Why Bitcoiners Need Merka

Bitcoin taught us the importance of eliminating trusted third parties. Yet, many Bitcoiners still rely on cloud providers or third-party services to run their nodes, manage backups, or store sensitive data. This reliance introduces unnecessary risks and compromises the very sovereignty Bitcoin promises.

Merka was built to solve exactly this problem—providing Bitcoiners with infrastructure as sovereign as Bitcoin itself.

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The Bitcoin Sovereignty Stack

Merka integrates Bitcoin infrastructure directly into your own hardware, ensuring complete autonomy and privacy:

Self-Hosted Bitcoin Node

Merka runs a robust, spam-resistant Bitcoin full node by default, ensuring you always have a reliable, private, and censorship-resistant connection to the Bitcoin network.

Local Transaction Indexing

Merka includes a local transaction indexing system, providing full visibility into your transactions without relying on external APIs or third-party explorers. Your financial privacy remains intact.

Private Mempool Explorer

Explore transactions, fees, and blocks privately and locally. No external service sees your queries or knows your interests.

Decentralized Mining Coordination

Merka provides decentralized mining templates, allowing you to coordinate mining operations privately and securely, without third-party dependencies.

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Secure by Design: Protecting Your Bitcoin Infrastructure

Merka’s security model is built specifically to protect sensitive Bitcoin infrastructure:

Root Secure Device

A dedicated secure device (such as a Raspberry Pi) holds master secrets, unseal keys, and bootstrap keys, physically separated from your main infrastructure.

Intermediate Secure Layer

Day-to-day secrets and operational keys are managed securely within your infrastructure, isolated from external threats.

Guardian Agent: Physical Tamper Protection

Merka includes physical tamper detection—wired tamper switches and motion sensors—that proactively seal secrets and halt services if unauthorized physical access is detected.

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Robust Backup and Recovery for Bitcoiners

Merka ensures your Bitcoin infrastructure is resilient and recoverable, even in catastrophic scenarios:

nostr nsec1: Deterministic Recovery

Your nostr nsec1 serves as your master secret—the single cryptographic key that can rebuild your entire Bitcoin infrastructure from scratch. This eliminates complex backup schemes while maintaining complete sovereignty over your keys and data.

Your entire infrastructure state is derived from your nostr nsec1, allowing deterministic recovery from scratch.

Mnemonic-Based Unseal Shares

Critical secrets are distributed as human-readable mnemonic phrases, ensuring you can always recover your infrastructure without relying on external services.

3-2-1 Backup Strategy

Merka implements a robust backup strategy—3 copies, 2 media types, 1 remote location—ensuring your Bitcoin infrastructure is always recoverable.

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Why Merka Matters for Bitcoiners

Bitcoiners understand the importance of sovereignty, privacy, and security. Merka extends these principles beyond money, applying them directly to your infrastructure:

• ✅ Fully self-hosted Bitcoin node
• ✅ Local transaction indexing and mempool exploration
• ✅ Decentralized mining coordination
• ✅ Physical and digital security layers
• ✅ Deterministic, human-survivable recovery
• ✅ Zero third-party dependency

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Take Back Your Bitcoin Infrastructure

Bitcoin sovereignty doesn’t stop at holding your keys—it extends to every aspect of your digital life. Merka empowers Bitcoiners to run their infrastructure with the same uncompromising standards Bitcoin itself demands.

Merka: Infrastructure as sovereign as your Bitcoin.