By EZ in Weekly Digest — Oct 19, 2024

Block 866393: Important News of the Week

News. Updates. Research. Stats. Everything Important You Need to Know.

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News

Tor Project donations (up to $300,000) will be matched 1:1 until 2025. "Now is a great time to give and spread the word about the Tor Project because through the end of the year, all donations will be matched by our supporters at Power Up Privacy. That means when you donate $25, you’re making a $50 impact," a nnounced the project.
OpenSats grants long-term support for Greenart7c3. Greenart7c3 is the creator and lead developer of Citrine, an Android-based Nostr relay that serves both as a local relay and a shared database, and Amber, an Android-based Nostr signer utilizing NIP-46. With this grant, Greenart7c3 will focus on extending their cross-platform usability beyond Android devices.
Spiral renews grant to Will Clark. Clark is a Bitcoin Core contributor who focuses on issue and PR triage, contributing fixes, user support, PR reviews, and production of associated developer onboarding initiatives such as BitcoinCore Academy.
Italy to hike bitcoin capital gains tax to 42%. The proposal accompanies the country's aim to generate 0.2% of its gross domestic product, translating to $4.35 billion by 2025. The new budget measures are still awaiting approval from the Italian parliament.
5th Circuit rules ISP should have terminated Internet users accused of piracy. Music publishers won a court case against Grande Communications, a broadband provider, for not terminating accounts accused of piracy. The US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld Grande's liability for contributory copyright infringement but ordered a new trial due to the excessive $46.8 million damages initially awarded.
Norway protects universal ability to pay with cash. Starting October 1, Norway requires all businesses, except medical offices and public transport, to accept cash payments up to 20,000 kroner ($1,850) for security and older people's needs.
Crime pays when you're a banker. Last week, TD Bank agreed to pay over $3 billion in penalties to the US Government for Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) violations related to drugs, bribes, and human trafficking. This is the largest fine ever for BSA violations but amounts to less than 1% of the bank's revenue from 2013 to 2023, the period during which the violations occurred, reports The Rage.

Digital asset adoption to hit 8% by 2025. According to a MatrixPort report, global cryptocurrency adoption is nearing a significant milestone, with 7.51% of the world's population now using digital currencies.
7.5% of Salvadorians use Bitcoin for transactions. A study by Francisco Gavidia University (UFG) found that 7.5% of El Salvador citizens use Bitcoin for everyday transactions. Conducted in September, the survey involved 1,224 participants, predominantly aged 18 to 29, reports Atlas21.
Nearly half of hedge funds are dabbling in digital assets. According to the Global Crypto Hedge Fund Report, 47% of hedge funds trading in traditional markets had exposure to digital assets, up from 29% in 2023 and 37% in 2022. Among those funds already invested, 67% plan to maintain the same level of exposure, while the rest plan to invest more by the end of 2024.
Bitcoin is the 6th largest monetary asset in the world. Matthew Mezinskis of Porkopolis Economics shared the latest ranking of top monetary assets worldwide. More details are available here.

Mayor of Rockdale: 'Bitcoin saved the town's economy.' Bitcoin mining revitalized Rockdale’s economy by injecting over $1 billion into the area, supporting local causes, and creating over 22,000 jobs. Additionally, Bitcoin companies donated to local scholarships, youth sports, and supported police and fire departments, as well as community events, including the annual Christmas tree lighting.
Mt. Gox postpones repayment deadline to 2025. The trustee overseeing Mt. Gox's assets has deferred the distribution deadline for remaining assets to creditors until October 31, 2025, was announced in a statement on the Mt. Gox website.
New bitcoin sextortion scams use pictures of victims homes. Protos reports that fraudsters are increasingly using publicly available information, such as passwords, addresses, phone numbers, and social media accounts, along with other sensitive details from third-party data breaches, to appear legitimate. The latest scams even include Google Maps Street View pictures to trick victims into believing that scammers are outside their homes.
Craig Wright files lawsuit against Bitcoin Core and Square. The UK High Court case tracker indicates that Wright, representing himself, filed a lawsuit on October 10. According to the documents, Wright accuses Bitcoin Core and Square of falsely presenting Bitcoin as the genuine version of the cryptocurrency.
FBI arrests SEC hacker who posted fake Bitcoin ETF approval. The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced the arrest of a 25-year-old man for allegedly hacking the Securities and Exchange Commission's X account to falsely claim that the agency had approved bitcoin exchange-traded funds and causing "the price of Bitcoin to rise by $1,000 and then fall by $2,000."
Chainalysis argues for dismissal of defamation suit. The black box surveillance firm has allegedly falsely classified a crypto project as 'the second largest crypto scam' in its 2023 Crypto Crime Report without any evidence of wrongdoing.

"Chainalysis has been trying to get this case thrown out since April. If the case is allowed to proceed today, it may finally bring some accountability to the world of black box blockchain surveillance," said L0la L33tz.

