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How To Add Bitcoin To The Balance Sheet For Corporations, With Saylor & Dorsey

Is your company ready to buy the Bitcoin dip? Saylor and Dorsey will give you the 411 for free.99. The MicroStrategy World annual conference goes live on February 1st. Learn directly from these two titans of the industry, who have definitely been among Bitcoin’s main proponents and promoters over the last few years. 

Michael Saylor has led by example, buying every dip, and is a constant presence in mainstream media. His interviews are more like classes and the attention they get is outstanding. Jack Dorsey, for his part, left Twitter to focus on Bitcoin. Since then, his Block company announced several projects that’ll definitely strengthen the Bitcoin network.

About the MicroStrategy World conference, the press release promises it’ll be “focused on Enterprise Analytics and Bitcoin for Corporations. World 2022 is 100% virtual, and—for the first time ever—access to all sections of the conference is free of charge.” That’s an unbeatable price.

What Will Saylor And Dorsey Talk About?

The conference has two sides, two different events that showcase MicroStrategy’s duality:

“The Enterprise Analytics event will introduce bold new ways to think about analytics and business intelligence, and showcase organizations who’ve used data as a strategic differentiator. The Bitcoin for Corporations event will explore the various benefits of incorporating Bitcoin into corporate initiatives.”

Join me and Keynote Presenter @jack at the 2nd Annual Bitcoin for Corporations Feb 1 & 2. This free, virtual conference is a must for any corporation considering integrating #Bitcoin with their products & services, or adding #BTC to their balance sheet.https://t.co/V9fIkv633q

— Michael Saylor⚡ (@saylor) January 20, 2022

As you might expect, NewsBTC will focus on the second event. It’s important to say that both Dorsey and Saylor’s companies have Bitcoin on their balance sheet. These two put their money where their mouth is, and then some. In any case, what does MicroStrategy World promise?

“An in-depth discussion on Bitcoin between two visionary voices: Jack Dorsey, CEO of Block, Inc., and Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy Inc. This session will be followed by a discussion on Bitcoin Treasury with Phong Le (President and CFO, MicroStrategy). Bitcoin for Corporations will also feature live interviews with industry experts from Coinbase, Deloitte, Fidelity Digital Assets, Genesis, Jefferies, NYDIG, Paxos, and Silvergate Bank.”

It’s noteworthy that Fidelity Digital Assets recently shocked the world by predicting more countries and probably a Central Bank or two would add Bitcoin to their balance sheet in the next few years. Christine Sandler, Fidelity’s Head of Sales & Marketing, will represent the company at the conference. 

Saylor ’s Recent Bitcoin History

Since MicroStrategy first added Bitcoin to its balance sheet in August 2020, the company has increased the bet every few months. They issued common stock. They sold stocks. They bought, and bought, and bought, and bought. In a recent interview, Saylor explained the strategy and NewsBTC reported:

“Look, our long term strategy is kind of like Harvard University. We’re running a university but we have an endowment. MicroStrategy is selling enterprise software. We generate $100 million in cash flow a year – in a good year – and we are reinvesting that cash in our endowment. Our endowment is 100% bitcoin.”

Saylor adds that MicroStrategy plans to acquire and hold bitcoin as a balance sheet. As for the operations, the company will continue to sell its enterprise software everywhere in the world.”

Related to this, about MicroStrategy’s free conference, Saylor said:

“We have gained a wealth of experience and expertise innovating our treasury strategy and evolving our corporate bitcoin acquisition strategy. And we’re pleased to be in a position to share our knowledge—via this curated event—for corporations looking to pursue similar strategies and bold initiatives.”

Dorsey’s Recent Bitcoin History

For his part, Dorsey’s strategy is much different than Saylor’s. He’s working in infrastructure. Dorsey’s fortifying the network’s weak parts. Among other things, Block announced they’re building a decentralized Bitcoin exchange called tbDEX. Released the Lightning Development Kit. And announced they’re working in an open-source ASIC miner. 

On a personal level, Dorsey and rapper Jay-Z put 500 BTC in a blind trust to promote Bitcoin development in Africa and India. And created the Bitcoin Defense Legal Fund to protect developers from all kinds of lawsuits.

BTC price chart for 01/21/2022 on Gemini | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
The Price Of Bitcoin

Despite Saylor’s and Dorsey’s efforts, Bitcoin is bleeding. On one hand, Proof-Of-Stake proponents straight up lied before U.S. Congress in a hearing about Proof-Of-Work’s environmental risks. On the other, there’s a rumor that Russia is considering banning Bitcoin in some capacity. Both of those situations caused panic in the market, and Bitcoin’s price is currently 40% lower than the ATH of $69K. 

Will Michael Saylor buy the dip? 

