(graphic courtesy of Dreamtim)

Ahoy Pirates! As a community, we achieved a lot in February! We successfully completed the largest community fundraise in Pirate's history. In our continued efforts to simplify Pirate adoption and enhance user experience, Firstmate Kaks produced another video guide in our Pirate education series. We also held our monthly project updates meeting and had three fireside chats with Lootz and his guests from Anarchapulco, Ergo and BTDex. February was also a banner month for Pirate at crypto events. Checkout this month's newsletter to read about all these happenings in detail!

Project Updates

Pirate Education Series

This is a new section that will feature new "how-to" video guides and informational videos about Pirate.

Everything you need to know about Pirate Chain

The Pirate team came together and created this important informative video. If you have any crypto-curious friends or family around you, or someone that wants to learn more about privacy, pull up this video on Pirate's YouTube channel and go over the important aspects of Pirate Chain and learn about personal financial privacy!

Kaks' how-to video guide collection - How to run the Treasure Chest wallet

Kaks created a how-to video that explains all the new updates and important features in the latest Treasure Chest wallet.

Exchange News

Changelly Fundraising

Although this was mentioned in February's newsletter, it's a really proud moment for the Pirate community. Thank you to all who contributed, and all who have kept Pirate Chain going all these years. Our community will be rewarded soon with access to $ARRR via Changelly.

Why is listing on Changelly important? First, Changelly accepts credit card payments. This is a significant on-ramp for users wishing to purchase $ARRR without having to transfer fiat to an exchange to purchase BTC or USDT to then trade for $ARRR. A Changelly listing will greatly ease the friction to $ARRR adoption!

Meeting Recordings

Monthly Project Update Meetings

This month we experimented with two sessions at diffferent times to include more of our European Pirate community, one at 6.30pm UTC and one at the usual time of 11.30pm UTC. We are very happy to see that the earlier time was very well attended. We will try this scheduling again next month to get another datapoint.

You can find February's monthly meeting on Pirate Chain's YouTube channel,

Weekly Meeting Recordings

Catch up on previous monthly meetings anytime on our social media channels:
Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYFI5Zu5aAg
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/events/445867739934858/
Audio Recording: https://mixlr.com/cryptoradiolive/showreel

Pirate Fireside Chat meeting replays:

Here are brief recaps on the weekly Pirate Fireside Chats in February,

1. February 10th, find out what all the hype is about for one of the largest and most anticipated events in crypto. On Lootz's invitation, the team from Anarchapulco 2021 will talk about why Anarchapulco was created and why it is one of the most prestigious and highly touted events of the cryptosphere.
   • Flote: https://flote.app/pirate/live

2. February 17th, listen in on Lootz's discussion with fellow BPSAA member, Ergo and learn about their latest efforts towards privacy and security and ongoing collaborations with Pirate.

3. February 24th, meet the BTDex team and learn about their decentralized exchange. Also hear about their support of privacy and why they listed Pirate Chain on their Dex (for free!) directly from the BTDex team.

The Scuttlebutt

(scut·​tle·​butt | \ ˈskə-tᵊl-ˌbət  \) Definition: 1a: a cask on shipboard to contain fresh water for a day's use; b: a drinking fountain on a ship or at a naval or marine installation; 2: rumor, gossip.

As suggested by Pirate Ectocooler, this is a section for Pirate Projects in the works and rumored upcoming developments and events!

Pirate Mobile iOS edition - Word around the scuttlebutt is that the iOS version of Pirate Mobile is almost finished! Next step will be applying for an Apple App Store listing!

Events

The CryptoVigilante Summit

Firstmate Lootz gave a presentation about Pirate Chain at The CryptoVigilante Summit in February. He spoke alongside notable crypto personalities such as Riccardo Spagni aka Fluffypony of Monero, Jameson Lopp, a reknown blockchain security expert from Casa, and Giacomo Zucco, a well regarded bitcoin evangelist. The event was private and video access can be purchased on their website.

