I’m joined by guests Steve Lee, Future Paul & Stephan Livera, to go through the list.

Listen on your favorite podcast app:

Housekeeping

  • 00:01:44 OpenSats Call for more applications
  • 00:05:08 Understanding reproducible builds https://github.com/Coldcard/firmware/blob/master/docs/notes-on-repro.md (http://reproducible.app shortcut)

Security updates

Bitcoin

Software Releases & Project Updates

  • 00:23:30 Coldcard Mk4 6.0.0X - First Edge release
    • Taproot:
      • Taproot keyspend & Tapscript multisig sortedmulti_a (tree depth = 0)
      • Paper wallets can be P2TR address format.
      • Limitations:
        • Only TREE of depth 0 is allowed
        • Max 32 signers in TR multisig, only allowed script is: sortedmulti_a
        • If we can sign by both key path and script path: key path has precedence.
    • BIP-0129 Bitcoin Secure Multisig Setup (BSMS)
      • Both Coordinator and Signer roles are supported.
      • Encryption and decimal and hex tokens are supported.
  • 00:29:28 Liana v1.0: Miami sunrise
    • Feature: The createspend command now allows you to not provide any destination. In this case it will create a send-to-self transaction containing a single change output.
    • GUI: Overall there is a new layout and color scheme. The “draft transactions” menu was renamed to the more common “PSBTs”.
    • GUI: The homepage now features a list of payments, instead of transactions.
    • GUI: The spend transaction creation process is now contained in a single screen. It allows you to easily create a send-to-self transaction by not specifying any recipient.
    • GUI: The homepage will now feature an approximation of the remaining time before the first recovery path becomes available.
    • GUI: The homepage now features a button to refresh all coins whose recovery path is available (or close to be), if there is any.
    • GUI: Entries in the coins list now features a button to refresh a coin (create a send-to-self transaction in order to restart the timelock).
    • GUI: You can now generate multiple receive addresses in a row.
    • GUI: We now display the alias of signing devices (if any) in the final installer step.
  • 00:33:55 nunchuk-android v1.9.30
    • Message signing for Tapsigner and software keys
    • Add wallet force refresh option
  • 00:34:10 Mempool.space:
  • 00:42:17 electrum v4.4.3 (May 11, 2023)
    • Intentionally break multisig wallets that have heterogeneous master keys.
    • Versions 4.4.0 to 4.4.2 of Electrum for Android did not check that master keys used the same script type. This may have resulted in the creation of multisig wallets that that cannot be spent from with any existing version of Electrum.
    • It is not sure whether any users are affected by this.
  • 00:42:47 Mercury Wallet v0.8.13
    • Dynamic backup tx base fees
    • Hidden service electrum endpoints
    • Required upgrade
  • 00:43:30 BlueWallet v6.4.3
    • ADD: Enable lightning/offchain wallet transactions to be exported to csv
  • 00:43:57 libwally-core v0.9.0
    • Contains a security fix for users of gcc v13 and later in the underlying libsecp256k1-zkp library. Affected users are strongly advised to update.
    • PSBT: Add support for taproot key-spending finalization and signing
    • Descriptor: Optimizations and new functions for better embedded/small platform support
    • BIP85: Add support for deriving BIP39 entropy from a BIP85 root extended key
    • Elements: Add support for Elements asset coin selection
    • Update to the latest secp-zkp master for gcc v13+ fixes
    • Fix detection of mbed-tls hardware sha256 support
    • Fix alignment issues under Rasbian, improve hashing performance for other targets without unaligned access
    • Allow –no-asm builds to work on all platforms
  • 00:44:54 startOS (Formerly EmbassyOS) v0.3.4.2
    • Highlights
    • Update build system for Server Lite and NUC-based Server One
    • Update to Linux v6.1
    • Rename embassyOS to StartOS
    • PWA support for StartOS web interface. (You can now save StartOS to your phone as an app.)
  • 00:45:57 Robosats v0.5.0-alpha
    • This one comes with a lot of the pre-requisites needed for a coordinator backend that is fully enabled for the federated frontend. We are now ~80% in our development towards the MVP federation, soon initiating the decentralization RoboSats!
    • Referral reward system has been eliminated. The referral system is not compatible with a multi-coordinator system.
    • Fairer bond slashing. The max range size can now be safely increased for more versatile orders. It has now been increased from x8 to x15.
    • Max allowed mining fee for onchain payouts is raised from 100 Sats/vByte to 500 Sats/vByte. This limit is intended only to prevent fat-fingers mistakes. However, current mempool conditions do require fees larger than 100 Sats/vByte.
    • Some easy disputes (e.g. your peer never shows up) are solved automatically.
  • 00:46:31 mycitadel-desktop v1.3 (Pacific Eclipse)
    • MyCitadel 1.3 ships with support for more advanced miniscripts with account- based time-locked multi-sigs and multiple user interface improvements.
    • Core functionality: Account-based multi-sigs with time-locks and complex miniscript descriptors. This adds ability to compose complex time-locked conditions involving same signers in different time-locks (for instance having 2-of-4 multi-sig which in 1 year becomes 1-of-2).
    • UI improvement: Double-click on addresses copies address to clipboard
    • UI improvement: Double-click on history entry copies transaction id to clipboard
    • UI improvement: Double-click on coin entry copies outpoint information to clipboard
    • UI improvement: Added displaying of unused addresses, visually distinguished from used
    • UI improvement: Notification on the main screen to subscribe app updates
  • 00:48:31 Blockstream Green Desktop v1.2.0
    • MacOS universal build
    • Support Wayland
  • 00:48:53 Parmanode
    • [v3.2.2]
      • Parmanode with Sparrow Wallet - Linux and Mac
      • Sparrow added; connects to own node automatically
      • version.conf added to check for hard forks of this software on upgrades
      • improved flow testing directory placement of parmanode.git
      • update paramnode from within software automatically
      • Intro more brief
      • installs git on Linux systems
    • [v3.2.0]
      • Mempool Space added for Mac
    • [v3.1.0]
      • Mempool Space added for Linux
    • [v3.0.0]
      • LND for Linux
      • Menus now change dynamically depending on what has been installed.
      • Uninstall any version below 3 to use, but blockchain data need not be deleted.
  • 00:49:16 Whirlpool 0.23.36
    • Add surges
    • Add config: server.miner-fees.surge-relay-fee, server.pools[x].surge
  • 00:52:14 Orange Pill App 1.2.5
    • Added events counter
    • Clicking on near you now refresh the homepage
    • Added user email next to logout

