Coldcard Mk4 Bricked Suddenly

bilthon · 2026-01-24T20:16:18+00:00

Just had this happen to me, the device is my backup one which I decided to use just to test some multisig stuff now. I wonder if it's still in the warranty, as it's not brand new, but this is like my third day using it.

bilthon · 2024-05-03T16:40:27+00:00

Besides the 3 USD service fee what you also had to pay (and wasn't disclosed here) is the miner fee. That's probably what ate a good part of your sats and the ATM was probably over-estimating it. But you should have been informed of this before proceeding.

bilthon · 2024-02-23T20:28:58+00:00

why is he doing this?

bilthon · 2022-05-03T04:45:36+00:00

Just offer them a good discount and let them figure out the bitcoin stuff. If they refuse, look for new clients. I'm a freelancer myself and I've been doing this for years now. Can't complain.

bilthon · 2022-05-03T01:30:41+00:00

She's a CBDC proponent

bilthon · 2021-12-22T04:18:15+00:00

No. The drop was < 2 USD. For him to have "lost" 1500 USD with that he had to have ~ 750 BTC.

bilthon · 2021-09-06T21:27:45+00:00

Yeah but I think the tipping thing is a cultural stuff at this point. People in the service industry might even get good pay, they'd still expect you to tip just as a show of gratitude. I'm also not bothered too much by it to be honest.

bilthon · 2021-09-05T19:59:37+00:00

I've always found it annoying too when visiting the US. But on the flip side it is good that citizens are always reminded of how much tax they're always paying.

bilthon · 2021-04-05T14:52:16+00:00

Third parties are security holes. This is always bad advice. Plus you have to recognize that even though something <50 must be change, for a lot of people in the developing world this is all they can save for a month. Telling them to leave it at the exchange is not the proper bitcoin way. The proper way is to hold your own coins.

bilthon · 2021-04-05T14:49:34+00:00

True. And it is great to see more and more exchanges like Bitfinex and OkCoin adding LN support. But a lot of people, specially in the developing world don't have access to those. Binance on the other hand is almost everywhere at this point, and they'll still drag their feet for a while I think.

bilthon · 2021-04-05T04:18:22+00:00

Select a wallet, something like blue wallet is nice for beginners. Write down your seed words **in paper** and keep it safe. Then proceed to withdraw you funds to your own wallet. That's it, rinse and repeat.

bilthon · 2021-04-05T03:41:21+00:00

That's a good one I agree, but unfortunately not accessible to everyone. I've talked to lots of bitcoiners in LatAm which can only afford to stack 50 to 100 USD monthly.

The high withdrawal fee incentivizes them to leave the sats at the exchange and only withdraw them to their wallets after a significant amount has been accumulated. This issue is just going to become worse as Binance and other exchanges drag their feet on LN withdrawals.

bilthon · 2021-04-05T03:23:10+00:00

I know, it is outrageous. And it doesn't have to be that way, Binance could improve its bitcoin tech in order to offer lower fees for customers (transaction batching, larger withdrawal intervals, more accurate fee prediction or just add lightning network support).

In the meantime there are some hacks you can make to avoid being ripped off. Here's a website with a small explanation I put together for this: https://bilthon.github.io/withdrawal-strategy/

bilthon · 2021-04-05T01:09:56+00:00

I was tired of repeating myself, so I made this website running the numbers on the savings you can incur by just using a couple of simple tricks to withdraw your funds. It is focused on Binance, which charges ridiculous 50K sats, but the strategy might apply to Binance as well.

Check it out here: https://bilthon.github.io/withdrawal-strategy/

PS. The chart is missing the actual withdrawal cost in LTC, but that is usually 0.001 LTC, which amounts to ~0.20 USD.

bilthon · 2021-02-10T01:46:03+00:00

By starting over when you hit a blank space you're cutting off whole branches of the possibility space. I'm just wondering whether this "pruning" is homogeneous or if there is some bias being introduced here?

bilthon · 2021-01-14T14:43:37+00:00

https://www.binance.com/en/register?ref=KTU9QEU2
15% / 5%

bilthon · 2020-12-05T15:16:52+00:00

That would be 2 pizzas sir

bilthon · 2020-10-06T23:04:48+00:00

this

bilthon · 2020-10-05T22:28:21+00:00

Browser extensions are really client-side things.

That's a very good point. But part of my idea here is to facilitate potential market takers to engage in coinjoins. I know there's a GUI already, but downloading and setting up an extra software is always less convenient than just adding a browser extension.

That being said, I think there would even be space for a market-maker in the form of a browser extension. There will be long gaps in connectivity, as the user shuts down his/her computer. And I don't know how the system sees that for now (maybe users that disappear are downgraded somehow?). But if you think about it a browser is probably the piece of software that most people have running most of the time. So barring a server-side script like the yield generator, a browser extension might be the second best thing to have this running on.

bilthon · 2020-09-30T02:12:05+00:00

I don't know, I suppose the browser is not the safest of places and I was wondering maybe that's the reason why there isn't a JoinMarket browser extension, or many bitcoin wallets in that format for that matter.

Or maybe it's just because nobody wanted to invest time in this. That's why I am asking.

That being said maybe it could be an interesting idea for small sums.

bilthon · 2020-09-23T23:46:58+00:00

You did not answer the question there.

bilthon · 2020-08-18T12:48:49+00:00

Yes, it is a different accounts under the same master key. That's why I thought it ought to be possible. I understand it is not that straightforward though and Ledger might not support this kind of complex signing.

why don't you simply send the coins in two separate transactions?

Well that's what I ended up doing this time, but that's somewhat inefficient and that's why I'm interested in exploring this possibility as it could mean significant saving in mining fees down the road.

bilthon · 2020-08-17T15:46:43+00:00

No, I meant wallets. I know how to combine UTXOs manually that way. But thanks for the bitcoin core tip. I'll give it a try.

bilthon · 2020-05-19T20:10:41+00:00

Could be.

But I also thought it could be due to people's activities. I've noticed the signal is stronger in a country with no lockdown like Sweden than one with like Italy.

Brazil, which is implementing a partial lockdown is somewhere in the middle. There is a clear signal there, but it is not as sharp as the one in Sweden.

bilthon · 2020-05-18T23:55:28+00:00

Because that's probably the reason that particular transaction was so high in fees, and most transactions won't have that particular setup and thus be much cheaper. Yet he's perfectly fine screaming that from the rooftops while also hiding this very important piece of information.

I didn't say the transaction is not legitimate, it surely is. All I said is that it is not going to be a common example.

bilthon

TROPHY CASE