a healthy complexion to black, the texture of his skin shifted into thick, familiar scales.
I smiled, as horns pierced Timothy’s brow and his face elongated into the snout of a Niten dragon. Faint red stripes soon stretched over his arms as his claws grew longer and sharper. His feet tore through the boots he wore in such a way that it seemed as if they had been designed to do so, now merely acting as a laced leather wrap for the hock of his Niten feet.
A long lizard tail slipped out from his back, again through his pants as if the clothing he wore had been designed to accommodate such a transition. “I have plenty of fight in me,” Timothy responded.
Of course, what use does a Niten Dragon have for a sword when they have teeth and claws? I smiled at him, recalling what the old scribes of Nite said about the color of one’s scale. Black was supposed to be that of the earth. Those who protect and stand fast against the brutality of nature, “Black Nite, you’re most certainly Kriggary’s kid, that’s for sure.”
I tried to recall the last time I even spoke to what was left of Kriggary. It was so long ago and if anything just a whisper of him as we spoke of our mother.
As if he knew the exact moment to remind me of the beast that had devoured my brother’s soul, Xyphiel’s voice rippled through the air, “A rare day indeed! I get to kill my son and brother, again! Only this time, I’m going to ensure the deed is done!” He taunted.
I narrowed my eyes on Xyphiel. He could kill me over and over again, but Xyphiel had another thing coming if he thought he could kill Timothy.
He wouldn’t be the first angel I killed to protect a Nite, but he might just be the last.
As I stood ready, sword in hand, a brilliant white and blue light burst into my field of view.
My eyes widened as I felt a presence I had not felt in centuries.
I saw him, standing there before me: The Archangel Michael.
Archangel Michael towered over me, a brilliant blue Niten Dragon, clad in pure plate armor I would expect a Paladin to wear. He wore a helmet that covered his face and it glistened in the light of the portal to Heaven glowing behind us.
Archangel Michael held a mighty shield in one hand, though his other claw was empty. His brilliant blue eyes were fixed firmly on Xyphiel.
Without taking those shimmering blue eyes off of Xyphiel, Archangel Michael reached out his empty, mighty, armor clad claws, beckoning to me: “Geoffrey Karkade, you have done well. Now, return to me my blade, so that I may try and fulfill my Father's prophecy."
Without a moment’s hesitation, I offered him up my sword.
"Done well?!” Xyphiel scoffed in the distance.
I felt a pang of guilt. I could never wash my hands of the blood I spilt on Nite. Or the horrors I had unleashed upon this world.
Sellenia had told me, in her tear-felt retelling of her strife of what happened after that day.
Even worse, the only reason I knew we were heading back to what was once the planet Nite I destroyed was that I could identify, precisely, where it was that I had sent Lucifer to on the planet.
Even millions of years later, the scar remained. As did the guilt and weight of my sin.
“Michael, do you not know what my dear brother has done? What he is responsible for?” Xyphiel bellowed.
Timothy glanced at me with a quizzical look, unsure as Xyphiel continued to speak. Would he believe his father or me? It was clear they were not allies, that was for sure.
Xyphiel did a number of terrible things, but he never once needed to resort to lies to accomplish his ill deeds.
Archangel Michael attempted to derail Xyphiel’s barbs, “I have had enough of your venom, Fallen Prophet! This ends today!”
Xyphiel continued his current diatribe. Though as he spoke, I saw that deep seed of anger in him. The wrath and envy burning within his eyes as he spoke to Timothy, “Ask your supposed mother, Boy! Your dear uncle is the one who destroyed all of Nite at the behest of Lucifer! Now he claims to be Michael’s disciple. Yet…” Xyphiel paused slightly, as if the memory of the Guardians rejecting him was still fresh in his mind, “When I came to the Guardian Council, I was offered no mercy…”
My own anger boiled over. “There’s a difference between you and I, Xyphiel!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, “Though it is true, I did as you said long ago! I set myself upon a path to atone for my misdeeds, rather than wallow further in the mud of corruption!”
