Riot Terminates CEO, Zeus Update and Ordinals - Week 26

Feb 8

The Bitcoin Minimalist is brought to you by Bitbo.io, a real-time Bitcoin dashboard that allows anyone to monitor on-chain data, view live price action, and track vital economic indicators - all for free.

To catch the weekly synopsis, consider subscribing to The Bitcoin Minimalist!

News

Ordinals and Blockspace

The mempool has been filling up over the past week. At times, tens of thousands of transactions waiting to be included in a block. This backup is due to Ordinals, which some call Bitcoin NFTs or inscriptions.

The Taproot upgrade to Bitcoin enabled these ordinals. Users of Bitcoin have recently started posting images into the Bitcoin blockchain, causing a backup of transactions and an increase in total fees.

Pierre Rochard has been tweeting about the total block space due to the increase in ordinals. As of earlier this week, ordinals were taking up over 50% of block space. As of yesterday, this number has falled to 23%.

Higher fees will start to decrease the demand for block space, and those unwilling to pay more in fees will drop off. This is what the free market fee system is meant for.

Pierre Rochard @BitcoinPierre

Today's fee pressure seems to be driving down the #Bitcoin block space marketshare of inscriptions, from 54% yesterday down to 23%

Zeus Lightning Wallet Zeus v0.7.2 Update

Zeus is a non-custodial lightning wallet allowing users to interact directly with their lightning node. No BS Bitcoin covers this release with some noted updates, such as NFC payments, integration to POS square terminals, and receiving via NFC Bolt card.

Zeus v0.7.2: POS for Square Terminals, Receive via NFC, and More

Riot Announces Termination of Giga Chad

Last week on Feb 1st, Riot announced the termination of the Chief Commercial Officer, Chad Harris.

Chad was a part of the original company that was then purchased and turned into what it is today. The press release states there was termination without “Cause.” It is unclear for what reason, as it’s not stated, but Chad reflected on his past experiences at Riot through a thread on Twitter. On top of the news last week, Riot reported mining the most bitcoin it’s ever mined in one month.

GigaChad @chadeverett

[ Interested in _____________] Over the last three years, I have learned a few things. What would you like to learn about? 1. Infrastructure 2. Scaling Teams 3. Building at Scale 4. Procurement You'll want to pay close attention as I race into my next chapter. #Bitcoin

Obi From Fediment Talks Nostr

Price

Since the run-up last week, Bitcoin price has stayed relatively flat. Bitcoin price has risen 47% from an all-time low of $23,000.

Ark Invest released this Bitcoin supply chart which shows coins that have last been active in over two years. The assumption is that Bitcoin holders have been HODLing for the last two years, and the number of coins not moved in two years has since increased in the bear market. The upward movement suggests that historically, this has been a sign of a bottom in Bitcoin’s price.

Tweets

Jobs

We have recently launched Bitcoinjobs.com! Looking for a job in the Bitcoin space? Visit Bitcoinjobs.com for more job openings.

What to read

How the Fed "Went Broke" - Lyn Alden

The Bitcoin Minimalist