Category Archives: Bitcoin

When El Salvador officially made Bitcoin legal tender in September 2021, Jos Bonilla was one of the first citizens to sign up for a government-backed digital wallet that lets anyone use the cryptocurrency. The 23-year-old Salvadoran, who runs a shoe store with his family in the tourist town of Concepcin de Ataco, was looking forward to trying out the technology. Hed heard that it would reduce costs and speed up payments.

After a few days of overcoming technical glitches, Bonilla was up and running and accepting payments in Bitcoin from customers.

But the shine soon wore off. By February 2022, Bonillas list of complaints about Bitcoin was long: the only available Bitcoin ATM was too far away, the government helpline was slow, and the price was too volatile. One day, he lost a $25 transaction from a customer to technical issues and never heard back from the digital wallets customer service team. I decided not to use it any more, he said.

Hes not the only one. Six months since El Salvadors Bitcoin Law came into effect, adoption of the cryptocurrency remains patchy. Even onBitcoin Beach, a rugged strip of Salvadoran coastline that has become a mecca for crypto disciples, the transition has been challenging. When Rest of World visited shortly after the law came into force, some were still unsure about Bitcoin. Coconut vendor Dina Ponce said she was able to make more sales by expanding to accept digital payments for the first time, but she didnt fully understand the technology, and the value of Bitcoin hadnt risen enough to give her the savings shed hoped for.

Other businesses around Bitcoin Beach said theyd given up on Bitcoin and reverted to accepting only cash. We were losing money because of the way the currency loses value, said 21-year-old Axel Medina, who helps his family run a surf school and restaurant. It was difficult to maintain our business like that.

When President Nayib Bukele first announced the Bitcoin law in June 2021, he made a grand promise to his citizens. Adopting Bitcoin, he said, would digitize the economy, decrease dependence on the U.S. dollar, lower remittance fees which account for about 20% of the countrys gross domestic product and drive investment. El Salvador could become the first country to prove the transformative power of cryptocurrency on a national scale.

It is difficult to get a full picture of the scope of Bitcoin adoption in the country. In January, the government endorsed a report that at least 4 million users nearly the countrys entire population had been verified as authentic users of the governments wallet over the past several weeks. But in March, a survey released by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of El Salvador reported that 86% of the businesses contacted said they had never conducted a transaction using Bitcoin.

Interviews with dozens of Salvadoran citizens, economists, and technology developers reveal cracks in the project. Since launching, the initiative has been plagued with technical glitches, while tensions have arisen from the mismatch between Bitcoins decentralized ethos and El Salvadors authoritarian government.

As Bukele continues to double down on Bitcoin, his interest now appears to be less about getting everyday Salvadorans to adopt the cryptocurrency and more about addressing his administrations economic troubles and boosting his own image.

Why did he do this? said Alex Gladstein, the chief strategy officer for the Human Rights Foundation and an advocate for global Bitcoin adoption. To me its kind of obvious. He did it for self-interest and to get famous.

El Salvadors association with Bitcoin began in 2019 on Bitcoin Beach, in the town of El Zonte. Thats where an evangelical surfer named Mike Peterson teamed up with a local resident, Jorge Valenzuela, to transform the small coastal town into a circular economy built around the cryptocurrency.

Seeing potential for a nationwide application, President Bukele announced his Bitcoin Law at a cryptocurrency conference in Miami in June 2021. The law made El Salvador the first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender and required businesses to accept it as payment.

In El Salvador, we are trying to start the design of a country for the future, Bukele proclaimed during his video message to the conference.

To lay the groundwork for the transition, the government spearheaded development of technology that would make it possible for citizens to buy and sell using Bitcoin, including a digital wallet called Chivo. (Chivo literally means goat in Spanish but is also Salvadoran slang for cool.) Users could use the Chivo Wallet to receive or send cryptocurrency funds think Venmo or Paypal, but for Bitcoin. The government has refused to provide many details about the corporation that developed and owns this technology, but Rest of World has interviewed some of the private firms involved with the rollout. A U.S.-based cryptocurrency company, Athena Bitcoin, plays the largest role.

Rest of World met with Athena Bitcoin CEO Eric Gravengaard in the Insigne skyscraper, a towering hunk of glass and steel in the upscale neighborhood of San Benito, where he described how the company first got involved with El Salvadors ambitious experiment.

Athena Bitcoin was originally focused on building Bitcoin ATMs, which let users exchange fiat currency for cryptocurrency or vice versa, in the U.S. In 2019, Gravengaard, who knew Bitcoin Beach founder Peterson through a mutual friend, offered to provide one for the project. He visited El Salvador in February 2020 to help install the machine, which was El Zontes first ATM of any description. Over the following months, he fielded calls from people in El Salvador who told him that they were driving to El Zonte from San Salvador, 50 kilometers away, to use the ATM. He decided to send a couple more.

The new ATMs were being processed in customs when Bukele announced the Bitcoin Law. Gravengaard said the administration asked if the company wanted to do a ribbon-cutting ceremony and install more than 200 ATMs across El Salvador. These would later become Chivo-branded machines.

We came to El Salvador without a political agenda, said Matias Goldenhrn, Athenas director of Latin America. We came to El Salvador because we are Bitcoiners.

We came to El Salvador because we are Bitcoiners.

Soon, Athena also took on a bigger project: designing the front end software for the Chivo Wallet, as well as a point-of-sale system, called Athena Pay, that would allow stores to accept Bitcoin. Actually sending Bitcoin back and forth can be expensive and slow, and requires a certain level of technical know-how. Athenas ATMs would be useless if the average Salvadoran did not have a digital wallet they could use to buy and sell Bitcoin in a fast and cost-effective manner. By December, 950 Athena Pay terminals had been installed and were in use across the country.

