Good Morning, Bitcoin - Thursday, October 24th, 2024

What's happening

• Bitcoin Core development was funded with $8.4M in 2023. 1A1z researchers Dan O'Prey and Mas Nakachi published a comprehensive report exploring the funding of the Bitcoin Core project. They found that the Bitcoin ecosystem spent $8.4 million on Bitcoin developers in 2023. These numbers are expected to be significantly higher in 2024.

• Spiral new grantee: Robin Linus. He is working to advance Bitcoin proof systems with BitVM, the BitVM2 Bridge, and Shielded CSV.
• Vitalik Buterin: 'Saylor's Comments are Batshit Insane'. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin publicly criticized MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor's recent comments that concerns over regulated Bitcoin custody were mainly from "paranoid crypto-anarchists" and sellers of hardware wallets. Saylor has since posted the following:

• Denmark to consider unrealized cryptocurrency capital gains tax next year. The new bill is expected to be presented to the Danish Parliament in early 2025, with the country's Tax Law Council recommending that the rules should not be implemented before January 1, 2026, at the earliest.
• Nigeria drops money laundering charges against Binance executive. The Nigerian government has dropped all charges against Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan, who had been detained for over seven months. According to Reuters, this decision allows Gambaryan to seek medical treatment abroad. The government's lawyer stated that Nigeria would continue the money laundering case against Binance without involving Gambaryan.
• KYC on-ramp Transak reported a data leak affecting 92,554 customers. The attacker reportedly gained access to employee credentials and accessed the system of a third-party KYC vendor. Sensitive information, including names, dates of birth, passports, and driver’s licenses, was compromised.
• Foxbit partners with Lightspark. The Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange will integrate the Lightning Network into its Foxbit Pay payment gateway.
• Bitcoin Command Line Study Cohort by Bitcoin Indonesia. The LBTCL Cohort is an intermediate, hands-on, eight-week program aimed at teaching students to interact with Bitcoin Core using the command-line interface (CLI). It is scheduled to start on November 22, with a registration deadline of November 19.

Use the tools

• BitBox02 Lugano update for BitBox02 hardware signer v9.21 and BitBox app v4.45 enables payments to Silent Payment addresses and implements MiniTapscript.
• Wasabi Wallet v2.3.0 introduces a complete rewrite of Tor integration using standard HttpClient, Trezor Safe 5 and ColdCard Q support, UX improvements, and a beta version of Wasabi's 'Payment in Coinjoin' feature.
• Bisq2 v2.1.2 delivers an improved reputation system, easier-to-follow chat rooms, and more flexible offer book filtering.
• Blockstream Green iOS v4.0.36 now allows redepositing of expired UTXOs in Liquid multisig accounts and introduces QR mode for singlesig watch-only wallets.
• Utreexo v0.2.1 has been released.
• Docstr is a proof-of-concept for a Nostr-based document management and collaboration system.
• Bitcoin payable AI services platform CASCDR introduced new AI application called Jamie. It can take any audio or video file, transcribe it, and instantly generate AI-created content like blog posts, summaries, or social media captions.

• NodeGuard v0.15.6, a treasury management solution for Lightning nodes, now allows bigger PSBTs in the textarea.
• KoalaSat introduced Pokey v0.0.1-alpha, a proof-of-concept for Nostr-based "pull" notifications on Android.

Other stuff

• Bitkey released a new whitepaper titled "Unlocking Mass-Market Self-Custody: Secure and Private Smartphone Bitcoin Wallets." It presents an innovative design for a smartphone-based Bitcoin wallet focused on making self-custody secure and user-friendly for the mass market.
  • The design employs various cryptographic techniques, including FROST-based multi-party computation (MPC), secure key backups, Oblivious Pseudorandom Functions (OPRF) for PINs, and zero-knowledge proofs, along with protective measures like server signing policies and time-delayed security mechanisms.
  • "Your feedback is crucial as we refine this concept," said the firm.
• Niel Liesmons has open-sourced his Zapchat design system.

• Murray Rudd published a critique of the recent working paper by European Central Bank economists Bindseil and Schaff.
• BTC Sessions released a new tutorial for setting up your own Dojo Node to link with the Ashigaru Bitcoin Wallet.

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