2021W22 - WTF has happened in bitcoin this week?
Bitcoin has already won, it is a trojan horse for freedom
TLDR: The Bitcoin Conference attracts 12,000 attendees, El Salvador makes Bitcoin a legal tender, Blockstream and Square partner up to construct a solar-powered Bitcoin Mining facility.
Hey there niblings, it’s uncle Bam again, with a summary of the most insightful events in the Bitcoin space. Back at it again digesting all the important news for you.
This is a truly amazing week. The price has not been moving in a positive direction, but nevertheless bitcoin is. The Bitcoin Conference 2021 was held in Miami, with about 12,000 bitcoiners gathering from all around the world, and many more joining by streaming, to see the different talks and panels of distinct topics regarding bitcoin. This was the second biggest in person event in United States since covid came into our lives, even though Uncle Bam was not able to attend in person, he did from the Livestream. It is truly inspiring to see many people with the same objective, building a better and more inclusive world, be together and celebrate the great lengths that bitcoin has achieved until today, and to see a glimpse of normality.
Many of the talks and panels where motivational and inspiring, but there is a specific one where I would like to elaborate. “One small step for bitcoin” by Jack Mallers.
In his talk, Jack announces a small step for bitcoin but a big step for humanity, where Bitcoin is about to become a legal tender in El Salvador. In a country where 70% of the population does not have access to bank and the remittances they receive, which makes 24% of the country’s GDP, loses up to 50% of the value in fees, Bitcoin comes to fix this.
Following the saying “Fix the money, fix the world”. Bitcoin has helped El Salvador citizens to be part of an open monetary network, which does not discriminate. Bitcoin does not care about your name, age, or passport. Citizens have been leveraging from the Bitcoin’s Lightning Network to receive remittences from family, and even transact in a daily basis.
Jack even helped El Salvador president’s team redacting the bill to be passed to congress proposing bitcoin as a solution:
”That in order to mitigate the negative impact from central banks, it becomes necessary to authorize the circulation of a digital currency with a supply that can not be controlled by any central bank..." - The bill.
But if I may, I would highly recommend to see it for yourselves. It is a beautiful, inspiring and even sentimental talk, it truly hits you to the heart. I have to admit that I shed a tear or two, and could guarantee that many of you will probably do so as well.
And this is how the week started!
1. PayPal surpassed $300 million in Bitcoin transaction volume.
2. Marathon will support for Taproot and will no longer filter transactions. “Marathon is committed to the core tenets of the Bitcoin community, including decentralization, inclusion, and no censorship.” - Fred Thiel, Marathon's CEO
3. The HRF’s Bitcoin Development Fund latest round will allot $210,000 to Bitcoin developers, two Lightning Network wallet teams, and an Arabic translator.
4. The Reserve Bank from India reiterates that Bitcoin is not banned.
5. The Bitcoin Car, driven by Ed Carpenter, placed 5th in Indy 500.
6. Four investment firms – WisdomTree, VanEck, 21Shares, and the ETC Group – have all received approval to list crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) on the Euronext stock exchanges in Paris and Amsterdam, all of which began trading today.
7. German exchange Boerse Stuttgart launched its own mobile app for trading Bitcoin. This is Germany’s first regulated exchange for digital assets.
8. The Canadian auto manufacturer Daymak, just announced their new series of electric cars will mineBitcoin with solar energy when charging, and they're accepting Bitcoin as payment.
9. The Bitcoin Conference 2021 started with an opening speech from Miami’s Mayor Suarez where he reinstates his intentions of being a bitcoin friendly city.
“I’m here to make this city the capital of the world” - Francis Suarez
10. Unchained Capital announces a $25m Series A funding, led by NYDIG and their parent company SRHG. This capital will enable lots more growth and further development of Bitcoin native infrastructure.
11. Blockstream and Square partnered to construct a solar-powered Bitcoin Mining facility and demonstrate potential for sustainable energy use.
Square plans to invest $5 million in the facility and Blockstream will provide infrastructure and management experience.
12. The President of El Salvador, , announced that the country is about to become the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. This will mean that the citizens will be able to officially transact in bitcoin, and that it would not incur in capital gains due to its appreciation. As a bonus, the president offered an immediate permanent residence for Bitcoin entrepreneurs.
FUNDAMENTALS
Bitcoin continues being adopted, BTC_Archive shares a chart demonstrates that Canada’s first Purpose Bitcoin ETF, has just bought the dip. They now own above 19,100 bitcoins.
Not only have we seen Bitcoin being adopted by a country officially, for the first time, we can see that the number of believers continue to grow at an unprecedented and exponential rate.
source: William Clemente
As a summary note..
The main takeaway of this issue is the following:
Bitcoin for the billions, not for the billionaires.
The purpose of bitcoin is to helps us achieve an advancement to humanity, and so far, it has already won. The push from El Salvador’s president for adopting bitcoin, may or not have double intentions from his side. Is it that he wants to become more public worldwide? It could be. But it is important to remember that bitcoin does not care. In bitcoin there is no leader, and there are no heroes.
Whatever the president’s personal intentions are, bitcoin has and will continue to help El Salvador’s community, because it is a trojan horse for freedom.
But Bitcoin is not just “number go up” technology. Hidden behind the eye-popping gains is a powerful “freedom go up” - Alex Gladstein
Have a great weekend niblings.
Stay humble & stack sats.
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Reference:
1.https://coinquora.com/bitcoin-volume-surges-over-300-million-in-paypal/
2.https://ir.marathondh.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1244/marathon-signals-for-taproot#:~:text=%E2%80%9CMarathon%20is%20committed%20to%20the,node%2C%20including%20support%20for%20Taproot.
3.https://www.coindesk.com/human-rights-foundation-gives-new-bitcoin-development-grants
4.
5. https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/no-21-bitcoin-chevrolet-takes-top-10-finish-at-the-indy-500
6. https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-etps-of-four-firms-began-trading-on-euronext-paris-and-amsterdam-today
7.https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/87862/boerse-stuttgart-digital-exchange-launches-ios-and-android-app-for-crypto-trading
8.https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/06/01/2239331/0/en/Daymak-Spiritus-Will-Be-the-World-s-First-Electric-Car-to-Mine-Cryptocurrency-From-Dogecoin-to-Bitcoin-While-It-s-Parked.html
9.
10.https://unchained-capital.com/blog/unchained-capital-announces-25m-series-a-led-by-nydig-and-stone-ridge-holdings-group/
11.https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/blockstream-square-solar-powered-mining
12.https://www.btctimes.com/news/el-salvador-plans-to-adopt-bitcoin-as-legal-tender