GBKS
Christoph Ono

https://www.germanysbestkeptsecret.com/

Designer & developer. Helping improve bitcoin design with many others at https://bitcoin.design. Workong on Arké (https://arke.cash/). Updates at https://gbks.substack.com . ✌️

Public Key

npub1kuc70777tsvj67fl75s2dmy376t97hv05xmyuyshzzy6vhj5q5jstv0eyw

NIP-05 Address

gbks@nosta.me

Profile Code

nprofile1qqstwv08l009cxfd0yll2g9xajgld9jltk86rdjwzgt3pzdxte2q2fgpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43qywy8du

Publishing to

nostr-pub.wellorder.net

Author Public Key

npub1kuc70777tsvj67fl75s2dmy376t97hv05xmyuyshzzy6vhj5q5jstv0eyw

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-09-19 07:15:33 UTC

Just had Claude fix up nosta.me, after not having worked on it for a long time. Just amazing how fast it it could find and fix tons of issues, bring the site up-to-par with the latest NIPs, and even implement some new ones (like highlights and payment addresses). Still some things to do, but it works much better now.
https://github.com/GBKS/nosta-me/commits/main/

2026-09-08 09:38:11 UTC

“You’ll watch something anyway, so why not brain rot? It’s actually better than an ad because it doesn’t demand anything from you.”
“If everything is content now, then brain rot is anti-content. It’s the only way to be free online, which is to do something so stupid it can’t be monetized.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/08/opinion/gen-z-tiktok-ig-reels.html

2026-08-24 13:11:21 UTC

The first few themes and localizations are live now with the latest release. Along with the ability to export/import your contacts, tags, and notes. Plus a few other goodies. The work continues.
Arké is still in beta. Please stick with small amounts for the time being. And share your feedback if you can, it helps improve the experience.
https://blossom.primal.net/68e8bd27df6bf33674a8671ffda3ef136ce3341919078255cbf12708c6ca9301.jpg

2026-08-23 17:20:30 UTC

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Great to see apps charging for the awesomeness they provide.
#nevent1q…rywm

2026-08-23 13:56:01 UTC

Are you a humanist artisan of the web?
"The Internet is a symbol, the catalyst of an era based on revolutionary freedom in the field of expression, creation and knowledge. These are the human ideals we are striving for. We have to observe our new horizons with increasing sensitivity in order to inspire a future of growth, serenity and sharing."
https://www.brunellocucinelli.com/en/thoughts/humanist-artisans-of-the-web.html

2026-08-21 15:34:59 UTC

New blog post with some recent work on Arké and the Bitcoin Core App. https://gbks.substack.com/p/two-miles-an-hour

2026-08-20 13:29:18 UTC

Banging my head against multi-device architecture via iCloud for Arké. Quite the puzzle. https://github.com/GBKS/arke/blob/main/Shared/Docs/Architecture/Multi_Device_Design.md

2026-08-20 06:48:49 UTC

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Not sure about Europe overall, but it varies heavily in Germany based on which educational track you're on. There are mandatory internships around age 15-16. If you are on a vocational track in secondary education, you may spend 60% of your time in a company.
Experience in a few different jobs, especially in a service business, is really important, IMHO. Good be exposed to what the world has to offer.

2026-08-19 15:49:27 UTC

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Accurate if you include retirees and students. Without those it's ~11%. OK if those high school kids and 80 year-olds don't work?

2026-08-18 17:54:06 UTC

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Yes. Come help us test it. https://bitcoincore.app/

2026-08-18 11:32:47 UTC

Mocking up some transaction scenarios to help figure out the UI states in the new core app.
https://blossom.primal.net/b6e913b5df0ae59262b698282501630e66701e57a137cca91adcc8631171fb03.png

2026-08-18 10:49:56 UTC

Having AI whip out the first localizations to German and Japanese. Probably going to be a bit goofy until a few more iterations in.
https://blossom.primal.net/f690730a685ee4366e7c6f2d64e4fd60f8db103ec7dd6d97ab3bf11dabe4dc89.jpg