The amount paid to each company involved in the Chivo rollout is unknown. Reporting from Salvadoran and US outlets estimates the government has spent upwards of millions of dollars. In September, when the Bitcoin Law came into effect, Athenas stock price briefly shot up over 600%.

Gravengaard describes himself as a libertarian and sees no contradiction in El Salvadors Bitcoin ecosystem being controlled by the Bukele administration. Money is social, he told Rest of World. At some point, as a participant in the economy, you have to cede some control and trust someone else, whether it is the developer of an app, a bank, or a government. I dont particularly want to live in a world where I dont trust anyone, he told Rest of World. Its not a happy world.

Bitcoin adoption over the last six months has not gone smoothly.

For one, El Salvador is a country where cash is still king; almost 70% of the population is unbanked. Critics say the countrys Bitcoin transition leaves behind those who dont have a smartphone mainly older Salvadorans and those without internet access. In 2019, about 50% of the population was not online.

Furthermore, many Salvadorans were clueless about Bitcoin when they found out their country planned to make it legal tender; one poll of around 1,300 Salvadorans by the Central American University leading up to the rollout showed only about 10% of respondents fully understood cryptocurrency. Alejandro Molins, who works at Athena Bitcoin and whose job it is to get merchants in El Salvador to download and use the Chivo Wallet, told Rest of World that his own mother has yet to sign up for her Chivo Wallet.

Some of those who have signed up have complained of technical issues with the Chivo app, including accounts created through identity fraud, lost transactions, and receiving error codes when trying to make payments.

In September 2021, Eunice Melara, a 22-year-old medical student, waited in line behind dozens of people at a Chivo ATM in San Salvador, shortly after launch. She was excited to try out the app, but saw an erroneous balance on her account. When she contacted the government call center, it couldnt resolve the issue and told her they would open a case. It hasnt worked all day, and I had to call the call center and they told me they had opened a case, she told Rest of World. She hoped to have more luck resolving the issue in person.

Others have more ideological complaints about the technology. Mario Gmez, a software developer in his mid-30s, learned about El Salvadors Bitcoin project along with the rest of the world, when Bukele announced it in June 2021. It took us all by surprise, he said.

Chivo is a promise to pay Bitcoin or dollars. It is no different from a bank account.

Gmez took an interest in the digital infrastructure the Salvadoran government was building for its transition to Bitcoin, including the Chivo Wallet, which is what is known as a custodial wallet. Custodial wallets address a common problem for cryptocurrency users. Bitcoin payments employ the blockchain, a process by which every financial transaction is logged in a digital ledger and then verified through a computational process. Users hold a public key, which assigns them to their Bitcoin holdings, and a private key, which allows them to access their funds. But this can cause problems. Users who lose their private key, for instance, can never recover their Bitcoin. With a custodial wallet, a third party holds the keys so that users dont have to worry about losing them.

It made sense that the Chivo Wallet would be custodial the administration had to build a wallet that would be functional for everyday people, the majority of whom had never even had a bank account. But it didnt sit right with Gmez. Many Bitcoin purists criticize custodial wallets as contradictory to what they see as cryptocurrencys fundamental ethos of decentralization. A famous adage in the crypto world goes, Not your keys, not your coins. In other words, if another entity has access to your private key, you dont actually own your Bitcoin. Even though Chivo is technically a private company, it is 99% owned by a state-owned company and funded by a $150 million public trust. In effect, the government would control its citizens keys.

Gmez drafted long Twitter threads about his findings. The next day, a few days before the Chivo Wallet was set to launch, the police pulled him over for what they said was a problem with his car, took him to two stations, and confiscated his phones. Authorities announced that he was being investigated for financial fraud, but Gmez was never formally arrested or charged with a crime. Two organizations have filed a complaint with the countrys attorney general alleging Gmezs detention was arbitrary. He suspects that he was targeted for speaking out about Chivo. Rest of World has reached out to the authorities but has yet to hear back.

The Chivo Wallet isnt mandatory for Salvadorans they can choose to use a different Bitcoin wallet but users were incentivized with a $30 sign-up bonus, equivalent to almost three days minimum wage.

Some boosters of crypto adoption insist on distancing the wallet from Bitcoins decentralized ethos. Chivo is not Bitcoin, Gladstein from the Human Rights Foundation told Rest of World. Chivo is a promise to pay Bitcoin or dollars. It is no different from a bank account.

In November 2021, two months after the Bitcoin Law came into effect, hundreds of visitors poured into San Salvadors small international airport from across the world. They were waived past the immigration check without paying the usual $12 fee to enter the country (although, if they wanted to pay, the officers accepted Bitcoin.)

It was Bitcoin Week in El Salvador, a week of conferences and events that attracted an international crowd of cryptocurrency believers and an opportunity for Bukeles administration to convince the global Bitcoin community of what the cryptocurrency could do for El Salvador and what El Salvador could do for Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Beach had transformed itself for the occasion. The streets were littered with food stands with big plastic signs emblazoned with the Bitcoin symbol. A DJ played techno and pop songs, including a cryptocurrency-themed version of Despacito, the lyrics Tengo que bailar contigo hoy (I have to dance with you today) replaced with Tengo que comprar un bitcoin hoy (I have to buy a bitcoin today).

Dagart Allison, who told Rest of World he is a property manager from Los Angeles who dabbles in cryptocurrency as a hobby, had been at Bukeles initial announcement at the Miami Bitcoin conference. He was so enthusiastic about the Bitcoin Law that he knew he had to visit El Salvador, but he was concerned about safety issues in the country. Bitcoin Week was the perfect excuse to come, knowing that he would be surrounded by a wave of like-minded people.

Then you come here, and you realize that on the ground, its a different ordeal. Its a struggle.

