Mandrik

In December 2014, I was in NYC with my wife for the Blockchain(dot)info Christmas party.

We played laser tag, had a great staff BBQ dinner, and went back to our Airbnb to get some sleep.

I woke up to a nightmare.

The creator of the site pushed an update to the wallet, which resulted in an entropy bug. Any user who created a wallet during a specific timeframe was generating insecure addresses. This made the funds very easy to steal.

~1000 BTC were stolen, but some were returned. How?!

White hat legend, Johoe, is how.

He posted about it on BitcoinTalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=581411.0

He would go on to "steal" funds before the hacker(s) could take all of them, and he returned them to Blockchain. We obviously paid him a bounty.

We were able to make up the difference and pay everyone back who was affected by this. Who ended up having to figure all that out?

Me.

I had to go through each individual case, use a complicated method to make sure I was refunding funds to the actual person who lost them, and then send the funds.

Yes, I was given hundreds of Bitcoin and spent the next few weeks distributing them to the people impacted by this entropy issue.

I still have nightmares. The burden of responsibility weighed heavily on me at the time. I was so stressed about screwing something up, triple and quadruple checking everything before moving on to the next step.

This Coldcard situation is many magnitudes worse.

I feel for those immediately impacted by this - the ones who lost their funds.

The hardest part of working customer service at an early bitcoin hot wallet was explaining how Bitcoin transactions couldn't be reversed, and any lost funds were gone forever.

I also feel for everyone at Coinkite.

It's easy to hate them right now, but those guys are true Bitcoiners. A lot of them didn't need to keep working, and may very well vanish from the space after this. It sucks.

Why risk your reputation and everything you've built if one little mistake in 5 year old code can ruin you?

Why keep building when you can retire and enjoy life on a beach somewhere?

I suspect many are thinking this very thought right now.

Can't say I blame them.

I can't wait to be in bed every night before the Vegas parties start.

Las Vegas bound with over 75 pounds or baklava.

I keep asking myself why I do this.

In the moment I love it. I like feeding people, and it's great seeing new and familiar faces. I know you guys appreciate it.

But holy hell is this gimmick played out. 😂

I said last year was the last year, but here I am again.

So ok, fine. One more time.

Then it's off to other things , to truly become irrelevant.

✌️🧡

Happy Orthodox Easter!

The lamb is cooking

My dad found a copy of the menu from the donut shop diner he owned for over 35 years.

Circa mid-90s. This is what was taken from us:

Vegas Bitcoin conference will be a tasty time.

Takeaways from the last 48 hours:

-No one knows what's going on, least of all the ones claiming otherwise.

-Everything is fake, unless you agree with it.

-There is no room for nuance or critical thinking. People made up their minds long ago.

17 years later

Still running Bitcoin

I stopped telling people to buy Bitcoin years ago.

I'm not an investor. I don't want to manage a portfolio. I certainly don't want to advise others.

I'm ok with all my eggs in one basket.

Other assets will have their days. People will point to a specific timeframe and say "I told you so!"

That's ok. Enjoy your time in the sun.

Up or down, I'm a Bitcoin holder. It has changed my life for the better in every way.

And it wouldn't have happened if I listened to everyone else's advice.

I'll always do what I think is best.

You should, too.

People who think freezing funds is ok are the true enemies of Bitcoin.

The normalization of gambling in all aspects of life, and at all ages, feels like the beginning of the downfall of society.

The blackest of black pills.

I refuse to participate.

Bitcoin is no gamble. The orange pill is our best chance for the future.

I started playing Old School Runescape this year and I kinda dig it. I only play when I'm on my treadmill (which I use a lot more in the winter).

Basically a solo player mmo that I can do at my own pace. Totally a vibe.

I'm a gamer for life, but I certainly don't let games control my life like they did in my teens and early 20s. I love to play when I have the free time.

My 2026 New Years Resolution is to bake zero pans of baklava.

Want to expose your family members to Bitcoin?

Don't send them to exchanges. Don't tell them to buy ETFs.

Sell them sats for cash. Peer-to-peer transaction sent directly to their non-custodial wallet.

The orange standard of Bitcoin experiences.

Random Wednesday thought:

I've never been able to form deep friendships with dudes. Always the peripheral friend, but "bro-less" my entire life.

Weirdly enough, I never had a problem with female companionship--romantic or platonic. I'm even married to my best friend, which is incredible.

Such a strange position to be in.

The "appeal to OG" argument is weak.

Time in Bitcoin doesn't necessarily make you more knowledgeable.

It doesn't give more weight to your opinions.