Before Xyphiel could respond, Michael called out to me facing away from Xyphiel for the first time, “Go, now! Aid your comrades! This fate is mine to face.”
I wasn’t going to argue with the Archangel.
Timothy was another matter, “Archangel, I’ll fight by your side! I’m the sundered child, this is my fate as well!” He cried out.
Timothy did have fight in him, that was for sure.
I reached out and grabbed Timothy by his wrist, tugging him away from Archangel Michael, “St. Michael knows what he’s doing, if he says you’re needed elsewhere, then elsewhere you go! Come on, there’s plenty to defend!”
Timothy followed as I dragged him behind a line of soldiers who were ardently defending against waves and waves of the demon hoards.
“How will you even fight?!” Timothy shouted at me, frustrated by the situation, “You have no sword!”
I chuckled, “If I only needed a blade to fight I’d be a pretty terrible servant of St. Michael,” I closed my eyes and then glanced upwards to the Heaven’s Gate above us.
I had called upon holy blessings before, but I had never done it when such a direct line to God was opened to me.
I reached upwards, leaving my hand open as I called out, “God in Heaven, grant Your servant the instruments by which I may defend Your children!”
From the Heavens two things shot down quickly.
A grand blade pulsed into existence in my hand. Its hilt was made of gold, the blade was a pristine white steel, almost marble in color. I glanced briefly at the ivory handle as I gripped it tightly. A heavenly blade of my own! On any other day, I would have been pleased to have the honor. Today, I knew I would have to dirty it.
As I finished that thought, a giant beast burst through the line of soldiers and was barrelling directly towards us.
I readied myself before the second white beam rained downward from Heaven, crushing the beast before us.
My eyes widened as I saw the nearly featureless entity.
A female form, to be sure, though she lacked hands and feet. Her arms ended in points, as did her legs. She levitated over the ground a few centimeters from the surface.
Rotating around the top of her head were two concentric golden rings and upon them were many jeweled eyes.
From her back, legs and even her arms, various wings and jewel-like feathers glistened with the shining light of Heaven.
The nearly featureless face turned to us. She appeared as a doll, with its features washed away with some kind of polish. I could make out only the vaguest imprints of a nose, mouth and a place where eyes would be.
The jeweled eyes of the crowns had pupils which shifted and turned towards me, appraising me.
I had never once set my eyes upon an Angel of Thrones before. Yet here stood one of the magnificent ancient ones.
Older than Lucifer, older than any other Guardian Angel or Seraphim.
The holy spirits which vanquished the Old Gods.
Timothy rushed past me, his eyes wide as tears leaked from his eyes, “S-Sofia?!”
The creature turned to him, no mouth moving, but a voice resonating as the eyes seemed to squint in recognition, “Sofia…? Yes… I once went by that name. I also went by Samael. Now? We are one.”
Timothy’s face fell at first, but he forced a smile, “As long as you’re in there somewhere, My Captain.”
“I am not your Captain,” the mighty Thrones angel called out as the beast behind her rose upwards.
It reared back before the Thrones Angel made several motions with her spear-like arms, slicing the cursed beast to ribbons before her.
As blood rained down, touching her form briefly before burning away, the eyes on her crowns widened in excitement, “I am the Venom of God, Reborn!” I shuddered as her voice rang out over the battlefield, “I am Vael!”
…
Tower of Mourning, Floor 3
Zepherina
I got to the top of the stairs and found a door waiting for me. I opened it slowly, shocked that I was now standing in front of a conference room table.
It looked like the war room in Themyscira, actually. Several high ranking generals of Penthesil sat around the table, discussing things amongst themselves.
From the side a young woman, no older than fifteen, barged in. She was surrounded by a pair of well armed royal guards.
I froze.
The young girl’s eyes were violet, like my Mom’s, but her hair was crimson red like Mami’s. She wasn’t as tall as her guards either, but still tall, at about 188cm.
Again, like Mami.