But the Bitcoin mecca didnt quite live up to his expectations. He had tried to rent a surfboard from a stand in El Tunco with Bitcoin, and they told him they didnt accept it. He asked if they had Chivo. They said yes, but they didnt know how to use it with other wallets the functionality was hidden behind a confusing array of buttons.

From a Bitcoin perspective, its amazing its so groundbreaking and beautiful and, in my mind, looks like perfection, he said about El Salvador. And then you come here, and you realize that on the ground, its a different ordeal. Its a struggle.

Craig Toennies, a cheerful migr from the United States who ran a hostel in El Zonte before leaving during the pandemic, said that the Bitcoin Week preparations made it seem much more catered around the cryptocurrency than it actually was. It had a very Potemkin village vibe, he said. Since he returned in November, he said, the only people hes seen carry out transactions with Bitcoin have been tourists.

The highlight of Bitcoin Week was announced with just a days notice, after all the conference panels had ended and many attendees had already flown home. Swigging from bottles of Suprema and Regia beer, the remaining crowd faced a stage overlooking the Pacific coast, just down the road from El Zonte. Late in the evening, they raised their smartphones, ready to record, as fireworks exploded overhead. A man walked casually onstage, wearing a white shirt, slacks, and a backward baseball cap and carrying a microphone. Words on the screen introduced him as El Presidente: Bukele had come to speak to the crowd.

As the music died down, he addressed his audience in English: So, hows Bitcoin Week going?

Bukele spoke the Bitcoin communitys language, referencing Satoshi (Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator or creators of Bitcoin) and sprinkling his speech with insider jargon like orange pilled (an ideology that posits Bitcoin as a champion of freedom and monetary sovereignty).

Then, he made the announcement hed been leading up to: the creation of a new city called Bitcoin City, in the southern region of La Unin.

Its not just an idea, but it would actually be a legal municipality, with a mayor and everything, he said.

Bitcoin City, he continued, would include residential and commercial areas, museums, an airport everything, devoted to Bitcoin. It would feature volcano-powered Bitcoin mining and a central plaza shaped like the B symbol of Bitcoin.

Naturally, as in the rest of El Salvador, Bitcoin would be legal tender. But the crowd roared loudest when Bukele outlined further incentives. Residents, he said, would pay no income tax, no capital gains tax (Invest here, make all the money you want, he said), no property tax, no payroll tax, and no municipal tax.

Bukele invited up Samson Mow, then chief strategy officer of a cryptocurrency company called Blockstream, to the stage. The city, Mow explained, would be funded with a $1 billion Bitcoin bond, initially backed by the cryptocurrency. Half of the money raised would go to helping build the energy and mining infrastructure. The other half would go to buying more Bitcoin the theory, according to Mow, being that if Bitcoin continued to appreciate in value, El Salvador would reap the benefits and pay back the bondholders with interest.

If you want to invest in El Salvador, this is the easiest way to do it, Mow told the crowd. He imagined a future in which other countries would also issue Bitcoin bonds. This is the beginning of nation-state Bitcoin FOMO, he said.

For Bitcoiners like Allison, the nature of the announcement was off-putting. A lot of times in Bitcoin, the more people are doing showy stuff, the more we become skeptical, he told Rest of World. If its such a good thing, it should speak for itself. He was, however, excited about the idea of a city built around Bitcoin.

Some economists Rest of World spoke with suspect a link between the Bitcoin bonds and El Salvadors debt crisis, which has been growing under Bukele and his two predecessors, putting him in a tough position, particularly if he wants to keep funding his populist policies. El Salvador will have to pay $800 million on its traditional dollar bonds by January 2023.

With most economies, if their situation is normal, they have access to international capital markets, said lvaro Trigueros Argello, an economist at the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development. What happened in El Salvador is that sovereign risk has been going up, especially at the beginning of the pandemic.

As a result, the Bukele administration has been shut out of international capital markets. The usual way out of this debt would be through a multilateral loan. But, thanks to the Bitcoin Law, Bukele has been chided by the International Monetary Fund. In late January, the organization warned him to remove Bitcoin as legal tender. Bukele responded on Twitter with a meme from The Simpsons.

This is where the Bitcoiners could come in. The first bond is supposedly going to be spent on infrastructure in Bitcoin City and buying more Bitcoin. But, should it prove successful, the government could potentially consider issuing similar bonds in the hopes of raising capital to offset the debt, without turning to the IMF. That first bond is not going to solve the financial problem of the government, Trigueros told Rest of World. What we believe they have in mind is that if this first bond is successful, then they can issue new, similar bonds to solve the financing gap of the budget.

In January, when asked in a press conference if the Bitcoin bonds would be used to cover El Salvadors impending loan payment, as well as plug a budget gap, Bukeles finance minister, Alejandro Zelaya, responded, When they are issued, we will see if they are successful in that strategy, which I think they are. Zelaya has not responded to a request from Rest of World for comment.

The characteristic of this government has been improvisation when it comes to economics.

Salvadoran economist Rommel Rodrguez said he doubts that Bukele planned all along to appeal to Bitcoiners to help solve El Salvadors economic troubles. Rather, he believes the solution appeared to him along the way. The characteristic of this government has been improvisation when it comes to economics, he said.

Rodrguez predicts Bukele could bring in a large sum from the Bitcoin fans he has courted by gambling the countrys future on Bitcoin but doubts that he would raise the full $1 billion. The problem is as we say in the very Salvadoran way a man has his way of being, said Rodrguez. Going back now and taking the recommendation of the IMF would be a harsh blow to his international image.

Bukele originally said the Bitcoin bonds would be available by early 2022. On March 11, Zelaya, the finance minister, said they might be issued in mid-March. At the time of publication, they had not yet been made available.