OGs can get stuck in their beliefs, detached from the reality of what Bitcoin is today vs what they thought it should be.

Soft motherfuckers make a few bucks during the bull, get comfortable, and turn into scared bitches at the first sign of bear prints in the mud.

These are the same soft motherfuckers that said you got lucky. The ones who wish they got in earlier.

Those pussies wouldn't have survived past bear markets. They would have sold the bottom and cried about it for the rest of their lives.

Can you imagine them stacking and holding for many months after losing 60-80% of their net worth?

There isn't enough Tylenol in the world for them to play autism catch up with the real ones who held purely on principle.

"Yeah but it's different this time around."

You're right. This time you have more knowledge, more support, and more security. You have no excuses.

Back then we had a bunch of retards on Reddit, Andreas Antonopoulos, and a whole lotta copium.

Some people are allergic to success. Others take it.

Choose wisely.

I've been thinking a lot about my nearly 15 years away from the Greek Orthodox Church.

I've come to this conclusion - I don't know if I would have the same ethical values without that upbringing. It's easy to think I would when I had that foundation since birth, but I no longer think it's that simple.

I've been around a lot of secular people. Not all, but many are in a dark place. People who are missing something from their lives. Ones who didn't have an upbringing similar to mine.

I've begun to wonder if these people would benefit from religion in their lives. Some type of positive power to pull them out of the darkness.

I'm not saying I've found Jesus. I haven't.

But more and more I want to be around the people who have.

Because I can't really be around these other people any more. My wife & I have cut most of them out of our lives at this point.

We prefer to spend our time around positive people who are working on building better lives. Building families. Nearly all of them are religious.

We're both very logical people. Religion and logic were like oil and water to me.

But when I look at the state of the world, it's not hard to see the positive impact religion can have on people. That's a very logical conclusion I'm coming to.

Also, I miss a lot of the Greek cultural stuff that I grew up, and it's intertwined with the church. It would be strange, but I'm accepting the idea that returning there, even as someone who isn't religious, feels more right than not going.

Still working through this but wanted to share.

Because bitcoiners are how I got here. The ones having families, going to church, and being decent human beings. Those are the people I want to be around.

The alternative is despair and darkness, and I am not going down that road.

✌️🧡

I don't want to linger too much on horrible events, but the Charlie Kirk assassination has rattled me in a very unexpected way. So much, that I'm still working through it.

It's no secret that humans are capable of evil. We constantly see it online. We've become desensitized to it.

This feels very different, and it's not even the horrible murder itself. Throughout history, non-violent people have been executed for less. Awful, but not unexpected.

What's new is seeing friends, or maybe even family, embrace the evil. Be it with gloating, laughing, indifference, etc. We probably all know someone who has reacted in a very startling way to this murder.

That's hitting hard these past few days.

Politics are irrelevant here. You should be comfortable existing alongside peaceful people who think differently.

What I don't want is to be around people who find pleasure or satisfaction in acts of pure evil.

I'm questioning why I allowed these people to be a part of my life, or how I didn't notice signs earlier. What could I have done better to possibly prevent this?

We're not used to this.

I think we're still processing what this means going forward. Who we allow into our lives, and around our children.

If the overwhelming majority of humans reacted to this tragedy with disgust and empathy, we wouldn't be here.

Unfortunately the evil within some people is worse than realized.

And that's terrifying.

🧡 Austin

Don't miss BitDevs tomorrow. There will be turtle baklava on a stick!

The discussion around corporations buying Bitcoin is so dull and uninteresting.

Easily the most boring and uninspiring topic within Bitcoin that I've ever seen.

Being a bitcoiner comes down to one thing:

You don't like being told what to do.

Companies buying Bitcoin are gaming existing systems.

Bitcoin is redefining the systems.

Oh look, another undeclared, unconstitutional act of war.

The US Constitution is a worthless piece of paper.

Americans are sick of war. You're welcome to go overseas and fight Iran if you think they should be attacked.

Just stop stealing our money to pay for it.

I would rather make less money every year if it means paying less in taxes. That's how much I despise the military industrial complex.

I don't care if my actions have no impact on the state. I'm not contributing towards this shit.

The US has been intervening in the Middle East for decades, causing countless deaths and destruction.

There is no righteous reason for the US to attack Iran.

Fuck the state and fuck the dollar. Put your wealth into Bitcoin before it's too late.

Wanted to say thanks to everyone who came to Mandrik's Meatup III at Fogo in Vegas last week.

I also wanted to thank everyone who enjoyed my baklava. I haven't mentioned this anywhere else, or to anyone else, but the demand for my baklava is there. The product is obviously very good.