2026-08-05 19:29:05 UTC

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Not sure how it is in engineering, but some design/architecture professors tear up your work in front of you during a critique if it’s not good. It’s tough, but it teaches you to not get too attached and push for better. You need to care and feel attached, but also be able to look at it from a distance and let go quickly.
#nevent1q…6ykf

2026-08-05 07:26:12 UTC

New version of Arké is on TestFlight. Transaction details are now a swipeable stack of cards to quickly flip through and add notes. Plus force move (unilateral exit) refinements, security hardening and bark package updates. Check it out. Share your feedback.
https://blossom.primal.net/2e71e3cdaf49cd5e400e652d8266d36d81c8981e365b9e620ef850c6001cbe80.jpg

2026-08-04 12:19:19 UTC

Update on stuff I worked on in the last month, which was primarily unilateral exit UX for Arké. It's coming along nicely. https://gbks.substack.com/p/security

2026-08-04 11:35:58 UTC

Just had to think of this mockup I made 3 years ago about escalating security reminders. A wallet starts annoying you hardcore if you store more bitcoin in it than is appropriate for the security it provides...
https://blossom.primal.net/41bfd1c36aa31f8b61331a23e9d3175a52b7658e0aaa82a598ceece03d7995a8.jpg

2026-08-03 16:54:34 UTC

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Oh boy….
#nevent1q…8kjs

2026-07-30 12:01:17 UTC

Just came across this design I made 1.5 years go for the core app to inform users about pending network updates (all made-up content of course).
https://blossom.primal.net/3eb8ba3dbc61a5dfb79cf73bde042b5338700fb793f7512b028017975caade87.png

2026-07-29 09:13:30 UTC

I am with Ben Shneiderman on direct manipulation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWgPe8VjTsM

2026-07-27 14:04:38 UTC

Prototyping a way to go more quickly through transactions and add details. What do you make of this stacked-card concept? https://youtu.be/tCVOI7dGt7Y

2026-07-22 10:43:51 UTC

Interesting to see the term "Design Engineer" become more used. In 2004, when I first started working for digital agencies, before the term UX existed, the field was "Interaction Design", and todays "Design Engineer" was the "Interactive Developer".
The agency I worked at had technical architects, backend developers, application developers, interactive developers, designers, and PMs and I always thought this split-up made a lot of sense. It becomes very clear when working directly with people who are really good in their areas.
In more recent years, the idea of the full-stack developer was around, assuming that one person can just do it all, which never made much sense to me.
No matter what labels you use, building good software (or anything really) requires various skillsets.

2026-07-22 08:09:16 UTC

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Was just reading through the Wavelength announcement (https://lightning.engineering/posts/2026-07-21-wavelength-launch/) and noticed how much agents are mentioned.
And then you have stuff like Lightspark announcing AI agent support (https://www.lightspark.com/news/lightspark/introducing-ai-agent-support-for-grid-global-accounts), while not a single Spark wallet actually makes unilateral exits available to users.
I know those are infrastructure companies, and the human stuff is really up to the products and teams building on top of those. But I don't see the big ambition there either to build world-class user experiences. The urgency seems to be there for agents though.

2026-07-22 07:38:57 UTC

There might be more effort going into making bitcoin usable by agents than by humans.

2026-07-21 18:50:08 UTC

And another Arké release is up on TestFlight:
- Many improvements to force moves (unilateral exits)
- Tag and contact editor revision
- Settings - reorder and new Notification and Address Pattern views
- X-ray iteration (remove balance, change VTXO list to graph)
- Use real fee rates
- Minor revision of the intro videos
https://blossom.primal.net/cc6f0ea5b8c2ccd32d1f66abbc41561697e213d8ed1d88777c2c322672f026d0.jpg

2026-07-21 15:21:55 UTC

If you like 10-minute walkthroughs of unilateral exit user experiences, then this one is for you.
https://youtu.be/GxW574iolr4

2026-07-20 12:55:16 UTC

Not really sure if it's a good idea to add stablecoins to bitcoin wallets. They drag in so much complexity that it may actually be more practical to have separate, lean & dedicated apps.

