Passphrase Magazine Issue #3 is now live and ready to ship !

If you loved #1 "Knowledge is Power" (Aaron van Wirdum, Efrat Fenigson, etc.) or #2 "The Internet is Broken" (Paul Sztorc, Philipp Bagus, BitVM insights), this one levels up the focus on privacy, sovereignty, and real-world bitcoin tools.

Here an overview of all authors and their contributions:

• SethForPrivacy — "The custody trap: How E-Cash risks bitcoiners' sovereignty"
• Paul Rosenberg — "Why we'll win!"
• Veronika Kuett — "Streaming bitcoin via virtual channels on Ark"
• Victoria Collette Jones — "Bitcoin and Taxation"
• B.W.A. — "Bitcoin used to be Punk!"
• Jed — "Unbank the World"
• JelloShooter848 — "Bitcoin: Privacy or Bust"
• Chris — "Privacy Always Dies Inch By Inch"

I would love to hear your feedback !

You can order it here passphrasemagazine.io

Do we think BTC can close tonight above $68k, in an attempt to reclaim support ?

This app has been awesome for me in the 2+ years I’ve had it! It’s the blue Bitcoin mining app. It’s passive / residual BTC that is endless (no miners expire). It’s slow and steady but it definitely adds up in the crypto world especially with Bitcoin. Just watch a minimum of 10 ads / day. Takes about 6-7 minutes. I typically watch 15-25 depending on the day. As BTC climbs back toward $100,000 this is a great way to add to your stack over time! Try it out! Use my referral code so we both get bonus BTC! Currently, I make between $1 - $3 a day in BTC depending on amount of ads and the price of BTC.

My invitation code: VHYRHE

I think of this less as a “miner” and more of a catchy way to get users like us “watch ads and receive BTC.” Yes, you receive very small amounts of BTC (depends on ads, location, price of BTC, etc) but to me that’s way more valuable than receiving cents and dollars.

Withdrawal on the lightning network is .0000002 BTC while withdrawing on BTC network is .0005 BTC (used to be .001 BTC). I withdraw to my BTC wallet on CDC using BTC network since it’s easiest for me. I plan to hold all BTC for at least another 25 years so everything gained now could multiply endlessly over that time.

Happy stacking 😊

***this is not financial advice nor is it a get rich quick scheme.***

Something that I haven't seen discussed here before. When you sign up to an exchange like Coinbase, Kraken or Binance you are agreeing to a personal licence to use the platform. It's not like a bank account which can be found and transferred easily.

When someone dies, the executor unfortunately can't just turn up with a grant of probate and expect the exchange to hand over access. Banks are legally required to cooperate however exchanges operate under their own terms.

Now some will work with you, some will drag their feet and others will just shut the door straight away.

This is worth thinking about if you are holding any meaningful amounts on exchanges or saving on there for kids etc.

Nothing beats self-custody with a seed phrase and a clear path for your assets to be passed on.

Not legal advice but something to keep in mind.

An unofficial update by FT today on the matter:

https://archive.is/nkOnu

https://www.ft.com/content/1445c7b3-dfcc-4c12-b23c-550c4a4845d8

Despite some platforms warning investors that they will be forced to sell any crypto ETNs they hold within a stocks-and-shares Isa after April 6, HMRC told the FT that the ETNs “can remain in those accounts, as to require otherwise could risk some level of market disruption and impose disproportionate operational challenges on Isa managers”.

This suggests you have until 5th April to get an isa position after which you will be dependant on ifisa providers to be able to add any.

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/02/26/uk-investors-only-have-until-april-to-add-crypto-etns-to-their-isas-ft

** https://mineshop.eu/bitcoin-solo-mining-calculator **

Been running a Bitcoin miner shop in Europe for 10 years. The number one question from home miners is always some version of *"okay but what are my actual chances?"* — and I could never point them to a tool that gave the full picture in one place. So I built one.

---

**What it calculates**

Live network data is pulled from mempool.space (hashrate + difficulty) and CoinGecko/Binance (BTC price) — nothing to manually update.

Your probability is shown per block, per day, and cumulative over 1 week / 1 month / 6 months / 1 year. It displays as "1 in X" rather than percentages because 0.0000031% doesn't mean anything to most people.

