Category: Bitcoin

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Banking Bitcoin Crypto News Payments

Stripe and OpenNode Join Forces to Bring BTC Payments to Millions of Merchants

Stripe, one of the world’s largest payment processors, is partnering with OpenNode to allow instant fiat-to-bitcoin conversions for a host of businesses. The new OpenNode app will launch on the Stripe App Marketplace in coming weeks:

Choice of Auto or Manual Set Amounts

To instantly convert all or portions of incoming payments to bitcoin, businesses will have the choice of setting an automatic amount or manually converting any amount they wish.  

According to OpenNode’s head of strategy, Josh Held, “The app gives businesses a simple and secure way to convert incoming payments to bitcoin in real-time, automatically or on-demand.” The functionality will be available via a new app from Bitcoin Lightning Network infrastructure provider OpenNode on Stripe’s new app marketplace within the next couple of weeks.

Businesses will be able to see their bitcoin wallets and conversion rates within the apps, as seen below:

Source: Stripe Marketplace

Direct Link to Bank Accounts

The app will also allow businesses to connect directly with their bank accounts, thereby enabling accessible bitcoin conversions from fiat at any time.

The automatic conversion from fiat to bitcoin will be accomplished through a split-payment feature located in the app, which businesses will be prompted through when undertaking the initial setup process. If businesses choose not to set up split conversion initially, they can return to the app’s setting and enable the feature at any time.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Crypto Wallets South Africa

Central African Republic Teases ‘Project Sango’ Creating Crypto Hub

Just a month after making Bitcoin legal tender, the Central African Republic (CAR) is teasing another crypto initiative dubbed ‘Project Sango’. It has gone as far as publishing online plans for a ‘crypto hub’ that will include a ‘crypto island’ and a digital wallet.

A May 23 post on the government’s official Facebook page referred users to a landing page at sango.org. Users were then requested to register for the waitlist and provided with a link to a 24-page online presentation with more detail regarding the planned initiative.

The president of CAR, Faustin-Archange Touadera, did not confirm the plans, but tweeted on the weekend with the hashtag #bitcoin that the next phase would be announced “very soon”:

First Government-Recognised Legal Crypto Hub

The Sango Project, according to the presentation, entails developing “the first legal crypto hub recognised by a country’s parliament”. The country’s ambitions also include establishing a Digital Nation Bank, allowing Bitcoin land sales, and constructing a crypto wallet.

Door Opened to Natural Resources

The presentation adds that the government will facilitate crypto enterprises’ access to natural resources such as gold, diamonds and uranium, as well as implement a “citizenship by investment” program with zero-rate income and company taxes.

This news is significant as the landlocked African nations rank among the least developed economies in the world, with agriculture being the largest contributor to their gross domestic product. According to figures from the World Bank, the CAR’s economic output stood at US$2.38 billion as of 2020 and the country ranks near the bottom of the United Nations’ Human Development Index.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Investing

Why Bill Gates Won’t Invest in Crypto: ‘It Has No Valuable Output’

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the world’s fourth-richest man, has told a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) session why he doesn’t see any point in investing in cryptocurrency.

“The value of companies is based on how they make great products,” Gates said. “The value of crypto is just what some other person decides someone else will pay for it, so it’s not adding to society like other investments.” He prefaced his comments on crypto by saying:

I don’t own any. I like investing in things that have valuable output.

Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Gates has previously described crypto as one tech innovation the world would be better off without. As he noted in February last year: “The way cryptocurrency works today allows for certain criminal activities. It’d be good to get rid of that.”

Gates Echoes Warren Buffett

Gates is certainly not the first of the world’s super-rich to shun cryptocurrency. Billionaire Warren Buffett, CEO of American multinational Berkshire Hathaway, told the company’s annual meeting of shareholders in late April:

“Whether [crypto] goes up or down in the next year, or five or 10 years, I don’t know. But the one thing I’m pretty sure of is that it doesn’t produce anything,” Buffett said. “It’s got a magic to it and people have attached magics to lots of things.”

Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman Charlie Munger was more scathing, about bitcoin in particular, telling the same meeting: “In my life, I try to avoid things that are stupid and evil and make me look bad … and bitcoin does all three.”

Munger didn’t stop there, either: “In the first place, it’s stupid because it’s still likely to go to zero. It’s evil because it undermines the [US] Federal Reserve System … and third, it makes us look foolish compared to the Communist leader in China [Xi Jinping]. He was smart enough to ban bitcoin in China.”

Never one to hold back, Munger told CNN earlier this year that bitcoin was “akin to a venereal disease”. And not to be outdone, Buffett has previously described crypto as “rat poison squared”.

Other Billionaires Are Bitcoin Fans

Not all billionaires share these extreme opinions, evidently. Several, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, regularly tweet their support of virtual currencies. And last year, Mexico’s third-richest man, Ricardo B. Salinas, invested 10 percent of his personal wealth – a staggering US$1.5 billion – into bitcoin.

As founder and chairman of Grupo Salinas, a group of companies with interests in telecommunications, media, financial services and retail stores, Salinas said bitcoin was “the best thing to put your money into”.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Markets

Bitcoin Enters Record 8th Week in the Red

To the disappointment of investors, Bitcoin has logged its eighth red candle, setting a record for the currency. According to data graphed by YCharts, Bitcoin has now been on a downward trend since March 30:

https://ycharts.com/indicators/bitcoin_price
Bitcoin’s downward trend from March 30. Source: YCharts

However, investors are starting to hold out some hope for the beginning of a rebound:

‘If in Doubt, Zoom Out’

With Bitcoin breaking records for its eighth consecutive week in the red, things are seeming dire for investors thanks to an absence of volatility. The price point has managed to hold just above the US$30k mark, with investors showing bearish sentiments. Regardless, the adage remains, if in doubt – zoom out.

Bitcoin’s performance over the past twelve months. Source: CoinMarketCap

The fall of Terra and its LUNA token induced mass sell-offs last week, with Bitcoin dropping almost as low as US$24k. However, Bitcoin’s correlation with the stock market is decreasing in comparison to previous months, a shift that many investors are perceiving positively with increasingly hopeful chatter circulating on social media regarding Bitcoin’s outlook for the weeks to come.

2022: Bad for Bitcoin

Only a week ago, Bitcoin had reportedly slipped below US$29k, its (at the time) lowest level since 2020. As that drop was perceived to be the result of the latest US Consumer Price Index figures, investors were left unsure as to which way the coin might go next.

Not only has the price of Bitcoin itself had a rough start to 2022, but Bitcoin mining stocks have mirrored this sharp decrease in value. Where Bitcoin had been recording losses around the 30 percent mark, mining stocks had doubled this figure in some cases.

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Bitcoin Crypto News History

Bitcoin Pizza Day Flashback: When 10,000 BTC Got You 2 Pizzas

Last Sunday marked 12 years since bitcoin was first traded for real-world goods when on May 22, 2010, pioneering Bitcoin developer Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 BTC for two pizzas. 

That remarkable moment led to May 22 becoming known as Bitcoin Pizza Day by crypto enthusiasts around the world, many of whom celebrate by ordering pizza with friends and paying with bitcoin if possible:

First BTC Transaction Reminds Us How Far Crypto Has Come

The transaction, which is preserved on the Bitcoin Talk forum, makes for interesting reading. On May 18, 2010, programmer Laszlo Hanyecz asks if anyone is interested in receiving bitcoin for bringing him two pizzas, which he says could be either home-made or store-bought. He goes on to articulate his tastes:

I like things like onions, peppers, sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes, pepperoni, etc … just standard stuff, no weird fish topping or anything like that. I also like regular cheese pizzas which may be cheaper to prepare or otherwise acquire. If you’re interested, please let me know and we can work out a deal.

Laszlo Hanyecz, programmer and bitcoin trader/developer

One fellow forum member named ender_x made the now almost comical observation: “10,000 … that’s quite a bit … you could sell those on bitcoinmarket.com for $41USD right now … good luck on getting your free pizza.”  

