No Bullshit Bitcoin Weekly Digest - Block 855363

August 4, 2024 · 11 min · 2321 words

👉 Block 855363: Weekly Digest

Important news of the week without the bullshit.

News

The BITCOIN Act of 2024. Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced the Boosting Innovation, Technology, and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment Nationwide (BITCOIN) Act’ in the Senate. The legislation aims to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, designed to manage the Federal Government’s Bitcoin holdings transparently while safeguarding the private property rights of individuals and organizations.
Update your node. The Bitcoin Core project has announced two new security advisories regarding vulnerabilities identified in Bitcoin Core v0.21.0 and earlier versions. A comprehensive breakdown of these issues is available here.
The Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act. CoinCenter’s Jerry Brito said that the Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act has been reintroduced in the Senate with bipartisan support. The act aims to establish an exemption similar to that for foreign currency, excluding low-value, everyday Bitcoin transactions from capital gains tax.
The UW Bitcoin Research Institute. The University of Wyoming has launched , the first academic institute focused on Bitcoin studies.
Hong Kong likes the coin. The city’s legislator Johnny Ng is exploring the feasibility of incorporating Bitcoin into the city’s financial reserves.
The State of Michigan Retirement System likes the coin, too. Filings show it owned $6.6 million of the ARK Bitcoin ETF as of June 30.
The “Financial Technology Protection Act of 2023” passed. The U.S. House has passed the “Financial Technology Protection Act of 2023,” establishing an “Independent Financial Technology Working Group to Combat Terrorism and Illicit Financing.” The group will “make legislative proposals to prevent the evasion of sanctions and the facilitation of financial crime through digital assets and related emerging technologies,” reported The Rage.
Russia attempts Bitcoin regulation. The Russian State Duma has passed two bitcoin-related laws. 1. The first law legalizes cryptocurrency mining in Russia starting November 1, 2024, permitting registered legal entities and individual entrepreneurs to mine, while unregistered individuals can only operate within energy consumption limits. The second law, effective September 1, 2024, establishes an experimental regime granting the Bank of Russia the authority to permit authorized companies to conduct cross-border settlements and digital currency trading.
Tether go up. Leading stablecoin issuer Tether has released its Q2 2024 attestation report. The firm reported a net operating profit of $1.3 billion and has $5.33 billion in excess reserves. The company also claims to hold ~80,000 BTC. According to CEO Paolo Ardoino, this positions Tether as the 18th largest entity in terms of U.S. debt ownership.
MicroStrategy now holds 226,500 BTC. The corporation announced that since the beginning of the second quarter, it has acquired 12,222 BTC for $805.2 million. As of July 31, MicroStrategy’s total bitcoin holdings of 226,500 cost $8.3 billion, or $36,821 per coin. The firm is also filing paperwork to issue new equity to raise up to $2 billion.
“Virtual Assets Increasingly Used By Terrorist Groups.” The latest report from The Financial Action Task Force claims to shed light on ‘Virtual Assets’ and ‘Virtual Asset Service Providers,’ asserting that “Virtual Assets are increasingly used by terrorist groups.” Yet, this bombshell comes devoid of proper citations or verifiable data, leaving those who are following the surveillance narratives to question its credibility, reports The Rage.
EU has clarified the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) rules. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a report advising firms on how to engage with overseas companies to ensure MiCA compliance. The guidance states that unauthorized firms cannot provide services to EU clients unless those clients reach out first.
Brink 🤝 Marco De Leon. Bitcoin development non-profit Brink announced that developer Marco De Leon has joined Brink to contribute to Bitcoin Core’s fuzz testing initiatives under the mentorship of Niklas Gögge. Together they will build out Bitcoin Core’s fuzz testing infrastructure.
Fedi 🤝 Save the Children. Global humanitarian organization Save the Children and Fedi, Inc., a developer building on top of the Fedimint protocol, have announced a partnership aimed at transforming cash and voucher assistance (CVA) delivery to communities most affected by inequality. This initiative will launch in the Philippines, providing select communities with Bitcoin as part of community cash assistance through the Fedi mobile app.
Metaplanet🤝Hoseki. Japanese public company Metaplanet has formed a strategic partnership with Hoseki, a global Bitcoin verification solutions provider, to enable users to verify the company’s Bitcoin holdings.
Riot 🍽️ Bitfarms. Texas-based bitcoin miner Riot has raised its stake in Bitfarms to 15.9% as part of its hostile takeover attempt, acquiring $19.3 million in shares. This move follows Riot’s success on July 25 in terminating Bitfarms’ initial “poison pill” strategy, leading Bitfarms to implement a new strategy that increases the equity dilution threshold from 15% to 20%.
CleanSpark has acquired two 75-megawatt mining sites in Cheyenne, Wyoming, formerly operated by MineOne, for $18.75 million. This acquisition comes after the Biden administration halted MineOne’s operations due to national security concerns regarding Chinese ownership near a U.S. Air Force base, reports The Miner Mag.
Argo Blockchain, a London-listed Bitcoin miner, announced it raised £6.5 million (approximately $8.355 million) through a stock offering. The proceeds will be used for working capital, general corporate purposes, and debt repayment.
Greenidge Generation to hodl self-mined bitcoin. New York-headquartered power generator and bitcoin miner said it will retain self-mined bitcoin in order to increase its bitcoin holdings. The company has also entered into a $20 million common stock purchase agreement.
Lava, a Bitcoin self-custody and spending startup has announced a Seed Round, although the amounts have not been disclosed.
It’s not getting safer out there. Four men have been arrested after a 29-year-old Moroccan man was kidnapped, forced to transfer 3 bitcoin (~$200k), and then strangled to death in Kyiv, Ukraine, the city’s police reported. Meanwhile, the Thai police has arrested a gang of five Russian men accused of abducting and assaulting a Belarusian couple in Phuket, Thailand, and forcing them to transfer approximately $900k worth of cryptocurrency before releasing them.
Gemini has warned its users that an unauthorized actor breached its vendor’s systems between June 3 and June 7, 2024 and accessed Gemini’s customers’ banking information, including their full name, bank account number, and routing number. The incident affects ~15k individuals.
Some Blockstream customers are reportedly targeted by a new phishing email campaign.
Pay-to-snitch surveillance firm Arkham Intelligence, which aims to “deanonymize the blockchain,” is reportedly obscuring the sales of its own ARKM shitcoin.
TBD has announced the TBD Hackathon, set to take place at the Africa ₿itcoin Conference in December. You can sign up here.
Bitcoin Magazine revealed that the next edition of the Bitcoin Conference 2025 will be held in Las Vegas from May 27 to May 29, 2025.

Updates and releases

Guides and research