East Texas Bitcoin Community

02/10/2026

Core Lightning just put out an urgent heads-up for Bitcoin Lightning node runners: if you're still on version 26.06.7 or earlier, upgrade now. The project says it has reports of attackers targeting unpatched nodes.

The fix (v26.06.8) has been out since September 22. The team has not said which patched bugs are being hit, or confirmed any funds lost. What they have said is clear enough: get current.

This is Lightning software, not a Bitcoin base-layer break. Still matters here. If you run your own node, patching is part of self-custody. If you don't, it's a good reminder that whoever routes your payments has that same job.

Details: https://cointelegraph.com/news/core-lightning-urges-upgrade-amid-reports-attackers-targeting-unpatched-nodes

(And if you're local: East Texas Bitcoin Community Longview, TX #5 is Sunday, Oct 25, 3:33 to 6:33 PM CT at FRESH by Brookshire's. Happy to dig into Lightning, nodes, and wallets in person.)

25/09/2026

EU financial regulators just put a fresh spotlight on something serious Bitcoiners have talked about for years: what happens if quantum computers get good enough to break the cryptography protecting older coins.

Per CoinDesk’s write-up of the European Supervisory Authorities’ Autumn 2026 risk report, watchdogs say an advanced quantum computer could undermine cryptography used to secure blockchains, and that threat could show up before quantum has a real commercial use. The coins most at risk are on older or reused addresses where the public key is already visible onchain. A lot of bitcoin still sits behind hashed public keys and is less exposed for now. Fixing this the right way would take network consensus, and people with exposed coins would need to move them before an attack becomes practical. The European Commission also wants member states starting post-quantum transitions by the end of 2026.

Why it matters for us: this is not a “Bitcoin is dead tomorrow” headline. It is a reminder that address hygiene and self-custody habits matter, and that hard protocol questions are part of keeping Bitcoin strong for the long haul.

If you want to talk through it with neighbors, we’re in Longview this Sunday (Sep 27) at 3:33 PM at FRESH by Brookshire’s.
https://luma.com/7yzgfe41

https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/09/24/eu-financial-watchdogs-warn-quantum-computing-poses-imminent-threat-to-blockchain-encryption

18/09/2026

The Fed raised interest rates by 25 basis points this week, to a target range of 3.75%–4.00%. It’s the first hike since July 2023.

Chair Kevin Warsh said inflation has been too high for too long. The Fed’s own projections point to a median policy rate around 4.1% by the end of both 2026 and 2027, which markets read as roughly one more hike in this stretch rather than a long tightening cycle.

Bitcoin held in the mid-$70Ks through the announcement. CoinDesk had it around $76,600 afterward, with a muted reaction compared with equities and yields. Spot Bitcoin ETFs still saw meaningful outflows earlier in the week, so the demand picture is mixed even with the price holding up.

Full write-up from CoinDesk:
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/09/17/crypto-rallies-through-the-fed-s-first-rate-increase-since-2023

Side note: East Texas Bitcoin Community has a Longview meetup Sunday, Sep 27, 3:33–6:33 PM at FRESH by Brookshire’s if you want to chew on this with other local Bitcoiners.

Bitcoin rose 0.88% over 24 hours to $76,621 as the Fed's projections implied only one further hike, while zcash jumped 23% to a record after Paradigm disclosed a stake.

12/09/2026

Why is Bitcoin sometimes called XBT instead of BTC?

Most of us know Bitcoin as BTC, but you’ll occasionally see it listed as XBT.

The reason comes from the way international currency codes are structured. Traditional currencies are usually tied to a country. USD starts with “US” because it represents the United States dollar.

Bitcoin doesn’t belong to any country. There is no issuing government, central bank, or home nation behind it.

For assets that aren’t tied to a specific country, an X is often used at the beginning of the code. Gold, for example, is XAU. That same idea is why some exchanges and financial systems use XBT for Bitcoin.

BTC is still the much more common ticker, but XBT has been used for years as an alternate symbol for regular Bitcoin.

One important note: the new BLAKE2b fork has created some ticker confusion. Some places are also using XBT for that fork, while others use symbols like BTCB2 or BIP110.

So yes, the same three letters can now refer to two very different things depending on where you see them.

XBT has historically meant regular Bitcoin. The BLAKE2b chain is a separate network. Always verify which chain an exchange or wallet is talking about before sending anything.

12/09/2026

What is BIP 110 and how did we end up with a BLAKE2b chain?

BIP 110 is a proposal aimed at limiting how much arbitrary data can be stored in Bitcoin transactions. The idea is to keep Bitcoin focused on being money and reduce use of the blockchain for things like large inscriptions and other non-payment data.

Supporters see it as a way to protect block space and keep node requirements under control. Critics see it as unnecessary censorship and argue that miners should be free to include any valid transaction that pays the fee.

That disagreement eventually became big enough to help trigger a chain split.

So what happened?

BIP 110 didn’t get anywhere close to enough mining support. But nodes enforcing BIP 110 were programmed to start rejecting non-signaling blocks at block 961,632 on August 8 anyway. Most Bitcoin miners kept building the normal Bitcoin chain, while BIP 110 nodes rejected those blocks and followed their own minority branch.