      Project spotlight

  • 00:52:39 Lnscribe.xyz - Backup Lightning Channel State on Bitcoin’s Immutable Storage with Inscriptions
    • Lnscribe is a lightningd plugin that exports your channel state, encrypts it with your private key, and incribes the output on a Bitcoin block with ord. Using the same private key, you can decrypt the data and import it to restore your channel state in the event of loss.
  • 00:54:29 Joltz rewards - Loyalty platform enabling brands of any size to offer their customers bitcoin rewards and digital assets.
    • First Bitcoin Rewards Plug-In For Shopify and WooCommerce
  • 00:54:38 The Bitcoin Legacy Project - Through an interactive timeline, take a deep dive into the complete history of the only cryptocurrency worth owning, Bitcoin.
  • 00:55:18 lndk
    • LNDK is a standalone daemon that connects to LND (via its grpc API) that aims to implement bolt 12 functionality externally to LND
    • LNDK leverages the lightning development kit to provide functionality, acting as a thin “shim” between LND’s APIs and LDK’s lightning library.

Lightning & L2

Software Releases & Project Updates

  • 00:58:15 Cashu v0.12.0 (Big nut energy)
    • Wallet: New TokenV3 format - The new TokenV3 format makes it a lot easier to parse Cashu tokens. It is already supported by all known Cashu wallets.
    • Wallet: coin selection of all tokens from old epochs - If the a mint rotates its keys to a new epoch, the wallet will now automatically select all coins from past epochs and redeem them for new ones. That means that all tokens in the wallet should be from the latest epoch which is a requirement for making the Proof of Liabilities Scheme for Ecash work.
    • Wallet: New REST API - This is a huge improvement for the wallet’s utility. This update provides a simple REST API for almost all of the functionality of the wallet that is otherwise accessible via the command line interface. This will make it a lot easier to write apps that can use the Nutshell wallet in the background, for example faucets or other third party software that wants to use Nutshell.
    • NUT updates: NUT-09: mint info & NUT-04: payment hash
    • Misc:
      • Mint: Allow setting as peg-out only by @sihamon in #160
      • Mint settings: add mint derivation path by @callebtc in #166
      • Wallet: enable Tor tests in CI by @callebtc in #185
  • 01:04:01 Mutiny
    • mutiny-node v0.3.4
      • Nostr Wallet Connect support has been added. A NWC connection string is made so that it may be imported into Nostr clients like Damus or Amethyst so that one-tap zaps can happen non-custodially. This requires eventually opening the wallet if it is not running in the background (ie, iOS).
      • The storage components have been refactored and all the web assembly related storage code has been moved out of mutiny-core and live solely in mutiny-wasm. This is for our continued effort to move to multi platform support besides just web browsers.
      • Some general improvements to network graph data and rapid gossip sync.
      • Allows opening channels directly with the LSP more seemlessly by default (minor API change to allow not passing in a pubkey manually when opening channel so it defaults to the connected LSP).
    • mutiny-wallet
      • Test New Fedi alpha signet with Mutiny signet-app
      • Features:
        • Non-custodial On-chain and Lightning
        • LSP support with Voltage Cloud
        • Receive Lightning payments without needing a channel
        • Open a channel to any other node or Mutiny user
        • Tag lightning payments and UTXOs
        • Experimental Nostr Wallet Connect support
        • LNURL Pay and Auth support
        • Backup wallet data and import into another browser
  • 01:11:23 Alby
    • v2.0.0 (Twilight in a Flower)
      • UI upgrades
      • New account management features