Blockstream raises $210M via convertible notes. The bitcoin infrastructure company has completed a $210 million convertible note financing round, led by Fulgur Ventures. The funds will be used to fast-track the adoption and development of Blockstream’s layer-2 technologies, expand mining activities, and increase bitcoin treasury holdings.
- Blockstream Mining Note 2 Series 4 is live. The notes are now open for eligible investors on STOKR digital marketplace. The sale will run until Tuesday October 22, 2024, unless sold out sooner. You can track its live progress here.
Samara Asset Group to issue $32.8M bond to buy bitcoin. "The proceeds will allow Samara to further expand and solidify its already robust balance sheet as we diversify into new emerging technologies through new fund investments. With Bitcoin as our primary treasury reserve asset, we also enhance our liquidity position with bond proceeds," Patrik Lowry, CEO of Samara, was quoted as saying.
MARA secures $200M line of credit with bitcoin collateral. The miner announced securing a $200 million line of credit from an undisclosed source, using part of its bitcoin holdings as collateral. The funds will be used for strategic opportunities and general corporate purposes. The Miner Mag estimates the collateral to be approximately ~4000 BTC.
Metaplanet doubles its bitcoin holdings in October. Metaplanet’s latest bitci purchase brings its total holdings to 855.5 BTC worth more than $56.1 million.
Tesla moves its bitcoin to unknown wallets. The company moved all of its 11,509 BTC (~$770M) to new addresses that are not linked to any known entities. The reason for the wallet transfers is not clear.
Venmo and MoonPay integration for US users. Venmo customers can now use their account balance, a direct bank withdrawal, or debit card to fund bitcoin (and altcoin) purchases on MoonPay. This functionality is not available to MoonPay users in New York or Texas.
Ark Labs partners with Boltz. The collaboration aims to enable seamless, cheaper, and faster off-chain Lightning liquidity management using the Ark Node interface.

"Using virtual swaps, we can close Lightning's "liquidity loop" by providing participants with an interface to batch their channel management operations off-chain. We anticipate many infrastructure providers will find interesting ways to leverage the efficiency of Ark swaps and we encourage anyone interested to reach out," said the company.

Bitcoin hashprice rebounds by 34% since all-time lows. The network's hashprice has recovered to $50/PH/s after nearly 60 days, driven by renewed bullish sentiment and a surge in network fees, reports TheMinerMag.
bitcoin++ ecash edition talks. bitcoin++ took place in Berlin on October 11-13, 2024. Check out some of the available talks and workshops here.
Lugano Plan ₿ forum to take place on October 25-26. The key Bitcoin conference in Switzerland is back in the city of Lugano. Get your tickets here.

Updates and releases

ESP Miner v2.3.0, an open-source ESP32 firmware for Bitaxe devices, has been released with lots of bug fixes and improvements.
Stratum v2 SRI v1.1.0 brings improvements to the protocol crates documentation, a streamlined release and contributing process, and more testing abilities.
Electrum v4.5.6 release integrates testnet4, adds support for Trezor Safe 5 and Ledger Flex devices, and introduces the ability to export multisig wallets to COLDCARD over USB, alongside multiple bug fixes and improvements.
Foundation Passport v2.3.4 is a minor firmware upgrade. It includes several fixes to restore compatibility with the Casa app, along with various visual bug corrections.
BDK Swift Example Wallet is now available for testing on TestFlight. It uses BDK v1.0 for creating, sending and receiving transactions on test networks, and comes with native iOS support.
MyNode v0.3.31 packages the following software upgrades:

Bitkey App v2024.71.0 introduces the ability to select MoonPay for selling Bitcoin, adds AUD and CAD as display currencies, and enables the export of transaction history and wallet descriptors.
NodeWatch is a CLI dashboard that monitors your Bitcoin fullnode, providing essential information such as node status, transaction fee estimates, bitcoin price, and more.
StashPay, a Bitcoin wallet for freelancers and nomads, added send and receive functionality for Bitcoin on-chain payments, as well as Liquid on-chain sends. Get the latest TestFlight version here.
LDK v0.0.125 fixes an issue where channels may be force-closed upon upgrade to 0.0.124.
LDK Node v0.4.0 adds support for sourcing chain and fee rate data from a Bitcoin Core RPC backend, as well as experimental support for the VSS remote storage backend, alongside numerous API improvements and bug fixes.
Fedimint Web SDK offers tools for developing robust, privacy-focused fedimint clients powered by WebAssembly, designed specifically for browsers.
Fedi app v1.19.4 makes the support widget more accessible, adds support for Cashu melting, and integrates portable Nostr keys.
Lightning Network+, a web app for collaboration among Lightning Network node operators, introduced Group Channel Opens feature. It allows a group of node operators to open multiple channels with a single Bitcoin transaction, resulting in massive savings. It works with LND nodes.

Lightning Welder is a tool for converting BOLT-12 offers to BOLT-11 invoices.
Boltz Client Update: v2.1.8 and v2.1.9:
- v2.1.8 includes a new auto-consolidation feature for clients' wallets and updates to the latest GDK version.
- v2.1.9 introduces a quick fix for an issue with GDK fee calculations on large transactions.
LNbits v0.12.12 is the latest bug fix release for a free and open-source Lightning wallet and accounts system.
NodeGuard v0.15.5, an open-source stack developed to simplify treasury operations for Lightning nodes, has been released.

