2021W28 - WTF has happened in bitcoin this week?
Bitcoin's adoption is undeniable.
TLDR: The Lightning Network is growing exponentially, Banks are adopting bitcoin technology for savings and payments, Miners investing in infrastructure and energy deals with zero emissions.
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 week I want to talk about The Lightning Network. If you are not aware what the Lightning Network is I’d recommend this little video for you. In general The Lightning Network is a second layer built on top of bitcoin, which allows users to transact the native asset at the speed of light and near zero fees. This is the technology that is being adopted in places such as El Zonte, El Salvador.
The beauty of this, is that it is an interoperable system, and anyone could onboard it on their current financial technology, which means, your uncle Bam could travel anywhere in the world, and if the counter-party accepts bitcoin, or has an app which is connected to the monetary network such as Strike, then there is no need for me to worry about exchanging my local currency for every other local currency where I wish to travel to.
This exactly is the case that is currently happening in El Salvador. The people from El Zonte, have now the optionality to receive bitcoin or USD, while all it take for anyone is to read the same QR code. Last week we saw the philanthropic cause where people from over the world donated to Mario, just by obtaining an address straight from the picture of his business stand. This transformed his life, he received a donation above $1,000, from people all over the world who are happy to join the cause and share a bit of bitcoin with people who might need it more, and without intermediaries, Mario received 100% of the intended donation.
”They have reinvested part of the money in a fryer and a coolbox, so they can now also sell fries and beverages.” - Aaron van Wirdum
How to get started in The Lightning Network?
- Well one could start by downloading @walletofsatoshi or @bluewalletio.
You want to receive free sats?
- Follow @satoshi_IMF_bot on twitter and send him an invoice of 100 sats. Just paste the QR code on this thread:
You want to use it and donate some sats?
- Follow Bitcoin Beach, and find opportunities to donate to the local town of El Zonte
- Or well, you can always donate to Uncle Bam finding an invoice at the end of this post. But be aware! Only to test it, for big amounts, donate to someone who needs it more. If you really want to help me, then share this issue!
And this is how the week started.
1.Mario, the ice-cream salesman from issue27, and his wife received north of $1000 worth of bitcoin through the #iceshaverchallange. That's about three times the average monthly salary in El Zonte, El Salvador.
2. Matt James, former football player, and businessman, shows off how he can spend bitcoin for buying pizza through Blockfi. This is an example of bitcoin being utilized as a second layer through financial institutions, in this case, he can spend them basically in any entity where Visa is accepted.
3. Visa approves Australian Startup to issue a Bitcoin-backed debit cards that will allow users to spend bitcoin at local shops.
4. Squaon Barkley, NFL player from New York Giants, will be converting all of his endorsement money into Bitcoin.
“We’re seeing inflation and we’re learning you can’t save wealth. That’s why I am going to be taking my marketing money in Bitcoin” - @saquon
5. NYDIG expands its play to bridge bitcoin and banking with new partnerships, latest one being Alkemi.
”NYDIG will support bitcoin buying capabilities across 48.5% of all retail banking customers at U.S. financial institutions."
6. Bank of America, second largest American bank, approved the trading of bitcoin futures for a subset of its clients.
7. Comdirect, one of Germany’s largest banks, now offers savings plans containing bitcoin.
8. Scott Conger, Mayor of Jackson Tennessee, is looking into accepting property tax payments in bitcoin and to allow its employees to Dollar Cost Average into Bitcoin.
9. Nigerians transacted $38 million in Bitcoin in June, the highest trading volume despite central bank restrictions.
In a place where the local currency is no longer trusted, bitcoin is hope.- Bam.
10. Paraguay submits a Bitcoin bill. The proposal, to be initiated by Congressman Carlos Rejala in conjunction with Senator Silvia Facetti, refers to bitcoin as a virtual asset and attempts to regulate it as currency.
MINING!
11. Bitcoin mining firm HIVE has announced a purchase of 3,019 rigs to increase its hash rate by 46%, and will be joining Foundry USA Pool.
12. Standard Power will host a bitcoin mining operation, turning an abandoned paper mill in Ohio into a mining facility. The company, through a 5 year partnership with Energy Harbor, will mine utilizing 100% nuclear power.
13. BIT Mining announced a raise of around $50 million for the company to expand and move its operations out of China.
14. Bitcoin miner Greenidge has partnered with Foundry Digital to buy 2,300 WhatsMiners and finance 6,000 Antminers, plus join Foundry USA Pool.
15. Black Rock Petroleum, announced a new Bitcoin Mining agreement to operate one million machines. The first 200,000 units will be hosted in Alberta Canada, powered by natural gas wells at an energy cost of three cents Canadian per KWH.
FUNDAMENTALS!
In the last 30 days, the whales have sold 4K bitcoin, while small players known as “plebs” have bought 31K bitcoin. This is not the trend that we normally see in a bear market. My interpretation of this is that people around the world are finding value on bitcoin, getting educated and starting to accumulate, whether the reason is to become rich, as a hedge against inflation, or as a way of sending remittances to underbanked countries, the adoption is palpable. (Source: Willy Woo)
As a summary note..
The Lightning network is growing faster than the internet. One could argue that Bitcoin is in its late 1990s somewhere past 2% adoption or around 200 million users. We are at a point where the internet took 7 years from there to pass a billion users. The difference? Well many more people have access to a smartphone or a computer today than 20 years ago. Who knows, maybe we will be finding ourselves above a billion users by the end of 2025, and a couple more of countries having adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender.
Reference: Alex Gladstein
One thing is clear though, the growth and adoption is palpable, whether our friends are using it or not, the data does not lie. “Public Lightning Network capacity just broke 1,800 BTC. It only took 6 days to go from 1,700 BTC to 1,800 BTC. Growth is accelerating.” - Kevin Rooke
Im feeling bullish.
Have a great weekend niblings.
Stay humble & stack sats.
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