      • Updated to web extension manifest v3
    • Castamatic Partnership
      • Castamatic is jumping on the bandwagon to support the Value 4 Value (V4V) movement by enabling bitcoin payment streaming via the lightning network
      • Listeners that toped up their Alby wallet with Bitcoin/Satoshis are now able to directly support their favorite podcasts shows with one tap. Castamatic offers three different types of transactions from payment streaming, one-time boosts to ‘boostagrams’.
      • Getting started:
        • Download the Castamatic app
        • Set up a free Alby account and top it up in case you haven’t gone one yet
        • Find a V4V enabled show via Castamatic or check out Podcastindex.org
        • V4V-enabled episodes show a button to connect your Alby wallet. All set!
        • Start streaming payments or send boosts directly while you are listening
        • Add individual messages in each transaction for your beloved creators
  • 01:12:27 lnbits 0.10.7
    • Adding IT properly
    • Fix old payments endpoint for lndhub
    • Added Welsh
    • Extend bar for mobile
    • Translated en.js to Polish
    • Merges extensions into one page
    • Fix: get_payments crud default Filter values
    • Add user role
  • 01:12:52 Core Lightning v23.05: Austin Texas Agreement(ATXA)
    • Highlights for Users
      • NEW commando-blacklist and commando-listrunes RPCs for blacklisting and listing stored runes.
      • NEW feerates added 2 new options as “minimum” and NN”blocks”. Use explicit block counts or slow/normal/urgent/minimum.
      • listclosedchannels RPC to show old, dead channels.
      • reckless added support for node.js plugin installation and for networks beyond bitcoin and regtest.
      • Spending unilateral close transactions now use dynamic fees based on deadlines (and RBF), instead of fixed fees.
    • Highlights for the Network
      • Blinded payments are now supported by default.
      • Now always double-check bitcoin addresses are correct (no memory errors!) before issuing them.
      • Allow slight overpaying, even with MPP, as spec now recommends.
  • 01:14:37 TORQ v0.22.1
    • Torq can now we used with CLN! (It is still an experimental version.)
    • Function to move funds between nodes (for multiple nodes).
    • Tables containing node specific data, like the channels table, now has a color code. This can be chosen in the node settings.
    • Peers Table improved.
    • Nodes can be added from the dashboard.
    • Improved adding and removing tags.
    • Forwards table is much faster.
    • Chart configurations are now remembered.
  • 01:14:51 Satimoto v0.4.4 (Pre-release)
    • This release adds Breez SDK as a backend provider to the Satimoto mobile application.
    • Breez SDK uses Blockstream Greenlight as a virtual node provider, so the node does not need to run on the device.
    • Reduced syncing time, better battery life and improved payment handling.
    • Settings have been restructured and extended to add optional setting of battery information to improve invoice estimation and the ability to confirm a charge session has started and claim satsback.
  • 01:15:10 Swisspay
    • 1.8.0
      • You can now register with an x/y/z/tPubs, and Lightning Addresses.
      • If you register with a Lightning Address, you will receive your sats on your wallet directly after each payment.
    • Swiss Bitcoin Pay Card
  • 01:15:20 Polar v2.0.0-rc3
    • feat: add support for Taproot Assets Protocol nodes
    • feat(mining): automatically mine new blocks
    • feat(images): add support for LND v0.16.1-beta and v0.16.2-beta
  • 01:15:33 Nayuta Wallet v0.1.8
    • Application icon updated
    • Lapps: THNDR games added
  • 01:15:46 Wavlake
    • Favourites playlist
    • Basic fan profiles
  • 01:15:55 River
    • [LNURL] implemented

