• Julia is originally from Germany and moved to Portugal at 19 years old after taking a job opportunity.
• She has since settled down and built a homestead in Portugal that feeds her family.
• Julia is also involved in her local Bitcoin community and has seen first-hand the potential it has to revolutionize the economy.

Julia is a German expat who has made her home in Southern Portugal. She moved there at the age of 19, looking for a job and found one that stayed with her for the long haul. After settling down in Portugal, Julia set up a homestead which now feeds her family. In addition to this, Julia is also part of her local Bitcoin community, as she has seen first-hand the potential it has to revolutionize the economy.

In a conversation with Julia, it was clear that she found many parallels between homesteading and Bitcoin. For both, there is a high upfront investment and a very low time preference. Julia’s discussions also touched on her backstory of moving to Portugal, the growth of the Bitcoin meetup in her local community and what it takes to operate a homestead that feeds her family.

Julia explained that when she was 19, she wanted to travel and so she looked around for some jobs. She found an opportunity to work in Portugal for three months and it turned out to be the start of her long-term stay in the country. Her parents eventually moved over with her brothers shortly after her and she has returned to Germany only a few times in the past 15 years.

Julia has since developed her local community and is involved in her local Bitcoin meetup. She believes that Bitcoin has the potential to revolutionize the economy and that it can be a powerful tool for people to use in order to gain more financial independence.

When asked what it takes to operate a homestead that feeds her family, Julia explained that it demands a lot of hard work and dedication. She believes that homesteading is a great way to become more self-sufficient and to be able to provide for yourself.

Julia’s story is a testament to the power of resilience and self-determination. She has overcome many challenges to make a life for herself and her family in Portugal, and her involvement in her local community and Bitcoin meetup is an example of how one person can make a positive difference in their local area.

• In 1889, Puerto Rico suffered a 40% currency devaluation, caused by the United States declaring the U.S. dollar as legal tender of Puerto Rico.
• This resulted in Puerto Ricans borrowing money from the American Colonial Bank, but high interest rates made it very unlikely that locals were going to be able to pay back their loans.
• With the recent introduction of Bitcoin, Puerto Rico now has the potential to gain its own independence and identity, without being held back by the U.S. dollar.

Puerto Rico is a country with a rich history full of struggles and triumphs. For centuries, the people of Puerto Rico have sought to gain independence and sovereignty, and now, in the age of cryptocurrency, they may have found a way to achieve these goals.

In 1889, Puerto Rico was forced to accept the U.S. dollar as its legal tender, leading to a 40% currency devaluation and a crippling of the Puerto Rican economy. This was caused by the United States setting up the American Colonial Bank, and as a result of this, many Puerto Ricans attempted to save their net worths by borrowing money from the bank. Unfortunately, the interest rates were so high that it became very unlikely that locals were going to be able to pay back their loans. This eventually led to the bank seizing their assets, which in those days were typically their land.

In 2020, the U.S. dollar is still the official currency of Puerto Rico, leaving it vulnerable to the policies of the U.S. central bank. This has resulted in the people of Puerto Rico being unable to control their own financial destiny, as their currency is determined by outside forces.

However, with the recent introduction of Bitcoin, Puerto Rico now has the potential to gain its own independence and identity, without being held back by the U.S. dollar. Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, meaning that it is not regulated by any government or central bank, and it is not subject to the same rules as other currencies. This gives Puerto Rico the opportunity to create its own financial system, with its own rules and regulations, and to have total control over its own economy.

Furthermore, Bitcoin could be used to facilitate trade between the people of Puerto Rico and other countries. This would allow for the free and open exchange of goods and services, without having to worry about currency exchange rates or government control. It would also provide a secure and anonymous way for people to make payments, protecting them from fraud and identity theft.

All in all, Bitcoin could be the answer that Puerto Rico has been searching for. It could provide them with the independence and identity that they have been starved for, and it could be the key to a prosperous future. With the right regulations and policies in place, Bitcoin could turn Puerto Rico into the financial powerhouse it deserves to be.

