Highlight
Bitcoin Tech
(1) Gleb Naumenko + Pieter Wuille publish their BIP for Erlay, the efficient transaction relay protocol.
(2) “With so few competitive HW manufacturers building ASIC machines for Bitcoin, providing a transparent alternative to the factory firmware increases decentralization in what is perhaps the most centralized part of the entire industry.” The Braiins team presents bOSminer - an open source replacement to CGminer.
(3) Bitcoin Optech newsletter #65 requests for feedback on not allowing P2SH-Wrapped addresses for Taproot, proposes changes to script resource limits in Tapscript, and more.
Lightning Network
(1) On August 30th, the public was alerted of critical LN vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities were fully disclosed today, expressing how attackers could claim to open channels but either not pay the peer or pay the full amount.
(2) LN has some interesting audit, tax, and accounting implications.
(3) The Block interviewed the anonymous individual behind LNBIG, an entity which at times made up over 40% of the Lightning Network’s capacity.
Bitcoin Products
Wallets
(1) Blue Wallet’s latest release offers features for batching transactions, partially-signed bitcoin transactions (PSBT), fee suggestions for bumping, and more. It’s exciting to see wallets adopt best practices.
Finance
(2) Bakkt physically-settled futures launched this past week, two years after the Cboe / CME Bitcoin futures launch. Its debut? Well…
(3) Investment app provider SoFi has gone live with cryptocurrency trading service for its over 800,000 users.
(4) “KNØX, which is backed by Fidelity Investments Canada, said it provides up to 100% insurance coverage via its partner and insurance giant Marsh. KNØX is currently offering an insured cold storage custody service, and charges customers a fee based on their assets held under custody and based on the insurance allocation they select, which can be as high as 100% of the value of their holdings.”
(5) Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by daily trading volumes, has finally launched its US platform.
Merchants
(6) 25,000 points of sale in France will be accepting bitcoin payments in 2020, covering brands like Sephora, Decathalon, Foot Locker, and more.
(7) Earn up to 20% cashback in bitcoin and keeps your data private when you shop at retailers with Fold.
Other
(8) “The bitcoin network currently has a whopping of 4.3 million mining machines running on it and the market is still seeing buying interest, with a need for 1.5 million more devices, according to Innosilicon, a China-based ASIC miner manufacturer.” The company estimates hashrate will hit 120 EH/s by 2020. Read more.
Bitcoin Markets / Stats
(1) Fiat Market Cap
Bitcoin ranks #37 compared to all fiat currencies, placed between the Colombian Peso (COP) and the Lebanese Pound (LBP).
(2) Government Debt Clock
(3) Crypto Market Cap Dominance: Bitcoin represents 71.57% of the total crypto market cap
(4) Approximating Bitcoin Security: Hashrate + Difficulty
Though hashrate is lower at 90.50 EH/s, difficulty is at an ATH of 12.76 T according to BTC.com
Matteo Leibowitz recommends the Fee Ratio Multiple when evaluating a blockchain network’s security
You may have seen the recent 40% “crash” in hashrate this past week. James Prestwich explains why it isn’t real.
(5) Supply + Halvening News
~230 days until the next halvening, where the issuance rate of new bitcoins will decrease from 12.5 to 6.25 bitcoins per new block mined. Bitcoin inflation will decrease to 1.8%, rivaling the US inflation rate.
We’ve mined >85% of the 21,000,000 bitcoins that will ever exist, in the past ~10 years. To mine the remaining 15% will take ~120 years.
(6) Google Search Trends
(7) Venezuela Has Bitcoin Stash and Doesn’t Know What to Do With It. Its central bank is deciding whether it can count crypto as foreign reserves.
Bitcoin Talks / Theses
(1) Su Zhu on BTC lending and derivatives markets:
(2) Wallets aren’t just for storing bitcoin anymore. IMO, they’re the new browser.
(3) How to onboard precoiners into bitcoin
(4) Mauricio Di Bartolomeo & Adam Reeds chat Bitcoin in Venezuela on Tales from the Crypt.
(5)
(6)
Bitcoin Regulations
(1) They’re not off the hook, but Bitfinex and Tether can stop turning over documents to the NYAG’s office.
(2) SEC Delays Decision on Wilshire Phoenix Bitcoin ETF Proposal. What else is new?
(3) “The International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) has ruled that cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), are neither financial assets nor legal tender… The IFRIC has ruled that cryptocurrencies are ‘not cash nor an equity instrument of another entity,’ but rather ‘intangible assets’ — defined as ‘identifiable non-monetary assets without physical substance.’” Read more.
(4) A lawsuit against NYDFS to abolish BitLicense moves to the state’s highest court. “The Regulation created a complex and burdensome set of requirements that applicants and licensees were required to follow in order to simply operate in New York State.”
Bitcoin Calendar
(1) CME 3mo Expiration | Sept 27
(2) Bitcoin Optech Schnorr & Taproot Seminar #4 | New York | Sept 27
(3) Wilshire Phoenix ETF Decision | Sept 29
(4) CME Doubling of Open Positions | Sept 30
(5) Bitwise ETF Decision | Oct 13
(6) Lightning Conference | Berlin | Oct 19 - 20
(7) CME 3mo Expiration | Oct 25
(8) Square Earnings Call | Nov 6
(9) The Capital | Singapore | Nov 12 - 13
(10) CME 6mo Expiration | Dec 27
Tweet at me if I’ve missed anything or if you’ve got feedback, questions, and comments.
This is not financial advice. Do your own research.
Newsletter #1 was published on 20190621. Stats:
XBT = ~$10,200
Market Cap = ~$180 B
Hashrate = ~60 EH/s
Difficulty = ~7.93 T
Dominance = ~61.6%