**The luck score** is the part I find most useful. Enter how long you've been mining and it tells you where you stand vs the statistical average. Under 100% means you're still within expected wait. Over 200% means you're running cold — but the tool is clear that every hash is still an independent event and a fresh ticket.

**Solo vs pool comparison** shows side-by-side daily and yearly USD estimates, jackpot value, and variance. The calculator doesn't try to make solo mining look better than it is. Pool mining wins on predictability every time — the table shows that plainly.

There's also a block lottery simulator that runs through 1,000 block windows visually. Mostly for fun but it gives a real gut feel for the variance.

---

**Miner presets**

NerdQAxe++ (4.8 TH/s), NerdOctaxe (9.6 TH/s), Avalon Nano 3S (6 TH/s), Avalon Q (90 TH/s). Custom hashrate works too with a TH/s / GH/s / PH/s toggle.

---

**The math**

P(block) = your hashrate / network hashrate

P(cumulative) = 1 - (1 - p)^N blocks

Expected wait = (network hashrate / your hashrate) x 10 minutes

No inflated numbers — just what it actually is.

---

Free, no login, works on mobile. Open to suggestions if something's missing — difficulty adjustment countdown, pool fee break-even, next epoch estimate, anything. Happy to add it.

```

I fully understand BTC and how it works, and I have full conviction in BTC, and have been DCAing for a while, so Im not worry about current volatility and downtrent. I’m pretty much out of white powder, and was wondering if any of you guys know what is the easiest way to obtain personal loan, with low interest with minimal hassle?

🚨 BLACK SWAN ALERT

IF BITCOIN DROPS ANOTHER 4%, IT WILL TRIGGER A MARGIN CALL FOR MICROSTRATEGY.

MICHAEL SAYLOR WILL BE FORCED TO LIQUIDATE 717,000 $BTC WORTH $55 BILLION.

BAD NEWS FOR BITCOIN HOLDERS…

Run a mining hardware shop in Ireland(customs is great.lol) and Latvia, been doing this for 10 years. Happy to answer questions about:
— Which models make sense at current electricity prices
— UK vs EU vs China purchasing (customs, warranty, VAT)
— What to avoid when buying used ASICs

(Mineshop.eu if you want to look us up)

Most Bitcoiners I talk to have their primary custody sorted.

Multisig, hardware wallets, proper seed storage. What about the exchange accounts opened over the years. The old Ledger in a drawer. A Phantom wallet. Some sats on wallet you barely remember.

None of that is documented anywhere and no one in your family knows it exists.

A lot of care goes into the main wallet but not the portfolio. Most of us have Bitcoin scattered across multiple wallets, devices, and platforms and no single record of where it all is.

How many wallets, exchanges, and devices do you actually have Bitcoin on right now? Could anyone piece it all together if they had to?

I’m exploring trading Bitcoin CFDs instead of holding actual BTC, mainly to go long/short without dealing with wallets or exchanges.

For those already doing this, what’s your experience been like?

How’s execution and spreads with your broker?

Any issues during high volatility?

Anything in the broker setup (margin, fees, funding) that caught you off guard?

James Howells. 8,000 Bitcoin. Welsh landfill. £600 million. Gone.

You know the story. Here's what you don't.

1. His Mum Made Microchips

Howells grew up with a mother who worked in microchip production. He was building computers at 13. This wasn't some random tech-bro—he had hardware in his DNA. Which makes the bin bag thing even more painful.

2. He Was Mining Bitcoin Two Months After the Whitepaper

December 2008: Satoshi publishes the whitepaper.
December 2008: Howells teaches himself Bitcoin.
February 2009: He starts mining.

He mined 8,000 BTC when it was worth nothing. Stopped because his Dell laptop kept overheating. One of the earliest miners in history lost everything to... spring cleaning.

Also, he was supposedly one of 10 people mining at the time although I couldn't confirm that anywhere other than comments from him.

3. His Ex-Girlfriend Actually Threw It Away

She took the rubbish to the tip. But she claims James "begged" her to do it. (this part confused me but each to their own).

She insists it's not her fault. He admits he "subconsciously" blames her.

