Super excited to officially soft-launch the brand new Simon Academy learning platform!

We built this specifically for the community—featuring native npub login, Lightning payments, and a massive curriculum expansion beyond just compliance.

Whether you're building on Bitcoin/Nostr, mastering alternative payment methods, or hardening cybersecurity, it’s all inside one clean dashboard.

Check it out and let me know your thoughts! 🎓

👉 https://simon.academy/index.html

Thinking back to my recent time in Aruba watching people use local bank apps like Sentoo and Pay.aw.

Everyday consumers don't care about regulatory terminology or backend settlement mechanics—they just want to scan a QR code, hit approve, and move on with their day.

If we want sovereign rails like Lightning and ecash to win global adoption, we don't need to change human behavior. We just need to make the sovereign option 10x smoother, cheaper, and faster for the merchant than their bank app.

(This is actually why I’m currently developing a new short-course series for @Simon Academy focused on alternative payment methods, comparing legacy QR systems vs. sovereign open rails!)

Back home in the Netherlands since Friday! 🇳🇱

It was an emotional week in Aruba saying goodbye to my uncle, but being back on my island re-grounding with family was so deeply needed. 💙

One last observation on the payment front: alongside Sentoo, I also saw Pay.aw out there—another QR payment option. Sentoo itself is actually pretty slick since it's an instant bank transfer, but merchants still pay processing fees.

The biggest hurdle on the island right now isn't consumer adoption—it's government perception. Local regulators and authorities still treat Bitcoin and crypto as high-risk, making adoption an uphill climb.

Lightning (and ecash) remains light-years ahead: open, instant, global, and drastically cheaper for merchants. The local appetite for digital payments is already there—now it's just a matter of shifting mindsets and replacing the legacy banking rails! ⚡️🇦🇼

cc: @BitcoinAruba #Aruba #Bitcoin #LightningNetwork #Payments #CircularEconomy

Pro tip for building a daily passive #Bitcoin yield loop: ⚡️

1️⃣ Start Free or Go Pro on @Satsman:
Free tier: 21 sats/day (3 missions × 7 sats) with $0 investment.
Pro tier: Boosts daily missions to 21 sats each + unlocks 2 bonus missions (like #SatsCipher).

2️⃣ Reinvest: Convert your earned sats into USDB ($1 USDB = $1 USD).

3️⃣ Compound: Hold USDB in your wallet (Xverse Wallet or @Blitz Wallet ) to earn daily BTC yield (starts at just 10 USDB min!).

Zero upfront capital needed to kickstart the engine, but compounding those earnings takes it to the next level! 🍊💊

#Bitcoin #LightningNetwork #USDB #SatsStacking #Nostr

Arrived in Aruba yesterday after my uncle passed away. Good to be back 'home' with family. 💙

Hit the barber today and ran into an old colleague from my Aruban police force days! When it came time to pay, it was cash or a local payment method called Sentoo.

From a user perspective, Sentoo was flawless—scan a QR code, hit a payment link, open the local bank app, and approve. Seamless. But looking at it through a technical and merchant cost lens, Lightning and @Cashu still blow it out of the water. ⚡️🥜

Numo Pay would have been an absolute game-changer for this merchant—instant, zero-fee tap-to-pay offline via ecash, backing up directly to @BTCPay Server. The island is already comfortable with QR-based instant payments... now we just need to help local shops swap out the legacy banking middleman for sovereign rails! 🇦🇼

cc: @Bitcoin Aruba #Aruba #Bitcoin #LightningNetwork #Cashu #BTCPayServer #Payments

Check out this insight from Simon Academy: "Building open learning systems with Nostr identity"

https://simon.academy/articles/building-open-learning-systems-nostr.html