Good Morning, Bitcoin - Friday, November 22nd, 2024
Good Morning, Bitcoin is your daily news roundup delivering key stories, project updates, new releases, guides, research, and all things related to Bitcoin and freedom tech.
GM! It is Friday, November 22nd, 2024, and here's your very latest No Bullshit GM report.
What's new
- SEC Chair Gary Gensler announces resignation effective January 20, 2025. Gary Gensler, the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, has announced his intention to resign on January 20, 2025.
- Coin Center's post-election policy outlook. Coin Center, a non-profit focused on Bitcoin and digital asset policy issues, anticipates favorable policies in the areas of securities and banking regulation. However, the outlook is less certain regarding surveillance issues such as anti-money laundering, tax reporting, and sanctions.
- On Tuesday, Coin Center escalated its Tornado Cash dispute with the U.S. Treasury Department to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The organization argues that the government exceeded its authority by sanctioning the virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash and unfairly preventing Americans from using the software tool.
"The government, on appeal, says that the software published at the banned addresses is property, but the software is non-proprietary lines of code that no one on the planet can own, control, or alter in any way," said Jeffrey S. Hetzel, Legal counsel for Coin Center.
- Donald Trump's proposed Crypto Advisory Council could set up a United States bitcoin reserve. This proposed council, under the White House’s National Economic Council, would shape digital asset policies, work with Congress, establish a bitcoin reserve, and coordinate with the SEC and other financial agencies.
- According to Reuters, major crypto firms such as Ripple, a16z, Kraken, and Circle are competing for seats on President-elect's advisory council to influence his planned overhaul of U.S. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency policies. A recent WSJ report also states that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong met with Trump.
- In addition to the Crypto Advisory Council, Trump's transition team proposed a new White House role called "Crypto Czar." Chris Giancarlo, the former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), is rumored to be a leading contender for this role.
- Howard Lutnick selected as Trump pick for commerce chief. Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, has been a vocal proponent of Bitcoin and Tether's Wall Street banker for years.
- Trump urges Republicans to kill "the PRESS Act." The Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act, or PRESS Act, is intended to enhance reporters' ability to protect confidential sources. It was unanimously approved by the Republican-controlled House in January and was expected to pass the Senate before the current Congressional session ends next month.
- Netherlands' Central Bank pressures web shops selling fiat-to-crypto gift cards. Regulators at De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) issued warnings to ten web shops, instructing them to cease dealing with euro and dollar gift cards redeemable in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. While the regulator admits it has no evidence of money laundering through these means, it claims that such activities are "possible" and that they "see the back doors open" for such activities.
- US spot bitcoin ETFs top record $30 billion in cumulative inflows. On Thursday, BlackRock’s IBIT attracted the highest inflows with $608.41 million. Fidelity’s FBTC followed with $300.95 million. Bitwise’s spot Bitcoin fund garnered $68 million, while Ark and 21Shares’ ARKB each received $17 million.
- MicroStrategy raises $3 billion more for bitcoin purchases. The organization has successfully completed its previously announced issuance of $3 billion in 0% convertible senior notes, set to mature in 2029. The funds raised will be allocated for further bitcoin purchases.
- Hoth Therapeutics and Acurx Pharmaceuticals allocate $1M to Bitcoin. Each company has announced plans to allocate $1 million to bitcoin as part of their treasury strategies, reports BTCTimes.
- Winners of SatsHack hackathon by Vinteum. The second edition of the SatsHack hackathon took place at Satsconf 2024 in Brazil. You can find all of the hackathon's submissions here.
- 1st place & Best Open Source Contribution - Floresta Mobile App. Built with the Floresta library, this app demonstrates Utreexo's potential to revolutionize self-sovereignty on the go. Wallets can act as fully verifying nodes using minimal resources. The app's APK is available here.
- OpenSats doubles down on Nostr. The organization has recently issued and extended additional grants to various Nostr projects, including Damus, Gossip, nostr.build, nostr-sdk-ios, ngit & gitworkshop, nostr-relay (-nestjs, -tray), Nostrocket, and DVMDash.
"What is required is a neutral protocol; a protocol that is truly open in terms of usage and development alike; a protocol that does not discriminate, just like bitcoin does not discriminate," was stated in a blog post.
