Anthony Towns: Bitcoin in 2021

> I wrote a post at the start of last year thinking about my general priorities for Bitcoin and I’m still pretty happy with that approach — certainly “store of value” as a foundation feels like it’s held up!

http://www.erisian.com.au/wordpress/2021/01/07/bitcoin-in-2021
archive: https://archive.vn/w5LWL

Iran: Crackdown on Illegal Crypto Farms

> Authorities closed 1,620 illegal cryptocurrency mining farms that were used 250 megawatts of electricity since July 2019, when mining was legalized, spokesman of the Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) said.

https://financialtribune.com/articles/business-and-markets/106872/iran-crackdown-on-illegal-crypto-farms
archive: https://archive.vn/xmJx1

Coldcard v3.2.1 firmware released

- Major Multisig Improvements! Now tracks derivation path for each co-signer and blocks multiple instances of same XFP
- BIP78 Payjoin PSBT support
- Testnet usage now prompts a warning, for advanced users only
- Address explorer now easier to access

https://blog.coinkite.com/version-3.2.1-released/

Bitcoin Is ‘Less Risky the Higher It Goes,’ Says Investor Bill Miller on CNBC

> “One of the things that’s interesting about bitcoin is that it gets less risky the higher it goes,” Miller told CNBC Friday. “That’s the opposite of what happens with most stocks.”

https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-bill-miller-cnbc-volatility-risk
archive: https://archive.vn/DFHTB

Square Crypto Funds Bitcoin Developer to Improve Mining Pool Software

> Pseudonymous developer Fi3 (piccioneLibero2 on Twitter, or “free pigeon”) will receive an undisclosed sum to work on an implementation of Stratum V2, the next iteration of a Bitcoin mining protocol software developed by Braiins

https://www.coindesk.com/square-crypto-funds-bitcoin-developer-mining-pool-software
archive: https://archive.vn/Xdjvw

BlueWallet v6.0.2 released

- Easily share a Vault key with QR code
- Electrum servers history - fast connect
- Ability to set servers via QR code scanning
- CoinControl multi-selection

https://github.com/BlueWallet/BlueWallet/releases/tag/v6.0.2

All v3 Onion Addresses Down After Attack On The Tor Network

> For a few hours today all v3 onion addresses on the Tor network were down. This appears to be a new kind of attack which affects the entire network and involves overloading the consensus authority nodes.

https://darknetdaily.com/?p=1030
archive: https://archive.vn/cCgsl

No Bullshit Bitcoin is for bitcoiners by bitcoiners.

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Feedback (@nobsbitcoin) and support is appreciated.

bitcoin: donate.nobsbtc.com
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Bakkt is going public on the New York Stock Exchange via a SPAC

> Bakkt is merging with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings at a valuation of about $2.1 billion. VPC held its initial public offering in September 2020.

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/90747/bakkt-going-public-new-york-stock-exchange-spac
archive: https://archive.vn/TO41J

Wasabi Wallet and Tor Consensus Issues

> On January 10, 2021, due to an implementation bug, Tor's v3 onion services experienced instability. A bug fix is already on the way, but until the update you may experience connection problems and delays.

> Most of our users haven't noticed any interruptions because Wasabi was able to recover automatically. There were a few users who encountered intermittent Tor connection issues. But in most of these cases, restarting the Tor client solved the problem.

https://blog.wasabiwallet.io/wasabi-wallet-tor-consensus/
archive: https://archive.vn/Mv6o1

BTCPay Server v1.0.6.5 released

- Support a subset of output descriptor in the wallet setup
- Improved styling of the notification dropdown
- API keys and server's url can be shown as QR Code to facilitate pairing
- Greenfield API improvements

https://github.com/btcpayserver/btcpayserver/releases/tag/v1.0.6.5

Mempool v2.0.0 released

- Bitcoin Core RPC, Electrum Server, or Esplora backends
- Block, address, and transaction explorer with APIs
- Dashboard layout displaying fee estimates and other real-time stats
- Multiple networks including Testnet, Liquid, and Bisq
- Angular Universal Server Side Rendering
- Internationalization support for 20+ languages
- Support for Raspiblitz, RoninDojo, and Umbrel coming soon

https://github.com/mempool/mempool/releases/tag/v2.0.0

German Police Take Down 'World's Largest Darknet Marketplace'

> A 34-year-old Australian national believed to be the DarkMarket operator was arrested near the German-Danish border, just as more than 20 servers it used in Moldova and Ukraine were seized.

https://www.barrons.com/news/german-police-take-down-world-s-largest-darknet-marketplace-01610449507
archive: https://archive.vn/SztAW

Human Rights Foundation Provides Grants To Specter, Lot49

> The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) has announced the latest beneficiaries of its ongoing Bitcoin Development Fund: Bitcoin developer Ben Kaufman and the team at Global Mesh Labs will each receive grants of $25,000.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/human-rights-foundation-provides-grants-to-specter-lot49
archive: https://archive.vn/Iu9en

SUNSPOT: An Implant in the Build Process

> The design of SUNSPOT suggests StellarParticle developers invested a lot of effort to ensure the code was properly inserted and remained undetected, and prioritized operational security to avoid revealing their presence in the build environment to SolarWinds developers.

https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/sunspot-malware-technical-analysis/
archive: https://archive.vn/W0n9g

Poolin rolls out 'hash rate token' to bridge bitcoin mining and DeFi

> The mining pool said that, at this stage, it is selling up to 50,000 pBTC35A, which is equivalent to 50,000 TH/s of computing power backed by the newest bitcoin ASIC miners hosted at Poolin's facilities.

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/90847/poolin-bitcoin-hashrate-token-pow-defi
archive: https://archive.vn/96JMJ

Ledger Update: Efforts to Protect Your Data and Prosecute The Scammers

> In this blog post we are updating our users on our ongoing actions to strengthen our security practices and pursue justice in our 2020 data theft

https://www.ledger.com/blog/update-efforts-to-protect-your-data-and-prosecute-the-scammers
archive: https://archive.vn/YEDZM

Bitcoin is 'highly speculative' and needs to be regulated, says ECB's Lagarde

> "If there is an escape, that escape will be used," she said. "So I think [...] global cooperation and multilateral action is absolutely needed, whether it is initiated by the G-7, moved into the G-20 and then enlarged [...] The FATF [Financial Action Task Force] is clearly an organization that has expanded in that respect."

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/91014/bitcoin-highly-speculative-needs-to-be-regulated-ecb-lagarde
archive: https://archive.vn/yKlZa

Bitcoin Optech #131

- proposed Bitcoin P2P message
- BIP for the bech32 modified address format
- preventing dual-funded channel UTXO probing
- 'Add unit testing of node eviction logic' PR

https://bitcoinops.org/en/newsletters/2021/01/13/
archive: https://archive.vn/wLKij

FinCEN’s Surveillance Rule Violates the US Constitution

> Our financial transactions provide an intimate window into our lives – what organizations we donate to, what books and products we buy, who we support and even where we go.

https://www.coindesk.com/fincens-crypto-surveillance-rule-violates-us-constitution
archive: https://archive.vn/XUofp