2026-07-20 10:20:34 UTC

A nice thing about the Live Activity for unilateral exits in Arké, is that they show up on your watch, too. Left is a mock-up of the Live Activity on the phone, and right is a photo from signet exit testing over the weekend. Trying to make this a calm and convenient experience.
https://blossom.primal.net/274e348d306f17ed7ff9c4b1c448cffb44a8a9515ff476e8750cda08a7cd2f85.jpg

2026-07-17 15:42:30 UTC

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Well, I guess that makes this screen useless then…

2026-07-17 14:34:23 UTC

The X-Ray view, which allows more seasoned users to look at their VTXOs and other under-the-hood stuff is getting a bar graph visual. You can quickly see your VTXO structure and how long until refresh/expiry.
https://blossom.primal.net/e76b13d176a905f85f6bc7e2f4fb511ce373fb40c2c713d8381beb59252492a7.jpg

2026-07-16 12:57:57 UTC

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At some point, this test tube button will be a place to add other Ark servers. Once it's all mature, that option will become part of the main flow.

2026-07-16 12:56:43 UTC

Arké defaults to mainnet these days, but creating a signet wallet is simple. Tap the test tubes on the cover screen. The background video switches to show the fancy lab guy. And creating a wallet will get you a signet one. The built-in signet faucet gets you some test sats right away. Everything else is pretty much the same as mainnet.
https://blossom.primal.net/a73edcf254d969e1746bb76a3ac1169c7a3ac34f8a9c1c67ca9227e7b5109cda.jpg

2026-07-15 12:08:40 UTC

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Great. Now let's get it into people's hands in a super convenient way.

2026-07-15 06:57:50 UTC

Adding and editing basic contact info is also getting a revision in Arké. Now back to testing and refining unilateral exits.
https://blossom.primal.net/6044ac9588e1e6fb0e77ec1a95559c278abd84293ad184d7eb655fa58f53d8b7.jpg

2026-07-14 14:22:37 UTC

Adding and editing tags will be a bit nicer in the next Arké release. The old version was essentially AI slop. https://blossom.primal.net/44900757f4a92654dff5c0f86613b3b8153e51f90eb770f96e2c585585ae0a98.jpg

2026-07-13 06:25:34 UTC

Interesting to see some tense conversation around Ark, Spark, Liquid, etc and different defenses of tech choices. Tough discussion, because there are so many facets. From basic architecture to protocol dynamics and then protocol and library/SDK implementation, to infrastructure operations and end-user apps. And the project background matters, too, where a heavily-funded commercial entity will have different dynamics and incentives than a lean open-source focused startup, and those show up in various decisions. Things are not clear cut, but that's how it is with many things.

2026-07-09 10:43:36 UTC

Arké has had unilateral exits (called forced moves) for some time. I am currently refining the experience and tinkering with this feature video intro to better communicate how it works. What do you think?
https://youtu.be/gifJmeOcGeA

2026-07-09 07:27:47 UTC

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Democracy works and is awesome. But all systems require people to make them work. Families, clubs, etc can all fail if people don't do their parts.

2026-07-08 15:29:27 UTC

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I am curious to check it out, but the link is not working for me.
How would you derive the Offchain data for the recovery from the seed without the operator?
How does your experience compare to this view?
https://x.com/notgrubles/status/2074624676978962867

2026-07-08 09:34:03 UTC

"All design is a quarrel between two impulses: the wild idea and the cold edit. Unleash the wild, and you get baroque chaos. Lean too far toward cold, and you get vanilla or gray."

2026-06-30 11:00:11 UTC

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It is a moral responsibility.

2026-06-26 14:59:11 UTC

An experimental promo video for Arké about how bitcoin is a bit like a public park.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5JakxNnaJo
Working on the app is fun, but man do I sometimes need creative side quests when Claude rattles on and on.

2026-06-23 10:16:41 UTC

https://blossom.primal.net/ea1cfef7c120d13bf97e6b68606e6801e06ba9983cef6c598cb4a84294be794f.jpg
A new version of Arké is now up on TestFlight. Here are the changes, with the first two being the biggest ones:
- Better fee estimation for lightning payments (including send all).
- More precise refresh notification scheduling.
- Change inline address expansion in receive to a sheet format.
- Add option to export debug logs (thank you Duncan).
- Make first use experience accessible.
- X-Ray view iteration (single reload button, more usable VTXO refresh options…).
- Dismiss wallet deletion view once deletion is complete.
- Fix tag rendering after import.
- Fix initial rendering and empty state of fee summary view.
- Fix localization issues in devices screen.
It's quite a diverse mix of things, many of them stemming from feedback and conversations. Please keep them coming, no matter how big or small.