That created a real chain split.

The problem was hashpower. The BIP 110 branch inherited Bitcoin’s enormous SHA-256 mining difficulty but had only a tiny fraction of Bitcoin’s miners behind it. It crawled along, producing just a handful of blocks while the main Bitcoin chain continued normally.

Rather than let that branch die, its supporters eventually made a much bigger change. At block 961,640, they switched proof-of-work from Bitcoin’s SHA-256d to BLAKE2b.

The resulting coin is generally referred to as Bitcoin BLAKE2b, and you’ll currently see it traded under tickers including BTCB2 and XBT, depending on the exchange.

That change allowed completely different mining hardware to secure the new chain and prevented Bitcoin’s existing SHA-256 miners from dominating it.

One quick clarification: BLAKE is not a person.

It’s simply the name of a cryptographic hash algorithm. The original BLAKE was created by a team of cryptographers and later evolved into BLAKE2.

BLAKE2b is one version of that newer algorithm, designed to run efficiently on 64-bit systems.

So when you hear “BLAKE2b mining,” there isn’t some guy named Blake behind it. It’s just the name of the math the network uses for hashing and proof-of-work.

So, a quick rehash, pun absolutely intended:

BIP 110 started as a disagreement over what kinds of data should be allowed on Bitcoin.

That disagreement became a chain split.

The minority chain didn’t have enough SHA-256 hashpower to function normally.

So its supporters changed the proof-of-work algorithm to BLAKE2b.

And that’s what makes this different from many earlier Bitcoin forks. Forks like Bitcoin Cash changed consensus rules but kept SHA-256, meaning the same type of mining hardware could still mine either network.

This chain changed both the rules and the mining algorithm.

So we went from a debate over transaction policy, to a chain split, to a separate network secured by completely different mining hardware.

At that point, it’s not just Bitcoin with a different rulebook. It has a different mining ecosystem too.

Clear as mud...?

11/09/2026

We’re trying to figure out who is actually interested in getting together for local Bitcoin meetups around East Texas.

Nothing fancy. Just real people meeting in person, talking Bitcoin, asking questions, sharing what we know, and building a local network.

If you’d actually show up to a meetup, drop a comment with your general area.

Longview, Tyler, Kilgore, Gladewater, White Oak, Gilmer, Marshall, Henderson, or wherever you’re coming from.

Also let us know what works best for you:

Weeknight or weekend?
Lunch, afternoon, or evening?
Restaurant, brewery, coffee shop, or something else?

Trying to see where the real interest is before we plan the next one.

10/09/2026

Inflation is not your friend...

One house price tells you more about real inflation than any govern...

10/09/2026

https://youtube.com/shorts/yVzaSLWvsyQ?is=YoRcrOcxdeMbkXSj

Isolation is the real enemy. Sitting alone behind a screen doesn't ...

04/08/2026

Here's a good look at where the bitcoin is now.

An interactive map of the July–August 2026 Coldcard hack. As of 4 August 2026, 1,596 BTC had been taken from roughly 7,300 wallets in four waves, and almost all of it is still sitting where it landed.

04/08/2026

TL;DR: A Coldcard firmware bug caused some devices to generate wallet seeds with far less randomness than intended. An attacker recreated likely seed combinations, found funded wallets on the blockchain, and stole more than 1,500 BTC, roughly $100 million, without ever touching the physical devices.

A major Coldcard security incident is unfolding.

A firmware bug caused some Coldcard devices to generate wallet seeds with far less randomness than they were supposed to have. An attacker was able to recreate possible seeds, find wallets holding Bitcoin, and sweep more than 1,500 BTC without ever touching the physical devices.

This is a good reminder that “cold storage” is only as secure as the randomness used to create the seed.

One way to protect against this type of failure is to generate your seed independently. Entropia v2 Seed Tablets use physical random draws from the full BIP-39 word list. When used correctly, the randomness comes from the tablet draws, not from software inside the hardware wallet.

https://btc-hardware-solutions.square.site/product/entropia-v2-seed-tablets/11

That does not eliminate every possible risk, but it avoids relying entirely on one company’s random-number generator.

It may also be worth asking yourself another uncomfortable question:

Should all of your generational wealth depend on one seed phrase, one device, and one hiding place?

You do not have to become a security expert overnight, but it is worth investing the time to learn about multisignature wallets. A properly designed multisig setup can require keys stored on different devices and in different locations before Bitcoin can be moved.

Do not panic. Do not rush. Learn how your wallet was created, update your firmware, verify your backups, and understand your recovery process before moving significant funds.

Bitcoin gives us the ability to hold our own wealth. It also gives us the responsibility to protect it.

Functional art that can help secure your bitcoin! Entropia is a BIP39 lottery system that you can use to trustlessly create secure bitcoin private keys. Choose 11 or 23 words at random, and then use a bitcoin signing device like SeedSigner to calculate the final checksum word that completes your see...