That 10,000 BTC is worth around US$300 million today – not quite what most people would describe as “free pizza”.

After a lack of interest in his initial post, a few days later Laszlo asked: “So nobody wants to buy me pizza? Is the bitcoin amount I’m offering too low?”

Eventually, on May 22, 2010, Laszlo did get his pizzas, going on to say the offer was open. In total, he paid 40,000 BTC for eight pizzas over a period of a few months. He finally stopped offering bitcoin for pizzas on August 4, 2010 when he posted to say he couldn’t afford it anymore as he could no longer generate thousands of coins a day.

Transaction Key Part of Bitcoin’s ‘Ethical Launch’

The 2010 transaction is widely seen as a huge milestone in bitcoin’s journey from obscure internet curiosity to genuine store of value, as it marks the first time it was used in a real-world sense where it functioned to transfer actual economic value. 

According to high-profile investor Michael Saylor, this transaction was also a crucial part of Bitcoin’s “ethical launch”, which he considers to have been completed when the currency’s pseudonymous “inventor” Satoshi Nakamoto disappeared on December 13, 2010: 

Since those experimental early days, bitcoin has come a long way. It’s currently valued at just over US$30,000, more than 90 percent of its supply has now been issued, its mining difficulty is around 29 trillion and its hashrate is about 200 exahashes/second. At the time Laszlo Hanyecz purchased his famous pizzas, bitcoin mining difficulty was 11 and the hashrate was around 100 megahashes/second.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Ethereum Investing Markets Solana Terra

Crypto Retail Investors Drop to 24% of Volume, Indicator Still Showing ‘Extreme Fear’

Retail investors are deserting the crypto market, with just over three-quarters of Q1 2022 trading volume at Coinbase coming from institutional investors, according to the exchange’s most recent letter to shareholders.

Support for BTC, ETH Holds Up Amid Terra Bloodbath

In spite of the past week’s crypto market downturn precipitated by the collapse of Terra’s $LUNA and its UST stablecoin, institutional investors are banking on the flagship cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum rival Solana (SOL).

Latest analysis as per Bitcoin’s Fear & Greed Index. Source: alternative.me

According to CoinShares, BTC investment products saw US$45 million in inflows over seven days as assets under management fell to levels “seen during the lows in sentiment at the beginning of the year”.

Negative sentiment towards Ethereum contributed to outflows of US$12.5 million in the same period, bringing ETH outflows year-to-date to US$207 million, or 0.8 percent of assets under management.

Solana’s SOL the Sole Altcoin with ‘Substantial Inflows’

Last week, Ethereum rival Solana’s SOL was the “sole altcoin to see any substantial inflows”, totalling US$1.9 million.

With the price of bitcoin having shrunk more than one-third and the overall crypto market cap down by 38 percent, falling prices have led to unrealised losses for at least 40 percent of bitcoin investors.

Flying in the face of market gloom, the richest bitcoin whale splurged US$90 million on BTC in less than a month. Last week, blockchain intelligence platform IntoTheBlock disclosed that bitcoin whales collectively added to their holdings amid the crypto sell-off, with just over 50 percent of BTC holders still in profit.

Little over a month ago, US$250 billion was wiped from crypto’s market cap amid a welter of leveraged liquidations and general fear and uncertainty. After the storm comes the correction, as witnessed seven months ago when a US$840 million liquidity flush drained nearly US$400 billion from the market.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Ethereum Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik Buterin Opens Up About Ethereum Plans for Web3

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin took to Twitter this week to air a series of contradictions he sees between the direction of the network he created and his personal beliefs and values.

In the lengthy thread posted on May 17, Buterin discussed issues he characterises as “open contradictions in his thoughts and values” that revolve around Ethereum’s stability and security and its cultural and political impact.

Admiration for Bitcoin’s Stability

Buterin’s first point highlighted his admiration for Bitcoin, in particular its long-term stability, saying he’d like to see Ethereum attain a similar level of stability. To do so, however, would require significant short-term change and instability – something Buterin rightly sees as a contradiction:


Buterin Airs Views on Security, Decentralisation and Democracy

Buterin mused on the tensions between his personal beliefs and core crypto values such as decentralisation, security, and networks’ independence from specific individuals.