But, while she looked like Mami, with my Mom’s eyes, her outfit screamed something else.
She wore a dress shirt, highly accented with silver trim and large buttons up the right side. Long sleeved and high collared. On her head sat a thin silver crown with a large amethyst at the center. As she reached the head of the large table, the Generals quieted down.
Her violet eyes scanned the now silent room as she met the gaze of every single General there. “Military Organization and keeping the peace are all clearly handled by our Defense Ministry, as established in the Penthesilean Confederation’s Charter,” the young woman, clearly a Queen or Empress, spoke firmly, “International diplomacy remains firmly under the helm of the Executive Branch. Has that changed?” She demanded.
No one spoke.
“Mind if someone explains to me why then, the Defense Ministry designed, authorized and conducted a botched,” she hissed the word to everyone at the table, “Special Operation Assignment within the sovereign nation of China?”
Still, no one spoke, though there was a cough or two in the otherwise silent room.
“Your Empress demanded an answer out of you! Any of you!” The empress snapped.
“Calm down,” I heard a strange voice call out.
It was strange because it was all too familiar. It was mine, after all.
I turned, eyes wide as I spotted an older manifestation of myself.
My reflection wore my plate armor, though it was rougher, more seasoned. There were different medals attached on the chest, almost welded on. I had a cape attached to the shoulder pads as well, my hair worn slightly shorter in the front, a few scars along my neck and forehead.
I watched as the older version of myself approached the young Empress.
“It was exactly as it should have been, for keeping the peace,” my doppelganger stated nonchalantly.
The Empress slammed her fist down on the table, “Keeping the peace?! You screwed up months of negotiations with the Chinese which could have led to the Asian Bloc finally joining the confederation and uniting the world in the vision of a United Terra under the Penthesilean banner!”
“And that pipe dream is great for the legislature but when it comes to the reality of boots on the ground*,”* my reflection chided, “without military security that isn’t happening, Sister,” she hissed.
Sister?
My sister Lucillia?!
The Empress, Lucillia, narrowed her eyes on my future self’s eyes, “Everyone except Defense Minister Zepherina, out!”
No one moved.
Without taking her eyes off of Lucillia’s eyes, my copy’s voice snapped, “Your Empress just gave you a direct command: Get! Out!”
The generals quickly stood from their seats and shuffled out of the room.
My future self turned to the door and narrowed her eyes on it as it closed, “I promise you they’re going to pay for their insolence.”
“Was it insolence or is it that they don’t respect me, over you?” Lucillia snapped, “I told you from the moment you forced the crown onto my head: I would not be a figurehead! I would lead, and lead decisively, like mom!” Lucillia snapped.
Wait, why would I force Lucillia to take on the crown?! This didn’t make any sense! That was my burden to bear! Plus, Lucillia was so young! When had I done this? All these thoughts ran through my head and all the while I was still shocked at how much Lucillia resembled Mami.
“You’re not a figurehead,” my older self said, leaning against the table, “I told you: I handle the military ops, you handle the legislature. You sure as hell don’t need me to help you since you’ve got Mami’s gift, afterall.”
Lucillia’s eyes then flickered slightly and I could see the tell-tale sign of nanites swirling within her irises, “Yes, so you should know that there’s no point in hiding something like this Chinese infiltration from me!” She hissed.
“And since when do I need to clear spec-ops with you, again?” My future self chuckled, “I don’t recall that being part of our arrangement.”
I glared at my future self, “Stop being a bitch to your baby sister!” I screamed.
Lucillia was about to speak before my future self lifted up a finger, silencing her.
“Lucillia, hold that thought for just a moment, something just came up,” my future self said, before she turned to me, thrusting her hand forward.
I stepped back as the scene around me seemed to shatter like a glass mirror, her gauntlet clad hand pushing through the breaking scenery before she stepped out entirely.