– Commerceblock introduced Mercury Wallet, an implementation of both statechains and CoinSwaps.
– Statechains are an off-chain mechanism for transferring freely between anyone completely off-chain.
– The wallet integrated a new CoinSwap design to allow users to mix multiple times without needing to transact on chain for each mix.

Commerceblock recently introduced Mercury Wallet, an innovative implementation of both statechains and CoinSwaps. This new wallet simultaneously introduced a new mixing tool as well as the first wallet to implement a new second-layer scaling solution. The team built off of Ruben Somsen’s original statechain proposal with some changes to make it work without the needed ANYPREVOUT/Eltoo sighash flag, and integrated a new CoinSwap design to allow users to mix multiple times without needing to transact on chain for each mix.

Statechains are an off-chain mechanism for transferring freely between anyone completely off-chain. This is done by constructing a ECDSA-MPC address where the private key is sharded with one half held by the user and the other half by the operator. This then creates a timelocked, pre-signed withdrawal transaction that allows the user to unilaterally take the coins back after the timelock. When the user wishes to transfer the statechain, they notify the operator who then collaborates with the receiver. The receiver and operator generate a new set of private key shares that correspond with the same address, and generate a new pre-signed transaction with a lower timelock than the last one, and then the operator deletes their old keyshare.

CoinSwap is a trustless mechanism to swap coins between two users without broadcasting anything on the blockchain. This is done by creating two transactions with a mutual output, and then signing both transactions. Then, the two users exchange the signatures, and the transaction is broadcasted and the coins are swapped. This integration with Mercury Wallet allows users to mix multiple times without needing to transact on chain for each mix.

Overall, the introduction of Mercury Wallet is a groundbreaking development in the cryptocurrency space. It opens up the possibilities of increasing privacy, scalability, and off-chain transfers, all without sacrificing the security of blockchain. This is just the beginning of what can be achieved with this new technology, and it will be exciting to see what comes next.

• Commerceblock’s Mercury Wallet introduced a new mixing tool, statechains, and Coinswaps.
• Statechains are an off-chain mechanism for transferring freely between anyone completely off-chain.
• Statechains use ECDSA-MPC addresses, timelocked pre-signed withdrawal transactions, and cryptographic key-sharing to keep funds secure.

Commerceblock’s Mercury Wallet was a revolutionary implementation of both statechains and CoinSwaps. This wallet provided a new mixing tool, as well as the first wallet to implement a new second-layer scaling solution. Statechains offer a new way of sending and receiving digital assets securely and privately.

Statechains are an off-chain mechanism for transferring freely between anyone completely off-chain. This technology was initially proposed by Ruben Somsen and was then implemented within the Mercury Wallet. The statechain uses a combination of ECDSA-MPC addresses, timelocked pre-signed withdrawal transactions, and cryptographic key-sharing to keep funds secure. To start a statechain, the original owner/user collaborates with a statechain operator to construct an ECDSA-MPC address. This address is then assigned a private key which is split into two parts, one half being held by the user and the other half being held by the operator. The user then creates a timelocked, pre-signed withdrawal transaction which is signed by the operator before sending funds to the new address. This timelocked transaction allows the user to unilaterally take the coins back after the timelock period has expired.

When the user wishes to transfer the statechain, they notify the operator who then collaborates with the receiver. The receiver and operator generate a new set of private key shares that correspond with the same address, and generate a new pre-signed transaction with a lower timelock than the last one, and then the operator deletes their old keyshare. This cryptography ensures that the operator’s new keyshare will only work with the new user’s keyshare, and if the old one is deleted then it is not even possible for them to collaborate with the old user to spend the coins.

The Mercury Wallet also integrates a new CoinSwap design which allows users to mix multiple times without needing to transact on chain for each mix. This CoinSwap design is a trustless system which uses atomic swaps and cryptographic proofs of ownership, allowing users to mix and match their coins without trusting any third party.

Overall, Commerceblock’s Mercury Wallet has revolutionized the way digital assets are sent and received by introducing statechains and CoinSwaps. These new technologies have enabled users to securely and privately transfer digital assets while also providing them with a trustless mixing tool which allows them to remain anonymous. With these new tools, the Mercury Wallet has established a new standard of digital asset management.