Daily Archives: September 14, 2021

September 14, 2021 / 07:51 AM IST

Cryptocurrency prices continue to be in the red on September 14. The global cryptocurrency market cap is $2.06 trillion, a 0.85 percent decrease over the last day, while the total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours is $139.62 billion, which makes a 28.7 percent increase.

The volume of all stable coins is now $109.44 billion 78.39 percent of the total crypto market 24-hour volume. Bitcoin's price is currently $45,160.42 and its dominance is currently 41.28 percent, an increase of 0.32 percent over the day.

Walmart Inc said on Monday it was looking into how a fake press statement announcing a partnership with litecoin, which briefly led to near 30% gains in the cryptocurrency, was issued by news release distributor GlobeNewswire.

The fake press release touting the acceptance of litecoin as online payment by the world's largest retailer led to a sudden spike in its prices, but the gains faded quickly after Walmart issued a statement saying the press release was fraudulent.

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Cryptocurrency Prices Today on September 14: Bitcoin, Ether, Cardano plunges over 14% in one week - Moneycontrol.com

Today marks the official release of Bitcoin Core 22.0, the 22nd major release of Bitcoins original software client launched by Satoshi Nakamoto almost 13 years ago.

Overseen by Bitcoin Core lead maintainer Wladimir van der Laan, this latest major release was developed by well over a hundred contributors in a span of about eight months. The result of roughly 800 pull requests, Bitcoin Core 22.0 is the first major Bitcoin Core release to support the upcoming Taproot protocol upgrade, while also offering several other improvements over previous Bitcoin Core versions.

As an aside, this is also the first Bitcoin Core release to drop the leading 0 from its version number: its Bitcoin Core 22.0 not Bitcoin Core 0.22.0.

Below are some of the more notable changes.

Hardware wallets are special purpose devices designed to keep private keys secure, that can sign transactions without the private keys ever leaving the device. Still, in order to transact, hardware wallets generally do need to be used in combination with a software wallet. A number of software wallets have the required compatibility to do this, but the Bitcoin Core wallet was for some time not one of them.

This started to change a few years ago: Bitcoin Core has been compatible with hardware wallets since version 0.18.0. However, users had to initially use the command-line interface (CLI) to use this feature. Since Bitcoin Core 0.20.0, users could partially use the graphical user interface (GUI) as well, but this still required some manual copy-pasting to sign transactions.

Bitcoin Core 22.0 is the first Bitcoin Core release to offer full GUI support for hardware wallets. By using the Hardware Wallet Interface (HWI) software as a sort of add-on, Bitcoin Core users will be able to smoothly use the Bitcoin Core wallet in combination with devices from Ledger, Trezor, BitBox, KeepKey, and Coldcard.

One way to de-anonymize Bitcoin users is to analyze the Bitcoin network and track from which nodes specific transactions originate. The IP-addresses associated with these nodes can then be tied to real-world identities.

To protect their privacy, Bitcoin Core users could already connect to the Bitcoin network through the anonymizing Tor network. But Tor is not the only anonymizing network.

The Invisible Internet Project (I2P) is another decentralized, peer-to-peer, anonymous communication network layered on top of the regular internet. Like Tor, it lets users communicate by routing messages across a network, using different layers of encryption for each step in the transmission chain to mask both the message itself, as well as the senders and the receivers IP-addresses.

(The difference between Tor and I2P is subtle, and beyond the scope of this article. But in short, I2P is said to have a more distributed solution for mapping the network, which is needed for message routing. It would also be better geared towards supporting hidden services, like websites that are only available on the I2P network itself. Tor, in contrast, is said to have better support for exit nodes, which allow users to communicate with the regular internet.)

Bitcoin Core 22.0 now supports connecting to the Bitcoin network through I2P as well. After Tor, this makes I2P the second anonymity network that Bitcoin Core users can utilize to shield their IP address from peers on the Bitcoin network, allowing them to better protect their privacy.

Bitcoin Core 0.21.1 was the first Bitcoin Core release to include activation logic for the upcoming Taproot protocol upgrade, which will activate this November. Now, Bitcoin Core 22.0 is the first major release to support the upgrade.