Her eyes had changed slightly, now sitting in her eye sockets like a pair of smoldering, yet smooth violet stones, white horns on her head and her white wings smooth, scaled and shimmering in the light.
I took a step back, pulling a light blade out from thin air, ready to defend myself from whatever nonsense Belphegor had planned.
My doppelganger looked around the area, her eyes finally landing on me, “Ugh. Belphegor’s bullshit, right?”
I gave a slow, tentative nod.
“Yeah, I remember this tower,” My copy, or future self as I guess she would be called but I wasn’t even sure now, said, “You need to get the fuck out of here.”
“What do you think I’m trying to do!” I shouted, “Are you going to stop me?”
My future representation gave a hearty chuckle, “Firstly? No. Not because I couldn’t, because yeah, you ain’t seen shit yet, but if I did God knows what would happen. Though I guess it depends if this is a parallel timeline or we’re actually meeting face to face. Who knows?”
I lifted my eyebrow.
“See? I don’t remember me saying that to myself, though I do remember this happening," Future Zepherina looked around, the crack in reality she had formed seemingly wavering and shaking, as if it were about to explode, collapse or both, “Don’t think I have much time to fuck with this though.”
“Why did you do that to Lucillia?! Lie to her?! You’re her sister! You’re supposed to protect her!” I snapped.
My future self’s face fell, “Like we protected Jerusalem, Elon, Syria or Mami?”
My heart sank.
My copy scoffed, “Stop getting down on yourself. You can’t protect everyone all at once.”
“I have to try-” I shouted before I found her hand on my throat.
I hadn’t even seen her move!
“See this? This is why people die,” My future self pulled me closer to her, her eyes glaring into mine, “Had you kept your guard up when you were going to Mami? She’d still be alive because you would have gotten there in time, verses getting knocked on your ass by Eva’s little sonic boom.”
Despite her hand on my throat, I could feel the lump in my chest.
“Learn from it, that's what you do when you make mistakes! That is the point of mistakes! It's a lesson to learn from so you don't make the same mistakes again!” My copy growled, dropping me, “And give yourself a few minutes to accept that, sadly, people are going to die when you make mistakes,” she sighed, “But you gotta take it as a lesson, not a failure. You have to forgive yourself. We’re just one person, we can’t be everywhere at once.”
I looked up to her, tears in my eyes.
My future self sighed, kneeling next to me, “It sucks, trust me I know. We’re probably the strongest being in existence… but we’re just one being, okay? We literally cannot save everyone, no matter how much we want to,” she motioned to the cracking reality behind her, “Lucillia and I? Yeah, we butt heads. But our goal is the same: Protect as many people as we possibly can. My military op here? It was a preemptive strike and we’ll get over it,” she smiled wistfully, “Sisters fight. Especially when we have a world to protect.”
I looked away from her, tears in my eyes, “I’m so confused right now. Is this real, or an illusion made by this cursed fucking place?”
“Belphegor wants to break us,” my future self smiled to me, “But he’s also a fallen angel and they all have one main flaw in common.”
I looked up to the future Zepherina, hopeful.
“They don’t know what the fuck I am or what I’m capable of,” Future Zepherina said with a knowing smile as she got to her feet, “So, go show them,” she turned and started walking back towards the increasingly unstable crack in reality.
I got to my feet, sniffling slightly as I did. “So, if you’ve been here before, how did you get out of here?” I shouted as Future Zepherina took one step into her shrinking portal.
My future self just smiled and turned to me, “Oh, Belphegor already screwed up here, he’s about five seconds from figuring that shit out,” she looked around, “When this place comes down, don’t forget Stalphous, okay? Get him on the transport with Maddy.”
“Wait, what do you mean 'When this place comes down?!'” I demanded.
A violet fire surrounded my future self, “Head up, wings up, get ready,” My copy looked up, “HEY! Belphegor! This is for my Mom!” With that she slammed her foot down onto the glass floor.
I watched as violet fire rippled through fresh cracks on the floor and I could hear Belphegor’s voice scream in rage before it flickered out like a fading radio signal.