While expressing his love for decentralisation and democracy, he said that on a personal level he often finds himself siding with the views of intellectual elites over the opinion of the masses. 

And while his preference for Ethereum is to reduce reliance on individuals and build “fixed systems that can stand the test of time”, Buterin also admitted his appreciation for people he describes as “live players”, those who make change happen.


He also described a contradiction between his goal to make Ethereum a highly secure layer 1 network that can survive “truly extreme circumstances” and his knowledge that many important apps currently running on the network have far weaker security than he would ever deem appropriate for Ethereum itself.

Grudging Acknowledgement of NFT Craze

Buterin confessed his dislike of the NFT “art” craze exemplified by Bored Ape Yacht Club, but acknowledged such collections have played a role in funding some of the more interesting DAO and decentralised governance experiments. An example he cited was the AssangeDAO to assist Julian Assange’s legal defence, largely funded by the CypherPunks NFT community.


Buterin said that while he wanted more countries to adopt crypto, he had concerns that the kind of governments most likely to fully embrace the technology are less likely to allow freedom to flourish:


Unlike many crypto founders who shy away from difficult topics and go all in on self-promotion, Buterin is prepared to discuss flaws he sees in the Ethereum ecosystem. For example, earlier this month he shared his belief that gas fees on Ethereum layer-2 protocols should be under 10 cents to be considered “truly acceptable”.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Cryptocurrency Law Regulation Terra TerraUSD

UST Meltdown Spurs Global Warnings of Crypto Regulation

Unsurprisingly, the UST depegging fiasco has triggered regulators around the world to accelerate their efforts. While some persist in being hostile towards any regulation, others have expected it from the outset:


Regulators Seize the Opportunity Amid LUNA Debacle

When history is written, this past week may well be regarded as a watershed moment for the crypto sector as LUNA plunged 97 percent overnight.

To illustrate the extent of the carnage, consider that LUNA plummeted from an all-time high of US$119 in April to US$0.000143 at the time of writing. In addition, its sister not-so-stablecoin UST has completely depegged from the US dollar since May 9, currently trading at US$0.0901.

The LUNA collapse alone saw US$50 billion in market capitalisation erased in a week, leading crypto-sceptic regulators around the world to seize the opportunity to capture the narrative.

Regulations Incoming

With the market down US$500 billion in the past two weeks and with UST completely depegging from the US dollar, regulators’ initial focus has been on stablecoins.

In addition, crypto regulation has been placed on the agenda for the upcoming G7 summit in Germany, with French central banker Francois Villeroy de Galhau commenting:

What happened in the recent past [UST meltdown] is a wake-up call for the urgent need for global regulation.

Francois Villeroy de Galhau, governor, Bank of France

In the US, Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler said on May 16 that “a lot [needs] to be done here, and in the meantime, the investing public is not that well-protected”, adding: “We’re going to continue to be a cop on the beat.”

Treasury secretary Janet Yellen also told told lawmakers last week that UST’s fate underscored the need for bank-like regulations to be imposed on stablecoin issuers. An anonymous official familiar with the matter added: “In the absence of congressional action, last week’s volatility will put regulators and stakeholders on a stronger footing if they feel the need to act alone to mitigate the risks.”

Shortly after, a non-partisan report by the Congressional Research Service echoed Washington’s sentiments, arguing that the stablecoin industry lacks the regulations found in traditional finance systems to safeguard investors. The overarching theme of the policy recommendations relates to transparency and disclosure.

Separating the Wheat from the Chaff

While regulation is not welcome by many, it appears all but inevitable that it will play an increased role going forward. It’s difficult to envision how a parallel system (ie, crypto) with little to no disclosure obligations can persist for long.

As exchanges like Coinbase face class action lawsuits for selling “unregistered securities”, it’s likely that most cryptocurrencies will find themselves falling within the parameters of increased regulation.