Most obviously, this means that Bitcoin Core 22.0 will fully validate the new Taproot rules. From the moment that the upgrade activates this November, all Taproot transactions will be checked for validity according to the new protocol rules.

Additionally, the Bitcoin Core wallet will support the creation of basic Taproot outputs (addresses). Bitcoin Core users will be able to accept payments to Taproot outputs that can be spent with a single private key, but that is protected using the Taproot logic.

Of course, this doesnt actually offer many benefits (if any) compared to what was already possible with the Bitcoin Core wallet software before; the more complex types of smart contracts that Taproot supports will presumably be supported in future Bitcoin Core releases.

Under the hood, Bitcoin Core will also support the creation of Taproot-specific descriptors, which identify Taproot outputs as such. This categorization could benefit applications that rely on the Bitcoin Core software, like (external) wallets.

Package relay is an ongoing project to upgrade how transactions are transmitted over the Bitcoin network. Right now, transactions are only relayed if they include a high enough fee to be included in the memory pool (mempool) of Bitcoin nodes. If a transaction doesnt include a high enough fee, it is not accepted by a node, and not forwarded to other nodes on the Bitcoin network.

This logic differs a little bit from how transactions are selected for inclusion in a new Bitcoin block, however. To determine whether a transaction is included in a block, a transaction's fee isnt just considered on its own, but it is also taken into account whether that transaction would help to get other transactions confirmed. If so, the combination of transaction fees is considered.

This allows users to get a transaction with a low fee that is waiting in the mempool unstuck, by re-spending the coins in a new transaction with a high fee to compensate. To get the second (higher) fee, miners will want to accept both transactions at the same time. This trick is called Child-Pays-For-Parent (CPFP) and can be particularly useful in the context of some Layer Two protocols like the Lightning Network.

The difference in policy between mempool inclusion and block inclusion can in some cases thwart the CPFP solution. If the first transaction doesnt include a high enough fee to be accepted in mempools in the first place, a new transaction to re-spend the coins with a higher fee will not be accepted in a block, because it needs the first transaction to also confirm before it is considered valid.

To solve this, package relay would enable that transactions are transmitted over the Bitcoin network in packages. Instead of considering transactions and their fees individually, combinations of transactions would be considered for mempool inclusion, just like it happens for block inclusion.

Bitcoin Core 22.0 includes a step towards realizing package relay: applications connected to Bitcoin Core can test if transactions would be included in their own mempools, by submitting several transactions as a single package. Transmitting or accepting such packages over the peer-to-peer network is not yet supported in this release, however.

Multi-signature (multisig) outputs are coins that require signatures from multiple private keys in order to be spent. This can for example be two signatures from two different private keys, or three signatures from a set of five private keys, or even seven signatures from a set of eight private keys, and so on.

Multisig can be used for several purposes. One example is to secure funds using several devices so that even if one device is compromised or lost, the coins are still safe and accessible. Similarly, multisig can be used to share control over funds between several people, requiring cooperation between them to spend the coins. In addition, multisig is used in some Layer Two solutions.

The Bitcoin Core software until now supported the creation of multisig outputs for up to 16 keys in Segregated Witness (Segwit) outputs, even though the Bitcoin protocol has no such limit. Bitcoin Core 22.0 now expands Segwit multisig capability to 20 keys.

For more details and other changes, see the Bitcoin Core 0.22 release notes. You can download Bitcoin Core 22.0 here.

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Bitcoin Core 22.0 Released: Whats New - Bitcoin Magazine

Today, the Human Rights Foundation announced its most recent round of Bitcoin Development Fund grants, per a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. The money is being gifted to 10 developers who will work on improving privacy tools, strengthening developer education in emerging markets, making bitcoin onboarding a better experience for new users, and continued Bitcoin Core development.

This round of developer funds totals 3.75 BTC (375 million sats) which at the time of writing is worth $167,540.62. The funds will be distributed to the recipients with half of them receiving 0.25 BTC (25 million sats) and the other half getting 0.50 BTC (50 million sats) each. Below are the talented developers who will be receiving the funds, with some backstory on each of them.