Featured Image: screenshot from the conference’s website | Charts by TradingView

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Intel To Present Low Voltage, Energy Efficient Bitcoin Mining Chip At Conference

This could be huge. Intel plans to enter the Bitcoin mining space with a cleverly marketed “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient” ASIC chip. Considering that the chip shortage severely delayed the next generation of ASIC miners, this is tremendous. And, more importantly, it opens up the door for Bitcoin miners manufacturing in the USA. And in the rest of the Western world, even. 

Related Reading | Why Did China Ban Bitcoin Mining? Here Are The Seven Leading Theories

In December, Raja Koduri hinted at Intel’s intention to get into the Bitcoin mining space. Even though he’s the chief architect and senior vice president of Intel’s architecture, graphics and software division, no one expected Intel to deliver so soon. 

Intel jumping into the #Bitcoin mining ASIC manufacturing is a huge. We need way more chip fab in the USA. It will result in:

– Improved National Security– Supply Chain robustness

And it will also result in less reliance on Taiwan, who is being threatened by China aggression.

— Dennis Porter (@Dennis_Porter_) January 18, 2022

Details are scarce. There’s nothing on Intel’s official site. A quick search reveals that “Access to additional search results for “bonanza” is restricted”. However, we have the 411 on the project that goes by the code name “Bonanza Mine.”

What Do We Know About Intel ’s “Bonanza Mine”?

The product will be an “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient Bitcoin mining ASIC.” According to Tom’s Hardware, the page that broke the news, Intel will reveal their new chip at:

“The ISSCC conference is a yearly gathering of the best and brightest minds in the chip industry. This year, Intel has a presentation scheduled in the ‘Highlighted Chip Releases’ category to outline a new “Bonanza Mine” processor, a new chip described as an “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient Bitcoin mining ASIC.”

Apparently, Intel has been developing the product since at least 2018, when they registered “a patent for a specialized processing system that uses an optimized SHA-256 datapath.”According to Tom’s Hardware, “Intel has a wealth of experience in hardware-assisted SHA-256 algorithms due to the use of these instructions in its CPU products.” 

This is huge news!

More competition in the hardware mining sector is welcome 🔥 pic.twitter.com/C7I1FQJxH6

— Dan Held (@danheld) January 18, 2022

A more recent indication of the company’s intentions came when the already mentioned Intel executive Raja Koduri “appeared on popular streamer Dr. Lupo’s show.” He told him point-blank:

“Being able to do much more efficient blockchain validation at a much lower cost, much lower power, is a pretty solvable problem. And you know, we are working on that, and at some point in time, hopefully not too far into the future, we will kinda share some interesting hardware for that.”

BTC price chart for 01/18/2022 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Why Is This Development Important?

Until now, ASIC Bitcoin miners manufacturing is controlled by Bitmain and Microbt, with Canaan, Strongu, and Ebang handling a minority of the market. All of those companies are Chinese. The chips are all made in Taiwan and South Korea. This poses a centralization problem for the Bitcoin network that seemed unsolvable until Intel’s soft announcement.

Now, the open-source Bitcoin miner that Jack Dorsey’s Block is working on makes a lot more sense. Theoretically, the silicon chip is the only part of an ASIC machine that can’t be bought in a hardware store. With that problem solved, by no less than an industry leader with immense manufacturing power, the sky’s the limit. If this whole thing materializes, expect a huge leap forward in the further decentralization of Bitcoin mining. 

Intel, a $220 billion industry leader, is preparing to launch ASIC hardware for bitcoin mining.

Bitcoin is a computer network. Every technology company will eventually plug themselves into it. https://t.co/pbTFiRqx0B

— Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) January 18, 2022

Also, Intel’s announcement certainly legitimizes Bitcoin mining as a business to watch for the next 100 years. As podcaster Anthony Pompliano said, “Bitcoin is a computer network. Every technology company will eventually plug themselves into it.” With this announcement, Bitcoin not only gets Intel’s seal of approval. The giant company now has skin in the game. 

Related Reading | Intel, Microsoft Took 10+ Years to See Gains, Crypto Investors in Good Position

To close this off, let’s quote Tom’s Hardware one more time:

“For now, it isn’t clear if Intel will release the Bonanza Mine chip as a product for the public or if it remains confined to a research project. However, given that the chip is in the “highlighted Chip Releases: Digital/ML” track and Koduri’s comments, it’s logical to expect that these chips will be offered to customers in the near future.”

So, everything we said is not a done deal just yet. It smells good, though.

Featured Image by Badar ul islam Majid on Unsplash | Charts by TradingView

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Jack Dorsey’s Block To Democratize Bitcoin Mining With Open Source Mining System

Block, formerly known as Square, is working on an open-source bitcoin mining system, according to CEO Jack Dorsey. He referenced a more detailed thread on the project’s objectives by the company’s general manager for hardware, Thomas Templeton.