2026-06-19 07:42:16 UTC

A few Arké users have reported a balance that has been stuck in pending for a few days. Here's how you can get it unstuck (the underlying issue is already fixed and this should not happen anymore).
In your balance details view, you'll see a timer that reads something like "Next round in 12m". Keep the app active until that point in time, and maybe give it another few minutes extra. That should fix it. If it doesn't reach out.
Thanks to everyone for testing and helping make the app more solid.

2026-06-17 15:17:12 UTC

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It’s not, but they have a role. A parent can only set these things up when companies implement them properly. No chance when you’re not given the tools and are up against an engineering team maximizing virality and teens figuring out workarounds at light speed.
Apple has great parental controls and we use them heavily at home. I also know many parents struggling with this. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/06/apple-previews-new-child-safety-features/

2026-06-17 12:24:15 UTC

Pretty sure social media bans wouldn't have come up if social media companies had taken more responsibility in protecting minors. Simple stuff like not letting kids be contacted by random adults, muting push notifications at night or during school hours, private accounts by default, removing engagement-maximizing mechanics, etc. When parents and teachers constantly fight against this stuff at home and in school, of course there's a strong counter-reaction at some point. Let's not let those companies off the hook easily.

2026-06-16 17:34:22 UTC

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Thank you! Would love to hear more if you're open to sharing your feedback.

2026-06-16 14:27:40 UTC

Updated some pages on the Arké website:
https://arke.cash/roadmap/
https://arke.cash/how/
https://arke.cash/how-technical/
Better, not perfect.

2026-06-16 08:50:05 UTC

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That sounds like message for Pedro who owns that domain. Could not find him here on Nostr, but he is on Twix (https://x.com/pedromvpg)

2026-06-16 06:34:48 UTC

Some notes from the bark and Arké mainnet launches last week, along with first feedback on the app. It's been exciting. https://gbks.substack.com/p/toot

2026-06-13 19:14:09 UTC

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Jack Kruse specifically. Minor mention to the lady before that talking about how the “they” manipulate the weather.
https://blossom.primal.net/af4644d4675b6f7b827d0ea42fe0a93fd488008eb090eb75e255f6bce10d7e35.jpg

2026-06-13 15:38:09 UTC

Would be nice if bitcoin conferences did not put pseudoscience and conspiracy peddlers on the big stages. How about a dedicated BS stage?

2026-06-11 08:44:05 UTC

Bark and Arké are now on mainnet. I consider Arké still in public beta. Focus now is on stability, reliability and interoperability. If you try it out, let me know what you think. https://blog.second.tech/introducing-noah-and-arke/

2026-06-08 11:21:17 UTC

Completely gratuitous and no one will notice it, but QR codes in Arké now have a very small legend that indicates what addresses are in said QR codes. If you know, you know. If you don't know, doesn't bother you. Another experiment, let's feel it out.
https://blossom.primal.net/9cf6e587e9f633cb39ec7729565e68beebf194e62036809ee11a5e3ed6ccaa67.jpg

2026-06-02 06:29:38 UTC

In tougher times it’s better to rally together than to argue. Onward and upward.

2026-05-30 13:23:25 UTC

How do wallets handle payment and payer proofs? Any good UX patterns out there? https://github.com/BitcoinDesign/Guide/issues/1235

2026-05-23 10:45:38 UTC

“AI is best at the things you’re bad at, because you can’t recognize its mistakes.”

2026-05-22 08:45:39 UTC

Just pushed a new version of Arké to TestFlight. This one is about refinement:
- More precise fee calculation, which is especially useful when trying to send the full savings (onchain) balance
- Different intro video segments for signet and mainnet
- A new cover video that is less 80's glam
- Improved wallet creation performance and error handling
- Unilateral exit progress display tweaks
- Wallet import with file improvements
Still ~150 to-dos on my list, but it is coming together.
https://blossom.primal.net/2923742f674f6c73c9cf8cf60af6d11d82bac826b684d458dd796fc665e4ea7b.jpg
https://arke.cash/

2026-05-22 08:26:05 UTC

Second has a new page about apps that implement Bark, their Ark implementation. Super nice to see Arké in there. https://second.tech/docs/built-with-bark
And to keep going on and on about unilateral exits, Noah and bark-web support them also. As it should be.