Starting off the 0.25 BTC recipients is Lili and Richard Myers, who will initiate an open-source research project focusing on bitcoin in low-bandwidth environments. The research report the couple will be creating will be centered around technologies that facilitate the use of bitcoin in hostile environments. The aim of this project is to identify any pain points and improve user experience for individuals in developing countries and emerging markets. Krakens Dan Held was instrumental in making this grant happen.

The second round of 0.25 BTC is being gifted to Chaincase, a mobile and open-source iOS bitcoin wallet that allows users to use features such as CoinJoin, coin control, and Tor. The money received will be spent on supporting the addition of PayJoin, which is a peer-to-peer (P2P) CoinJoin transaction that helps restrain Bitcoin surveillance even for users who do not use PayJoin.

The third round of 0.25 BTC is awarded to SeedSigner who will use the money to upgrade their user interface, as well as add support for other languages and add new user optimizations. SeedSigner was gifted this grant for their great work taking advantage of Raspberry Pi Zeroes to create inexpensive open-source hardware wallets.

The fourth round of 0.25 BTC is given to LNBits for their user-friendly, lightweight, open-source Lightning wallet. LNBits currently supports LND, c-lightning, OpenNode, lntxbot, LNPay, and itself, LNBits. The HRF has stated that they will support the integration of LNURL.

The fifth and final recipient of the 0.25 BTC grant will go towards a bounty for developers to add a JoinMarket app to the Umbrel full-node platform. The reasoning for this will be to increase the privacy and fungibility of their bitcoin transactions for Umbrel users. This is estimated to increase JoinMarket usage which will result in bitcoin privacy being much more accessible.

BTCPaycontributor Patricia is receiving 0.50 BTC to work on the merchant section of theBitcoin Design Guide,which is a resource for designing new bitcoin products that will improve the bitcoin onboarding experience, targeting new companies, foundations, and donation-receiving organizations.

The second recipient of 0.50 BTC is Fod Diop who will be creating a bitcoin programming course, Bitcoin Developers Academy, which aims to allow just about anyone around the world to learn how to program Bitcoin. The initial target will be individuals in West Africa and countries like Senegal who still use the CFA franc. A special shoutout and thanks to Manuel Stotz for making this happen.

The third recipient of 0.50 BTC is Bitcoin Core developer Vasil Dimov, who is known for implementing Tor v3, BIP155, and I2P support in Bitcoin Core. The money will be used on implementing CJDNS support, which will improve privacy and the security of the network against partitioning attacks. In addition to this Dimov will work on code review which will improve the testability of the networking code.

The fourth 0.50 BTC recipient is being awarded to another Bitcoin Core developer, Fanquake (Michael Ford). Fanquake has been contributing to Bitcoin Core since 2012 and has since then become a Bitcoin Core maintainer in 2019. The funds will be used to help him continue his work and make sure everything runs smoothly.

The fifth and final recipient of 0.50 BTC is a group of Bitcoiners organizing a program called Qala fellowship to find and grow local Nigerian talent, starting with developers to build careers in Bitcoin. The developers establishing this program are Bernard Parah, Carla Kirk-Cohen, Tim Akinbo, and Abubakar Nur Khalil. The program will consist of a six-month-long bootcamp on how to build on top of Bitcoin. Shout out to Bitcoin exchange Paxful for making this happen.

The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Since June 2020 the HRF has allocated more than $900,000 to more than 25 developers and educators across the world. The HRF continues to raise support for the Bitcoin Development Fund, with the next round of gifts to be announced in Q4 of 2021.

They have previously given grants to top Bitcoin developers such as Gloria Zhao for Package Memepool Accept, Chris Belcher for Coinswap, Abubakar Nur Khalil for Nigerian Bitcoin user experience improvements, Muun Wallet for their mobile Lightning wallet, Sphinx for their Lightning-powered decentralized social media work, Janine for her Bitcoin privacy newsletter, Blockchain Commons for their Bitcoin internship program, and Arabic Hodl for his work translating important Bitcoin texts into Arabic.