The cracks soon spread out and up along the walls and ceiling, chunks of large obsidian slipping from the ceiling and crumbling from the walls.
My eyes were wide as I turned to my future self.
Future Zepherina gave me a thumbs up, “Kick their ass, kid. I know you got this. See you in fifteen years.”
I looked up as the portal closed and my future self vanished. There was a hole in the ceiling!
I spread my wings and rocketed upwards, spotting another hole and another as the whole tower began to collapse.
After several floors, I spotted the bar and my Mom, Ragna, laying on the floor, listless.
“Mom!” I shouted.
Ragna’s tired eyes looked up, perking up slightly upon seeing me, “Z-Zepherina?” She looked me over as the floor shook and the walls cracked, “What… What is this?”
I grabbed her, pulling her over my shoulder as the tower continued to fracture and collapse, “Time to sober up and get out of here, Mom!” I shouted as I rushed towards the throne room or where I hoped the throne room would be.
Sure enough, there was Madison, dodging falling debris with Stalphous cowering in the corner.
“Zeph!” Madison shouted, “What the fuck did you do?!”
“It wasn’t me!” I shouted, pausing, “Okay, it was me, but not-Nevermind! Come on, we have to get out of here, the whole tower is coming down!”
Madison tried to pull Stalphous towards us but he wouldn’t budge.
I spread my wings and dove towards them, scooping up Stalphous under my arm as Madison grabbed a hold of my waist.
The tower was tipping sharply and I rushed up towards the exit as the outer wall crumbled before us.
As the glass sheared away, the transport Madison and I arrived on was sliding down along the tilting roof, directly towards us.
“Madison, get that transport in the air!” I shouted as Madison let go of me and rushed towards the transport.
Madison barely got to the door before it slipped off the edge.
My heart sank for a moment and I took to the air, about to dive after her.
To my surprise, however, it was hovering in the air, its engines still off.
I blinked, shocked.
“I’m not… Completely… Useless…” Ragna mumbled, straining with her hand outstretched towards the craft.
Madison got the engines fired up and soon the transport was flying on its own.
Mom released her hold on it with a grunt, the task likely taking a lot out of her in her current state.
I flew to the transport doors, gently depositing Stalphous in the passenger bay and sitting Mom up in a seat as I strapped her in.
“Madison, you got them from here?” I asked.
Madison had just placed her flight headgear on and gave me a thumbs up.
Stalphous rushed over to Mom and started licking her face.
“Stal... Stop…” Mom complained as the long and thick tongue lapped at her cheek.
I smiled, “I gotta go, Mom.”
Ragna looked at me, addled but now aware, “Zepherina… Look at you, what form is this?”
I smiled, “I’ll explain later. I gotta go save Themyscira from Xyphiel, okay?”
My mom’s tired eyes started to regain color as she looked me over, “You did this, didn’t you? You defeated whatever it was that was holding me there?”
I nodded.
Ragna’s smile grew as her hair darkened, “Zepherina…” Her hand reached up to my cheek, caressing it lovingly.
I smiled warmly at her, “We’ll talk later.”
Mom started to undo her restraints.
“Mom?” I frowned, “I got to go, I don’t have time-”
“Take me with you,” Ragna ordered.
I paused for a moment, but as I saw the color slowly returning to her bleached wings, I recalled Forcas’s words: “Cherubim, Gods, Seraphim, even Fallen Angels, we are all creatures of mind, body and spirit. Some consider this a great strength, but it is also our greatest weakness. It was why so many Fallen and Angels abandon their attachments. Emotions clouding your judgment do not addle just the mind, but the body and spirit as well.”
Mom was ready to move on, at least partially. I opened my arms, certain she couldn’t make it on her own, at least not as fast as I could, “Then let's go.”
“Uh, hey guys?” Madison called out, pointing out into the north.
A pillar of light was reaching high into the sky and from its apex I could see streaks of brilliant whites, blues and gold streaming downward.
I smiled, “They opened up Heaven’s Gate.”
“What are you waiting for?” Ragna asked, turning to me, her hair now only gray, “Let's not be the last ones to get a shot at Xyphiel.”