Meanwhile, Bukele is no less bullish on Bitcoin. He regularly takes to Twitter to boast about purchasing Bitcoin using government funds to date, the government has acquired over 1,000 bitcoins. But since reaching a high of nearly $69,000 in early November, the price of a single bitcoin has fallen, dropping almost 50% at one point toward the end of January and reducing the value of the countrys Bitcoin holdings by potentially tens of millions of dollars. Bukele may well fall victim to one of the central reasons governments tend to shy away from Bitcoin: its volatility.

Before [Bukele] did the Bitcoin Law, he was not well-known. Today, hes easily the most famous Central American leader, said Gladstein. Hes staking his whole reputation on this.

Back in Concepcin de Ataco, four months after the crypto conference, Bonilla, the shoe store owner, hadnt heard of Bitcoin City or the Bitcoin bonds. He remained unconvinced by the cryptocurrency. The survey released by the countrys chamber of commerce in March found that only 3.6% of business owners said Bitcoin had helped with their sales.

Its basically just the big companies that are using it, Bonilla said. Between bitcoin and cash, I prefer that [customers] pay me in cash.

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Six months in, El Salvador's bitcoin gamble is crumbling - Rest of World

Its time to take illicit activity off the FUD dice. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of the Treasury published reports that indicated that the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for illicit activity is far outstripped by the use of traditional assets. Critics can no longer credibly present the specter of illicit activity to beat back bitcoin; now the foremost experts in the world say it is not a major threat.

The Treasury Department published three reports that identified key concerns for money laundering, terrorist financing and weapons proliferation financing. Heres what each said about the use of cryptocurrencies:

(T)he use of virtual assets for money laundering remains far below that of fiat currency and more traditional methods.

The 2022 National Money Laundering Risk Assessment, page 41

(T)errorist use of virtual assets appears to remain limited when compared to other financial products and services.

The 2022 National Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment, page 23

There is no evidence that a proliferation network has used a virtual asset to procure a specific proliferation-sensitive good or technology

The 2022 National Proliferation Financing Risk Assessment, page 29

Case closed! Staff of the U.S. Treasury, the authors of the report, are the most knowledgeable and best-equipped investigators and enforcers against illicit financing in the world. Moreover, the reports were reviewed by other U.S. government partners, including the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. There could not be a more authoritative source to convey these findings.

Of course, the treasurys reports confirm what industry participants have demonstrated for years. The most recent edition of the Crypto Crime Trends report published by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, for instance, found that just 0.15% of cryptocurrency transaction volume in 2021 involved illicit addresses. The recent arrest of the alleged Bitfinex hackers and the seizure of nearly 100,000 bitcoin also demonstrates that moving large sums of money on a public network that can be monitored from a Raspberry Pi isnt as easy as, well, pie.

But the reports also confirm what we know from common experience: that we use bitcoin far, far, far more frequently for storing wealth and sending money to family members and reducing emissions and making micropayments and fleeing the freaking Taliban than for illicit finance.

After the publication of these reports, if you are a journalist, or a policymaker, or a pundit, or even an anon on Twitter, it is now irresponsible and flat out wrong to say that crypto is a major vector for money laundering or terrorist financing. The top experts in the world disagree.

Not that some wont try to continue making this claim anyway. The United States sanctions on Russia have seemingly generated copious opportunities for cryptocurrency haters to claim that it will be used to evade sanctions. All of this despite the release of the Treasury reports and live rebuttals from Treasury and White House officials that say everything is fine.

Take this recent Politico article, Russia's Hidden Tool To undermine Sanctions, for instance. The sixth paragraph should lead the piece: Treasury officials say they arent overly worried about crypto. And really, the story could end there. But the piece accepts speculation from a pundit that crypto assets like bitcoin could be used for sanctions evasion if they manage to bypass KYC processes. And if my mother had wheels she would have been a bike.

Fortunately, when the facts are on your side, you can put up a pretty good defense. Coin Centers Twitter account has been ground zero for fighting illicit finance FUD recently, with its staff pointing out that officials at FinCEN, the Treasury Department, the National Security Council and the White House have all said that theres no evidence that bitcoin is a threat to U.S. sanctions.

Their defense is a good example of how to counter speculation and fear mongering: return to the facts about bitcoins use and point out the real world examples of how bitcoin is empowering and protecting some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

The three Treasury reports released this month also discuss the future risk that crypto assets like bitcoin could pose to the U.S. illicit finance regime. Examining risk is not a bad thing I want my government to be aware of any risks posed by the proliferation of public blockchains, provided they also maintain a sober assessment of the benefits.

For the U.S. Treasury, that certainly seems to be the case. U.S. legislators recognize the same thing; Representative Ritchie Torres said earlier this week that, You should never define any technology by its worst uses there's more to crypto than ransomware, just like there's more to money than money laundering.

Bitcoin is a global, neutral and open monetary network. Anyone can use it, and that means sometimes parties we despise may use Bitcoin alongside us. When that happens, the protection and promotion of the network which is premised on freedom, equality and self-agency will still be worthwhile. The U.S. Bill of Rights shows that extending freedoms to everyone is far better than constraining freedoms for everyone. Bitcoins growth will prove the same; I think it already does.

But the truth right now is that the parties we despise do not use bitcoin, at least as compared to traditional networks. The Treasury reports released earlier this month state this unequivocally. As we continue to fight for this internet freedom money, it will be essential to cite these highly credible sources as proof.

These are my independent thoughts and do not necessarily represent the views of my employer.

This is a guest post by Gyges Lydias. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

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The U.S. Treasury Confirms That We Can Remove Illicit Activity From The Bitcoin FUD Dice - Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin creator Dr. Craig S. Wright has given another explanation of how Bitcoin could work with IPv6 to create a more secure internet. This model would see hundreds of billions of connected devices, with users knowing their data is safe from hacks or snooping.

