Travel rule compliance whitepaper released

> The United States Travel Rule Working Group (“USTRWG” or “Working Group”) is a working group composed of U.S. Virtual Asset Service Providers (“VASPs”) that are collaborating to develop and maintain an industry-led solution to comply with the Travel Rule. The USTRWG members include 25 U.S. VASPs (as of October 2020) including exchanges, brokerages, custodians, and wallet providers with diverse business models and customer types. The USTRWG membership continues to expand with the aim of creating a network of VASPs with maximum industry coverage.

https://www.gdf.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/USTRWG-Travel-Rule-Solution-V1.pdf

(full whitepaper attached)

Tor browser v10.0.2 released

- Firefox v78.4.0esr
- NoScript v11.1.3

https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-1002

LND Vulnerability Disclosure - CVE-2020-26895: LND Low-S Tx-Relay Standardness, affects v0.9.x and below

> Prior to v0.10.0-beta, a malicious peer could force an lnd node to accept a high-S ECDSA signature when updating new off-chain states. Though the signatures are valid according to consensus rules, the mempool policy would reject transactions containing high-S values, potentially leading to loss of funds if time-sensitive transactions cannot be relayed and confirmed. We have no evidence of the bug being exploited in the wild. It affects all classes of lnd nodes: routing, merchant, mobile, etc. The vulnerability was reported privately to the lnd team by Antoine Riard.

https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/lightning-dev/2020-October/002858.html
archive: https://archive.vn/nXmWi

LND Vulnerability Disclosure - CVE-2020-26896: LND Invoice Preimage Extraction, affects v0.10.x and below

> Prior to v0.11.0-beta, an lnd node could be coerced into revealing an invoice preimage for a forwarded HTLC with a colliding payment hash. This can be exploited to a) weaken the victim's receiver privacy by confirming the destination of an HTLC, and/or b) under certain circumstances, result in loss of funds to the victim by believing the invoice was paid when it only received routing fees. We have no evidence of either case being exploited in the wild.

https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/lightning-dev/2020-October/002857.html
archive: https://archive.vn/dXXHl

Accelerating the BitMEX User Verification Programme

- Users must complete KYC identification process by Nov 5th to continue trading
- Unverified users will not be allowed to withdraw bitcoin after Dec 4th

https://blog.bitmex.com/accelerating-the-bitmex-user-verification-programme/
archive: https://archive.vn/wH6qJ

Bitcoin Optech #120

- overview of the new MuSig2 paper
- discussion about upfront fees in LN
- proposal to simplify management of LN payments
- notable clients and services updates

https://bitcoinops.org/en/newsletters/2020/10/21/
archive: https://archive.vn/OoWxm

PayPal to allow cryptocurrency buying, selling and shopping on its network

> U.S. account holders will be able to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies in their PayPal wallets over the coming weeks, the company said. It plans to expand to Venmo and some countries in the first half of 2021.

https://www.reuters.com/article/paypal-cryptocurrency/paypal-to-allow-cryptocurrency-buying-selling-and-shopping-on-its-network-idUSL1N2HB14U
archive: https://archive.vn/eSVdA

Sparrow v0.9.6 released

- Transaction batching
- Improved wallet load times
- CoboVault QR import
- Bitbox02 support
- Request encryption on wallet import

https://github.com/sparrowwallet/sparrow/releases/tag/0.9.6

Paul Tudor Jones says he likes bitcoin even more now, rally still in the ‘first inning’

> Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones has turned more bullish on bitcoin, calling it one of the best inflation hedges.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/22/-paul-tudor-jones-says-he-likes-bitcoin-even-more-now-rally-still-in-the-first-inning.html
archive: https://archive.vn/xhnoR

Paul Tudor Jones on bitcoin full clip

source: https://twitter.com/SquawkCNBC/status/1319264687733821441

Lend at Hodl Hodl: True P2P Bitcoin lending is here

- No KYC
- Multisig escrow

lend.hodlhodl.com

blog: https://medium.com/hodl-hodl/lend-at-hodl-hodl-true-p2p-bitcoin-lending-is-here-114eaae534ac
archive: https://archive.vn/RhBN0

Former Gemini Europe chief Julian Sawyer takes the reins as CEO at Bitstamp

> Sawyer was previously at Gemini, which he joined in December 2019 to lead its European expansion.