Not everyone is concerned, however, as Bitcoiners like Michael Saylor believe that everything outside of Bitcoin is an unregistered security.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Markets MetaMask

Robinhood Announces Web3 Wallet to Rival MetaMask

Robinhood is diving into the world of Web3 with the announcement of a non-custodial wallet, allowing customers to access NFTs, decentralised exchanges and swap tokens through a new interface.

Digging Deeper into Crypto

According to the announcement made at the Permissionless Web3 conference, the newly launched non-custodial wallet will operate much like rival MetaMask, which remains the wallet of choice in the world of Web3 despite recent issues concerning phishing attacks and user downtime:

The wallet will operate separately from Robinhood’s existing stock platform, and has been specifically optimised for user experience. This was apparently done in order to provide beginners with a simple and intuitive design to easily navigate a space that can be complex.

Co-founder and chief executive Vlad Tenev confirmed as much, saying:

With our Web3 wallet, we’re building a product that will satisfy the most advanced DeFi believers while creating a secure on-ramp for those who are just starting out in crypto to go deeper into the ecosystem.

Vlad Tenev, co-founder and CEO, Robinhood

Robinhood’s crypto CTO Johann Kerbrat reiterated the importance of being user-friendly to beginners, adding: “We’re [Robinhood] making it [the wallet] not scary, [but] easy to use.”

Aside from providing a newbie-friendly interface, users may also be pleased to hear that the company intends on subsidising gas fees, elevated levels of which have plagued the sector of late.

Shift in Public Perception

Robinhood has been making news since inception, more often for the wrong reasons – from revelations that “free trades” came at the expense of selling users’ order flow, to its role in the infamous GameStop short squeeze.

With its stock down 80 percent from its all-time high, Robinhood is clearly looking to turn the tide with its new product. Last month, it revealed plans to integrate with Bitcoin layer 2, the Lightning Network, however the company was later mocked after the CEO claimed that DOGE could “become the currency of the internet”.

Judging by reactions to the news, Robinhood has a public relations problem that even a best-in-class wallet may not solve:

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Bitcoin Crypto News Nayib Bukele

El Salvador’s President Bukele Hosts 44 Countries to Discuss Bitcoin Adoption

Since El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender, President Nayib Bukele has been a vocal proponent, citing its adoption as a benefit for all Salvadoreans.

This week, the charismatic leader continued his efforts, attempting to orange-pill central bankers and financial ministers from 44 countries:

Meeting to Discuss Bitcoin

According to a tweet from Bukele, who regularly buys the dip, the president hosted a meeting this week with 32 central banks and 12 financial authorities “to discuss financial inclusion, [the] digital economy, banking the unbanked, the Bitcoin rollout and its benefits in our country”.

The meeting involved representatives from Paraguay, Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, Namibia, Uganda, Republic of Guinea, Madagascar, Haiti, Burundi, Gambia, Honduras, Madagascar, Bangladesh and Maldives.

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Attendees of meeting with Nayib Bukele. Source: Nayib Bukele via Twitter

‘Gradually, Then Suddenly’

An opt-repeated hypothesis for global Bitcoin adoption is how Ernest Hemingway described going bankrupt – “gradually, then suddenly”.

Noting that attendees to the meeting were those who seemingly benefited least from the current financial system, commentators quickly started speculating as to how things could play out.

Derek Ross of Swan Bitcoin envisioned the possibility of bitcoin-denominated trade:

Others zoomed out, looking at the potential impact on US dollar hegemony, and how supranationals such as the International Monetary Fund would take to the news (hint – badly):

In response to the news, OG Bitcoiner Simon Dixon put out an “emergency broadcast” to his subscribers to share his thoughts. After providing a compelling account of financial history and how we arrived at the modern fiat monetary system, Dixon went on to describe the El Salvador meeting as a potential “Bretton Woods of Bitcoin” moment:

At this early stage, it’s too soon to tell what the policy ramifications from the meeting are likely to be. Chances are, however, that they will be significant.