Dr. Wright re-presented the IPv6/Bitcoin recommendations he recently made to the IEEE standards committee, at the University of Dubai recently. IPv6 has been central to his model for Bitcoin for a long time. For some more background on why its important, take a look at CoinGeeks The Bitcoin Bridge interview on IPv6 here.

Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and underlying value

He opened his presentation by explaining how he had some knowledge of Islamic Finance before he created Bitcoin. While some have a shallow understanding of IF as being all about its prohibition of interest rates and usury, theres more to it than thatits about a system that doesnt create wealth underlying capital.

Adding that Bitcoins not a cryptocurrency, he said the network was IPv6 enabled in its first version in 2009but that this capability was turned off after he left the development team. He also noted that Bitcoin technology is not peer-to-peer in the way most people describe it (like Napster or BitTorrent) but rather end-to-end, between individuals.

Rejecting the Silicon Valley model

And thats where IPv6 comes in. 100 billion machines will be connected to the internet over the next couple of years, and they will need to communicate in a secure way with unique addresses. Leaving all data to large corporations, with centralized databases that can be hacked, is the wrong way to do it.

Youre always going to have big Silicon Valley companies sitting there in the middle, sucking your data. I dont like that model, Dr. Wright said.

These 100 billion devices include products with RFID tags, disposable communications tablets, smart home devices everything. This proliferation of connections would actually make the internet more secure, because of the impossible time it would take to brute-force scan the entire network looking for vulnerabilities.

A well-defined cloud-and-IPv6 system will be far more secure than the existing shell-firewall model, Dr. Wright said.

Bitcoin provides the base layer to this network. For it to work, you cant have multiple ledgers (i.e., blockchains). To maintain security and prevent fraud you must have a single ledger, a single set of records that everyone trusts. VISA is expensive; BTCs Lightning Network is unreliable and off-chain.

Silicon Valley companies may resist Bitcoins model, but If the Americans dont want to do it, I dont care. Its a big world, Dr. Wright said.

How IPv6 and Bitcoin create a secure internet

With IPv6 we will have the ability to connect every device and user directly. IPv6 has its expanded address space, extended routing, improved scalability, simplified headers and faster processing, support for authentication and privacy, support for source routes, and quality of service capabilities.

IPv6 will see the death of the current internets SSL (secure sockets layer) and its application-based security through host-identification and authorization schemes. It uses CGA (cryptographically-generated addresses) instead. Cryptography is hard, but if we use it once in the OS rather than at each later, we all win.

That only happens if we do it right, Dr. Wright added. Using Bitcoins key structure is that way. It can be linked to real-world identities, but in a secure wayusing different keys for every transaction, generated from a single source. You therefore have a provable audit trail linking that identity to all its communications (or transactions) but not in a way where the data can be mined.

He gave the examples of Paymail and HandCash as using Domain Name System Security Extension (DNSSEC). This can be extended into CGA by having an IPv6 address that is cryptographically derived from/linked to a public-private key pair.

This takes us back to a more distributed model of the internet, as it was originally intended to berather than the current network of centralized services run by large oligarchies more interested in data mining and control.

Freeing the market, freeing the world

The freedom to transact and perform unlimited commercial activities at almost no cost (for payments) is what will truly create wealth for all people, Dr. Wright said. This includes people in wealthy countries, and those from less-wealthy ones working for lower amounts, or overseas.

I want to push down the prices of transactions so low that Amazon cries. If they dont deal with this, theyll be out of business, he said.

Some in the University of Dubai audience were slightly skeptical that Dr. Wrights model could find acceptance in the real world, saying it sounds too good to be true. This is pertinent given the current worlds pursuit of equality and oligarchical control. Dr. Wright vehemently disagreed with these so-called principles, referring back to the Islamic Golden Age where opportunity was held in higher regard, and wealth came from the creation of real value.

Most long-time Bitcoiners have always known their system could produce better outcomes for humanitybut also wondered if it could fit into the current worlds political paradigms. That is still uncertain. But if the current worlds political goals set it on a path to failure, there will need to be alternatives. The best alternative that exists today is Bitcoin, working in tandem with the internet on which it operates.

Watch: Dr. Craig Wright tackles IPv6, blockchain integration on The Bitcoin Bridge

New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeeksBitcoin for Beginnerssection, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoinas originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamotoand blockchain.

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Craig Wright at IEEE UAE Blockchain Symposium: Bitcoin and IPv6 will create security and wealth for everyone - CoinGeek

A fast-moving Bitcoiner has run through seven of 40 countries on his Bitcoin-powered marathon around the world.

Paco the Runner, also known as Paco de la India, set off on Sept. 17, 2021, paying for his entire running trip thanks to all the Bitcoiners around the world. Hes showing that Bitcoin gives everyone freedom in the way they desire it.

Paco went from living a lie on the fiat standard to traveling the world living off Bitcoin (BTC) only when a dear friend gifted him the book, The Bitcoin Standard. The reading and subsequent conversations with friends about money and the nature of the world led him down the Bitcoin rabbit hole.

He told Cointelegraph that once you see it, you cant unsee it. Hed been orange-pilled:

From that moment onward, Pacos travel plans morphed into a Bitcoin awareness, mass adoption, and showing the kindness of humans campaign. He documents the journey and every Bitcoin transaction via travel vlogs and social media updates.

He is keen to share Bitcoin with people from different walks of life is a blessing. To be able to share the importance of Bitcoin compared to shit coins with everyone is like one of the best works.

So far, he has successfully lived off BTC through the first seven countries of his travels. He only uses cash for public transport. Nonetheless, the Bitcoin-only journey has not gone without a hitch.

While visiting Sri Lanka, he lost his room keys and the hotel owner was upset.