We’re officially building an open bitcoin mining system ✨ https://t.co/PaNc7gXS48

— jack⚡ (@jack) January 13, 2022

Block Is Working On Bitcoin Mining

Thomas Templeton, Block’s general manager for hardware, set out the company’s next moves in a series of tweets.

“From buying, to set up, to maintenance, to mining,” Templeton said, the goal is to make bitcoin mining — the process of creating new bitcoins by solving increasingly hard computing tasks — more dispersed and efficient in every aspect.

According to Templeton, making the mining process more accessible is about more than just creating more bitcoin.

Templeton wrote:

“We want to make mining more distributed and efficient in every way, from buying, to set up, to maintenance, to mining. We’re interested because mining goes far beyond creating new bitcoin. We see it as a long-term need for a future that is fully decentralized and permissionless.”

The initiative is focused in combining performance and open-source design in a “elegant system integration,” according to Templeton. The company is looking for technologies and partnerships that could help the idea, which is currently being developed by Block’s hardware team. Afshin Rezayee is leading a dedicated team of engineers to the endeavor, and available positions include electrical engineers, software and analog designers, ASIC engineers, and layout engineers.

BTC Market cap down from last year’s ATH. Source: TradingView

The bitcoin mining system developed by Block aims to improve three areas of bitcoin mining: availability, reliability, and performance. The goal is to make mining rigs easier to identify and buy, while also providing a consistent delivery experience; improve dependability by designing something that can better dissipate heat and dust; and boost performance while consuming less power.

“Common issues we’ve heard with current systems are around heat dissipation and dust. They also become non-functional almost every day, which requires a time-consuming reboot. We want to build something that just works,” Templeton tweeted. “They’re also very noisy, which makes them too loud for home use.”

Related article | Is Norton 360 Mining Ethereum In Your Computer? If It Is, They’ll Take a 15% Cut

Dorsey Wants To Democratize BTC Mining

The mission statement of this project includes democratizing bitcoin mining access.

Dorsey wrote in October:

“Mining isn’t accessible to everyone. Bitcoin mining should be as easy as plugging a rig into a power source. There isn’t enough incentive today for individuals to overcome the complexity of running a miner for themselves.”

The news corresponds to Dorsey’s announcements from 2021. Dorsey tweeted,

Square is considering building a Bitcoin mining system based on custom silicon and open source for individuals and businesses worldwide. If we do this, we’d follow our hardware wallet model: build in the open in collaboration with the community. First some thoughts and questions.

— jack⚡ (@jack) October 15, 2021

Block’s news comes only months after the United States overtook China as the world’s top bitcoin mining destination for the first time. Renewable energy sources abound in the United States.

Hydropower mining farms flourish in Washington State. New York generates more hydroelectric power than any other state east of the Rocky Mountains, and its nuclear power plants contribute to the state’s objective of zero carbon electricity. Meanwhile, Texas’ renewable energy contribution is increasing over time, with wind power accounting for 20% of the state’s power in 2019. In addition, the Texas grid continues to add more wind and solar power at a rapid pace.

Block hasn’t given a specific date for when its bitcoin mining system would be available for purchase and use, since the company is still in the research phase of development. Templeton also encouraged members of the public to contact him if they had any concerns or suggestions for improving the initiative.

Related article | More Green Energy: Crypto Mining Saves A Hydro Power Plant In Costa Rica

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Cash App Set To Bring Bitcoin Lightning Network To Its 36 Million Users

The Lightning Network has been integrated into Cash App, a peer-to-peer payment service operated by Block, previously Square Inc.

The feature allows transactions between parties that aren’t connected to the blockchain network. It was created to address the scalability issues with the flagship cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin Lightning Important For Speedy Transactions

Block (previously Square), a fintech firm co-founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, owns Cash App. The news of the BTC L2 integration was announced as a notification on the official Cash App app, which Crypto Twitter picked up:

The news are real! @CashApp added #Bitcoin Lightning ⚡Network 🚀 pic.twitter.com/zbbdqcx0dC

— Yegor Petrov 🔑⚡ (@yeg0rpetrov) January 11, 2022

With a throughput of five transactions per second (TPS) and an average transaction price of $1.79, Bitcoin falls far short of the mark in terms of payments.

$1.79 is a bargain compared to the highs of April 2021, when transactions cost an average of $62.78. Nonetheless, any transaction costing more than a few cents is impracticable as a widely accepted payment method.

With its layer-2 solution, the Lightning Network provides tremendous scalability and cheap transaction costs.

It operates by diverting transactions from the main chain and placing them into peer-to-peer “payment channels” between two parties, such as a buyer and a coffee shop. Once the channel is created, it can handle an endless number of transactions in real-time.

The payer must first lock Bitcoin into the network to open a payment channel. After the recipient has been locked, they can invoice amounts based on the cost of the items and services sold.

