~/freedom $ ./start.sh --user you // no signup. no kyc on the protocol. just keys.
START
nostr · bitcoin · monero · from zero, one evening at a time
[01] GROUND RULES
Everything below runs on one idea: you hold keys, not accounts. A key can't be reset, suspended, or recovered by support. That's the feature. It's also the responsibility.
An account is a row in someone else's database, with their rules attached. A key is yours the way a thought is yours. So all three protocols hand you the same two-step contract before anything else happens: whoever holds the key is you, and nobody can give it back if you lose it. Accept those two sentences and the rest of this page is mechanical.
You don't need to understand cryptography, run a server, or buy anything to begin. Nostr is free. Bitcoin and monero wallets are free; you can receive before you ever buy. And nothing here requires finishing: each section stands alone, in order of easiest first. If tonight only has twenty minutes in it, do layer one and stop.
// the rules, itemized
| keys = identity | your secret key IS the account. anyone holding it is you, everywhere, instantly |
| backups first | write seed words on paper before the wallet holds a single sat. paper, not screenshots |
| never digital | no photos, no cloud notes, no password-manager seed entries for money keys |
| small amounts | learn with pocket change. graduate the stakes as the habits set |
| verify sends | first transaction to any new wallet: tiny test, confirm arrival, then the rest |
| nobody asks | no legit person ever needs your seed or nsec. anyone asking is the attack |
// lose the key, lose the thing. that's not a bug report, it's the deal.
[02] NOSTR
Start here: it's free, it's twenty minutes, and the key habit you build carries straight into the money sections.
Nostr is social media where your identity is a keypair you generate yourself. The public key (npub) is your handle; the secret key (nsec) is your signature. No company sits in the middle, so there's no account to suspend and no password to reset. That's the point.
// the checklist
- pick a client. Damus (iOS), Amethyst (Android), or Primal (both, plus web). They're interchangeable (same keys, same network), so a wrong choice costs nothing.
- generate keys in the app. First launch offers "create new account." That button mints your keypair locally. No email, no phone number. Notice there's nothing to give.
- back up the nsec. Write it down or store it in your password manager (speech keys may live there; money keys may not). The nsec never gets pasted into websites, DMs, or "verification" forms. Ever.
- better: use a signer. On Android, Amber holds your key and signs for every app, so clients never see the nsec. Browser users: a NIP-07 extension like Alby or nos2x does the same job.
- say hello. Follow a few keys, post a first note, zap something if a wallet's connected. Your follows live on relays under your key. Switch clients tomorrow and everything comes with you.
npub is public; print it on a billboard. nsec is the pen that signs as you, and it leaves your device for no one. Every scam on nostr is some costume around "give me your nsec."
Relays are dumb mailboxes that store and forward notes. Your client talks to several at once; defaults are fine on day one. If one drops you, the others don't care. Full dossier here.
[03] BITCOIN
Second evening: money nobody can print more of and nobody can freeze, once it's in your custody, and only then.
Bitcoin on an exchange is an IOU with your name on a list. Bitcoin in your wallet is a bearer asset secured by twelve words. The entire skill of this section is moving from the first state to the second without losing the words.
// the checklist
- install a wallet. Phone: Phoenix (lightning, easiest) or Aqua. Desktop: Sparrow, the reference tool you'll grow into. Start with one; add the other later.
- write down the seed phrase. Twelve words, pen, paper, two copies, two places. This step is the wallet. Skip it and you own nothing; do it right and your savings survive every dead phone you'll ever own.
- get sats. The simple road: buy on an exchange, then withdraw to your own wallet immediately. The quieter roads: earn them, or trade peer-to-peer on Bisq, RoboSats, or Peach.
- run the drill. Send a small test to your wallet, watch it confirm, then move the rest. Receive once, send once, back up checked. That's self-custody, you now have it.
- graduate later. Real savings eventually deserve a hardware wallet and maybe your own node to verify against. Not tonight's problem; the dossier covers the road.
On-chain is the settlement layer: slower, sturdier, where savings sleep. Lightning is instant and nearly free: coffee money and zaps. Phoenix hides the plumbing; you can learn it later.
Exchanges fail in two flavors: they get hacked, or they get orders. Either way the list of names gets used. Custody is the difference between holding bitcoin and being owed it.
[04] MONERO
Third evening: cash. Bitcoin's ledger is public forever; monero is what you spend when the transaction is nobody's business, which is most of them.
Monero hides sender, receiver, and amount on every transaction, by default, for everyone. No privacy settings to misconfigure, no special "private mode" that makes you stand out. If you've done the bitcoin section, the mechanics will feel familiar: wallet, seed, test send.
// the checklist
- install a wallet. Phone: Cake Wallet (iOS/Android) or Monerujo (Android). Desktop: Feather, the light-and-sharp option, or the official GUI from getmonero.org.
- back up the seed. Twenty-five words this time, same liturgy: pen, paper, two copies, never a screenshot. Money keys don't live in password managers.
- get XMR. Exchanges that list it (Kraken, where available) work but defeat some of the point. Better: swap sats for XMR with an atomic swap or an in-wallet exchange, or trade p2p on Haveno. Earning it is cleanest of all.
- do the test send. Small amount in, confirm, rest after. Notice the block explorer shows nothing useful about you. That absence is the product.
- actually spend it. Monero is cash, not a shrine. Pay a VPS bill, a VPN, a donation. Every boring legal purchase thickens the crowd that hides the people who need it most.
Bitcoin's transparency is what makes it auditable money and lousy cash: whoever you pay can read your history. Monero's ring signatures and stealth addresses close that hole. Dossier here.
Monero wallets scan the chain for payments only you can recognize, so first sync takes a while. Let it run; that scan is your privacy doing its job. Remote nodes are fine to start.
[05] DONE
$ ./start.sh --status [x] nostr # speech nobody can deplatform. the key is the account [x] bitcoin # savings nobody can freeze. twelve words on paper [x] monero # cash nobody can read. spent like it's normal, because it is $ cat next.sh one_friend # walk somebody through this page. networks start at two go_deeper # dossiers: /nostr /bitcoin /monero. node, hardware, relays stay_loud # the tools need builders and users → /you // exit 0. you were never waiting for permission, just instructions.
Three keypairs, two seed phrases, zero accounts. You're on the stack.
Nothing you set up tonight can be repossessed by a moderation queue, a bank holiday, or a terms-of-service update. That's the whole pitch of the stack, and now it's not a pitch, it's your setup. Read why it matters when someone asks why you bother, and why tonight when someone says they'll do it someday.
// the hard part wasn't technical. it was starting. that part's done.