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/81925/former-gemini-europe-bitstamp-new-ceo
archive: https://archive.vn/WUn0b

The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) recent crypto enforcement framework is a threat to digital privacy rights, according to an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

https://www.coindesk.com/doj-privacy-encryption-framework
archive: https://archive.vn/0rOq9

CME quietly surpasses BitMEX to become second-largest bitcoin futures exchange

> Yesterday, CME recorded an open interest of $790 million as compared to $718 million by Binance and $601 million by BitMEX, according to The Block Research. Open interest in the value of outstanding derivative contracts that are yet to be settled.

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/82144/cme-surpasses-bitmex-bitcoin-futures
archive: https://archive.vn/P7mf9

A New Company Claims It’s Opening the Biggest Mining Farm in Russia

> The venue is located near the Boguchany Dam in East Siberia, in the town of Kodinsk.
> Completed in 2015; the Boguchany Dam is now one of the major hydropower plants in Russia.
> MineSpot is working as a “mining hotel,” meaning it hosts its clients’ mining machines and charges them for electricity and tech support.

https://www.coindesk.com/minespot-russia-mining-farm
archive: https://archive.vn/yNAc4

FinCEN proposes lower threshold for transaction data-gathering under FATF's 'travel rule' including those made with crypto

> the amendments "would reduce this threshold from $3,000 to $250 for funds transfers and transmittals of funds that begin or end outside the United States."

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/82229/fincen-proposes-lower-threshold-for-transaction-data-gathering-under-fatfs-travel-rule-including-those-made-with-crypto
archive: https://archive.vn/Ko1ki

(original source PDF attached)

Mercury Swap Test

> Development of Mercury, CommerceBlock’s statechain implementation and privacy wallet is continuing at a rapid pace

> The Mercury statechain system is a new second layer technology for Bitcoin that enables instant off-chain BTC transactions without the capital lock-up and liquidity problems of the Lightning network, and without the custodial issues of federated sidechains.

https://blog.commerceblock.com/mercury-swap-test-8d291b684cb4
archive: https://archive.vn/VCKLU

Top Podcasts of the Week

Tales from the Crypt - Rabbit Hole Recap - https://anchor.fm/tales-from-the-crypt/episodes/Rabbit-Hole-Recap-Week-of-2020-10-19-elepn4

The Van Wirdum Sjorsnado - NADO 14 - http://nadobtc.btc.libsynpro.com/headers-first-assume-valid-and-assume-utxo-nado-14

Stephan Livera - Joe Kelly and Dhruv Bansal - https://anchor.fm/stephan-livera/episodes/SLP221-Joe-Kelly-And-Dhruv-Bansal---Should-Your-Business-Hold-Bitcoin--Unchained-Business-Accounts-elc8if

Tales from the Crypt - Max Keidun - https://anchor.fm/tales-from-the-crypt/episodes/204-Max-Keidun-elfrne

Citizen Bitcoin - Danny Diekroeger - https://citizenbitcoin.world/episodes/danny-diekroeger-from-baseball-to-bitcoin-e107-arWzbOeH

Stephan Livera - Alex Gladstein and Saifedean Ammous - https://anchor.fm/stephan-livera/episodes/SLP220-Is-Bitcoin-Democratic--And-Is-Democracy-Good--With-Saifedean-and-Alex-Gladstein-el7nok

Bit Buy Bit - Giacomo Zucco - https://bit-buy-bit.libsyn.com/ep49-bitcoin-podcast-with-giacomo-zucco

Tales from the Crypt - Adam Soltys - https://anchor.fm/tales-from-the-crypt/episodes/202-Adam-Soltys-el6kup

Bitcoin has 'considerable' upside as it better competes with gold as alternative currency, JPMorgan says

> "Even a modest crowding out of gold as an 'alternative' currency over the longer term would imply doubling or tripling of the bitcoin price," JPMorgan said.

https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-price-considerable-upside-forecast-competes-gold-alternative-currency-jpmorgan-2020-10-1029716041#
archive: https://archive.vn/JQfEY

ReasonTV - When Encryption Was a Crime: The 1990s Battle for Free Speech in Software

> The third installment in Reason's four-part documentary series titled "Cypherpunks Write Code."

Part 1: https://t.me/nobullshitbitcoin/910
Part 2: https://t.me/nobullshitbitcoin/939
youtube: https://youtu.be/lv8OFSWZkGs