My thought process was if I find out what kind of markets or countries utilize crypto the most, I would be able to easier decide which cryptos fit their needs more and what to DCA into. At first glance I thought the USA would be the easy answer, but the answer was a little more complicated.
Surprisingly, the USA, China, or any of the main European countries aren’t even in the top 10 in percent of citizens who use crypto. Here’s a quick list of the top 10 at the end of 2022:

1. Thailand – 20.1%
2. Nigeria – 19.4%
3. Philippines – 19.4%
4. Turkey – 18.6%
5. Argentina – 18.5%
6. Indonesia – 16.4%
7. Brazil – 16.1%
8. Singapore – 15.6%
9. South Korea – 13.4%
10. Malaysia – 13.2%

Inflation was the driving factor to people leaving their local currency using btc, eth, and tether as savings vehicles.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet, the trading volumes in most of those countries are just a fraction of what the USA, Japan, and China does. Here are the top 10 countries with the most trading volume per 24 hours at end of 2022 in USD:

1. USA
2. Japan
3. South Korea
4. Hong Kong
5. Singapore
6. China
7. Australia
8. Canada
9. United Kingdom
10. Switzerland

One difference between the countries on this list was that the major reason for buying crypto was for investment purposes. Fun fact: in Singapore, Ethereum is slightly more popular than Bitcoin in trading volumes. Also interesting that El Salvador isn’t on this list but I have a feeling they are on both by now. The trading volume in the USA was only 47% higher than japan which is something to think about if you believe the USA is miles ahead of everyone in crypto trading and adoption. While the USA doesn’t have the highest % of citizens using crypto, many institutional investors admit they are just waiting for the green light to begin pouring billions into the sector.
What I have come to believe is that clear and concise laws and regulations will spark the next bull market. As of now, the rule of the land of DCA mainly into btc and eth still stands and a wave of crisp regulations and sticky inflation especially in third world countries will lead crypto back to all time highs. Bitcoin and Ethereum still dominate in countries where inflation is rampant and also in countries where investors are looking for a place to park extra cash. I believe once the USA sets the world stage for crypto adoption, all the others will fall into place and it will make 2021 look like a small blip on the charts.
Tldr: once the SEC makes things clear over the next year, crypto goes boom aligned perfectly with the next halving cycle.

• https://imgur.com/a/42GGBDV ---thumbnail pic. old 2012 pic where I was testing using blue light for intracanopy lighting (use red instead). Some of the radical leaf twisting is due to unequal tissue expansion from the more intense pure blue light and is harmless.

This is adding to my "SAG's Cannabis SciFAQ". Yesterday I had defoliation and flushing, today I have intro to Bruce Bugbee, UV and aluminum foil.
I should have at least 20 sections busting myths with sources (eg we will talk far red light) and then that's all going to be wordsmithed again after feedback then put out altogether on my lighting guide sub so others can direct link off that when completed. When completed on my sub the comments will be moderated as per /askscience standards so no unscientific links or claims there (no YouTube or growweedeasy bro stuff).
Somebody yesterday mentioned 48 hours of darkness before harvest and how it's nonsense? I got you fam in what will be the SciFAQ lighting section:

• https://youtu.be/qtXa_dAWKXc?t=696 ---YouTube. Bugbee discusses the 48 hour myth and why it doesn't make sense

The below are the latest sections. Let me know if you have any questions or have feedback. The most valuable feedback is often from complete beginners.
Dr. Bruce Bugbee and credible sources
Dr. Bruce Bugbee is an appropriate professional introduction but for brevity I'll often just be using "Bugbee".
Bruce Bugbee is a full professor at Utah State who has done extensive cultivation and lighting research with long history of published peer reviewed literature dating back to the 1980's. He is also the founder of Apogee Instruments that makes lab gear related to indoor horticulture lighting and outdoor agriculture measurements.

• Bruce Bugbee google scholar search <---390 papers over about 40 years and counting with many thousands of citations is why Bugbee is a credible source of information.
  
• Apogee Instruments YouTube page ---lots of the latest scientific and credible lighting information
  
• link to Bruce Bugbee AMA
  

Sample work:

• Cannabis Grow Lighting Myths and FAQs with Dr. Bruce Bugbee ---YouTube. The very basics.
  
• Cannabis lighting: Decreasing blue photon fraction increases yield but efficacy is more important for cost effective production of cannabinoids "As percent blue increased from 4 to 20%, flower yield decreased by 12.3%. This means that flower yield increased by 0.77% per 1% decrease in blue photons." ----blue light lowers total bud yields (but does it lower total cannabinoids?)
  