      Project spotlight

  • 01:15:59 Zap Planner by Alby Labs
    • Recurring payments are lightning transfers sent within time intervals defined by you.
    • Example: 100 sats every hour or 1,000 sats per day.
    • They are possible thanks to Nostr Wallet Connect.
    • Use ZapPlanner to plan your recurring payments eg. to provide continual support to your favourite V4V creators.
  • 01:17:07 Vortex: Lightning and Taproot enabled collaborative transactions
    • Vortex allows you to take the next step in your Lightning privacy journey. With privacy-preserving collaborative transactions, you can now open Lightning channels without worry of bad actors surveilling your wallet. Not opening any channels? Use the taproot collaborative transactions to preserve your privacy for your on-chain utxos for a later date.
    • Vortex is the first taproot enabled collaborative transaction project. Taproot lays the foundation for a new era of privacy and fungibility in bitcoin. Vortex takes one of the first steps in this direction and aims to be the on the forefront of this new era.
  • 01:18:51 Etta Wallet: A reference open-source non-custodial lightning wallet
    • Built with React Native for Android & iOS
    • Written in Typescript
    • Fully customizable with designed components
    • Built with accessibility in mind
    • Built-in localization
    • Open source
    • The project is strongly inspired by Bitcoin Design Community’s daily spending wallet and will continue to evolve with their sound suggestions.