2026-05-15 12:16:17 UTC

Been seeing several conversations that it is not important for L2 wallets to implement unilateral exits. Good people, who else is going to do it? And who can actually do the unilateral exit for you when only your wallet has the data needed for it? The primary task of a wallet is to ensure your bitcoin are safe. Swapping to the 1000th stablecoin is way lower on the priority list.

2026-05-08 11:46:02 UTC

OK, it appears that no Spark or Arkade Labs Ark wallet actually implements unilateral exits. Protocol-level capability or separate CLI tool is not usable for most and does not count. Pretty disappointing. So if the server goes away, your funds are gone. The feature to claim them is not implemented.
And by the way Arké has a great unilateral exit flow. The Second crew provides a really good toolbox there.
Let's maybe hold off with the stablecoins and yield and all that and make sure the basics are solid.

2026-05-07 12:11:32 UTC

Has anyone tried a unilateral exit on Spark? How is it?

2026-05-04 07:58:32 UTC

Bitcoin is "...a monetary technology. This is the accounting industry." https://stacker.news/items/1483355
I like it.

2026-04-29 14:51:29 UTC

Looks like there are 294 different Stablecoins based on the US Dollar. The biggest one, Tether, exists on 126 different blockchain networks, 17 of which have 100M or more circulating USDT, and 60 have 1M or more. The second biggest, USDC, exists on 141 different blockchain networks, 18 of which have 100M or more circulating USDC, and 76 have 1M or more. When you want to pay with USDC in the Stripe Crypto Checkout Demo, you have to choose one of 400 different wallets. Decentralization at its finest.
Just kidding, but how is this not super messy and a world of pain in regards to interoperability and payment UX?
https://defillama.com/stablecoins?pegtype=PEGGEDUSD
https://docs.stripe.com/payments/stablecoin-payments

2026-04-28 07:13:05 UTC

Got a Zombie score of 39%. What a great site. Something that's only possible on Nostr. https://www.plebsvszombies.cc/
https://blossom.primal.net/11f5825a2a5506009ec3923e6ba0335819886f7db70a12e1fb22610bcb309c74.png

2026-04-20 10:45:18 UTC

People are not friction. Well said. https://daverupert.com/2026/03/people-are-not-friction/

2026-04-17 06:49:23 UTC

Quick demo, making 100 bitcoin (signet) transactions to see how Arké responds. Getting quite smooth overall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk5MsWkES2E

2026-04-16 13:16:37 UTC

Bit of a restyling of the Arké payments detail screen, along with some information architecture changes of the refresh indicator.
https://blossom.primal.net/dc7ee8dfaa27fd3a2d0477a402ddcb79a9a1784b08b2a09739a3e0cea6613e88.jpg

2026-04-16 09:24:08 UTC

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Not sure what you call, but I found the best way to deal with it is to have a place to jot down this type of idea to get it out of my head, and revisit it later, so I don't constantly change my plans and get sidetracked. Many ideas you will forget, good ones you'll naturally keep coming back to.

2026-04-15 12:44:58 UTC

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Yep: https://www.psacramento.com/tether-wallet-lightning-privacy-issues/

2026-04-15 09:33:57 UTC

Can every one please stop implementing Spark? The privacy problems are real and annoying.

2026-04-10 18:49:26 UTC

Cool to see the results of the Runway ad contest. AI video has made such huge leaps, and the participants really know how to get creative with it. https://runwayml.com/big-ad-contest

2026-04-10 12:46:27 UTC

Would be cool if Arké could make payments to local fiat destinations just by paying lightning invoices and other services like Tando handling everything in between. Some AI-brainstorming resulted in a simple protocol that could facilitate this. No clue if it's worthwhile, but was useful to explore: https://github.com/GBKS/pave-protocol
https://blossom.primal.net/c699ee328339a629a3ca01d97528a7cb6725cf816a3521a7b84f5d9fd1093a20.png

2026-04-10 09:11:40 UTC

The new USDC site has some nice videos on how people use it. But I cannot get over the fact that all these chains are based on single-address re-use. If you organize your wedding in some other country and pay everyone with USDC, are you OK that they can see your full balance and all past and future transactions in that wallet? Or your employer or employees? Your grocery store? Or am I missing something? https://www.usdc.com

2026-03-26 15:51:23 UTC

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Nice beard.

