The outcome of this hearing could have profound effects on the cryptocurrency world. A ruling in favor of COPA [Crypto Open Patent Alliance] would not only curtail Wright’s ability to claim he is Satoshi Nakamoto but also set a strong precedent for handling similar cases in the future. It would reinforce the notion that baseless and harmful legal actions against community members and developers will not be tolerated.

160 billion pension fund adds like 0.1% bitcoin. We are still early.

In China, the Communist Party is using a central bank digital currency to track the spending habits of its citizens. The data is being used to create a social credit system that rewards or punishes people based on their behavior.

The first major presidential candidate to accept bitcoin (and crypto) donations? Still a shitty candidate, like Biden, but at least the Donald is more innovative than su abuelo Biden.

Thoughts on this?

I'm sorry the other Hexbear users have been brigading this comm with their nonsense. The issue is that many people don't understand Bitcoin and just hate it to be trendy. I've bought a couple of Bitcoins and all I've seen is profit. It's like I'm Harry Potter stumbling into Gringotts bank and discovering there's this huge pile of wealth waiting for him. Although I've donated most of my earnings to Ukraine so they can defend themselves against the RuZZians (led by the dictator Putler), some of it has also gone into my Funko Pop collection, which I'm pretty proud of; I almost have the whole Deadpool line, and those are like an investment in themselves.

I think if people gave Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies a chance they'd see that the "scam" stereotype is over-exaggerated. I've lost money once or twice, but I've learned from my mistakes and now I have my entire retirement fund in this new coin going around. Hope to meet fellow enthusiasts here!

Good video about how bitcoin can bring banking and financial services to the poorest on this planet. Peer to peer transactions are real, and people who change to a bitcoin standard can see the benefits. Short term volatility, long term prosperity.

Privacy respecting link https://redirect.invidious.io/watch?v=4hWMHLF-OEg

I just found it really funny that the Bitcoin haters at /r/Buttcoin are talking up how banks are avoiding Bitcoin but the top comment confirming this admits there is massive client side demand from institutions and family offices...

Privacy respecting link: https://redirect.invidious.io/watch?v=jk_HWmmwiAs

Energy is indispensable for societal progress and well-being, yet many regions, particularly in the Global South, lack reliable electricity access. Traditional approaches to electrification, often reliant on charity or government aid, have struggled to address these issues effectively.

A surprisingly neutral take from IMF researchers on Bitcoin in a recent paper. A 43-page paper, A Primer on Bitcoin Cross-Border Flows: Measurement and Drivers

Twitter user @Matt_Hougan gives the following summary:

Takeaway #1: Countries that have limited access to the broader global economy are big users of bitcoin on a relative basis.

The paper notes: “The magnitudes of the estimated Bitcoin cross-border flows are sizeable with respect to several countries’ GDP, especially in those which experience relatively small capital flows.”

This finding is repeated throughout the paper. It makes sense: People in countries facing either capital controls or limited access to the global economy are using bitcoin as a release valve.

People have called bitcoin a tool for economic freedom. The data in this paper provides a proof point that it's being used exactly for that.

Takeaway #2: The US is an extreme outlier in its low adoption of bitcoin vs. traditional capital flows. Our perspective, therefore, does not reflect everyone’s reality.

As proof, the paper includes a great chart comparing cross-border bitcoin flows vs. flows into traditional investment products by GDP. (Note: The chart labels traditional flows “EPFR” because it gathers the data from EPFR Global.) You can see that the US has the most extreme reading in its dominance by traditional funds. On the other end of the spectrum are countries like Venezuela and Ukraine.

Takeaway #3: The IMF is paying attention to bitcoin.

This is a serious paper. It's written by three IMF researchers, includes a survey of relevant academic literature, and takes a sophisticated approach to using using on- and off-chain techniques to determine bitcoin capital flows.

The IMF is doing this research because bitcoin "has grown rapidly over the past decade" and policymakers increasingly need to understand its impact on the global economy.

Consider this piece from the conclusion:

“These findings are in line with a recent body of work suggesting that Bitcoin facilitates the circumvention of capital flow restrictions (Graf von Luckner et al., 2024, 2023; Hu et al., 2021). As highlighted by IMF (2023a), policymakers aiming to manage capital flows should ensure that capital flow management regulations cover crypto assets.”

They also note that rising bitcoin use is a "symptom" of imbalances in the traditional economy.

The world is waking up to bitcoin.

Happy Halving!

Smugglers melted and spray painted $10 million in gold to look like machine parts - but they got caught.

Invidious: https://invidious.privacyredirect.com/watch?v=TI3Xcei8d_I

The judge overseeing a legal battle about who invented Bitcoin has ruled that it is not Australian computer scientist Craig Wright.

Fuck Craig Wright/Faketoshi.

Privacy respecting link: https://invidious.lunar.icu/watch?v=_fymw1iOfiM

I posted about the ATH previously at https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/12064382, this is part of "media attention goes up".

Without paywall: https://web.archive.org/web/20240308161113/https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/03/07/why-africa-is-cryptos-next-frontier

They are starting to get it:

Yet many of the continent’s renewable-energy projects are stalled because there are not enough local consumers who are able to buy electricity to make them financially viable. By offering themselves as buyers of last resort, crypto-miners can help to stabilise demand for power and ensure utilities turn a profit. In doing so, they might also incentivise the investment needed to provide electricity to the estimated 600m people in Africa, roughly half its population, who do not have access to power from the grid.

The computers used to create valuable new Bitcoin tokens and validate transactions consume around the same amount of energy as a medium-sized country such as Sweden would generate. Hence the stinging critique of how this cryptocurrency wastes the planet’s precious resources. This initiative flips that narrative by using Bitcoin mining to fund energy in parts of Africa that are too poor or remote to merit connection to grids, but which do have plentiful supplies of potential power sources.

Lol, hilarious article. They still hate bitcoin but can't deny its use any more.

Many feel instinctive revulsion when they spy a roach. But in spite of their flaws, the bugs have uses—they turn decaying matter into nutrients and eat other pests, such as mosquitoes. Crypto has its uses, too, such as portfolio diversification and keeping money safe under despotic regimes. And, as has been shown, it is just about impossible to kill.