Good call - this is an important consideration for declining countries. I've probably escaped this risk, personally, from age and prior military service. But my sons deserve a plan B when they're old enough.

Based

As a noob data analyst, this is a great article to bookmark. Thanks for sharing!

I've been thinking about Signal's intelligence use off and on the last couple years (as a former military intel guy). What a tool it must have been to keep running sources in Afghanistan after the collapse, for example. In the era of great power competition, plenty of proxy battlegrounds become denied terrain for spooks, and they must surely love robust mobile apps and bitcoin to interface with and pay sources. It'll be interesting to watch what OTF prioritizes if/as the threats from Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, etc. escalate. This article raised my familiarity with the various programs - thanks for sharing!

It's crazy how true this is. Plenty of advances in medicine were similarly born. Heck, even concentrated orange juice is a child of military innovation. I'm just hoping the seeds that sprouted bitcoin meaningfully de-fang the military industrial complex in our lifetime.

In combat, I had some close calls and learned the hard way that life is short. So I don't ascribe too much meaning to my own lifespan, just hope to find peace and leave behind happy, healthy children with better opportunities. If I'm unable to give them better opportunities with bitcoin by the end of life, then perhaps I'll consider myself a failure first before discounting bitcoin's utility.

I think they can be worth attending - it just depends on what you want to get out of it. I've been to one conference (BBB) the last couple years and enjoyed meeting people outside the echo chambers of social media. Met up with friends, made new friends, had great conversations with some niche "celebs" in the space, and got plugged into some projects. Like @premitive1 said, "to each their own."