Fees are a mix of routing fees for sending payment information between Lightning Nodes and Bitcoin transaction fees for opening and closing channels. These, however, are still far less than direct main chain transactions.

In November 2021, the Lightning Network’s total USD value locked (TVL) peaked at $216 million. Since that time, the TVL has reduced.

TVL locked in the lightning network. Source: DeFiPulse

Block CEO Jack Dorsey, who was previously the CEO of Twitter, has long advocated for the tool’s inclusion. “It’s not a ‘if,’ it’s more of a ‘when,’” he told podcaster Stephan Livera in 2019 that they would combine the scaling technology with payments provider Block’s mobile app.

“We don’t think it stops at [bitcoin] buying and selling,” he remarked.

Steve Moser, editor-in-chief of TheTapeDrive and a contributor to MacRumors, tweeted in November that Cash App “is working on Lightning network integration.” Moser said he discovered proof that Cash App was preparing to implement the additional features in December.

Square’s Cash app is working on Lightning network integration. $SQ #Bitcoin #cashapp #LightningNetwork pic.twitter.com/AzMIfU2xex

— Steve Moser (@SteveMoser) November 15, 2021

According to the most recent data from Business of Apps, Cash App had over 36 million users in the United States and the United Kingdom.

BTC/USD trades below $%k. Source: TradingView

Related article | Number Of Bitcoin Lightning Network Nodes Jumps 23% In Three Months

Cash App Is Not The Only One Adding The Feature

Belo App, based in Argentina, said on Monday that it has partnered with infrastructure provider OpenNode to enable Lightning Network access to its users.

Julie Landrum, OpenNode’s Head of Growth, stated that the deal allows millions of people in Latin America to conduct quick Bitcoin transactions.

Last month, ConsenSys, the Ethereum blockchain software startup, announced a solution that makes blockchain technology scalable on the Ethereum Mainnet or for private use, in conjunction with Mastercard.

Related article | Lightning Speed: Taproot And The Lightning Network, A Match Made In Heaven

Featured image from The Block, chart from TradingView.com, and DeFiPulse

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Jack Dorsey Launches Bitcoin Defense Fund To Aid Devs Facing Litigation

Jack Dorsey has announced the launch of a bitcoin defense fund that is aimed at bitcoin developers who are facing litigation. The space, although still new, has had its fair share of litigation as various devs have had to battle it out in the courts over their products. This fund will help to fund provide legal defense for these developers who otherwise would have folded due to lack of funds.

Backing Up Bitcoin Developers

In an email sent out to the bitcoin developers’ mailing list, Twitter ex-CEO Jack Dorsey announces the establishment of the Bitcoin Defense Fund. The fund was a response to the various litigations bitcoin developers were being subjected to due to their work involving bitcoin and its products. A lot of these are open-source developers, who are unable to afford proper legal defense when faced with these litigations.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Discount? Peter Brandt On Why You Shouldn’t Buy The Dip

The email which was posted to Twitter by Zack Voell explains that the primary mission of the fund was to help defend these developers from lawsuits. It will provide services like helping developers find and retain defense counsel, as well as developing litigation strategies and assisting in paying legal fees. The non-profit entity will be accessible to developers if they wish to take advantage of it.

BTC recovers to $43K | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

As for the projects that get funded, the board of the Fund will be responsible for making the decisions. It’s staffed with a corps of volunteer and part-time lawyers who will work to protect bitcoin devs from lawsuits.

Funding The First Projects

In the email, Dorsey notes that the Fund had already chosen the first project to take on. The Tulip Trading lawsuit had been brought against a number of developers, claiming a breach of fiduciary duty on the part of the devs. The Bitcoin Defense Fund will provide funding for the outside counsel for the developers named in the lawsuit to aid in their legal defense.

Related Reading | ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood On What Will Drive Bitcoin Correction

This Fund comes at a critical point where more devs are finding themselves in the middle of lawsuits due to their work in the bitcoin space. These devs are often backed into a corner as they are unable to provide adequate legal defense for themselves due to limited resources. The Bitcoin Defense Fund will change this.

“The Bitcoin community is currently the subject of multi-front litigation,” the email read. “Litigation and continued threats are having their intended effect; individual defendants have chosen to capitulate in the absence of legal support.”

This Bitcoin Defense Fund is another in a long line of activities that have proven Dorsey’s support for bitcoin and its development. In December, he announced the Bitcoin Trust Fund (BTrust), to accelerate bitcoin development in Africa and India.

Featured image from CryptoPotato, chart from TradingView.com

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The 500 BTC Blind Trust to Foster Bitcoin Adoption, Btrust, Announces First Steps

It’s time for the Btrust to start making moves. And they did so by announcing their “to-do list” and “high level goals.” A month ago, Block CEO Jack Dorsey and rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z announced the members of the board for their 500 BTC blind trust. Btrust’s purpose is to “make bitcoin the internet’s currency” and their field of action is Africa and India. 