He also recalls the moment he arrived at the Koh Samui in Thailand, an island known for its anti-Bitcoin sentiment. He was scared, as it was a new island, 100 kilometers big. Panic set in as Paco thought to himself, How I am going to live on such a large island with no money?

Fortunately, he started walking the island, and In 200 meters, I saw a sign that said the place accepts Bitcoin. Like, the universe conspired for this to happen.

He also recounted:

The list goes on and on: a banana bread baker in Cambodia, haircuts, burgers, Tuk-tuk, dentists, even a silver coin paid for with BTC.

Its not easy, but Paco recommends that for other aspirational Bitcoin travelers, its best to start small:

In the meantime, Paco will continue his runs around the world, meeting Bitcoiners and pre-coiners while spending sats. He concluded, Every step you take now will shape your future.

The rest is here:
Bitcoin runs the world: Traveling to 40 countries in 400 days with BTC - Cointelegraph

The famous author of the best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, has predicted the end of the U.S. dollar. Furthermore, he said that the Russian-Ukraine war has given rise to crypto as a safer haven asset than government fake fiat money.

The author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, discussed bitcoin, the Russian-Ukraine war, and the end of the U.S. dollar in a series of tweets Tuesday.

Rich Dad Poor Dad is a 1997 book co-authored by Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. It has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for over six years. More than 32 million copies of the book have been sold in over 51 languages across more than 109 countries.

Citing that many Russians are using bitcoin as a lifeline after the Russian ruble collapsed, he wrote: Ukraine/Russian war giving rise to crypto as a safer haven than government fake fiat money.

Kiyosaki also tweeted Monday that the Biden administration and the Federal Reserve want inflation to pay off trillions in debt, advising:

[The] best investment may be stocking products you will always use such as toilette paper, trash bags, canned goods, frozen foods, gold, silver, bitcoin.

He explained further in a different tweet about investing in oil. I do not invest in oil companies such as Mobile or Exxon. I invest directly into oil wells. Higher risk for higher returns. Tax breaks fantastic. Two wells came in last week as oil went from $70 to $130. Rich get richer but poor suffer, the famed author wrote.

Last week, Kiyosaki warned that we are in the biggest bubble in world history and that the U.S. government will seize all cryptocurrencies. He predicted that the government will regulate the crypto sector then launch a Fed crypto. Ultimately, Kiyosaki stated that all cryptocurrencies will be seized and folded into the government crypto.

His predictions were heavily criticized on social media, with many people telling him that not all cryptocurrencies can be seized. For example, decentralized cryptos, like bitcoin, cannot be seized within the network and the government will have a tough time going after self-custodied cryptocurrencies.

Kiyosaki also discussed the end of the U.S. dollar Tuesday. He noted that the U.S. hegemony is ending and the U.S. is becoming less of a world power.

As evidence, the Rich Dad Poor Dad author referenced the news of Saudi Arabia considering accepting Chinese yuan instead of U.S. dollars for Chinese oil sales.

Several people have publicly spoken about the U.S. dollar losing its dominance since the war between Russia and Ukraine began, including veteran investor Jim Rogers who co-founded the Quantum Fund with billionaire investor George Soros. What is happening with the U.S. dollar now is the end of the U.S. dollar because an international currency is supposed to be neutral but in Washington, they are now changing the rules, Rogers explained.

What do you think about Robert Kiyosakis predictions? Let us know in the comments section below.

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Robert Kiyosaki Predicts End of US Dollar Says War Giving Rise to Crypto as Safer Haven Than Fiat Money Economics Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

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The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX tweeted that he's not selling any of his crypto during this time of high inflation.

On Sunday, billionaire Elon Musk tweeted to his 77.9 million Twitter followers during an exchange about the impact of high inflation on various asset classes. Musk announced that he believes cryptos are a good investment and that he will not sell any of his cryptocurrency holdings.

"As a general principle, for those looking for advice from this thread, it is generally better to own physical things like a home or stock in companies you think make good products, than dollars when inflation is high. I still own & won't sell my Bitcoin, Ethereum or Doge fwiw [for what it's worth]," Musk stated in his tweet.

The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has publicly shared before that he owns Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Bitcoin. The Tesla enterprise is the second largest non-crypto-exchange corporate owner of Bitcoin in the world with 38,300 Bitcoin on its balance sheet -- second only to MicroStrategy.

While Musk is not a financial analyst, his own practices regarding asset management during rising inflation make sense. All he was saying is that whatever assets you invest in need to produce returns that are greater than inflation, otherwise you're losing money. Given the recent and enduring inflation trend, that's becoming more challenging.

In fact, the Labor Department data released last week show that the primary inflation gauge -- the consumer price index -- was up 7.9% for February, marking the highest level in 40 years and the 10th straight month it was higher than 5%.

The three cryptos that Musk mentioned all produced significantly higher returns than inflation in 2021:

Our top crypto play isnt a token - Heres why

Weve found one company thats positioned itself perfectly as a long-term picks-and-shovels solution for the broader crypto market Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and all the others. In fact, you've probably used this company's technology in the past few days, even if you've never had an account or even heard of the company before. That's how prevalent it's become.

Sign up today for Stock Advisor and get access to our exclusive report where you can get the full scoop on this company and its upside as a long-term investment. Learn more and get started today with a special new member discount.

While this is not financial advice and investors should always do their own research while only investing what they can afford to lose, the richest man on the planet sees crypto as a worthwhile store of value during this period of record-level inflation. He might be onto something.

There are hundreds of platforms around the world that are waiting to give you access to thousands of cryptocurrencies. And to find the one that's right for you, you'll need to decide what features that matter most to you.

To help you get started, our independent experts have sifted through the options to bring you some ofour best cryptocurrency exchanges for 2022. Check out the list here and get started on your crypto journey, today.

