Real.

Hey folks, happy new year. This was popular on r/ethdev, so thought I’d share here, too:

I’ve been hacking on an NFT marketplace through the bear market, and we locked down a big win back in Dec to keep building - from a technical grants program from POKT. Our program lead encouraged us to tell some friends but they’re all already building w/ me lol

TLDR: Read the docs, apply to the incubator, get in for $5k upfront, integrate their PATH SDK, get the remaining $20k paid over the year. I personally didn’t have to build something new or change my core product much to do this since I layered in a gateway on top of it.

EDIT*: They just extended the application deadline to January 11th, so I’d apply ASAP if interested*

What is POKT?

Pocket Network is one of the first decentralized RPC providers that has now evolved into a protocol called Shannon which lets anyone stand up apps and infrastructure on any open layer of data. Think decentralized LLM hosting providers and apps consuming LLM tokens. 

With their PATH SDK and new Shannon network, anyone can now build on top of POKT. This grant program is how they’re attracting the first few builders like us. Grove also handles the RPC side of things, with clients like Infura and a recent partnership with Ripple.

What you need to know

The POKT Gateway Accelerator Program is funded by the Pocket Network Foundation and it aims to foster the adoption and integration of their PATH SDK and Shannon network into various ecosystem projects. This grant not only provides financial assistance but also technical support and resources necessary for successful integration of gateways. Think of gateways as part of your app or it can be a full app like Dune that sits on top of open data. In our case, we’re integrating a Solana and Base Gateway that shows the volume of NFT trades on these platforms with AI to give traders a heads up on a trending NFT.

The benefits: $5k upfront, $20k over 1y after integration, technical support from the POKT team, and a community demo day to share with other builders.

What you are expected to deliver

1. Integration Commitment: The primary requirement is to integrate POKT's decentralized infrastructure into our core product. This involves setting up and maintaining a certain level of interaction with the Pocket Network.
2. Milestone Deliverables: We are required to reach specific developmental milestones, which include successful deployment and operation of our product features utilizing the Pocket Network.
3. Updates and Participation: Twice a week check in with our fellow cohort members and the program team, followed by monthly updates upon finishing. 

What this means for us

$25k for a few engineers who are just starting out with their first Web3 project is a pretty big deal, like a round of preseed funding, and we’re glad to get some bigger projects involved with what we’re doing. Best of all we’re giving up 0 equity as other programs give you as little as $20k and take 6% of your equity. 

The docs is a work in progress but the integration doesn’t look too hard while making our project more resilient and decentralized. Interview was fairly smooth, mostly interested in what we were building, and the whole program is remote OK. Recommend it!

LMK if you have any questions, the team or I can try to give more info.

One of my concern when developing with Chainlink products is that it's a black box with an unknown list of nodes providing services.

I can easily find a list of node operators for Data Feeds and Data Streams. But for the rest of Chainlink's services (Automation, Functions, CCIP, VRF, etc.), I'm interacting directly with Chainlink as an intermediary.

AFAICT, all aggregators/proxies, subscription contracts, payments contracts I interact with are centrally-owned by Chanlink. When I look onchain, every customer is interacting with the same Chainlink-owned contracts. I'm assuming they pass on that info to a network of nodes/oracles, but I can't find the list of nodes.

It's a black box. And maybe I just don't know where to look.

1. Is there a public list of active nodes used for these services?
2. How does Chainlink decide who goes on that list who can also interact with their customers?
3. How does Chainlink prioritize who gets my requests?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CZdF8JhPIEM

Story Time:

I heard about Bitcoin in 2011, it had just spiked to an ATH of $8, so I thought I would give mining it a try.

The first few days, I was mining 1BTC/day. Mining rate slowed drastically as BTC gained popularity.

I was sending my BTC to MtGox as it was mined, until the price of BTC crashed again. I evidently lost interest, and promptly forgot about the ~$20 of BTC I had accumulated.

Come 2014, MtGox shuts down, taking 2/3 of my BTC with it. I wrote it off entirely, lamenting my loss of a couple hundred $.

2021 rolls around, BTC is at an ATH of $50k. I hear about the Mt Gox settlement, wondering if I still have my account info. I can't find it.
What I do find is my old wallet, and see there's still 2BTC in it.