Hello World 👋

We’ve been working hard on getting ₿trust set up. To start out, we’ve broken up our to-do list into a set of high level goals.

Each of these tasks require careful thought. We’ll be requesting feedback from the community on individual items in the weeks to come!

— btrustteam (@btrustteam) January 11, 2022

Said members of the board took charge and recently showed the world what they’ve been working on since they did so. “Each of these tasks require careful thought. We’ll be requesting feedback from the community on individual items in the weeks to come!,” Btrust said in its inaugural Twitter thread. Before going through those tasks, though, let’s remember who those members are. At the time, NewsBTC reported:

“The blind trust’s board members are: Ojoma Ochai, Obi Nwosu, Abubakar Nur Khalil, and Carla Kirk-Cohen, the only South African of the bunch. By just casually looking at their Twitter feeds it becomes obvious that they’re all thoroughly dedicated to Bitcoin already.”

Related Reading | South African Man Loses $900,000 Worth Of Bitcoin After Accidentally Deleting Keys

In a recent interview with Blockworks, 22-years old Abubakar Nur Khalil said:

“It’s very, very important for us to keep it as transparent as possible,” he said. “We’ll be communicating a lot about the process, our thinking and the things we’re going to be doing going ahead primarily through Twitter.”

And so they did. Let’s explore what that process looks like and what the Btrust will be working on in months to come.

BTC price chart for 01/12/2022 on Coinbase | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Btrust’s Guiding Principles And Jurisdiction

Following Bitcoin’s lead, the first thing the Btrust will do is to establish “Genesis Principles.” In other words, “Btrust’s vision will be laid out in an immutable set of principles.” Everybody involved in the organization will follow them, and there will be the option of using soft-forks and hard-forks to resolve disagreements or to accommodate different visions. 

There’s another caveat, “Boards are bound to act in accordance with the principles, but the implementation is their prerogative. This provides flexibility, while staying true to Btrust’s vision.” So far, so good. This all sounds very Bitcoiny.

2⃣ Implement Principles

We’ll outline how we’re going to implement each of the principles in our work.

Boards are bound to act in accordance with the principles, but the implementation is their prerogative.

This provides flexibility, while staying true to ₿trust’s vision.

— btrustteam (@btrustteam) January 11, 2022

The next step is crucial, “Entity and Jurisdiction.” Under what jurisdiction will the Btrust operate? What type of entity will they choose to be? “Btrust requires a formal entity to hire employees, contract the board and provide a legal system to hold representatives accountable.” 

In relation to this, Nur Khalil told Blockworks:

“We’re looking at starting with Africa initially, but then gradually expanding into other regions in the global South,” Nur Khalil said. “So that’s places like India as well. And then in general, with regards to the overall vision, we feel there’s so many disparities in some of these regions like Africa in terms of the actual amount of talented developers versus those of them that are actually working on Bitcoin.”

Custody And Communication

This is a great opportunity to test out Bitcoin’s multisig superpowers. “We will work on a proposal outlining various custody solutions, with the end goal of safely taking custody of the 500 BTC.” Also, important for people out there looking for opportunities, Btrust will be hiring “a full time lead to manage daily operations.”

5⃣ Recruit a Lead

Once we’ve delivered 1⃣,2⃣ and 3⃣, we will be looking to hire a full time lead to manage daily operations of ₿trust.

This is one of the most important board responsibilities, and we’re looking forward to finding somebody to bring ₿tust's vision to life!

— btrustteam (@btrustteam) January 11, 2022

Last but not least, they’ll create some way of communicating with all of you. “We’re committed to building Btrust with input from the Bitcoin community. For now, we’ll be using twitter to communicate our progress, but it’s not scalable.” And they’ll raise funds to set up the organization. “We want to take our time to think about our approach to custody & company formation. This is a prerequisite for any investment. We’ll create a separate plan for how to cover any required set up funding.”

Related Reading | Spiral BTC Releases Lightning Development Kit. Jack Dorsey’s Puppet Promotes It

In relation to this, Nur Khalil told Blockworks:

“​​What we’re trying to optimize for is trying to do things gradually because there’s a lot and we won’t just look at the ecosystem and just throw a bunch of money on it. We still have to be meticulous on what the impact is.“

Great work so far, Btrust. We at NewsBTC are looking forward to covering your next steps and seeing what the future brings for the organization, Bitcoin, Africa, and India.

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Binance’s CZ Wants Entrepreneurs To Create Coins. Does His Argument Make Sense?

Enter Changpeng Zhao AKA CZ. The debate around Web3 that Jack Dorsey started keeps raging on. Crypto Twitter is burning with hot takes and killer responses.  And it’s time for Binance’s CEO to enter the ring. He does it in a roundabout way, by defending the idea of entrepreneurs creating new coins. In fact, one could argue that he’s not talking about the subject Dorsey brought up. However, the issuance of coins is a crucial part of Web3. And then, there’s the title.

