2021W38 - WTF has happened in bitcoin this week?
Bitcoin enables financial inlcusion
TLDR: Twitter integrates bitcoin, Lightning capacity grows 16%, More Salvadorans have access to bitcoin than Banks.
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 was a wild one. While price gave a hint of recovery around the middle of the week, it came back down crashing all the way back to low $40,000. Is this something we should be worried about? Not at all, bitcoin continues producing block by block, being unbothered by politics or central banks.
In fact, this week was a great one, Twitter just announced the integration of a Bitcoin tipping feature. This allows anyone with a twitter account to send money to another user and achieve instant final settlement through the Bitcoin Lightning Network.
As of today, only users using Strike, are able to activate the receiving feature on Twitter by connecting it to their Strike’s user account. With the release of Strike’s API, other businesses can also leverage of this feature where the recipient receives local currency, while the sender is paying a bitcoin invoice.
Now the fastest and most affordable way to send remittances and international payments is by utilizing the bitcoin network, without the need of having exposure to bitcoin the asset.
But just remember, the benefits of having bitcoin the asset, a non confiscatable, censorship resistant and scarce digital money, mathematically design to appreciate forever.
And this is how the week started.
0. El Salvador bought the bitcoin dip, and Bukele announces the country now holds 700 Bitcoin. Interestingly, this happened at the same time Turkey “declared war” on bitcoin.
"They can never beat you if you buy the dips" - Nayib Bukele
1. Carlitos Rejala, who co-authored a Bitcoin bill in July, said if he wins presidency he will turn bitcoin into an official currency in Paraguay.
2. Namecheap, domain name giant, has set up Bitcoin lightning on its platform as a method of payment.
3. Hut 8 Mining announced the closing of $172 million of its underwritten public offering of common shares in the United States and Canada with intentions to use the proceeds to support the growth of its facilities including the purchase of mining equipment to increase hash rate.
4. Compass Mining announced the launch of At-Home Mining. A service enabling customers to mine bitcoin from their own homes. Clients would have an ASIC delivered to their door within three weeks and customer support available to help through the installation.
5. Robinhood is testing bitcoin and crypto withdrawals, as well as a new digital hot wallet.
6. Genesis Digital Asset, in a round led by Paradigm, announced the raise of $431 million to fund expansion plans.
"As we work towards our goal of bringing 1.4 gigawatts online by 2023, the capital raised from this round will be used to expand our bitcoin mining operations in locations where clean energy is easily accessible," Genesis CEO
7. The Eindhoven Football Club PSV, has disclosed a sponsorship agreement with the company Anycoin, which was entirely paid in Bitcoin. The team said to hold their own keys and have no plans of selling their bitcoin.
8. BitMEX, a bitcoin exchange, announced two new grants to bitcoin developers. They will support the work of Rene Pickhardt and Chris Coverdale with $33,333 each over the next eight months.
9. According to a survey, 42% of Texans would like to see Bitcoin being legal tender in the U.S.
FUNDAMENTALS
Despite the recent price volatility and a drop close to $40,000. Long term bitcoin holders have never been more determined on bitcoin’s success. The total amount of bitcoin held by low time preference investors, has increased constantly since April lows, reaching the highest levels in the last year.
Hodlers are on to something..
As a summary note..
Bitcoin continues to grow in an exponential manner. Two big metrics that I loved to see this week are the following:
2.1 million Salvadorans are actively using Chivo Wallet, the government’s app which interoperates with the bitcoin network. This number was reported this weekend, while last week, we’ve reported on the announcement of only half a million users. While Chivo not being a bank, it less than 3 weeks it has now more users than any bank in El Salvador.
The Lightning Network capacity just broke 2,900 bitcoins. With 400 bitcoin added during the last week, the capacity grew 16% in the past 7 days.
Have a great weekend niblings.
Stay humble & stack sats.
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