SAG tips on credibility and claims <----know what is credible
Bruce Bugbee discusses broscience:

• https://youtu.be/qtXa_dAWKXc?t=296 <---look for trends rather than put too much stock in a single paper

Unlike "the internet", Bugbee actually has scientific credibility. There are plenty of other scientifically credible sources but Bugbee's unique extensive history and his science communicating makes him standout. I will be linking to direct time stamp video segments from where Bugbee has done interviews with various YouTubers on specific topics.
What's not necessarily a credible source is that guy who says he has 5 or whatever years of growing experience and is therefore correct based on that alone. Nope, that on its own is a faulty "appeal to authority" style argument which is easy to refute. Anecdotally, I've met multiple people like that IRL and my question for a few of them: is doing the exact same thing over and over and over for 5 years really "5 years experience" because I've seen some facepalm results with a few 5 year growers (and I've seen outstanding growers that get it with less experience).
With any claim, the burden of proof is always upon those who makes the claim, the evidence has to be proportional to the claim, and claims made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence (that's the Sagan standard and Hitchen's razor in a nutshell). Also, "you can't prove me wrong" is called an argument from ignorance where the burden of proof is trying to be shifted and which is usually never a valid argument. In science we don't actually prove anything- we try to come up with the best models we can based on evidence that correspond with reality, we correct/improve or refute those models if needed as new evidence comes in, and claims based on how many years someone has been growing is a complete non sequitur to the validity of a scientific model.
The links below are generally credible sources unlike that unscientific guy with 5 years experience who doesn't understand the notion of confirmation bias (seeking or interpreting information that only conforms to your worldview) and who won't learn new stuff:

• links to hundreds of open access peer reviewed papers

Does UV light work with cannabis?
The prevailing evidence is that UV light does not boost THC levels in the buds. There has been a lot of confusion due to the Lydon (1987) paper based on industrial hemp leaves and UV.

• https://youtu.be/W-3ZZJyk5lc?t=3602 ---YouTube. Bugbee discusses UV
  
• Indoor grown cannabis yield increased proportionally with light intensity, but ultraviolet radiation did not affect yield or cannabinoid content 2022--"There were also no intensity or UV treatment effects on inflorescence cannabinoid concentrations. Sugar leaves (i.e., small leaves associated with inflorescences) of plants in the UVA + UVB treatment had ≈30% higher THC concentrations; however, UV did not have any effect on the total THC in these foliar tissues. Overall, high PPFD levels can substantially increase cannabis yield, but we found no commercially relevant benefits of adding UV to indoor cannabis production."
  
• Cannabis Inflorescence Yield and Cannabinoid Concentration Are Not Increased With Exposure to Short-Wavelength Ultraviolet-B Radiation 2021
  
• Cannabis sativa L. Response to Narrow Bandwidth UV and the Combination of Blue and Red Light during the Final Stages of Flowering on Leaf Level Gas-Exchange Parameters, Secondary Metabolite Production, and Yield 2021 --this could show a positive efficacy but has mixed results
  
• Cannabinoids and Terpenes: How Production of Photo-Protectants Can Be Manipulated to Enhance Cannabis sativa L. Phytochemistry --very extensive
  
• UV-B RADIATION EFFECTS ON PHOTOSYNTHESIS, GROWTH AND CANNABINOID PRODUCTION OF TWO Cannabis sativa CHEMOTYPES ---this is the Lydon (1987) paper that has been greatly misunderstood and only applies to industrial hemp leaves. It's here so others can have a full look at the UV debate.
  

SAG tips-
Don't use cheap 3 watt eBay UV LEDs- they will not last much more than a month due to their cheap lenses turning brown. Use under driven high power UV COBs instead. Cheap UV LEDs are notorious for burning out.
UVB and UVA rely on different light sensitive proteins with UVA associated with the cryptochrome and phototropin proteins and UVB is associated with the UVR8 protein.
aluminum foil, paint, reflectivity and the burning myth
note- this section contains personal anecdotes
The shiny side of aluminum foil has close to 86-88% reflectivity which is close to the best unmodified flat white paints (~90% to as high as 94%). I use it in 2 and 5 gallon space buckets and have never seen leaf tissue burning even with an excess of 1000 uMol/m2/sec of light.

• Household aluminum foil matte and bright side reflectivity measurements: Application to a photobioreactor light concentrator design --Pozonbom et al (2020)--they found 86% reflective over PAR with an integrating sphere. And BTW, they found 86% for both sides of aluminum foil (the difference is specular vs diffuse). I always use the shiny, specular side because there's a bit more to it than just reflectivity.