The “One Coin to Rule Them All? Or Millions of Coins?” article clearly goes to the root of the debate. Is Bitcoin the chosen one or are we going to live in a multi-blockchain environment? Obviously, CZ is biased towards millions of coins. His Binance empire depends on trading; and the more coins there are, the more transactions. But that’s beside the point, the real question is, can CZ make the case for coin creation? Let’s see what the man has to say. 

CZ Uses BNB As An Example

Write about what you know, people say. Right from the gate, CZ uses Binance as his use case.

“If you look at BNB, it raised $15m USD equivalent in bitcoin at the ICO, while that is a fantastic raise for a project at such an early stage, today, the total market cap of BNB is $90 billion USD, about 3000x.”

Whatever camp you’re on, the facts are the facts. CZ and his team created one of the most successful cryptocurrencies of the last few years with BNB. However, that coin is a very special case. They created it to be the native coin of the Binance ecosystem. 

Binance is not only the biggest exchange in the world; it also has the most activities, features, things to do. BNB powers all of that. How many coins support that huge of an ecosystem? How many coins have that many use cases? And yes, BNB provides its user with superpowers while in the Binance ecosystem and helps them save money. How many other coins can do something similar?

BNB price chart on Eightcap | Source: BNB/USD on TradingView.com
The Coins The Team Retains Are Good. Or Are They?

This is the most confusing part of the article. On the one hand, CZ claims it’s good to reward the team with coins:

“The second small benefit is the coins the project team retains. In the case of BNB, the team allocation was about 40% of the coins, which is now worth $45 billion USD. While this sounds like a real sum, I’d dare say it is still just a small portion of the value you get from issuing a coin.”

But then, CZ claims that, in BNB’s case, the team will burn those $45B:

“Note, the team allocation of BNB was and will never be distributed to any members on the team. The team has committed to burning them all, which makes BNB a fair launch coin, i.e. the team did not keep any tokens for themselves. All the BNB our team gets will be earned through providing our services.”

So, which is it CZ? Did someone proofread this article? In any case, he keeps talking to entrepreneurs about “the value you get from issuing a coin.” That’s not what the discussion is about. Evidently, creating money out of thin air benefits the one who does it. The discussion is about users and if investing in these coins benefits them or puts them at risk.

What About The Users?

“The real benefit of issuing a coin is it creates a whole new ecosystem, from user interactions to user retention, and development of the ecosystem.” Is that a benefit for the user, CZ? He claims that in the traditional model, “money flows one way only. From users to company to shareholders.” In the case of tokens, the users hold them, so:

“When the price goes up, the token holders, your users, benefit. Thus, they are incentivized to use your platform more and get more friends onto your platform. They become your best salespeople.”

Ok, that’s a benefit to users, but… isn’t CZ describing… a pyramid scheme here? Maybe he isn’t, but, he’s definitely still talking to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs only. “It creates a positive virtuous cycle, a very sticky ecosystem.”

“You can’t do this even with bitcoin. You have to create a new token for your platform or ecosystem, otherwise, you can’t create a symbiotic growth environment with your users.”

In the case of BNB, you could argue the growth is symbiotic. Many users made and continue making a lot of money with BNB. How many coins are tied to a multi-million dollar endeavor, though? What’s the risk to users buying into projects that don’t even have a product? 

And what about seignorage? The cost of creating a coin tends to zero, and the profits it produces could be tremendous. Isn’t that too much of a temptation? 

And, aren’t most of those tokens unregistered securities? 

What if they get regulated or prohibited? Where does that leave the user?

To Be Fair, CZ Does Say You Need A Product First

Even if this article is for entrepreneurs, it should’ve taken the users into account. Because that’s where the debate is, user’s rights. However, credit where credit’s due, CZ did give this solid advice:

“I advise you to not create a token until you have product-market-fit. Tokens should be an acceleration mechanism, AFTER you have built a product that people want. Once you issue a token, it becomes harder to pivot your business. You have to get consent from your community.  So, it is not ideal for trials, MVPs (minimum viable product), or the experimental stages.”

How many entrepreneurs will take CZ’s recommendations, though?

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Only In Crypto: A Croissant Explains Web3 And NFTs To Elon Musk

The debate over ownership in Web3 has waxed on stronger as prominent figures like Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey have continued to fan the flames. This has prompted those in the space to come to the defense of Web3 and provide much-needed explanations about Web3. One of those is a croissant on Twitter which makes informative threads revolving mostly around Ethereum.

This time around, the croissant replied to SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, regarding his stance on Web3. Musk had posted a tweet mocking the innovation asking if anyone had seen it, as he joked that he couldn’t it. Subsequently, the CroissantEth had replied with a thread focusing on explaining Web3 and NFTs to the billionaire.