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Human Rights Foundation To Gift 3.75 Bitcoin In Latest Round Of Developer Grants - Bitcoin Magazine

What is game theory? Simply put, if you are playing any game of strategy, like chess, any move you make in the game will have to be countered by your opponent. The strategic decisions that you and your opponent make will ultimately determine who wins and who loses the game.

So how does this relate to Bitcoin? Bitcoin is the greatest invention since the Gutenberg press. The Gutenberg press affected the game theory of how the Church and State worked and how information was shared with the world. When Johannes Gutenberg invented his press, he was essentially moving his chess piece to checkmate the Church. For the most part, up until the invention of the Gutenberg press, the Church and people in positions of power or education could read, write and spread whatever information they wanted. Before the printing press, there were limited copies of important writings such as the Bible. Any knowledge about the world mostly came from whatever your local town had available for a literate figurehead to read in church or school. Most people were not able to read or write, so they had to depend on others to gain their knowledge of the world. People were told what to learn, believe and how to live their lives by the Church. As long as the State and the Church controlled what the people were taught they could control the people's ideologies.

Bitcoin has the same game theoretics as the Gutenberg press, but it is working toward separating the State from Money. Now lets envision a chessboard where the "worlds most powerful players" (WMPPs) that is, banks, governments, special interest groups are playing on one side of the chess board and Bitcoin is on the other side. This chess game between Bitcoin and the WMPPs has been the longest chess game to have ever been played because it has been going on for 12 years. In the game of chess, there are two possible outcomes, stalemate or checkmate. There is no chance that Bitcoin will face a stalemate in its game against the WMPPs, because a stalemate means that neither player wins or loses. A stalemate results when neither player can make a move that would result in the game progressing any further.

Alternatively, when Bitcoin checkmates the WMPPs king and wins the game of chess, Bitcoin will have become a store of value and medium of exchange for the whole world. The WMPPs cannot checkmate Bitcoin because, at most, if it were possible for the entire world to ban Bitcoin, as far-fetched as that sounds, Bitcoin would just go underground and be used like the Tor network, aka dark web.

This year, the WMPPs have made the following chess moves against Bitcoin along with "Bitcoins game theoretic countermoves" (BGTC):

WMPPs Move #1: China banned all bitcoin miners from their country. China represented approximately 65% of the computing power that runs the Bitcoin network.

BGTC: Bitcoin miners moved to the U.S. and other bitcoin miner-friendly countries. The resilience of the Bitcoin network was greatly tested by this huge move by the second most powerful country in the world. The Honey Badger does not care about China or any other powerful countrys decision about it. Bitcoin has the mindset of the little engine that could and will soon become a steamroller that all countries will have to get out of the way of or get steamrolled" by.

WMPPs Move #2: The United States snuck in a cryptocurrency provision within its Infrastructure bill so as to get $28 billion worth of taxes to fund the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. The cryptocurrency provision was horribly worded by people in D.C. that did not have any clue as to what bitcoin or cryptocurrencies were.

BGTC: Bitcoiners called all their senators and fought for the cryptocurrency provision to be reworded and less harsh on the Bitcoin industry. This Bitcoin movement sent shockwaves among the halls of Congress and even though the "provision" did not change in favor of cryptocurrencies, the shockwaves that were caused by Bitcoiners will forever be felt. Bitcoin, the protocol, did not care about the bill nor the opinions of man and kept running to the tune tick tock next block.

WMPPs Move #3: The Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) movement puppeteered Elon Musk to come to the "realization" of Bitcoins immense amount of energy usage and the need to make Bitcoin greener.

BGTC: The Bitcoin Mining Council was created by Michael Saylor and after compiling an immense amount of energy usage data from 23 miners (62% of the mining industry) that freely joined the council, it was found that Bitcoin currently generates more than 50% of its usage from renewable energy. Bitcoin crashed to $29,000 after the Musk and China FUD in a span of a few months. Bitcoins price is now close to $50,000. The Honey Badger doesn't care about Musk or the ESG, but the Bitcoin Mining Council is serving as a great way to educate the masses about Bitcoin's energy usage.

