States Adopt Bitcoin, Nostr and Swift- Week 24

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Jan 25

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News

USA State Developments

Texas State Governor Greg Abbot proposes legislation to allow the State of Texas to invest in bitcoin.

Senator Wendy Rogers introduced a bill in Arizona to make Bitcoin legal tender. This is the second time Rogers has introduced the bill.

Nostr Updates

Jack, the founder and CEO of Twitter and Square, has proposed a 1.2 BTC reward for the best Nostr-based Github replacement “as determined by the community.”

Nostr is a decentralized protocol layer that allows for twitter type social media and self-hosting.

Currently, GitHub is a centralized point of failure. A Nostr-style Github would eliminate that centralization and reduce concerns that all Bitcoin development is hosted on Github.

Along with Jack and others, Edward Snowden has joined Nostr.

“The problem is that most major states are pressuring corporations to limit speech.

The solution is to remove the ability to limit speech from corporate hands.

By moving the content-layer of the Internet to a neutral, ownerless protocol, nobody can delete the things you share. Nobody can destroy the things you create.

I feel like I'm looking at the future.”

-Edward Snowden

Swift No Longer Processes Crypto Transactions Below $100,000 USD

WallStreetPro @wallstreetpro

🚨 BREAKING: SWIFT will no longer process fiat currency transfers from bank accounts to #cryptocurrency exchanges, with a value of less than $100K, effective Feb 1, 23. The move will thwart #crypto access to tens of millions of people worldwide. Source: asiamarkets.com/swift-network-…

Update on Gemini, Genisis and DCG

SEC Alleges Gemini, Genesis Sold Unregistered Securities - Coindesk
Genisis files for Chapter 11 - Business Wire
Gemini prepares to take direct action against Barry, DCG, and others - Cameron Winklevoss
“5 days since public learned that DCG lost 10% of all GBTC shares” - David Baily

Nuclear-Powered Bitcoin Mining

Talen Energy and TeraWulf announced a joint venture to mine Bitcoin in the first known Nuclear Energy facility to mine.

The facility is based on Cumulus Data’s 1200 acre campus. Phase 1 will start with two 48 MW powered shells with a possible expansion of 18 other Talen Energy sites.

Blockstream Announces New Round of Funding

Blockstream has raised another $125 million dollars to expand its mining operations and facilities. This was said to “fulfill the high demand for institutional hosting services.”

In Blockstream’s last round of funding in 2021 company raised $210 million in its Series B round.

Price

After a 7% rise from $20,750, Bitcoin had stabilized at around $22,500 before rising quickly to new highs of just over $23,800 USD earlier today. Bitcoin is up nearly 42% year-to-date.

In March 2020, something interesting happened to Bitcoin at the bottom of the Covid crash.

The number of Bitcoin available on exchanges started to fall, and users pulled their Bitcoin into self-custody. This trend has continued for almost three years.

As the halving approaches, the new number of Bitcoin mined in each block will get reduced, and less bitcoin will be available for public sale.