Related Reading | Dfinity Foundation Launches $215 Million Grant To Boost Developer Ecosystem

Owning The Net With Web3

CroissantEth starts by explaining its foray into independent writing. First explaining how centralized platforms like Facebook and Twitter had managed to end years of hardwork after shutting down its Facebook account. This served as an opening for the argument for Web3 and why it is important for internet users. Basically, with Web3, the users control the space.

Using its own website, The Bakery, as a case study, CroissantEth shows how decentralized everything from payments to subscriptions is. All of it without needing access to users’ bank information or having to involve a third-party payments processor such as Western Union.

It explains how users can access the information on the website by owning NFTs and being able to hold on to these NFTs for life, pass them on as a gift, or even sell them on secondary markets to other users. A completely decentralized system that cannot be stopped by a single platform because everything is under the control of the user, stating that “With Web3, I am the platform.”

In conclusion, it asked skeptics to read through the read to see that Web3 and NFTs are more than they appear to be.

Others Pile On For Support

The comments by Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey have not been well-received by those in the Web3 community. Most took offense to Dorsey saying that Web3 did not actually belong to the users but rather to the VCs and LPs who are investing heavily in the space.

Related Reading | Jack Dorsey Disses Ethereum, Web3 In Twitter Rampage

Tyler Winklevoss, one-half of the Winklevoss twins, famous for Facebook and being the first bitcoin billionaires, hit back at Jack Dorsey with a tweet that suggests the CEO has benefitted from the technology. The tweet featured a screenshot of a news story that covered the ex-CEO of Twitter having sold his first-ever tweet as an NFT for a whopping $2.9 million, tagging the picture with “Brought to you by Web3.”

The space is still new territory and is in the period where people are having to decide on which side on the fence they sit with the technology. Time will tell if it will be the technology that revolutionizes the internet or just another passing fad.

Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView.com

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Jack Dorsey Disses Ethereum, Web3 In Twitter Rampage

Twitter ex-CEO Jack Dorsey has admittedly never been a fan of Ethereum and has been quite open about his stance on the cryptocurrency. Dorsey has always been a Bitcoin maximalist through and through, showing support for the pioneer cryptocurrency at every turn. Even going as far as stepping down as Twitter CEO to focus more on Block, a venture which focuses solely on building with bitcoin.

Despite being vocal about not being a supporter of ethereum, Dorsey does get asked a fair bit what he thinks about the asset and the blockchain as a whole. It’s one of these instances that led Dorsey to once again show that he does not support the digital asset.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Leads As Markets Sees Record Outflows. Bear Market Incoming?

Dorsey Does Not Support Ethereum

With Dorsey focusing all of his energy on building with bitcoin, others have brought up the possibility of the Block CEO integrating other blockchains into his work. A Twitter user by the name of cdixon once again posed the possibility of the CEO to work with ethereum and other blockchains, stating that there were other applications of cryptocurrencies that would require other chains.

Dorsey had responded to the tweet with a clear and concise tweet. The tweet, once again, leaned greatly towards support for bitcoin as the CEO explained that only secure and resilient technologies should be used, alluding to the centralized nature of the ethereum blockchain.

“I believe in you and your ability to understand systems. It’s critical we focus our energy on truly secure and resilient technologies owned by the mass of people, not individuals or institutions. Only that foundation will provide for the applications you allude to.”

ETH price falls below $4,000 | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com
Coming For Web3

Dorsey’s tirade against centralized systems did not end with the ethereum blockchain. Web3, the new baby of the innovative technology space, also drew criticism from the CEO. He tweeted saying that users did not actually own web3. Instead, that it belonged to the VCs and the LPs who are currently investing heavily in the space. Alluding to the fact that the incentives of these VCs and LPs will always impact it.

Related Reading | Ethereum Exchange Withdrawals Reaches One-Year Low. Why This Matters

The tweet itself had drawn criticism from those involved in the web3 space who poured out to counter the views of the CEO.

Dorsey went on to further mock the technology alongside SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Joining the discussion, Musk had tweeted saying, “Has anyone seen web3? I can’t find it.” To which Dorsey had mockingly replied that “It’s somewhere between a and z.”

Featured image from Ripples Nigeria, chart from TradingView.com

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Dorsey And Jay-Z’s Blind Trust To Fund Bitcoin Development Reveals Board Members

The 500 BTC blind trust announced its board of directors. Back in February, Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z created the ₿trust with a clear mission. To “make bitcoin the internet’s currency.” The four individuals in charge of making that happen are now public knowledge. Three of them are from Nigeria, a country whose Central Bank prohibited banks to process Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies transactions. And is now one of the world’s leading P2P Bitcoin markets.

