Good Morning, Bitcoin - Wednesday, December 18th, 2024

GM and happy Bitcoin Hodl day! December 18 marks the beggining of the HODL meme, which originated on the Bitcointalk.org forums in 2013 when a user GameKyuubi was drunk and made a typo.

What's new

• Chaincode Labs awards scholarship to youngest ever Bitcoin Core contributor. Ishaana Misra, a 17-year-old student, was selected from 232 applicants worldwide for a scholarship that covers one year of her academic expenses. She has the opportunity to renew the scholarship each year, potentially funding her entire undergraduate education.
• Chinese automotive services company Cango Inc. emerges as one of the larger public miners. The company purchased 32 EH/s of Antminer ASICs from Bitmain for $256 million in cash back in November. Additionally, the firm has an outstanding contract for another 18 EH/s, which would bring its total operational hash rate to 50 EH/s, matching MARA's self-mining capacity, reports Blockspace Media. The company has already mined 363.9 BTC last month, all of which it currently holds.
• Malaysian Ministry of Finance sees low instances of bitcoin use in money laundering. Lim Hui Ying, the country's Deputy Finance Minister, explained that this conclusion was based on the latest Virtual Assets Risk Assessment.
• European MEP Sarah Knafo calls for strategic Bitcoin reserve. French Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Sarah Knafo proposed the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve for the European Union. She also expressed opposition to the European Central Bank’s (ECB) digital euro project.

NEW: 🇫🇷 French Member of the European Parliament @knafo_sarah delivers a powerful pro #Bitcoin speech. Her key points:

Reject CBDCs 🚫
Build a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve 💰

The momentum for nation-state Bitcoin adoption is primed to explode in 2025. 🌍🚀pic.twitter.com/DM5H3LK3fZ

— JAN3 (@JAN3com) December 17, 2024

• Ohio introduces a proposal to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve. State Representative Derek Merrin has introduced a bill titled the 'Ohio Bitcoin Reserve Act' HB 703, which aims to create a state-managed Bitcoin reserve.
• LEEF Brands to integrate Bitcoin into its balance sheet. The California-based publicly traded cannabis company has partnered with Canaccord Genuity for a $5 million Bitcoin-backed debenture offering.
• ESMA releases last policy documents in preparation for MiCA. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) released the final set of reports containing regulatory technical standards and guidelines, paving the way for the full implementation of the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA).

• New phishing campaign targeting Ledger users. The scam impersonates a data breach notification and prompts individuals to verify their recovery phrase. Once users provide their recovery phrase, the information is stolen and used to access and steal their cryptocurrency assets, reports Bleeping Computer.
• Awake Earth Festival in Costa Rica to feature a 1 day Bitcoin Freedom Experience. The event will take place from February 20-24. "You have the option of buying just a one-day pass on Feb. 24 to the Bitcoin day. Or, you can buy a full pass for the full event Feb. 20-24," said Bitcoin Jungle. Learn more about the event here.
  

Use the tools

• Alby Hub v1.12.0 improves relay connectivity, increases support for paying BOLT-11 invoices, and introduces channel notifications for LND, along with some minor UI improvements.
• Cashu Dev Kit (CDK) v0.6.0 comes with mint and wallet WebSocket support.
• StashPay wallet v0.1.6 is now available for iOS and Android. It features redesigned home, send, and receive screens, implements Breez Liquid Electrum server for instant P2P payment notifications, and includes additional enhancements.
• Nix-bitcoin v0.0.117 has been released with the latest updates for software packages.
• Nunchuk Desktop v1.9.42 pre-release includes advanced coin control, bug fixes, and various improvements.
• Boltz Client v2.3.4 patch fixes an issue with the CLI and improves transaction broadcasting.
• Swiss Bitcoin Pay v2.2.7 fixes an issue with on-chain payments.
• The latest YakiHonne web client updates resolve issues causing the article editor to appear malformed, enhance the messaging box to support long text writing, and add the ability to activate NIP-44 DMs.
• Nutjar v0.0.3, a web component for simplifying the integration of Lightning Donations into web pages, adds NIP-61 nutzap support, a reusable web component, and theming and customization options.

• noStrudel v0.42.0 brings support for Olas (Instagram-like) media posts, implements a simple GIF picker, adds a 'Top Supporters" view that displays top supporters and their custom messages, brings ability to favorite DVM feeds, and simpler tools menu under notes and threads, as well as ability to search local cache relay.
• KeyChat app v1.24.1 fixes some bugs in MLS groups.
• Immortal v0.0.5 is a highly scalable Nostr relay implementation written in Golang.
• Nostr Market plugin v1.0.0 by LNbits has been released.

Other stuff

• Surveillance Self-Defense by EFF is a directory for tips, tools and how-to's for safer online communications.
• Atlas21 wrote a guide for how to start using a Lightning network wallet.
• Bitcoin Design Newsletter #69 is available here.

• Do you want more? Subscribe and get No Bullshit GM report straight to your mailbox.
• Follow No Bullshit Bitcoin on Nostr.
• Feedback or news tips? Drop it here.