Is it time for me to start selling baklava again? I don't know.

I'm thinking about it, though. Maybe I do it during the winter holiday season. Open pre-orders for a limited time, bake all at once, and then ship orders at the same time.

I love baking. I hate handling all the website & shipping stuff. So that's where I am with all this. Sorry to ramble, but I wanted to get that off my brain.

You guys rock. It was a pleasure meeting so many of you in Vegas. I had a blast giving away a record 72lbs of baklava!🧡

Yo, we got a room for 200 at Fogo de Chao Monday at 6PM on the 26th in Vegas. It's going to be the ultimate pleb dinner.

We're gonna fill that fucker up.

I'm guessing you can still get in and get a spot at the table(s) if you show up in time and make a reservation, referencing Mandrik's Meatup. Need to do that through OpenTable.

No overpriced tickets, no guests of honor, no VIPs, no speeches or panels, no books to sign. None of that shit.

Just show up, hang out with plebs, and pay your bill.

Good luck! Hope you get one of those 200 spots. If you don't, just grab a chair from the dining room and make some room. 😂

Really excited to attend b++ in Austin next week. I'm especially pumped for my first time volunteering at a Bitcoin conference.

It's so much fun when you have things to do, plus you have an opportunity to meet a lot of great people.

I'll be bringing the baklava, of course. 😄

🔥PROOF OF WORK🔥

June 25, 2024: 204.6 lbs, 25-28% BF April 26, 2025: 161.2 lbs, 12.3% BF (April 3 DEXA scan)

800+ daily calorie deficit 4x workouts per week 6.1 million steps, 20k daily average

No gimmicks. No skipped gym days.

This is how I did it:👇

I started cutting June 25, 2024 with CoachFHM (Twitter handle) as my trainer, thanks to a referral from

. The goal was to build muscle, but the fat had to go first.

Francis' plan was an aggressive 800+ daily calorie deficit for 6 months. I wanted to stick with the carnivore diet, and he wanted me to eat some yogurt and fruit pre-workout. I compromised and agreed to this macro plan:

2005 calories 60g carbs 205g protein 105g fat

A few months in, I ran into issues trying to stay carnivore while cutting. I went into greater detail here:

https://x.com/Mandrik/status/1864306324160315874

TL;DR - my body needed carbs. It was time for a change.

New daily macros: 1885 calories 185g protein 185g carbs 45g fat

Foods I introduced - sweet potatoes, rice (white & black), lots of fruits and vegetables, bread, and more dairy options.

Things were going well, but it was clear this was going to take longer than six months. I'd have run away if Francis told me 10 months, but I wanted to keep pushing after seeing so much progress.

I took Christmas week off, eating maintenance calories with a light workout schedule. It was a much needed break, but weight loss slowed down from there.

January was rough. I live in the northeast US. Cold, no sun, and eating less. Oh, and I was caffeine-free (still am), which makes cutting extra hard mode.

A perfect storm for losing my mind.

By the end of the month I was cracking, and Francis recognized what was going on. He said it was time for a break - eat maintenance level calories for all of February.

I literally wept with joy that first day. I can't believe the toll this cut was taking on me, and how incredible it felt eating a normal amount of calories.

That month changed me as a human being. I began to recognize I could do normal things, like go to a restaurant and even have a little taste of dessert. Enjoy life without overindulging.

Up until that point I had never experienced this. I never felt in control of my eating. I had to restrict myself from certain foods because I couldn't moderate them. That's why the carnivore diet was so good for me.

Not anymore.

I used this energy for one last push. The goal was always to get in that 10-12% body fat range. My weight dropped down into the high 160s, so I knew I was close. I scheduled a DEXA scan for early April. Results?

Total body fat: 12.3%

I could keep pushing. Try to work towards more ab definition as I worked closer to 10% BF. That sounds great, but I was mentally done. I was getting close to cracking again, spending the past few months waking up at 4AM every day. We agreed to end the cut on April 26 no matter what, so I hung in there.

Now here I am, having just crawled across the finish line. Could I have done better? Of course. I still see body fat around my midsection that would have been nice to lose.

I will always be one of those people who needs to be reminded by others of my accomplishments. I focus on what still needs done vs what I worked so hard to do.

So today I take a step back, and recognize that I've accomplished something that I never in my life thought possible. I spent the past 10 months undoing decades of bad eating decisions.

It's ok to feel great about that. I did it!🔥

So I'm going to celebrate this W. Spend a few weeks going to the gym, eating maintenance level calories. Recovering from this incredible and awful experience.