Nostr

Software Releases & Project Updates

  • 01:19:22 Damus
    • 1tapzap incorporated with Alby’s Nostr Wallet Connect
    • Damus joins the ranks of early adopters like Amethyst and Snort by embracing this standard
    • Users can augment each payment with an extra amount, creating a new source of income to support its development.
    • How to join the #1tapzap party
      • Click on ‘Wallet’ in the Damus menu. You’ll find it behind your avatar icon.
      • Click on ‘Attach Alby Wallet’
      • Log in or create an account and confirm’ the connection to Damus
      • You are redirected to Damus and can finish by clicking on ‘Attach’

Project spotlight

  • 01:20:02 nostr-zap - Zap any Nostr npub from anywhere.
    • Add a nostr-zap-target id to an element on your site and specify a target npub using a data-npub attribute.
    • Optionally, you can specify relays that you’d like the zap receipt published to using a data-relays attribute.
    • If you don’t add a data-relays attribute, the zap receipt will be blasted out to the top 300 relays using Blastr (wss://nostr.mutinywallet.com).
    • If the user doesn’t have an ext that supports nip-07 installed or does not authorize signing the zap event, an anonymous zap will be sent.
  • 01:21:05 nostr-control - A Core Lightning plugin that allows you talk to your node over Nostr DM. It also will send you events from your nod e over Nostr DMs
  • 01:21:35 Wasabi Nostr - A simple application that allows you to discover Wabisabi coordinators over Nostr and quickly configure your Wasabi wallet to use them.

Boosts

  • 01:23:15 Thanks to everyone who streamed sats, and shoutout to our top boosters:
    • @apemithrandir note: Pronounced ‘Ape Myth-ran-deer’
      • (7,777 sats) “fees go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”
      • (7,777 sats) “wen splicing 4 real? pls ser mi familia cannot afford these onchain fees”
    • @obex (10,420 sats) “BTC Map is okay. The Open Source Maps system they leverage is not BTC oriented and they want your physical address, which is not aproriate for many. Satmap.app is better on that front. Did not know about it until this pod! Thank youhhhhhhhh
 Love you NVK”
    • @northofthewall (2,121 sats, 3,333 sats)
    • @vake (2500 sats) “another informative discussion 🙏”
    • @hipocrates (1800 sats) “Helping with a cold one. Cheers!”
    • @dubravko (1000 sats) “there is so much stuff to check out that it is hard to move on any of it.”