Last month, when BTC hits $100k, I finally decide it's time to cash out the majority of it, for a down payment on a house later this year.

original wallet address for proof: https://www.blockonomics.co/#/search?q=1EsMfs5npyFJsBvhKKFckigd8kjR63GREb

*edit actual proof*
Here is a message from the address the last 2 btc got sent to:

Hi Reddit

bc1qtvh42qmg77hmmrvd7k9azkrt2nk55ca35vr73r

H3tyRT6WnYKqG/asAp/6iqZzYEH/DY065Rjkhbkwo6hjCJ1HqDUKpI/X/umUwUfeDYwJ0ztioV9cOvS4gZD0lkk=

They can't call it a strategic reserve. The issuer of the most powerful currency in the world can't just say to the world, "We're going to hold Bitcoin as a hedge against the dollar ... but it's cool. Just go about your business." They can't openly undermine the only currency that they can print themselves. It would panic the world. It's basically an admission that they're going to try to print their way out of the debt crisis.

Everyone else in the world can hold Bitcoin and it's OK. Every other country can accumulate it and it will just be seen as prudent. But not the USA. We are the only ones with control over printing the dollar. The more Bitcoin that the US government tries to quietly accumulate, the more you'll know that the dollar is in big trouble. And the US is f**ked ... because they're the only ones who can't protect themselves. (Not openly anyway.)

Addendum: Lots of debate in this thread about the true meaning of a strategic reserve. I will offer this from chat gpt:

A strategic reserve is a stockpile of a commodity, like oil, that a government or organization holds back from normal use to be released during unexpected events or disruptions in supply, allowing them to manage crises and stabilize markets by providing a readily available source of that commodity when needed; essentially acting as an emergency buffer against sudden shortages. 

But we don't have to debate the purpose of this reserve. It's stated explicitly in the bill.

(3) Just as gold reserves have historically served as a cornerstone of national financial security, Bitcoin represents a digital-age asset capable of enhancing the financial leadership and security of the United States in the 21st century global economy.

(4) The acquisition and long-term storage of substantial quantities of Bitcoin by the United States can strengthen the financial condition of the United States, providing a hedge against economic uncertainty and monetary instability.

(5) Bitcoin, as a decentralized and finitely scarce digital asset, offers unique properties that complement existing national reserves, strengthening the position of the United States dollar in the global financial system.

(6) Diversification of the national assets of the United States to include Bitcoin can enhance financial resilience and position the United States at the forefront of global financial innovation.

It's all about strengthening the US dollar. It isn't farm equipment. It isn't cheese. It isn't even gold. It's a non inflatable store of value that will presumably shore up the dollar. (While undermining the reputation of the US dollar.

Welcome to /r/churningcanada. Use this to thread to share your victories in churning. Could be something new you learned, an awesome award you booked or something unexpected that happened.

Hi all! relatively new to the idea of churning. I applied and got the CIBC aeroplan credit card in 2024 (got all the welcome bonuses) Im thinking about cancelling it once my 1st year is up. QUESTION

1. Will that affect my credit score?

2. im thinking about applying for TD aeroplan CC. Will i be eligible to get the aeroplan welcome bonus again?

Thank you to whoever have already gone thru this. Give me some light!

Basically this. I’m generally a skeptical guy which led me to diving into a rabbit hole and thoroughly research crypto before I bought it. I personably believe in bitcoin’s future, thus buy and keep it.

However, I always get even more skeptical when I see too many people too excited over something. I don’t know many people who buy bitcoin outside of Reddit, but the things I see people say in here make me question if I’m just caught up in the hype sometimes.

I even visited the buttcoin sub to see if there’s anything that would make me change my mind. So far, nothing changed my opinion on buying crypto. But both bitcoin and buttcoin subs seem a tad too…emotional? About their beliefs.

I normally lean towards the opinion that would recognize both pros and cons. But the things I see on Reddit are either “we will all become billionaires so hodl to your last breath” or “these idiots will lose every penny and they deserve it” type of stuff.

That genuinely baffles me. Bitcoin does seem to have a lot of potential to be much bigger in the future than it is, but I’m not even sure if the posters in here buy it as a mean to save their money or to satiate their gambling needs.

It really makes you think twice.

Even in a safe, on metal, who knows when you'll be able to check? in Maui and South Carolina, people weren't allowed to enter their residence for months.

On paper?

Forget it.

Scary.