Liquid Wallet Kit (LWK) v0.8.0 has been released. It adds support for unblinded outputs, enables sync without locking, and more.
Breez SDK Core v0.6.2 introduces a de-sync fix for Greenlight signer.
Simfony.dev is a playground for writing smart contracts in Simfony. Here's a set of example programs to demonstrate a range of possible use cases.
stacker.news update adds two 'easter eggs' for attached wallets, and includes Mathjax bug fix.
- The project announced that its wallets will transition to non-custodial on November 5th. Users' sats will remain available for withdrawal, but using real bitcoin will require attaching an external Lightning wallet. Here's a simple guide on how to do that using Alby Hub.
The latest update for the Geyser.fund bitcoin crowdfunding platform brings private messages for contributors, the ability to log in with email, the option to request buyer info (such as an npub for badge delivery, etc.), an announcement banner, and more.
- The project also said it will begin charging creators 5% when using the Geyser LN address, while donations received via creator's own node will remain free of charge.

Zaprite has alaunched Sandbox Environments. It lets merchants to experiment with Zaprite API and Webhooks. The platform also launched integrations with Authorize.net and Merchant X.
- Zaprite also introduced cash payments to its virtual Point-of-Sale terminals and hosted Checkouts. Learn how to enable it here.
Bitcoin Prediction Market launched. It allows you to bet on events with Lightning and receive winnings directly to your Lightning address. One needs a wallet with a Lightning address to participate.

Cake Pay Web now supports Lightning transactions for buying gift cards online.
Btrust, a non-profit organization supporting Bitcoin open-source engineers in the Global South, launched its website.
Amethyst v0.92.2 brings more animations, improved search functionality, bug fixes, and performance improvements.
- Amethyst v0.92.3 is a small bug fix release.
- Amethyst v0.92.6 delivers more UI fixes for Android 15.
New Damus TestFlight version dropped this week. It is available for Damus Purple subscribers.

Coracle v0.4.14 is a bugfix release for v0.4.13, which introduced support for NIP-05 URLs, improved notifications, and more.
0xchat v1.3.5 delivers performance improvements, fixes issues with video uploads, and addresses some push notification problems for Android.
Mostro v0.12.7, a P2P Bitcoin marketplace over the Lightning Network and Nostr, introduces Tonic-lnd, fixes for creating orders with LN addresses, brings some Docker configuration updates, bug fixes, and more.
Notspy Relay v1.2.0, a nostr relay designed for portability and ease of deployment, has been released. It includes a Tor proxy container, WoT bootstrap script, additional menu options, and updated installation documentation.
buildr v0.0.1 is the first release for the Micro Nostr Client Framework. It allows developers to quickly build and extend Nostr-based clients using Go.
Nostrastic is a proof-of-concept for publishing Nostr posts and handling DMs over LoRa using Meshtastic devices.

SimpleX Chat v6.1.0 is now available. The latest release enhances call reliability and usability, including the ability to activate the camera and share the screen (desktop app) during voice calls. Additional improvements include fixes for iOS notifications and notable UX enhancements in conversation layouts, profile switching, and message forwarding and moderation.
Element Web v1.11.81 is a patch for high severity vulnerability found in versions 1.11.70 through 1.11.80. Users are strongly advised to upgrade their instances to remediate the issue.
I2P v2.7.0 features various bug fixes and performance improvements.
Tor Browser Android v13.5.8 backports the remaining Android-specific security fixes from Firefox 131 to Tor Browser 13.5. "This is due to a release-process failure on our part during the 13.5.7 release," was stated in a blog post.
GrapheneOS v2024101600 is a full October 2024 security patch and the initial release of GrapheneOS based on Android 15.
- GrapheneOS v2024101701 is the third release of GrapheneOS based on Android 15, following the October 15th stable release of Android 15.

Krux v24.10.beta6
Export BIP85 base64 passwords pic.twitter.com/PljSiz4UZy
— odudex♱ (@odudex) October 15, 2024

Research and guides

Bitcoin.review launched Nostr Rising series. It explores important caveats and key myths surrounding the Nostr protocol.
Michael Saylor published a Bitcoin crash course for investors. Check it out here.
BTC Sessions shared a new tutorial on using the Blitz Wallet. Watch it here.
Saving Satoshi is a fun and interactive way to learn code through the mysteries of Bitcoin.
Parker Lewis wrote Bitcoin's Exchange Theory of Value. Read it here.

IVPN published a privacy guide series for self-auditing your VPN. "It's a fairly technical series, but if you rely on a commercial VPN for privacy - no matter the provider - we recommend taking the time to work through these steps," said the firm. Check it out here.
Collin Harper wrote a comparison of OCEAN's DATUM and Stratum V2 protocols.
1440000bytes posted a concept for anonymous discount coupons using Chaumian ecash.
roasbeef shared his LN Summit 2024 notes and summary with some commentary.

Mining stats

The average network's hashrate (7-day SMA) is currently at ~669 EH/s. The next mining difficulty adjustment will take place in 3 days or in less than 500 blocks.