Lootz spoke alongside a starstudded cast of luminaries including,

• Jeff Berwick, Founder, The Dollar Vigilante, Anarchast, and the TDV Summit
• Rafael LaVerde, Crypto Economics Analyst, TCV
• Riccardo "fluffypony" Spagni, Monero Core Team / Tari Labs
• Jameson Lopp, Bitcoin Developer, Casa Co-Founder & CTO, BTC Times Editor
• Dr. Daniel Kim, CEO/Founder of Sweetwater Digital Asset Consulting, LLC
• Giacomo Zucco, Bitcoin Evangelist
• Justin Ehrenhofer, Monero Contributor
• Gary Lachance, Dogecoin Evangelist, Co-Founder of Decentralized Dance Party (DDP)
• Chris Pacia, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Developer

Gardenstate Crypto

Lootz had a busy month and also spoke at the Gardenstate Crypto meetup in New Jersey. He made several important contacts and brought a few new Pirates on board! If you live in the vicinity, check out their website to find out the date of their next meetup.

Anarchapulco 2021

Pirate is very proud to be a sponsor at the Anarchapulco 2021. Firstmate Lootz will represent Pirate at this prestigious event in March. Anarchapulco is an annual voluntaryist gathering in Acapulco, Mexico. This event brings together likeminded individuals to discuss all things philosophical anarchy. There will be in person hands-on crypto workshops, and plenty of networking opportunities from supporters of privacy from around the world.

Social Media

Crypto Rich reviews BPSAA updates and the latest member to join the non-profit alliance

"Komodo, DragonChain, Turtle Network, Sentinel, Ergo, Ether1, BurstCoin, Pirate Chain have all been joined in the BPSAA by a 9th member. Formed to promote privacy, security and adoption, the BPSAA members work together, supporting each other, each project gets a boost from the other members. In this video, I take a look at the newest member, plus I look at the price action for each of these 9 amazing altcoin projects."

Or watch it on Crypto Rich's BitTube channel here.

Crypto Rich Chats with Captain Draeth

THE MOST PRIVATE CRYPTO OF ALL - INTERVIEW WITH THE TEAM LEAD

"More private and secure than Monero, Verge, Zcash, or any other privacy coin you can think of, Pirate Chain goes from strength to strength. In this video I catch up with Captain Draeth from the good ship Pirate Chain to get the latest on developments with this project."

Or watch it on Crypto Rich's BitTube channel here.

Crypto Rich discusses the politics of money

BITCOIN, ETHEREUM, CRYPTOS AND THE POLITICS OF MONEY

"Bitcoin, Ethereum, and cryptocurrencies are going to rock the world of money. In this video, I discuss the political aspects of fiat currencies versus crypto currencies. I also talk about a couple of privacy focused projects and how to go about starting in cryptocurrencies."

Part 1:

Or watch it on Crypto Rich's BitTube channel here.

Part 2:

Or watch it on Crypto Rich's BitTube channel here.

Pirate Discord Update

Six months ago, in an effort to foster a common space for all Pirates to speak and be heard, we experimented with bridging the Pirate Telegram chat with the #Pirate-chat channel on discord. As everyone has seen, the endeavor was successful. Pirates from our Telegram community and discord users were able to chat seamlessly. In the meantime our Pirate Telegram channel has continued to grow very rapidly, with almost 3000 members today.

We recently noticed that with the increased numbers of Pirates coming on board, there were often multiple conversations occuring simultaneously, which sometimes makes it difficult to follow the topics. After 6 months of experimentation, we have decided to move the telegram bridge to its own channel on discord, #pirate-telegram-chat. This also allows native discord users to continue chatting with the telegram group without having to leave the app. We hope that this will facilitate the continued engagement of Pirates around the world as one community.

Vote for Pirate

CryptoIndex is running a voting poll for projects to be featured on their website. Pirate is currently ranked #38. Voting is free (no account required), so let's vote for Pirate Chain and get us featured on CryptoIndex!

