Good Morning, Bitcoin - Monday, December 9th, 2024

What's new

• OpenSats renews support for 9 Bitcoin projects. The non-profit announced a renewed commitment to nine projects, including BTCPay Server, Stratum V2, Raspiblitz, LNbits, Vexl, Blixt, Krux, Bitaxe, and Labelbase.
• More documents on Operation Chokepoint v2.0. According to Coinbase, recently revealed heavily redacted FDIC letters sent to banks in 2022 urged them to sever ties with crypto firms due to concerns about risk management, fraud, consumer protection, and financial stability, aiming to stifle the growth of digital assets.

• France debates tax on unrealized Bitcoin capital gains over €800,000. French Senator Sylvie Vermeillet proposed taxing Bitcoin and digital assets as "unproductive assets" similar to luxury items, with unrealized gains over €800,000 taxed. The Senate preliminarily approved the proposal, and Finance Minister Laurent Saint-Martin endorsed it.
• Czech Republic eliminates capital gains tax for bitcoin held over 3 years. The country passed a law exempting Bitcoin holdings held for over three years from capital gains tax. This decision, unanimously approved by parliament on December 6, will take effect on January 1, 2025.
• Iran moves to regulate cryptocurrencies. The country's Economic Affairs and Finance Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati said Iran will aim to "minimize cryptocurrency's negative economic effects" and "maximize its benefits," with digital money regulated by the central bank.
• Amazon shareholders pressure it to consider Bitcoin strategy. The company's shareholders advocate allocating at least 5% of company assets to Bitcoin via a proposal submitted by the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR).
  • Microsoft is set to vote on a similar proposal tomorrow, December 10.
• Bitcoin Mena conference by Bitcoin Magazine is taking place currently. You can follow the event live and/or rewatch talks here. The agenda is available here.

Use the tools

• Wasabi Wallet v2.3.1 is a stability-focused release packed with critical bug fixes and preparatory changes for upcoming major features.
• BlueWallet v7.0.6 is a bug fix release addressing a number of smaller issues.
• Labelbase v2.2.3, a tool for managing BIP-329 labels, comes with a new and improved UI/UX, testnet support, Samourai backup import, and more.
• Alby Hub v1.11.2 delivers many improvements to the privacy of app connections, relay connectivity, backups, open channel flows, receive page, isolated app connections, transaction lists, and more.
• Blitz Wallet v0.3.4-beta introduces support for Trampoline Payments, the ability to automatically rebalance channels, fixes fee calculation for Boltz payments, and more.
• Breez SDK Greenlight v0.6.6 fixes an issue with not automatically removing pre-payment pending payments.
• Core BDK Wallet is a proof-of-concept for a Rust wallet for Bitcoin Core using the chain IPC interface.
• Voltz Tip Bot is an easy-to-use Lightning Network Telegram bot for tipping sats in Telegram groups.
• YakiHonne v1.5.9 mobile app updates brings full compatibility with Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC) secrets, an option to scan invoice QR codes and pay them, fixes issues with video uploads, and more.
• Mostr is a concept for a Nostr-powered collaborative task manager.
• Bitkey app v2024.74.1 has been released.
• Zaprite rolled out integrations with Coinos and Lifpay, as well as cash payment invoices.

💵 Cash Payments are here!

Our new Cash Payment plugin enables merchants to accept cash, alongside bitcoin (onchain and lightning), using our POS Virtual Terminals.

See how it works in this short video… pic.twitter.com/sDOX5ikGDs

— Zaprite (₿/⚡) (@ZapriteApp) December 5, 2024

• SimpleX Chat v6.2.0 pre-release is now available for testing.
• GrapheneOS v2024120702 release is specific to 9th-generation Pixel devices, providing a fix for the GPU driver regression.

Other stuff

• The Bitcoin Design Community added sections on ecash (Cashu & Fedimint) and an inheritance wallet reference design for changes in existing wallet setups.
• 'Biggest Heist Ever' – a movie about the 2016 Bitfinex hack – is now available on Netflix.

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