Custody Crackdown Continues | THE BITCOIN BRIEF 65

In this episode of The Bitcoin Brief, Max and Q delve into the latest happenings in the world of Bitcoin and privacy. 

In this shorter Bitcoin Brief catch‑up, we dive straight into the latest on Passport Prime: Foundation has completed a third‑party security audit for KeyOS, is squashing final bugs, and is testing a bulletproof firmware‑update flow before giving the factory the green light. While early‑access units have slipped from initial estimates, the team stresses security parity with Passport Core, continued transparency, and a no‑questions‑asked refund policy for those who prefer not to wait. We then unpack last week’s NPM supply‑chain scare that briefly impacted Ethereum‑focused flows; despite the rapid containment (netting attackers mere cents), it’s a timely reminder to use hardware wallets for significant funds and to verify amounts, fees, change, and destination addresses on every send.

On policy, we examine the resurfacing “mixer rule” push in the US that would effectively criminalise mainstream privacy behaviours on public blockchains—potentially sweeping up CoinJoin/PayJoin, address freshness, swaps, and simple transaction splitting—highlighting why principled privacy and robust, neutral protocols matter. We field a listener question on making Lightning more accessible, weighing today’s trade‑offs between self‑hosting and managed hubs (e.g., Alby), and the convenience of Phoenix/Zeus, with an eye toward emerging designs like Ark/Spark. Rounding out with releases: Cake Wallet’s Pay Anything (seamless cross‑asset paying), native Tor on iOS, and Cupcake for air‑gapped signing; Craig Raw’s Frigate Electrum server experiment for efficient Silent Payments scanning; and Braiins Deck, a tidy desk display for price, mempool, and mining stats. Boosts, meets, and a reminder: stay vigilant, stay private, and keep building.

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FOUNDATION

https://foundation.xyz/ungovernable

Foundation builds Bitcoin-centric tools that empower you to reclaim your digital sovereignty.

As a sovereign computing company, Foundation is the antithesis of today’s tech conglomerates. Returning to cypherpunk principles, they build open source technology that “can’t be evil”.

Thank you Foundation Devices for sponsoring the show!

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CAKE WALLET

https://cakewallet.com

Cake Wallet is an open-source, non-custodial wallet available on Android, iOS, macOS, and Linux.

Features:
- Built-in Exchange: Swap easily between Bitcoin and Monero.
- User-Friendly: Simple interface for all users.

Monero Users:
- Batch Transactions: Send multiple payments at once.
- Faster Syncing: Optimized syncing via specified restore heights
- Proxy Support: Enhance privacy with proxy node options.

Bitcoin Users:
- Coin Control: Manage your transactions effectively.
- Silent Payments: Static bitcoin addresses
- Batch Transactions: Streamline your payment process.

Thank you Cake Wallet for sponsoring the show!

MYNYMBOX

https://mynymbox.net

Your go-to for anonymous server hosting solutions, featuring: virtual private & dedicated servers, domain registration and DNS parking. We don't require any of your personal information, and you can purchase using Bitcoin, Lightning, Monero and many other cryptos.

Explore benefits such as No KYC, complete privacy & security, and human support.