2026-03-26 14:58:24 UTC

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https://arke.cash/

2026-03-26 14:31:54 UTC

New Arké version is up on TestFlight, with a roughly estimated 1,000,000,000 improvements to the Send flow.
Goal is that you can throw all your bitcoin/ark addresses, lightning invoices/offers/addresses, BIP-21s and BIP-353 in all kinds of combinations at it, and it will try to make sense of it all and present whatever comes out on the other end in a simple way. Quite intricate. It's a good iteration, with some more to come.
Definitely feels like the most intricate part of the app.
https://blossom.primal.net/f3fbf4e65964c70d473c07e8f9aee3094389682253a3af04d6f6cedda9ffb676.jpg

2026-03-24 11:26:28 UTC

"Beyond the GUI: It's Time for a Conversational User Interface" from 2013. https://www.wired.com/2013/03/conversational-user-interface
"Why conversational design is the future" from 2016.
https://medium.com/intercom-inside/why-conversational-design-is-the-future-2c05f65aa68e
Will AI make it happen this time?

2026-03-20 18:17:47 UTC

Chuck Norris’s public key was his private key. Nobody dared to use it. RIP

2026-03-20 08:33:06 UTC

Arké looks, feels, and works differently than other wallets. Wouldn't be much of a contribution to the ecosystem if it was like all the other ones. Some experiments will work and some will fail. But if we want more people to use this stuff, we need to try things.

2026-03-19 11:54:55 UTC

Some interesting research by Anthropic on what people want from AI, and whether they are getting it. https://www.anthropic.com/features/81k-interviews

2026-03-19 08:47:54 UTC

Considering writing an Arké case study for the Bitcoin Design Guide. Here's a first issue to invite conversation. https://github.com/BitcoinDesign/Guide/issues/1220

2026-03-19 07:25:00 UTC

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This looks great. I'll investigate Passkey Login for Arké as well.
#nevent1q…mzlq

2026-03-17 12:17:13 UTC

First Arké push notification ever! The text obviously needs work, but very cool that it works now (this was an intimidating piece of code for me to work on). The bark mailbox system makes this very convenient to implement (those Second people seem to know what they are doing).
https://blossom.primal.net/ac42ed43e1f8973618c768dc03570a89e35522f1661d06fe896bf3e7f86eaae0.jpg
Privacy-wise, this requires a relay to connect the app, Ark server and Apple push notification servers. The relay can connect your device ID, mailbox ID, and incoming Ark payment VTXOs. Don't like it, don't turn on notifications. I'll have to see how I can only store the least amount of data possible, since I really don't care to know what people do. The only interesting thing to know maybe would be a simple counter that tracks how many payments were made. That would at least give some broad insight into activity.

2026-03-16 11:26:30 UTC

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Nosta uses Umami. You need some basic insights, and there are privacy-respecting options out there. The dashboard is public: https://cloud.umami.is/share/Jmc84OrAe0BFvHB8

2026-03-13 08:38:57 UTC

From yesterdays Plan B Masterclass, one of the key ideas about user experience. At the start, no-one knows about your product. Then they hear about it and an initial idea forms. Maybe they get interested and learn a little more. If it sounds good, they give it a try, etc.
You can imagine a person at each of these steps. Who are they, what do they know at this point, and what is the most useful information for them?
You an apply this at a product level or a feature level, and for different types of users, and is a really useful mental framework.
https://blossom.primal.net/0d3f34af020cace3e545587483481a59bd6077482dbb096f58ec4a530791159e.jpg
Also covered in the Bitcoin Design Guide: https://bitcoin.design/guide/designing-products/usage-life-cycle/

2026-03-13 08:34:16 UTC

Feels like we need a lot more use cases for bitcoin. Like paying for groceries, paying for gas, paying for rent, paying for clothes, paying for concert tickets... or receiving that payment on the other side.