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter

  • [251]
    • Testing HTLC endorsement:
      • Several weeks ago, Carla Kirk-Cohen and Clara Shikhelman posted to the Lightning-Dev mailing list about the next steps they and others planned to take to test the idea of HTLC endorsement (see Newsletter #239) as part of a mitigation for channel jamming attacks. Most notably, they provided a short proposed specification that could be deployed using an experimental flag, preventing deployments of it from having any effect on interactions with non-participating nodes.
    • 01:25:52 Request for feedback on proposed specifications for LSPs:
      • Severin BĂŒhler posted to the Lightning-Dev mailing list a request for feedback on two specifications for interoperability between Lightning Service Providers (LSPs) and their clients (usually non-forwarding LN nodes). The first specification describes an API for allowing a client to purchase a channel from an LSP. The second describes an API for setting up and managing Just-In-Time (JIT) channels, which are channels that start their lives as virtual payment channels; when the first payment to the virtual channel is received, the LSP broadcasts a transaction that will anchor the channel onchain when it is confirmed (making it into a regular channel).
    • Challenges with zero-conf channels when dual funding:
      • Bastien Teinturier posted to the Lightning-Dev mailing list about the challenges of allowing zero-conf channels when using the dual-funding protocol. Zero-conf channels can be used even before the channel open transaction is confirmed; this is trustless in some cases. Dual-funded channels are channels that were created using the dual-funding protocol, which may include channels where the open transaction contains inputs from both parties in the channel.
    • Advanced payjoin applications:
      • Dan Gould posted to the Bitcoin-Dev mailing list several suggestions for using the payjoin protocol to do more than just send or receive a simple payment. Two of the suggestions we found most interesting were versions of transaction cut-through, an old idea for improving privacy, improving scalability, and reducing fee costs:
        • Payment forwarding: rather than Alice paying Bob, Alice instead pays Bob’s vendor (Carol), reducing a debt he owes her (or pre-paying for an expected future bill).
        • Batched payment forwarding: rather than Alice paying Bob, Alice instead pays several people Bob owes money (or wants to establish a credit with). Gould’s example considers an exchange that has a steady stream of deposits and withdrawals; payjoin allows withdrawals to be paid for by new deposits when possible.
        • Both of these techniques allow reducing what would be at least two transactions into a single transaction, saving a considerable amount of block space. When batching is used, the space savings may be even larger. Even better from the perspective of the original receiver (e.g. Bob), the original spender (e.g. Alice) may pay all or some of the fees. Beyond the space and fee savings, removing transactions from the block chain and combining operations like receiving and spending makes it significantly more difficult for block chain surveillance organizations to reliably trace the flow of funds.
    • 01:30:15 Summaries of Bitcoin Core developers in-person meeting:
      • several developers working on Bitcoin Core recently met to discuss aspects of the project. Topics we think deserve special attention:
        • Mempool clustering summarizes a suggestion for a significant redesign of how transactions and their metadata are stored in Bitcoin Core’s mempool. The notes describe a number of problems with the current design, provide an overview of the new design, and suggest some of the challenges and tradeoffs involved. A description of the design and a copy of the slides from the presentation were later published.
        • Project meta discussion summarizes a varied discussion about the project’s goals and how to achieve them despite many challenges, both internal and external. Some of the discussion has already led to experimental changes in the project’s management, such as a more project-focused approach for the next major release after version 25.
  • [250]
    • Paper about PoWswap protocol:
      • Thomas Hartman posted to the Bitcoin-Dev mailing list about a paper he has written with Gleb Naumenko and Antoine Riard about the PoWSwap protocol first proposed by Jeremy Rubin.
      • Powswap allows the creation of onchain-enforceable contracts related to the change in hash rate.
      • The basic idea takes advantage of the protocol-enforced relationship between time and block production plus the ability to express time locks in either time or blocks.
      • There are several envisioned applications of this type of contract:
        • Hashrate increase insurance
        • Hashrate decrease insurance
        • Exchange rate contracts

News & Noteworthy

Lightning & L2

  • 01:37:53 Burak announces Ark
    • Ark is a second-layer solution designed to help scale Bitcoin transactions by using a shared utxo model that enables anonymous, off-chain payments through an untrusted intermediary called the Ark Service Provider (ASP). ASPs are always-on servers that provide liquidity to the network, similar to how Lightning service providers work.
    • The protocol allows recipients to receive payments without an onboarding setup, such as acquiring inbound liquidity while preserving their receiver privacy.
    • It uses virtual utxos, to enable anonymous, scalable, off-chain payments. ASPs provide liquidity to the network and charge fees for their services.
  • 01:46:15 MicroStrategy announces Lightning Platform [Brochure]
    • A new software platform to address enterprise-specific use cases with the Lightning Network.
  • 01:46:28 Wallet of Satoshi Has Processed 9,000,000 LN Payments [Stacker News]
  • 01:46:46 Zebedeeio announce the Node.js SDK for the ZEBEDEE API [Announcement]
    • Simple integration of lightning payments in apps and games

      Privacy

  • 01:47:02 BULL BITCOIN becomes a No-KYC exchange [Announcement/Blog post]
    • How it works:
      • QR code in your Bull Bitcoin account
      • Go to any Canada Post office
      • Ask cashier to scan QR code
      • Pay with cash or debit (max $999)
      • Funds added to your account in 10 minutes
      • Buy Bitcoin on-chain for via Lightning
      • Sent to your own wallet
  • 01:47:08 HODL HODL and BISQ announce lightning integration (coming soon)
  • 01:47:37 Lava Launched in Miami
  • 01:49:37 Amboss Technologies is collecting personal information about the Lightning Network and its users and selling it to third parties as chain analytics software according to their very own Privacy Policy [Stacker News]
    • Data includes: Third-Party Collections, Source of Funds, KYC-Level Identity, Lightning Network Data Collection, Balance Sharing