Then it's on to phase 2:

We build. 🏋️‍♂️

Over half the spots for Mandrik's Meatup in Vegas have already filled up!

I'm working with Fogo to see if we can expand this event to an even larger group.

I hope you can make it if you're in Las Vegas on the eve of The Bitcoin Conference:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mandriks-bitcoin-2025-meatup-tickets-1326133183049

Note: I make absolutely nothing off of this. You'll get a bill at the end of the meal like you would normally. They aren't even comping my meal, as far as I know. 😂

The plan is to take over the restaurant, be excellent to the staff, and have a great time!

🔥ATTENTION NOSTR🔥

Mandrik's Bitcoin 2025 Meatup is taking place 6PM on Monday May 26, 2025 at Fogo de Chão Las Vegas.

All are welcome, and no ticket is required.

You must RSVP through OpenTable, mention "Mandrik's Meatup," and you're all set!

The event page:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mandriks-bitcoin-2025-meatup-tickets-1326133183049

RSVP with Fogo:

https://www.opentable.com/r/fogo-de-chao-brazilian-steakhouse-las-vegas

Select the following: -Number of guests -Date: Monday, May 26, 2025 -6:00PM for time -On the next page, under "Reservation Details," add the note "Mandrik's Meatup." -You're in!

(Note that OpenTable requires a phone number for the reservation)

EVENTBRITE TICKETS DO NOT GUARANTEE A SPOT AT THE DINNER. YOU MUST RSVP VIA OPENTABLE ON OR BEFORE MAY 18!

Hope to see you guys there!

It's ironic that "Another Brick in the Wall" was the #1 song when I was born 45 years ago today.

I wouldn't be a bitcoiner if my journey hadn't included rejecting public school indoctrination.

Fulfillment in life comes from being your own man - not a cog in the machine.

45 years old today, and in the best shape of my life. Feels good. 💪

Going to enjoy a slice of cake for the first time in 15 years. Think I've earned it. 🍰

Special birthday wishes to my boy Satoshi, who turns 50! 🎉

GM 4,AM crew 🌛

See you at btc++ in May, Austin!

Beefsteak Nashville 2024 was extra special when my daughters & I served baklava together.

Haven't been on Nostr much lately. TBH, I'm not much of a fan of the experience on existing Android apps, so I just haven't been using it.

I'm ok waiting a bit and coming back to see how the apps change and grow.

GM ✌️☀️

How do I permanently leave group DMs?

I find these all annoying as hell, especially seeing them in my notifications on amethyst.

What a fucking day yesterday was.

Wow.

Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Short Barreled Rifle https://video.nostr.build/03992e379fa0cc1a10491dd48f7346eeda2330595f25e08d8816b5c72d0d62bc.mp4 https://video.nostr.build/898e4056b96e35ee0a79d9cf5686e9f3946e53766afe1a7f3d6873038d2f3fea.mp4

I'm not religious. There is no combination of words in the English language that you can use to convince me otherwise.

Sometimes, though, I wish there was. To admit anything else would be a lie.

Christianity is on the rise amongst bitcoiners, and I sometimes think of my own experiences with religion because of this.

I grew up in America with the Greek Orthodox church. I was an alter boy, and I went to Greek school after normal school. We were taught Greek culture, religious topics, language, etc.

The church was my social center. More than that, it was an aesthetically pleasing place.

The Byzantine iconography. The smells of incense. The feel of the pews. The beautiful hymns chanted in Greek. The taste of the Eucharist.

As a youth & young adult, the divine liturgy was an experience for the senses. I wanted to believe. The idea of a greater power watching over us is very powerful. It gives a man purpose.

Alas, I could not believe. I do not believe. It's not me.

True believers show up every Sunday, but there are also the ones present for the social aspects. It's what they grew up with. They go through the motions, live their lives as decent humans, but are likely too afraid to confront their beliefs.

I couldn't respect myself if I did this. I can't be inauthentic to myself and to the true believers in attendance.

Being honest with myself meant leaving the church. It was like denouncing the club, removing myself from a social circle that was the foundation for much of my life.

It left a space that I've done my best to fill.

I think the world would be a better place if everyone lived by the general teachings of Jesus. If we were kind to others. Love your neighbor, forgive people, and all that. This is decent human behavior.

I try to live my life this way, but it is not easy.

This post isn't a cry for help. Deep down, I'm not trying to be convinced. Much like my journey with the carnivore diet, and diet in general, only my own experiences will convince me. I remain unconvinced.

I'm glad some of you are true believers, and I wish you peace and happiness on your spiritual journies. 🧡