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Elon Musk Remains Bullish on Dogecoin, Bitcoin, and Ethereum - The Motley Fool

Cryptocurrency-related stocks, includingCoinbase Global Inc(NASDAQ:COIN),Marathon Digital Holdings Inc(NASDAQ:MARA) andRiot Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ:RIOT), are trading higher Wednesday amid a rise in the priceof Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).

Several cryptocurrencies are catching bids ahead of Wednesday's Fed decision.Fed officials are expected to raise rates by a quarter of a percentage point in what wouldbe the first rate hike since 2018. Bitcoin isgenerally viewed as an inflation hedge.

Related Link:Crypto World Abuzz With Inflation Talk: Here's What It Means For Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Prices

Coinbaseis the leading cryptocurrency exchange platform in the United States. The stock was up 9.97% at $171.53at time of publication.

Marathon Digital is focused on mining digital assets. It owns cryptocurrency mining machines and a data center to mine the digital assets. The stock was up 5.89% at $23.75atpublication time.

Riot Blockchain is focused on building, supporting and operating blockchain technologies. At publication time, the stock was up 6.91% at $15.94.

$BTC, $ETH Price Action:Bitcoin was up 4.35% over a 24-hour period, tradingat $40,731, whileEthereum was up 5.73% at $2,710 at time of publication.

Photo:QuinceCreativefrom Pixabay.

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Why Bitcoin- And Ethereum-Related Stocks Are Trading Higher - Benzinga - Benzinga

Bitcoin miners hold on to a lot of the BTC they mine; they are called the original whales for a reason. Heres what the data says regarding which of the publicly listed mining companies hold the most coins.

Before looking at the numbers, one question arises first. Why do these mining companies hold on to most of the BTC that they mine, instead of selling it?

A big reason behind publicly listed miners maintaining a Bitcoin treasury is that they want their stocks to act as BTC investment vehicles.

Many traditional investors may not have gotten any BTC exposure yet due to a number of factors. For one, they might not be versed with the workings of the crypto world so they may not be comfortable dealing with exchanges and wallets.

However, such investors would be familiar with the stock market so they can look into stocks of Bitcoin mining companies, who keep large BTC treasuries to keep their stocks more correlated with the price of the crypto, and get exposure to the coin that way.

In fact, BTC mining stocks outperformed by two-to-one the coins ROI during the year 2021. So these stocks would have been a better investment than the crypto itself for the period.

Related Reading |Glassnodes New Bitcoin Indicator Reveals Little Accumulation Took Place Recently

Another reason these companies keep treasuries is that mining is capital intensive, and since these firms keep expanding their capacity, they need to maintain a liquid balance sheet.

Since they are Bitcoin bulls, it makes sense for them to keep their reserves in the form of BTC itself, rather than converting to fiat.

Now, coming back to the original topic, here is some data from the latest Arcane Research report about the reserves of the largest public Bitcoin mining companies:

As you can see above, Marathon is number one on the list with its Bitcoin treasury amounting to just under 9k BTC.

Core Scientific follows up in second with about 7.3k BTC. Hut 8 with 6.1k BTC and Riot with 5.7k BTC are 3rd and 4th place, respectively.

Related Reading |Elon Musk Confirms He Still Holds And Wont Sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, And Dogecoin

Interestingly, Marathons BTC reserve is the third largest of any public company, behind only MicroStrategy and Tesla.

At the time of writing, Bitcoins price floats around $40.3k, down 4% in the past week. The below chart shows the trend in the price of the coin over the last five days.

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All Mine: Which Bitcoin Miners Hold The Most BTC? | Bitcoinist.com - Bitcoinist

The Bitcoin mining industry is targeting retail miners more than ever before, and the mining market is fundamentally changing to serve this demographic.

Part disruptive trend, part return to tradition, the focus on small-scale mining is an echo of Bitcoins early years when transactions were mined at home (or in offices and dorms) with personal computers. But the ongoing surge in retail and hobbyist mining isnt limited to activity on online forums or social media. Home mining is now more sophisticated than ever, with dozens of companies building products and selling services to onboard more retail customers to mining.

One constant throughout almost every bitcoin market cycle is the introduction of new mining hardware designed for and marketed to home miners. In the past, miners saw Coinmines home mining machine launch in November 2018 and a similar device from Hands Free Bitcoin came to market the same year. Even though the past two years saw significant changes in the mining market including record activity from retail customers the trend of new retail-focused boutique hardware offerings continued.

One piece of new mining hardware that entered the market this cycle was a USB stick device designed and marketed by Los Angeles resident Idan Abada. Currently sold out at about $874 per unit, the customer receives 10 USB sticks and a 10-port USB hub. Abadas website claims that each stick generates 90-plus gigahashes per second (GH/s), giving the device a combined hash rate of nearly 1 terahash (TH). For comparison, an at-home miner would need at least 15 of these devices to match the hash rate of Antminer S9 (140 TH), one of the least-efficient Bitcoin ASIC machines still widely used around the world.

Some simple back-of-the-napkin math suggests earning enough satoshis to cover the initial investment required to buy this device would take well over half a decade. Nonetheless, this small, portable device went viral on TikTok and was featured in articles by CNBC, Business Insider and other mainstream news outlets.

Launched in early 2021, Heatbit a mining machine designed for home use also joined the retail mining hardware market. Marketed with the slogan The electric heater that earns you money, this tall, rectangular device reportedly offers 14 TH with an average noise level of 42 decibels, or nearly half the roughly 80 decibels of sound produced by an Antminer S19. But the extra noise from Bitmains Antminer is caused by generating between 95 TH and 110 TH, well over six times Heatbits hash rate.

