bitcoin wallets that cannot be hacked in 2016 malte moser, @ittayeyal and @el33th4xor published “bitcoin vaults” and “bitcoin covenants”, describing how a simple, harmless upgrade to bitcoin script could help build hack-resistant wallets the secret is simple: instead of attempting to build a perfect self-custody system, accept that humans are imperfect and WILL make mistakes. therefore mistakes must be recoverable moser-eyal-sirer “vaults” add a delay to transactions. imagine if your hardware wallet had a 24 hour delay whenever sending transactions. during that delay, if you notice something is fishy (you’re getting hacked!) you hit a special button and your funds are directed to your coinbase deposit address instead, for example that’s it! you only rely on coinbase (again, just an example) if your main wallet got hacked. if you’re not hacked, you use your wallet normally and coinbase cannot control it. you simply have to wait 24 hours when sending. for long-term storage this is usually fine in crypto (non-bitcoin), institutional grade solutions like Safe on EVM and Squads on solana protect over $100B in assets in constructs that are similar to the 2016 vault proposal. many/most major companies in those ecosystems use those solutions and they are considered an obvious best-practice over there but in bitcoin, this can’t be implemented without simple upgrades like OP_CTV, OP_VAULT, OP_CAT, or others over the years, in addition to moser, eyal and sirer, many experts like @jamesob, @JeremyRubin, @kanzure, @EliBenSasson — and even retards like yours truly — have attempted to promote any of those proposals to enable this kind of safer custody. it still hasn’t been done, imo mostly due to political and puritanical reasons (various versions of “i don’t like the people who proposed this”) but the truth is that if this feature was in bitcoin, many coldcard users would’ve been directed to use it, and would’ve been safe today. vaults and covenants don’t require wallets and humans to be perfect. they assume that they aren’t. people who don’t want to use vaults and covenants don’t have to. but people who want to use them should be allowed to. it’s time to give bitcoiners covenants.

OP-ED: A photograph taken at an elite conference in Sun Valley is going viral this week, and it may be the most perfect portrait of America’s new ruling class ever captured. There was Bari Weiss, the newly installed queen of safe heterodoxy — in a lab coat that screams “Women in STEM” — strolling through billionaire summer camp alongside Sheryl Sandberg, the patron saint of corporate feminism. Tucked under Sandberg’s arm was a copy of Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman’s book, Unfettered. Uniparty, anyone? The new uniparty is especially slippery because it claims to tolerate political disagreement — but only when that disagreement does not threaten the money, power or access of its members. Its members spar over pronouns, whether Trump goes too far when he attacks the media, or whether the new ballroom is a good idea. They declare themselves politically homeless and pretend to be the anti-establishment. But at the end of the day, they gather at the same invitation-only conferences, occupy the same boardrooms, circle through the same media outlets, and vote in the same direction. The Sun Valley photograph is so perfect because it captures the establishment’s response to populism. It didn’t retreat in horror. It tamed and re-packaged the revolt. Everyone gets to feel rebellious. No one important has to give anything up. Read more from @ambermarieduke below ⬇️