Month: March 2021

Bitcoin voucher platform Azteco has announced the launch of Lightning Network vouchers, allowing users to redeem their Azteco vouchers over the second layer network for improved efficiency and reduced fees. “You can now redeem your Azteco Voucher over Lightning,” wrote Azteco lead Beautyon in an announcement post. “Depending on what the network conditions are, if you choose to have your bitcoin on chain, you will be charged a network fee, that can be anything from under a dollar to $9 Read more …

Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce company by sales, has said it will be accepting Bitcoin payments in what many suspect is an April Fools’ Day prank. In an announcement on Twitter today at 11:30 PM India Standard Time, Flipkart said it would be accepting Bitcoin (BTC) “as a convenient mode of payment” for its online marketplace. However, many users have refused to accept the e-commerce company’s seemingly pro-crypto stance given the timing — at the time of publication, it is already Read more …

After high demand from its customers, banking giant Goldman Sachs has made a 180-degree turn on its position towards Bitcoin. In the second quarter of this year, it will offer its wealthiest customers access to the cryptocurrency. In March last year, the banking institution denied that BTC is an asset class. Now, Global Head of Digital Assets Mary Rich endorsed one of the narratives that has favored the cryptocurrency the most over the course of the year in an interview Read more …

Blockcap, one of North America’s fastest-growing Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies, has secured sizable investments from some of crypto’s biggest names, setting the stage for significant expansion in the year ahead. Off The Chain Capital and Foundry Digital, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, contributed to the $75 million haul, Blockcap announced Wednesday. The funding will go toward scaling the company’s mining operations and promoting the continued growth of digital assets in the United States. Blockcap was founded in 2020 by Read more …

Nearly 12 years have passed since the release of the Bitcoin white paper, and we are no closer to finding out the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin. There have been countless investigations, claims, and theories as to who Satoshi is, but it doesn’t matter anymore. When Satoshi first introduced the world to Bitcoin in 2009, he adopted a pseudonym, preferring to stay anonymous until he ceased communication in late 2010. In the years since, Bitcoin has Read more …

CNBC has reported that Goldman Sachs plans to offer investment vehicles for BTC and other digital assets soon. Mary Rich, who now spearheads digital assets for the bank’s private wealth management division, asserted that the offerings will be available soon, per CNBC. According to her, Goldman will continue to serve its clients to the best of its abilities, and this includes delving into a “full-spectrum” of investments in bitcoin and other digital assets. Goldman Sachs may offer its private wealth Read more …

The New Civil Liberties Alliance has objected to FinCEN’s proposed crypto wallet rule, calling it “unlawful.” In addition, the group says that the U.S. Treasury’s “planned ‘crackdown’ on cryptocurrency holders’ private wallets is an unconstitutional power grab.” FinCEN’s Proposed Crypto Wallet Rule Is Unlawful, Says NCLA The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group, filed its comments on Monday objecting to FinCEN’s proposed rule, entitled “Requirements for Certain Transactions Involving Convertible Virtual Currency or Digital Assets.” Read more …

Open-source bitcoin payment processor BTCPay Server released a new security patch this week and credited electric vehicle company Tesla with submitting a disclosure that led to the fixes. “This is a security release that patches one critical and several low-impact vulnerabilities that affected BTCPay Server versions 1.0.7.0 and older,” BTCPay’s Nicolas Dorier wrote in the release notes. “We want to thank @teslamotors for filing a responsible disclosure, helping us with remediation and handling the situation professionally.” Last week, Tesla announced Read more …

As cripplingly high gas fees put scalability in the spotlight and multiple platforms rush to become the preferred home of Ethereum’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, layer-two sidechain Polygon may be emerging as a frontrunner after scoring two big wins today.  Both lending protocol Aave and portfolio management and batched transaction platform Zapper have announced that they will be offering implementations on Polygon. Aave will be launching a trimmed-down a fork of its money market with 7 assets available for borrowing Read more …

The Teletubbies, a British children’s television series that has been on the air since 1997, is showing signs its loveable characters may become the newest entrants to the crypto space. Today the official Teletubbies Twitter account posted a message with the Bitcoin (BTC) hashtag, saying the characters were “possibly hiding” something from viewers. Two of the characters — Tinky Winky, known for his purple color, and Po, for her red — appear with laser eyes next to a giant question Read more …

Lightning Network payments app Strike is now available on the App Store and Google Play Store to customers based in El Salvador, according to a release shared with Bitcoin Magazine. “Launching in El Salvador as our first non-U.S. market was a strategic move,” Strike founder Jack Mallers said in the release. “No other fintech company can launch and operate in a market like this. This is only possible because Strike is built on Bitcoin, the world’s first open monetary network. Read more …

The rise of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, has been nothing short of astounding this year. Google searches for “NFT” are up over 600% since mid-February, hitting initial coin offering mania levels, and the top NFT platforms are turning over millions of dollars each day. In a single 24-hour period earlier in March, sport collectibles platform NBA Top Shot saw sales of more than $7.89 million, art house OpenSea took in $4.88 million, and “digital antique” NFT project CryptoPunks netted $3.28 Read more …