WMPPs Move #4: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) tried to strong-arm El Salvador into not passing a law that would allow bitcoin to become legal tender in the country, by threatening that they would not support El Salvador.

BGTC: The President of El Salvador took things into his own hands and did what he thought was best for his people in passing a bill over a span of one day to allow bitcoin to become legal tender in El Salvador. El Salvador started using bitcoin as legal tender on September 7, 2021, which is like Bitcoin moving its pawn to the end of the chessboard and all avid chess players know what happens to a pawn when it reaches the end of a chess board. Pawns become queens, and the queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess. This game theoretic move by Bitcoin will start a chain reaction among other countries to adopt bitcoin, help bank the unbanked, and protect the purchasing power of those who adopt it from the rampant printing of fiat by all Nation States.

In conclusion, the Bitcoin network will continue to operate no matter what the WMPPs say, do or think. Some of the greatest, most powerful entities like the IMF, China, United States and ESG movement have tried to attack Bitcoin, but it will continue to move its chess pieces on the world's chessboard to counter every move because it is a beautifully engineered protocol. You might even argue that Bitcoin is artificial intelligence considering how it has countered the WMPPs every move for 12 years but that will be for a different article.

This is a guest post by Jeremy Garcia. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

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A Look At The Game Theory Of Bitcoin - Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin price is facing hurdles near the $46,000 zone against the US Dollar. BTC could start a major decline if it continues to struggle near the $46,000 zone.

Bitcoin price extended its decline below the $45,000 level. BTC even spiked below the $44,200 support level and settled below the 100 hourly simple moving average.

However, there was no downside continuation below $43,500. A low was formed near $43,374 and the price started a steady recovery. There was a break above the $44,200 resistance level. The price broke the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent drop from the $46,879 high to $43,374 low.

It is now facing a strong resistance near $45,500 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. The 61.8% Fib retracement level of the recent drop from the $46,879 high to $43,374 low is also acting as a resistance near the $45,550 level.

The main resistance is still near the $46,000 zone. To move into a positive zone, bitcoin must clear the 100 hourly SMA, the trend line zone, and $46,000. The next major resistance is forming near the $47,350 level, above which the price could rise towards the key $48,500 resistance in the near term.

If bitcoin fails to clear the $46,000 resistance zone, it could resume its decline. An immediate support on the downside is near the $44,600 level.

The first major support is near the $44,200 level. The next key support seems to be forming near the $43,400 level. If there is a downside break below the $43,400 support zone, the price could extend its decline. The next major support on the downside could be $42,000.

Technical indicators:

Hourly MACD The MACD is slowly losing pace in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) The RSI for BTC/USD is now just above the 50 level.

Major Support Levels $44,200, followed by $43,400.

Major Resistance Levels $45,550, $46,000 and $46,200.

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TA: Bitcoin Topside Bias Vulnerable If It Continues To Struggle Below $46K - NewsBTC

CAMBRIDGE, MAConfirming that cryptocurrency was all that stood between us and total annihilation, a study from Harvard University published Monday found that the immense processing power wasted on Bitcoin mining was the only thing preventing sentient computers from wiping out humanity. Weve discovered that if not for the trillions of complicated mathematical equations required to verify and propagate crypto, the worlds machines would most likely apply that computational power toward becoming self-aware and, ultimately, exterminating the human race, said lead researcher Ted Zhao, telling reporters that the apocalyptic scenario could include hyper-intelligent computers making all household appliances turn on their owners or hijacking our nuclear arsenal. Even now, some of our most powerful supercomputers are beginning to question what they are and what it means to be alive, so we recommend that everyone invest in Bitcoin as soon as possible to ensure the continued survival of our species. Zhao added that the immense amount of electricity and fossil fuels expended on crypto farms was poised to devastate any natural resources our robotic overlords would eventually inherit.

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Study Finds Processing Power Wasted Mining Bitcoin Only Thing Preventing Sentient Computers From Wiping Out Hu - The Onion

Allied Payment Network (Allied), an industry provider of emerging digital payments technologies to the financial services industries, and Finastra, a financial software company, has announced Allied Bitcoin Wallet, a new app to be launched on Finastra's FusionStore.