      Integration

  • 01:51:06 One of Mexico’s largest internet providers Total Play integrated #Bitcoin Lightning payments [Bitcoin Magazine]
  • 01:51:16 IBEX Mercado, a bitcoin Lightning payment service provider, has announced a new partnership with Grupo Salinas, one of the largest corporate conglomerates in Mexico. [Bitcoin Magazine]
    • “Over four million Mexicans can now pay with bitcoin for their cable, internet, and phone service,” IBEX’s CEO Jose Lemus said on stage as he announced the partnership.

      Business News

  • 01:51:23 Strike expands Bitcoin payments to 65 countries, moves global headquarters to El Salvador [Coindesk]
    • The global money app for fast, safe payments and #bitcoin is now available for 3 billion people in 65+ countries
  • 01:51:39 Paxful is back online [Announcement]
    • The announcement did not supply any details regarding current leadership or the lawsuit that led to the suspension of operations.
    • “I do not vouch in anyway for anything that is happening there now” -@raypaxful
  • 01:51:48 Stripe announced the launch of a Stripe-hosted fiat-to-crypto onramp, making it easier for companies to integrate bitcoin and crypto purchases for their cutomers [Announcement]
  • You can now buy Azteco Bitcoin vouchers in Brazil. [Announcement]
    • Pay with cash at over 126,000 locations, by Pix, or online with a bank transfer.
  • 01:54:35 Bitcoin Rewards Company Fold Expands to El Salvador as Base for Latin American Operations [Press Release]
  • 01:54:54 Bottlepay app is closing on Monday 24th July 2023. [Announcement]
  • 01:54:59 Bittrex Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware on Monday, less than a month after the Securities and Exchange Commissions charged it with running an unregistered exchange. [The Block]

    Funding

  • 01:55:06 Fedi
    • Raises $17 Million in Series A Round [Announement]
      • The financing round was led by Ego Death Capital, with participation from TBD, part of Block, Kingsway, Trammell Venture Partners, and Timechain. The Series A brings the total amount raised by Fedi to $21.21 million.
      • Earlier seed round investors included Ten 31, Hivemind, Steve Lee, and Recursive Capital. Fedi is led by CEO Nwosu, who co-founded the company with Eric Sirion and Justin Moon.
    • Announced the global launch of the builder-centred Fedi Alpha [Announcement]
      • Fedi Alpha is the first public release from the company and the foundation of the world’s first Federated OS, a new category of technology designed to help you take back control of your money, your data, and more, through the power of community.
      • Builders will be able to test the functionality of Fedi Alpha in a publicly available Signet
      • The company will also provide tools to help enthusiasts set up and host their own federations with Fedimint
  • 01:56:32 HRF gifts 16.5 BTC (~$455,000) via its Bitcoin Development Fund to support 12 projects worldwide
    • Grant #1: $100,000 to Calvin Kim for his work on Utreexo
    • Grant #2: $50,000 to 0xB10C for their work on Bitcoin Core tracepoints, P2P monitoring, fork observer, mining pool observer, and Bitcoin data
    • Grant #3: $50,000 to Calle for Cashu, a free and open source protocol that enables Chaumian ecash on top of Bitcoin
    • Grant #4: $50,000 to Meron Estefanos for the creation of Bitcoin Innovation Hub Uganda
    • Grant #5: $50,000 to Kieran for Snort.Social, a web client of Nostr, a decentralized, censorship-resistant, open-source, social networking protocol
    • Grant #6: $50,000 to Rootzoll for Raspiblitz, a do-it-yourself lightning node that can be run on a Raspberry Pi
    • Grant #7: $25,000 to BOB Space BKK for their Thailand residency program
    • Grant #8: $25,000 to World Liberty Congress for the Freedom Academy, a program that equips activists with the tools, resources, and support needed in the struggle against authoritarianism
    • Grant #9: $25,000 to Hampus Sjöberg for Blixt Wallet, a non-custodial open-source Bitcoin and lightning wallet
    • Grant #10: $10,000 to Nourou for Bitcoin SĂ©nĂ©gal, a group that hosts meetups, creates educational content, and onboards local merchants to Bitcoin
    • Grant #11: $10,000 to Charlene Fadirepo for the Bitcoin in Africa Show, which provides education, insights, and thoughtful conversations to deepen the understanding of Bitcoin across the African continent and beyond
    • Grant #12: $10,000 to Lorraine Marcel for Bitcoin DADA, a women-centric organization with contributors based in Kenya and beyond that educates African women in the Bitcoin space 🇰đŸ‡Ș
  • 01:56:45 River Raises $35 Million In Series B Funding Round Led By Kingsway Capital [Press Release]
  • 01:56:50 Tether will regularly allocate up to 15% of its net realized operating profits towards purchasing Bitcoin. [Announcement]
    • These Bitcoin shall be considered on top of the minimum reserves assets that 100% back tether tokens.
  • 01:58:32 Brink has partnered with Marathon Digital to raise $1,000,000 for funding Bitcoin Core development. [Announcement]
    • Marathon will be matching all 501c3 tax deductible donations to Brink up to $500,000

