"celebrated graphic designer" | working for bitcoin @spiralbtc
Joined August 2007
- Tweets 5,019
- Following 3,846
- Followers 2,619
- Likes 5,517
202 Photos and videos
This morning, my 7-year-old is off to the dentist for a filling. My eldest is staying home with a nasty cough. Meanwhile, my daughters are dressed as bumble bees and unicorn fairies. And it’s day #1 at @spiralbtc.
It might not seem like it, but all these things are the dream.
27 May 2025
We hired another one… only this time… he’s Canadian. And, yes, in his own words, all of the stereotypes apply. He’s a poutine-pounding, Hockey-hooter and hollerer, one man infinite politeness machine. Please welcome @matbalez to Spiral. (We still need a new hire graphic.)
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i am an enjoyer of @lexeapp
it makes building & experimenting with lightning easy and (dare i say) fun
happen to be building something with it as i tweet this
Introducing the Lexe CLI.
Only three commands to a self-custodial mainnet Lightning wallet:
$ curl -fsSL lexe.app/install-cli.sh | bash
$ lexe init
$ lexe create-invoice
It runs in an enclave, is always online, is hosted for free, and only you hold the keys. 20 second demo 👇
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i love @PhoenixWallet—it's been my daily driver for years
i would love it even more if it adopted the ₿
so clean
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Mat Balez retweeted
May 27
₿ keeps bitcoin's brand on every price tag until the end of what we third-dimensional inhabitants naively call time.
i'm spreading new love for use of the ₿ symbol:
bsymbol.org/
what's inside?
- the case for expressing bitcoin with ₿
- teach your agent the skill
- edit a screenshot
- keyboard shortcuts for typing
- list of wallets that have adopted
- many instances of ₿
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🚨 experimental app alert: babelagent.xyz/
listen to the live @PresidioPod podcast *right now*—in any language you'd like
... in exchange for streaming lightning payments via MPP
LMK any feedback!
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Mat Balez retweeted
May 20
.@matbalez does it again
Babel Agent (babelagent.xyz/) feels like the ideal bitcoin app - useful, simple, and quietly powered by Lightning.
PBJ on the next wave of great bitcoin apps ↓
Timestamps:
0:00 - Explaining Babel-Agent
3:00 - Testing real-time audio in other languages
4:08 - Bitcoin payments behind Babel (using @lexeapp)
6:51 - Why it doesn't feel like bitcoin & the first million-dollar bitcoin app
11:00 - New ways podcasts can earn bitcoin
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i'm spreading new love for use of the ₿ symbol:
bsymbol.org/
what's inside?
- the case for expressing bitcoin with ₿
- teach your agent the skill
- edit a screenshot
- keyboard shortcuts for typing
- list of wallets that have adopted
- many instances of ₿
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Mat Balez retweeted
May 13
The best article I’ve ever read on agentic money, by Spiral’s @matbalez.
spiralbtc.substack.com/p/the…
#Bitcoin #Stablecoins #Lightning ⚡️
@shoneanstey @BitcoinWhitcomb @freddienew @KyleHutch_ @davelund_ @LQWDTech @LQWDClaw @RickZabel_WNY @spiralbtc @CashApp @OpenAI @z @LangChain
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in poem form:
agents need to pay for things;
but how should they do it?
stablecoins work;
but what are the tradeoffs?
bitcoin works (~even better);
but how to drive adoption?
May 13
AGENTIC PAYMENTS
🤜 STABLECOINS VS BITCOIN 🤛
🏆 WHO WILL WIN? WHO DESERVES TO WIN? 🏆
@MATBALEZ INVESTIGATES
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Mat Balez retweeted
May 12
Meet Loupe, an AI-powered vulnerability scanner for open-source bitcoin projects. Attackers already use AI to find weaknesses. Maintainers should do the same.
Bitcoin Core, BDK, LDK, rust-bitcoin, Cashu, Jade, bitcoinj, and SRI are already onboard.
spiralbtc.substack.com/p/mee…
May 12
loupe
[NOUN]
1) A small magnifying tool used by jewelers to detect imperfections in gemstones.
2) An AI-powered vulnerability scanner for open-source bitcoin projects, designed by Block and Spiral to surface flaws before attackers do.
spiralbtc.substack.com/p/mee…
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“now the job is builder”
yes
Programmers, PMs, and designers are in a three-way Mexican standoff.
.@pmarca says the new job title is "builder."
"The programmers think that they don't need the product managers and the designers anymore because they can have AI do that."
"Each of the other two doesn't think they need the other two either."
"What I've been predicting is they're all correct."
"The product manager can generate code and design now, and each of them can do the job of all three."
"Now the job is builder."
"It's entirely possible that we're sitting here in 10 years... the job of coder is gone, but you have this extraordinary number of builders running around."
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playing with @tether wallet today
tried to pay a ₿150 BOLT11 Lightning invoice, but the app doesn’t pre-fill the amount 😬
kind of a showstopper for making everyday Lightning payments!
/cc @paoloardoino please fix 🙏
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sport meets art
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Mat Balez retweeted
Apr 16
Can’t wait for this event and to see all the cool things people build with agents that can earn. Sign up, and if you’re in SF, join me and @moneyball at @PresidioBitcoin!
Apr 16
Linn Bieske, AI Product Manager and Co-Founder at Hack-Nation, joins @Hberkoe on 21 in 21 to discuss the upcoming April 25th hackathon and @spiralbtc’s challenge to participants.
Applications close in 2 days. Apply now for a chance to compete and win a meeting with @jack.
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build something cool that agents will pay for
Apr 15
We’re sponsoring a Hack-Nation global AI hackathon challenge (Apr 25–26) focused on how agents can earn using the Lightning Network. The winning team gets a 1:1 with @jack.
Apply by 4/17 to participate remotely, in person at @PresidioBitcoin, or at a Hack-Nation hub near you.
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Mat Balez retweeted
Apr 14
Our Quantum Bitcoin Summit last July helped push bitcoin’s quantum discussion forward.
Today we're publishing Bitcoin's Quantum Readiness, a living paper on bitcoin's exposure, mitigation menu, upgrade paths, and plausible transition scenarios. 🧵👇
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