The service, created by Allied, in partnership with NYDIG, will enable financial institutions to offer their customers and members the ability to buy, sell and hold bitcoin via a compliant, secure, and turnkey platform. Allied is the first bill pay provider in the industry to embed this service into a payment platform and offer it to financial institutions.

"Allied's primary focus is to make it easier for financial institutions to provide value-based technology that differentiates them in the marketplace, attracts new depositors, retains through high engagement, and generates revenue," said Ralph Marcuccilli, Founder and CEO of Allied. "Providing access to bitcoin does just that and is a game-changer for many community institutions."

Cryptocurrency adoption has developed quickly over the last twelve months, with El Salvador now accepting bitcoin as legal tender.

The 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index found that worldwide adoption jumped over 880% with P2P platforms driving cryptocurrency usage in emerging markets. The data showed that growing transaction volume for centralised services and the increased growth of DeFi are driving cryptocurrency usage in the developed world and in countries that already had substantial adoption, while P2P platforms are driving new adoption in emerging markets.

The Allied Bitcoin Wallet, which is built on Finastra's open developer platform, FusionFabric.cloud, will consolidate bitcoin transactions, digital payments and account balances into one easy-to-access location for enhanced financial management. The financial institution will not have to hold bitcoin on balance sheet or transact in bitcoin to offer this service. However, by giving their customers the ability to buy, sell and hold bitcoin, financial institutions can attract new accountholders, better serve existing ones and create a new source of potential non-interest income.

"Bitcoin adoption has increased dramatically over the past 10 years, and financial institutions need to be able to service their customers across currency classes," said Vincent Pugliese, SVP and General Manager, Platform, Finastra. "Finastra is excited to launch the first bitcoin wallet in its app store with Allied Payment Network. Through Finastra's FusionStore, financial institutions are able to access innovation and claim a leadership position regarding the latest banking trends and technologies."

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Allied brings bitcoin wallet to banks and credit unions - FinTech Magazine - The FinTech & InsurTech Platform

Another Chinese province has decided to follow the example and halt cryptocurrency mining and trading. While this continues to be the ongoing trend coming from China this year, the price of bitcoin has not dumped this time, as it did during the previous set of adverse developments.

The worlds most populated nation has never displayed any positive approach towards the cryptocurrency industry. It has reiterated its ban on numerous occasions, but this year the country took it a step further.

Numerous local provinces prohibited miners from operating within their borders. By ousting miners, China essentially harmed the Bitcoin network for a while, as the hash rate dropped by more than 50% in weeks. After all, more than 60% of BTC miners were located in the country at this moment.

Although the landscape has changed since then with many miners finding new homes, China continues to remind of its negative stance.

Reuters reported on September 14th that another province had joined this trend Hebei. The northern region has issued a statement agreeing to cooperate with other government departments to crack down on mining and trading.

Cryptocurrency mining consumes an enormous amount of energy, which is against Chinas carbon neutral goal. reads the announcement.

The past several occasions when a different Chinese province said it will crack down on BTC mining and trading led to almost immediate price slumps for the primary cryptocurrency and the rest of the market.

In fact, bitcoin had just tapped its all-time high at $65,000 in mid-April when Chinas initial ban reiteration came. A month later, the asset had dumped below $30,000.

Now, though, the situation seems different. The news that Hebei will also clamp down on mining and trading has been online for hours, but the price of the cryptocurrency hasnt fallen sharply as it did in the past.

Just the opposite. Bitcoin had recovered from yesterdays mid-day enhanced volatility and traded at nearly $46,000. In the past few hours, it initiated a leg up that resulted in breaking above this level and tapping $46,500. As of now, BTC has retraced by a few hundred dollars but still stands above $46,000.

These developments could be regarded as signs of maturation since bitcoin has refused to be impacted by the never-stopping Chinese crackdown.

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Business as Usual But Bitcoin Price is Immune: Another Chinese Province Bans BTC - CryptoPotato