Merchant/BPSAA Updates

On February 5^th, the Blockchain Privacy and Security Adoption Alliance (BPSAA) announced BitTube as its newest member. BitTube is the 9^th project to join the BPSAA thinktank.

BitTube was based on a desire to shift from centralized Internet services to decentralization. Launched in January 2018, the project was initially as the InterPlanetary BroadCast (IPBC) peer-to-peer video platform, based on Interplanetary file system (IPFS). A few months later, the project was rebranded to BitTube, and the platform successfully hosted the world’s largest decentralized video stream of over 200,000 concurrent users watching the World Cup.

The platform is designed to be as simple as possible, allowing anyone who can use YouTube to be able to use BitTube just as easily. The user does need to know anything about mining or cryptocurrencies in order to be part of this world.

BitTube’s mission is to provide next-generation software that fosters freedom of expression over the Internet. There is a clear demand for censorship-resistant communication, content sharing, payments and content monetization. To meet that demand, BitTube aims to provide peer-to-peer solutions with decentralization, privacy and security in mind.

With these goals in mind, BitTube has launched the following solutions,

• video: The flagship service, BitTube.video is a webTorrent-powered video sharing platform. Powered by ActivityPub and WebTorrent, it is based on PeerTube’s open source code. These technologies have censorship resistance built in by design. BitTube.video features real-time content monetization via the AirTime system, hence removing the need for ads or third parties. (http://bittube.video/)
• space: A peer-to-peer video conferencing offering private and secure video calls, audio calls, messaging and more. (https://bittube.space/)
• social: Currently in development, this will be a social platform based on Mastodon. BitTube.social will support video/stream embedding and account sharing across .video and .tv domains within the same ActivityPub framework.
• tv: An all-in-one social networking platform launched in 2019. BitTube.tv is the legacy social networking platform for video content, live streaming, direct messaging and more. With the introduction of BitTube.video and BitTube.social, the .tv domain will be revamped to provide live streaming. (http://bittube.tv/)
• cash: A blockchain based feature encompassing all necessary facets needed for AirTime monetization, donations, and payments. BitTube.cash will also include familiar blockchain based activities such as mining, staking and exchange services.(http://bittube.cash/)
• app: The primary download hub for the latest mobile and desktop apps for all BitTube products and services, including the extension, BitTube Browser, Spaces, social apps, and wallets, etc. (http://bittube.app/)

The BPSAA is at its core, a think tank. The founding members, Pirate Chain, Turtle Network, Sentinel and Ether-1 established the alliance based on a shared desire to collaboratively improve the blockchain ecosystem. BitTube joins the cadre of new members including Ergo, Komodo, Burstcoin and DragonChain as the latest member. In addition to the increased brain trust, there are numerous mutual benefits with BitTube’s addition. First, BitTube has a strong interest and privacy and interoperability, both key values to the BPSAA. Second, BitTube’s experience in providing social media solutions will be greatly beneficial to all members of the alliance. As an added benefit, the combined social media reach of all BPSAA members totals 340,000 with the addition of BitTube strengthening the united voice of the BPSAA.

Find out more about the members of the BPSAA here: https://bpsaa.vision/members

Last word from the editor

Personal thoughts on Bitcoin, the religion

Don't get me wrong, Bitcoin does have a prominent place in finance and a store of value role after the coming sea change in global macroeconomics. There is an catching trend of BTC maximalists referring to aspects of bitcoin in religious language. This current social canonization of Bitcoin is the fuel that drives its followers to proselytize, and in so doing, drive the price up. I liken it to the spread of religion and all the acts carried out in the name of every God.

This article on Bloomberg sums it up very well. Here is an excerpt from the article:"Bitcoin is the first true religion of the 21st century. Sometimes people call Bitcoin a religion pejoratively, as a way to sneer at its disciples. Or they call it a cult. Or they just use 'religion' to imply that the whole thing is irrational. But I mean it with no judgment one way or another. Just that it's literally a religion. There's plenty of evidence for it.
* It has a prophet. Satoshi, who not only has never been identified but who has apparently departed the world.

