Once Bitten! A Bitcoin Podcast. Wen Group Chats For NOSTR, Ser? #589 Max Hilebrand.
Jan 28, 2026
Max Hilebrand, privacy and freedom-technology builder behind Wasabi Wallet and NOSTR projects, discusses privacy-first design and scalable encrypted communication. He explains NOSTR’s self-sovereign identity model, the Marmot group-encryption spec and White Noise implementation, and why decentralized tooling like NGIT and the Sovereign Engineering Cohort matter for building FreedomTech.
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Take Self-Custody, Record Seeds Offline
- Do take self-custody of your Bitcoin and record seed phrases offline.
- Max and Daniel both insist: write seed words on paper and never digitally store them.
Privacy As An Economic Defense
- Privacy makes theft unprofitable by raising attacker costs far above defender costs.
- Max frames privacy as the cheapest, most effective defense for individual freedom.
Silk Road Books Reappear In Bristol
- Simon acquired a stock of rare Paul Rosenberg books originally sold on Silk Road and sold them in Bristol.
- Max recounts how those copies ended up in a Bitcoin meetup and his chance to meet Paul backstage.