It's important to note that while theres nothing wrong with building or marketing specialized home mining equipment like Abadas USB pad or Heatbits machine, these devices almost always sacrifice efficiency and hash power compared to their industry-standard counterparts (e.g., Whatsminer or Antminer), making them ultimately less profitable. But tinkerers looking for slightly cheaper and certainly more aesthetically-pleasing mining machines might find value in these alternate products.

One of the biggest trends in retail mining over the past two years has been the surge in companies offering hosted mining services. This sort of mining-as-a-service (MaaS) business model has been a fixture of the mining market for years, but its typical form so-called cloud mining carries a storied history and generally unreliable reputation after customers have been scammed repeatedly by various cloud mining companies. Many within the latest batch of MaaS companies seek to offer more transparency, individual ownership of mining hardware and to deliver a more reliable product.

The list of companies in this category include Blockware Solutions, Citadel 256, Compass Mining, Minerset, Mining Store, River Mining, Wattum Management and others. All of these hosting companies offer similar services and are in various stages of operation. But only two of them Wattum and Blockware were operational prior to January 2020.

Many of these same companies also offer direct hardware sales to their retail clients, joining veterans like Kaboomracks to compete to serve the market segment that wants to self mine. As part of this offering, several of these companies launched marketplace services for miners to buy or resell hardware to each other. Even Foundry, currently the worlds largest Bitcoin mining pool, launched a mining hardware marketplace in December 2021, although all users face a 50-unit minimum quantity threshold.

In short, the ease with which a retail miner can buy, sell or trade mining hardware became easier by orders of magnitude over the past two years than its ever been in Bitcoins history.

The surge in retail mining activity has been so strong over the past two years that a couple of companies were motivated to develop brand-new products to help home miners start and scale their operations.

The best example of this is from Saskatchewan-based Upstream Data, a mining company that historically offers mining solutions for the oil and gas industry. Last year, CEO Steve Barbour and the Upstream team started developing what was eventually named the Black Box, a weather- and fire-proof case that fits several mining machines and can operate indoors or outdoors.

The primary feature is the units noise minimization without any additional cooling technology. Noise is one of the worst byproducts of Bitcoin mining, and Barbours team wants to mitigate this annoyance as much as possible with a standardized product. Per Upstreams website, the Black Box can muffle mining noise by up to 20 decibels, which equates to a noise reduction of nearly 25% of the average 80 decibels of sound produced by many Whatsminer and Antminer machines.

For miners interested in immersion products, Houston-based Aiproenergy has fabricated immersion enclosures designed to hold between four and six machines, the perfect size for at-home mining clients. After starting the prototyping process in early 2021, the company tweeted a video last week of the finished product.

In February, pseudonymous miner Coin Heated, who leads the Aiproenergy project, explained that each unit called a HotBox Liu is currently made by hand, but the design is standardized across all units. At-home immersion miners have historically hacked together setups with whatever materials they have around, often using fish tanks to hold a pair of immersed machines.

Bitcoin mining started as an at-home, hobbyist activity, and thanks to the massive influx of retail mining activity over the past two years, mining is returning to its roots. In fact, the past two years are more likely than not just the first wave of fresh interest from hobbyist, at-home and generally small-scale miners.

The volume of activity combined with the number of companies and new products launched to serve this customer base cements this trend as a permanent facet of the market, not a passing fad.

This is a guest post by Zack Voell. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

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From Hardware To Marketplaces, Retail Bitcoin Miners Are Reshaping The Industry - Bitcoin Magazine

According to the report, titled State-Sponsored Cryptocurrency, CBDCs will require a redesign of the traditional monetary ecosystem. And Bitcoin can help in five key areas speed, security, efficiency, cross-border payments, and collaboration with other participants.

What would happen if we combined the best attributes of the technology of cryptocurrencies with the features of an established fiat currency under the sponsorship of a central bank? The result very well may just be a new method of handling payments that would revolutionize the current system. With the potential to reduce costs, reduce errors, speed the transfer of money, balance privacy with anonymity, and do it without the day-to-day operational need for a centralized organization, whether commercial or federal, the result could truly be transformational.

Except from Deloitte 2022 Report State-sponsored cryptocurrency

Indias Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said that the country will be issuing a CBDC soon. A CBDC is the legal tender issued by a central bank in a digital form. It is the same as a fiat currency and is exchangeable one-to-one with the fiat currency. Only its form is different, T Rabi Shankar, deputy governor of the RBI, said in a speech in July last year.

In fact, on February 10, the Economic Times reported that the RBIs upcoming CBDC may not be based on blockchain technologies at all.

On March 9, US President Joe Biden also issued a historic executive order that directed the Federal Bank to explore the possibility of issuing CBDCs. Bidens order also noted that impact cryptocurrencies have on the environment, and called for responsible development, design, and implementation of cryptocurrency.

To be sure, Bitcoin isnt the only crypto to have faced such concerns. The premier cryptocurrency is based on a system of mining called proof-of-work (POW), under which every miner is rewarded for being part of the system, and in turn, raises the overall electricity requirements. Any cryptocurrency that has a large enough following and is based on the system could be under the radar of regulators.

According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, Bitcoin consumes over 132 TWh of power every year, which is higher than many small countries. Earlier this week, the European Parliament voted against a ban on POW cryptos, though regulations around the use and mining of cryptocurrencies are still expected.

The Swedish Riksbank, which is the oldest bank in the world, also began its CBDC project in 2017. The pilot for this took place in 2020 and was extended to February this year. Swedens CBDC is called e-krona right now.

Smaller nations like the Bahamas have also issued CBDCs, called the Sand Dollar.

SEE ALSO:Meta's Mark Zuckerberg says Instagram to add NFTs soonPaper manufacturing company stocks are in big demand since last couple of days and heres why

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Bitcoin could form the backbone for CBDCs, according to a new report - Business Insider India