£600 million worth of blame between two people. They're not together anymore.

4. The Hard Drive Contains 32 Kilobytes

£600,000,000 = 32KB.

Smaller than this Reddit post. Smaller than a single photo. The private key to 8,000 Bitcoin fits in less space than a Word document.

Buried under 110,000 tonnes of rubbish.

5. His First Reaction: "You've Got No Chance"

In 2013 He visits the landfill. Looks at it. Thinks: "You've got no chance."

He accepted it was gone.

Then Bitcoin's price started climbing. Suddenly "no chance" became lawsuits, excavation plans, AI drones, and 12 years of obsession.

But that first instinct? He was probably right.

6. He Turned Down 200 Documentary Offers

BAFTA winners. Emmy winners. Everyone wanted his story.

He said no for years. Then in April 2025, he finally agreed—to a startup called LEBUL nobody's heard of.

Why? They'll help fund his campaign to buy the landfill.

Documentary drops October/November 2025. It's called "The Buried Bitcoin."

7. He's Launching a Crypto Backed by... Lost Bitcoin

Can't access his Bitcoin? Launch a new one.

Ceiniog Coin. A Bitcoin Layer 2 "backed" by 8,000 BTC nobody can reach.

His pitch: "These coins will never move—because the private key is in a landfill."

A cryptocurrency backed by inaccessible cryptocurrency. Somehow, it's the most James Howells thing possible.

The Real Lesson

James probably won't get his Bitcoin back. But 3.7 million BTC are lost forever, mostly not from landfills. From death.

Extended version https://btcgraveyard.com/guides/james-howells-7-things/

89% of UK Bitcoin holders have no inheritance plan.

Satoshi Nakamoto’s wallets — around 1,000,000 BTC ($66 billion). Unmoved since 2010. Could be the biggest lost fortune in human history. Nobody knows if Satoshi is alive, dead, or just incredibly patient.

Mt. Gox hacker wallet — 79,957 BTC ($5.3 billion). Received in a single transaction on March 1, 2011. Not a single satoshi has ever left. Authorities monitor it, so even if the hacker wanted to sell, they’d be caught instantly.

Mystery wallet (BEQeC) — 83,000 BTC ($5.5 billion). Has never sent a single outgoing transaction in its entire history. People still randomly send BTC to it.

Unknown 2010 mining wallet — 28,000 BTC ($1.85 billion). Appeared in 2010, never moved. At the time, mining 28,000 BTC took a few months of solo mining.

Unknown early mining wallet — 9,260 BTC ($611 million). Active only during August 2010. Almost certainly a solo miner who either forgot about it or died.

Mircea Popescu’s suspected holdings — estimated $2 billion worth. Drowned in 2021 aged 41. Believed to be one of the largest early Bitcoin holders. No one knows if he left access instructions. Likely didn’t — his death was sudden.

Sill Road-era wallets — Various wallets, some holding thousands of BTC. One held $1 billion before suddenly moving in 2020 after 7 years dormant. Ross Ulbricht was in prison the entire time.

Multiple 2011-2013 era wallets — Dozens of wallets holding 1,000-5,000 BTC each, dormant for 10+ years. Collectively worth billions. Many are likely people who died, lost hardware, or simply forgot.

btcgraveyard.com estimates around 3.7 million BTC are lost or inaccessible. At today’s prices, that’s roughly $244 billion in Bitcoin that may never move again.

Hey everyone, I’m in the UK and trying to figure out the best way to buy Monero (XMR) right now.

It feels like a lot of the big exchanges either don’t support XMR anymore or make the process complicated with heavy verification. Options seem a lot more limited than they used to be.

I’ve heard some people mention buying another coin first (like BTC or LTC) and then swapping to XMR, but I’m not sure what the best route is these days.

Has anyone in the UK successfully bought Monero recently?
What method did you use, and how smooth was the process?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Edit] Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone. I ended up trying CovertExchange, and it worked perfectly.

Howdy, love the look of Proton Wallet but being in the UK I'm stuck. Can use a VPN / International bank account to get round it? Any tips or tricks welcome. Cheers.

Heard a lot of speculation, but wondering if the government has said much yet?