Aluminum foil is electrically conductive which can be a compelling reason not to use it. If you have a well grounded light that is properly safety listed or using low voltage isolated power supplies then that's not an issue. Many cheap lights like some by Mars Hydro are too electrically dangerous to use around aluminum foil.

• MarsHydro TS 600 "quantum board" failed very badly in my testing (ETL listed) ---this shit will get you killed

Mylar can slightly outperform aluminum foil at 95% reflectivity. Mylar can also be a pain in the ass to work with but I'd use it over aluminum foil for grow rooms if not painting flat white. I wouldn't use aluminum foil in anything larger than a space brute or tote but that's just my opinion.
Why the 86-88% foils can outperform ~90% flat white paint is that the smooth foils are specular (mirror like) reflectors with fewer reflections in the grow chamber unlike the diffuse (scattered) reflections of flat white. So with specular mirror like reflectors, as a total the photons bounce around less and more can be absorbed by the target. But most grow chambers are flat white or a more diffuse and rough aluminum foil like coating like in grow tents. The closer the lights are to the plants the less the side reflectors make a difference and if the lights are further away I'd be more likely to use a foil specular reflector.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specular_reflection ---smooth foils
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffuse_reflection ---flat white paint
  

PAINT
Use flat white, paint it up, call it good. A paint substitute is "Panda film" heavy duty plastic sheeting that is 90% white on one side and black light block on the other side. If doing hydro consider a latex based paint.
If all you have is gloss white then use it with up to high 80's% reflective (gloss white combines specular and diffuse). Do your best with what you have on hand and as a hobbyist and I wouldn't sweat the small details (and no, gloss white won't burn your plants). I wouldn't use silver paint because now you are only getting perhaps 50% reflectivity.
If you're painting a whole grow room then get the flat white and don't mess with anything else.
When looking up paints, google it with "light reflectance value" or "LRV" and you can usually find how reflective the paint is.
Barium sulfate can be added to white paint to boost it to >97% reflectivity.

• A Mixture of Barium Sulfate and White Paint is a Low-Cost Substitute Reflectance Standard for Spectralon® --Knighton, Bugbee (2005)

BURN, BABY, BURN <--the hot spot myth
You are going to hear people in forum comments sections mention about how aluminum foil is going to create hotspots and burn the shit out of your plant. There is no evidence that this happens and you should always ask for any pictures of this burning on the internet to back the claim. It's their claim, make them back it up. Literally none of the pics that can be found on google images for "hot spots cannabis" has to do with leaves being burned from aluminum foil hot spots.

• https://imgur.com/a/fF7VM4Z ---I can't get leaves to burn with aluminum foil

Plants can get burned from being too close to a light source but generally never from reflected light. Bring up conservation of etendue if you get into an online argument and how diffuse or spread out light sources like with quantum boards cannot be focused to a spot:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etendue

CAN A DROP OF WATER ON THE LEAF CAUSE BURNING?
No.

• Optics of sunlit water drops on leaves: conditions under which sunburn is possible --Egri et al (2010)---most non-waxy hair plants like cannabis are not going to burn from water droplets on a leaf due to the focal point of the water droplet and how close the water droplet would be to a cannabis leaf. The water droplet would have to be held off the leaf at some distance to cause burning.

Outdoors full sunlight is about 2000 uMol/m2/sec, perhaps twice a higher intensity indoor grow, with an angular diameter of about half of a degree vs what for your grow...10 degrees?...maybe 50 degrees with a quantum board up close? You have half natural sunlight intensity that is highly diffused compared to natural sunlight. If it doesn't burn outdoors then how is it going to burn indoors? Conservation of etendue does not allow that (basically you can't focus diffuse light sources to a point).

• google image search for "water sprinkler sun crops" ---if water drops on leaves cause burning then why aren't all these outdoors crops being completely burned down?

SAG tip-
Triple folded 2 mil aluminum foil that is again folded on the edges makes a good stand alone reflector.

• https://imgur.com/a/fF7VM4Z --same pics as above no burn pics. You can see the additional folding on the edges