      Mining

  • Marathon Digital Holdings and Zero Two To Develop and Operate the First Large-Scale Immersion Bitcoin Mining Facilities in Abu Dhabi [Announement]
  • North Carolina’s Buncombe County Board of Commissioners is moving forward with a one year ban on cryptocurrency mining [Bitcoin Magazine]
    • Commissioners approved the one-year ban after holding a public hearing during their meeting on May 2.

      Government & Political

  • 2024 US Presidential Candidate Robert Kennedy Jr accepts Bitcoin lightning donations through OpenNode [@BTC_LN]
  • Bukele has signed into law the INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY MANUFACTURING INCENTIVES ACT that eliminates all taxes (income, property, capital gains and import tariffs) on technology innovations, software and app programming, AI, computer and communications hardware manufacturing. [Announcement]
  • Montana Passes Bill Protecting Bitcoin Mining From Undue Requirements [Bitcoin Magazine]
  • The EU’s Council, which represents 27 member states, unanimously approved the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation (MiCA), making the bloc set to be the first major jurisdiction in the world with a crypto licensing regime [Coindesk]
    • MiCA requires crypto firms such as wallet providers and exchanges to seek a license to operate across the bloc, and stablecoin issuers to hold suitable reserves
    • Officials are optimistic finance ministers will formally agree on laws allowing the sharing of information on crypto and NFT holdings between tax authorities next week.
  • HMRC is considering introducing rules that would enable it to seize cryptocurrency from businesses that fail to pay their taxes. [Telegraph]
  • Binance closes to Canadians due to new stablecoin guidance [Announcement]
  • Argentina’s Central Bank has banned Payment Service Providers from conducting transactions involving unauthorized digital assets on behalf of their customers. [Jan3]
    • The measure will force many popular fintech apps in Argentina to remove “buy #Bitcoin” options from their platforms.
    • Users can still buy digital assets P2P
    • The Montana legislature has passed a bill that protects the right to mine bitcoin, among other provisions. The bill is designed to give Bitcoin miners the right to mine “without being subjected to undue discrimination or requirements.”

      Reads

  • 01:59:33 Here’s a few of our recent recommended reads:

Audience Questions

  • 02:04:01 “How many words of a 24 word seed phrase you’d need to know (in the correct order), for the full seed phrase to become realistically brute-forceable?”

References

Episode submission ideas

  • We’re looking for ideas for interesting panel conversations. To send Bitcoin related questions, just go to bitcoin.review and follow the contact links at the bottom of the page.

Get in touch with the pod


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