* Not only is there a prophet, Satoshi was apparently in it for the benefit of all mankind. There's no evidence that Satoshi ever sold a single coin.

* Bitcoin's first block was called The Genesis Block.

* Bitcoin has a sacred text: The White Paper. A short nine-page document that still gets passed around in printed form like Gideon's Bible.

* Bitcoin has original saints and apostles. Early figures like Hal Finney, who spoke with Satoshi, are revered in the community for their forward vision and their role in establishing the faith. Finney was the recipient of the first Bitcoin transaction.

* Bitcoin has its own Talmud-like texts. The early Bitcointalk.org message boards are still studied today, where the first users discussed the endeavor, and analyzed today in order to help guide the community.

* Holidays. Every May 22, Bitcoiners remember a famous transaction, where someone spent 10,000 Bitcoin on two pizzas. Meanwhile, every four years, Bitcoiners celebrate the halving, when the pace of new Bitcoin issuance gets cut in half. There's other holidays too... yesterday as Proof Of Keys day, for example.

* Dietary customs. Many of the most orthodox Bitcoiners adhere to a diet of strictly eating meat.* Schisms. Just like with any religion, there have been breakaway attempts, with disciples branching out onto their own, dividing the community, a la the creation of Bitcoin Cash in 2017.

* Disputed claims to the crown. Some people have claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, engendering huge controversy and anger in the community.* Fury at apostasy. While Bitcoiners are resentful of people who aren't part of the faith (Nocoiners) they hold in particular contempt apostates who abandon ship as part of a ragequit.

* Sayings and incantations. Just check out some Bitcoiners on Twitter, and it's basically a stream of repetitive phrases, meant to hammer home key ideas to the flock.

Prophets, apostles, holidays, dietary customs, sacred texts, schisms, sayings and more. Bitcoin isn't like a religion. This is just what a religion is."

I first heard Bitcoin referred to in spiritual language by Bitcoin OGs/maximalists (such as Jimmy Song), which I found unappealing, albeit not surprising. Later, I heard it again from larger players in the space such as Dan Held (CEO Kraken), Robert Breedlove (CEO Parallax Digital) and the Winklevoss twins (Co-Founders Gemini exchange). The final straw came when I heard Bitcoin referred to in religious language from people whom I considered primarily as economists such as Meltom DeMiros and what I consider top tier traditional hedgefund managers in the crypto space like Mike Novogratz (Galaxy Digital), Dan Tapiero (10T Holdings) and Mark Yusko (Morgan Creek Capital). Again, don't get me wrong, I think it's going to be an explosive ride up. Plus, it's pointless trying to fight religiousity. In my opinion, this theological canonization of a commodity can be a very dangerous double edged sword.

Pirate Chain Anonymity Set

Every newsletter ends with the latest anonymity set size of Pirate Chain at the time of publication. Why is this important? Every privacy technology hides transactions amongst others in an anonymity set. Monero's maximum anonymity set is 11, Lelantus's maximum anonymity set is capped at 65k. The anonymity set of Pirate Chain can be tracked in real time at the Pirate Chain Privacy Stats website made by CHMEX.

At the time of publication, the anonymity set size of Pirate Chain is:

Connect with us:

Twitter : https://twitter.com/PirateChain

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/PirateChain

Telegram : https://t.me/piratechain/

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/c/piratechain

Flote : https://flote.app/pirate

Mastodon : https://mastodon.social/@arrr

Lbry: https://lbry.tv/@piratechain:8

TikTok : https://www.tiktok.com/@pirateblockchain

Pinterest : https://www.pinterest.com/piratechain/

Reddit : https://www.reddit.com/r/piratechain

BitTube : https://bittube.tv/profile/Pirate/about

BitTube : https://bittube.tv/profile/Pirate/about

Medium : https://medium.com/piratechain

Line: http://line.me/ti/g/e8mOfEV4T7

Keybase: https://keybase.io/team/pirate_arrr

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/PirateChain

LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/company/piratechain