- You can contribute to the OpenSat's Nostr Fund here.
- US purchased Pegasus Spyware for Colombia in $11M deal. According to a press release from the Embassy of Colombia, the United States supplied $11 million in cash to purchase the Pegasus surveillance software. This investment was aimed at assisting in the fight against drug cartels in Colombia and Mexico. However, it is still unclear why the U.S. government participated in this sale and whether taxpayer funds were used for the transaction, reports The Rage.
- Alby to sunset custodial wallet on January 4, 2025. "If you don’t withdraw your funds by January 4, 2025, your remaining balance will be converted into Fee Credits. This means those funds are now stuck in that ecosystem, so if you fail to sweep those funds in time, you might as well use them to spin up an AlbyHub or pay for your first Lightning channel open," said the company.
Use the tools
- BitBox App v4.46.0 update brings an improved transaction overview, native support for Apple Silicon, changes to output labeling, integration of the BTC Direct over-the-counter (OTC) service, and a few other miscellaneous improvements.
- Trezor Suite app v24.11.2 introduces the ability to opt into auto-updates automatically and removes BIP-69 sorting to shuffle inputs, thereby reducing fingerprinting for better privacy.
- Blockstream Green Desktop v2.0.14 changes the "static linkage of libicu" and fixes checks for updates on startup, along with in-app promotions on the wallet overview.
- Blockstream Green mobile v4.0.38 for iOS and Android adds in-app promos, Jade QR mode, and other improvements.
- umbrelOS v1.3.0 beta 2 is now available for testing.
- Geyser v0.15.0, the latest update for bitcoin crowdfunding platform geyser.fund, introduces Ambassadors—a feature designed to earn recognition for spreading the word about Bitcoin projects via dedicated "hero links."
"And now, every Geyser user gets their own Hero Card. Whether you’ve created, contributed, or promoted, you’re a Hero in the Bitcoin movement. Your Hero Card showcases your ranking as a creator, contributor, and ambassador," added the project.
Ambassadors 🫡
— Geyser (@geyserfund) November 21, 2024
As part of this, we’re excited to introduce Ambassadors.
Ambassadors play an essential role: they spread the word about valuable Bitcoin initiatives.
They earn recognition on the leaderboards whenever someone contributes through their shared "hero link". pic.twitter.com/w5ozwLCbSF
- Olas v1.3, an Instagram-like Nostr client for iOS and Android, has been released. It improves dark mode and the posting flow, and enables multi-image uploads.
- PABLOF7z introduced ndk-mobile, an addition to the Nostr Development Kit (NDK) aimed at easing the creation of "nostrified" iOS and Android apps. It comes with login management tools, SQLite caching, subscription management, NIP-60 wallet and session support.
- Gifbuddy, a Nostr-companion progressive web app (PWA) for sharing GIFs, now allows users to upload, search, and create GIF memes on the spot. Try it at gifbuddy.lol.
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- The latest stacker.news update introduces a proxied Lightning address feature for payments exceeding the auto-withdraw threshold set by users, a pull-to-refresh feature in the (PWA), wallet status indicators and logos for attached wallets, and various bug fixes.
- Nutstash v2.0.1, a Lightning and Cashu Wallet with multi-mint and send-to-Nostr-key functionality, brings multi-mint selection, wallet backups, a new user interface based on the latest build, integrated Nostr Direct Messages (DMs), a contact list, zap contacts, and more. Check it out here.
- Lipa-lightning-lib v0.71.0-beta has been released.
- stacker.news user jasonb introduced Braiins Boiler Room—a boiler room-themed dashboard for monitoring worker stats.
Other stuff
- BTCPay Server shared a new case study on its collaboration with Namecheap, one of the world’s leading domain registrars. Since 2020, Namecheap's BTCPay instance has reportedly processed $73 million worth of Bitcoin payments through 1.1 million transactions from more than 500,000 users.
- The HRF's Financial Freedom Report issue #50 is now available here.
- Bitcoin brand assets by Bek provides a library for Bitcoin logos and assets.
- stacker.news user Rexdentron shared a comprehensive Bitcoin Ecosystem Map as of November 2024.
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