2026-03-12 07:46:19 UTC

"The fractures fell neatly along disciplines: engineers using AI to wish away designers, designers wishing away engineers, product managers wishing away both. In this climate, AI becomes frenemy identification technology, another way to avoid working together. It’s always easier to grab a tool and bypass the mess of coordination, even if that means doing more and doing it alone. AI lowers the barrier to working outside your lane, and sure, that could mean more overlap between disciplines, but right now, we’re mostly boxing each other out or stepping on one another’s toes."
https://frankchimero.com/blog/2025/beyond-the-machine/
Yes? No? Maybe?

2026-03-09 11:00:40 UTC

The Sovereign Tech Fund has fellowships for work on open source and open standards.
https://www.sovereign.tech/news/open-standards
https://www.sovereign.tech/programs/fellowship

2026-03-09 09:03:25 UTC

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Just depends on the text. If it’s used a few times and becomes repetitive, I’ll change it.

2026-03-09 07:42:16 UTC

I am no longer an AI-em-dash (—) apologist. If I create a text with AI, I leave them in. Whether the text is worth reading is not a matter of em-dash use, it's a matter of the text being interesting and relevant.

2026-03-07 10:13:42 UTC

"Thinking of AI as an instrument recenters the focus on practice. Instruments require a performance that relies on technique—the horn makes the sound, but how and what you blow into it matters; the drum machine keeps time and plays the samples, but what you sample and how you swing on top of it becomes your signature.
In other words, instruments can surprise you with what they offer, but they are not automatic. In the end, they require a touch. You use a tool, but you play an instrument. It’s a more expansive way of doing, and the doing of it all is important, because that’s where you develop the instincts for excellence. There is no purpose to better machines if they do not also produce better humans."
https://frankchimero.com/blog/2025/beyond-the-machine/

2026-03-06 10:28:22 UTC

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That's what UX researchers and designers are good at.

2026-03-05 14:28:27 UTC

Ordinals are very much a "bicycle bear" (https://frankchimero.com/blog/2015/the-webs-grain/).
https://blossom.primal.net/2e87aff9952bbb34d5692b5dc8e413c9e25199040a77d8a43892604c0fce964e.jpg

2026-03-05 07:16:43 UTC

Arké now has a roadmap page, with lots of em dashes, proudly wearing its AI imprint. Might still change, but it's a good start. https://arke.cash/roadmap

2026-03-04 14:40:57 UTC

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Had Claude do a quick accessibility evaluation of Arké. Here's what it found: https://github.com/GBKS/arke/blob/main/Shared/Docs/ACCESSIBILITY.md

2026-03-04 14:40:23 UTC

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Not sure why anyone listens to that person, they are just being super rude all the time. Good thing mute buttons exist.

2026-03-03 15:30:34 UTC

No good reasons anymore for apps to not be localized or have solid accessibility. AI can bust this out super fast.

2026-03-02 12:17:37 UTC

Arké now has a custom BDK-based onchain wallet to complement the Ark functionality. Onchain transactions now blend in seamlessly with Ark and Lightning.
https://blossom.primal.net/ba05cb8d623b6f2d2b24df1c02a93ebe7f948af77dde9466d891f7fcfcf3a245.jpg

2026-02-27 07:19:47 UTC

The latest recovery phrase UI for Arké. You scratch off the surface to reveal the words. And there's a PDF to print and copy it onto that matches the two-column layout on the screen. Fold it twice, and put it in an envelope and tuck it away somewhere safe. Many won't print, but it might still be informative.
https://blossom.primal.net/1c5567b58aeb2041274a230a4e921ea662e1b1eb1b889f25ff0af096a82b46d7.jpg

2026-02-26 13:54:38 UTC

Feedback on Arké from TestFlight peeps is coming in and there's a lot to fix and improve. Nothing major luckily, but a ton of refinement. So far, so good.
https://blossom.primal.net/a2638a0b3750355c940b43a70d67728a4a6601a16e063e349023d76f5098cb56.jpg