Rabbit Hole Recap: Week of 2020.11.23

— Cold Card testnet attack disclosed by Shift Crypto affects only testnet users; not a widespread threat but labeled "critical" unnecessarily, creating unwarranted alarm around hardware wallets.

— Brink, a new Bitcoin development initiative led by John Newbery and Mike Schmidt, launches with backing from Square Crypto, Kraken, Gemini, and HRF to fund and train developers contributing to Bitcoin Core.

— Chainalysis raises $100 million at a $1 billion valuation while expanding government contracts; host expresses strong opposition to privacy-invasive blockchain surveillance.

— PTLCs (Point Time Lock Contracts) proof of concept released by Suredbits for Eclair nodes, improving Lightning Network privacy and efficiency compared to current hash time lock contracts.

— Taproot activation momentum builds with pool signaling, developer education via Ben Carman's Twitter threads, and anticipated strong community support before price volatility intensifies.

— MicroStrategy exploring Bitcoin data products; hosts remain vigilant about whether company pursues surveillance (Chainalysis model) or open analytics (Glass Node/Coin Metrics model).

— Set up a sustainable dollar-cost average plan before next bull rally intensifies: divide yearly allocation by 52 or 365 and automate weekly or daily purchases via Cash App or similar—avoid timing dips and let compounding work.

— Secure your keys now before price rips further: prepare multisig vault setups (Unchained Capital white-glove service, Casa, or similar) and hardware wallets while time and focus allow; don't attempt custody migrations during euphoric price surges when mistakes become costly.

— For oil and gas industry connections: calculate the gas-to-hash opportunity cost using Gam's calculator (showing 4.5× revenue vs. selling to grid); waste gas flaring represents pure profit if redirected to Bitcoin mining, creating direct financial incentive aligned with household wealth building.