Related Reading | Spiral BTC Releases Lightning Development Kit. Jack Dorsey’s Puppet Promotes It

Bitcoin’s price was roughly $47K on February 12th. That day, Dorsey announced the blind trust via Twitter, “Jay-Z and I are giving 500 BTC to a new endowment named ₿trust to fund Bitcoin development, initially focused on teams in Africa & India. It‘ll be set up as a blind irrevocable trust, taking zero direction from us.” It’s interesting that the blind trust uses Bitcoin as the unit of account. Who knows how much those 500 BTC might be worth in the future? 

JAY-Z/@S_C_ and I are giving 500 BTC to a new endowment named ₿trust to fund #Bitcoin development, initially focused on teams in Africa & India. It‘ll be set up as a blind irrevocable trust, taking zero direction from us. We need 3 board members to start: https://t.co/L4mRBryMJe

— jack⚡ (@jack) February 12, 2021

In any case, Dorsey’s call for board directors received more than 7000 applicants.

The Blind Trust ’s Board Members

In the Tweet announcing the winners, Dorsey said. “I’m so grateful for you all and so inspired. They’ll now work towards defining the operating principles as they think about how to best distribute the 500 bitcoin towards development efforts.” As promised, the four candidates will have full autonomy and decide the direction and scope of the trust.

Announcing the ₿trust board: @actuallyCarlaKC, @ihate1999, @obi, & @ojomaochai! I'm so grateful for you all and so inspired. 🧡⚡🌍

They'll now work towards defining the operating principles as they think about how to best distribute the 500 bitcoin towards development efforts. https://t.co/jwbr4qQUZ2 pic.twitter.com/1MszEPdGKL

— jack⚡ (@jack) December 15, 2021

The blind trust’s board members are: Ojoma Ochai, Obi Nwosu, Abubakar Nur Khalil, and Carla Kirk-Cohen, the only South African of the bunch. By just casually looking at their Twitter-feds it becomes obvious that they’re all thoroughly dedicated to Bitcoin already. Here, Nwosu explains how the Nigeria ban actually helped promote Bitcoin. Ochai, a hard-core cultural promoter, recommended Spiral to her followers and hinted at her designation. Kirk-Cohen is helping to train the next generation of African Bitcoin developers, and so did Nur Khalil, who’s a Bitcoin Core contributor.

A lot of people think that Bitcoin will go to zero because "GovErNmeNtS will ban it" @obi explains why Bitcoin actually gets stronger 💪 when governments try to hinder its adoption. pic.twitter.com/hD97KMZxMx

— 37 sats (@ck_SNARKs) November 23, 2021

As for reactions, Kirk-Cohen is the only one that hasn’t said anything yet. Nur Khalil, who’s only 22, said. “Thank you so much Jack for the opportunity!! I am really honored to work with this great team! Let’s get to work on building the future of Bitcoin and launching Africa into the forefront of the monetary revolution!!!” For her part, Ochai said. “Really excited to get going! Thanks to you Jack, Jay and all who made this happen! Look forward to working with fellow board members…” Finally, Nwosu said. “Thanks Jack and the team. Super excited to be a part of this vision, organization, and mission… and to finally be able to talk about it!”

Really excited to get going! Thanks to you Jack, Jay and all who made this happen! Look forward to working with fellow board members… https://t.co/kNYBQ33Vqi

— Ojoma (@ojomaochai) December 15, 2021

Conclusions And Questions

The original call for board members for the blind trust said they were “initially focused on teams in Africa & India.” Does the fact that there are no Indians in the group mean that the ₿trust will focus on Africa only? The continent is huge and each country in there has its own idiosyncrasies and special characteristics. What will the board choose? And speaking of that, will the board have total independence? The original post said “taking zero direction from us,” but, 500 BTC is a huge sum of money. 

BTC price chart on Bitbay | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com

In any case, this blind trust will be one of the most interesting experiments developing over the next few years. And you can count on NewsBTC to keep you posted and informed of any new development.

Related Reading | Revisiting Dorsey’s Hyperinflation Tweet: Elon, Wood, Saylor, Balaji, Chip In

In any case, the world will thank Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z for this one. As podcaster Matt Odell said replying to Jack’s announcement, “I do not think people are properly appreciating how huge of an impact this initiative can have.”

Featured Image: The board members from Dorsey’s tweet | Charts by TradingView

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Spiral BTC Releases Lightning Development Kit. Jack Dorsey’s Puppet Promotes It

The Lightning Development Kit is Spiral BTC’s latest offering to the community. And to the world. The LDK is “The simplest way to integrate Lightning into your Bitcoin wallet.” It’s free to use and it contains building blocks that anyone can integrate with their product. The big news, however, is Jack Dorsey’s puppet. The company, Spiral BTC, released this video to promote the Lightning Development Kit’s release. And Jack Dorsey’s puppet stars in it.

Is it hilarious or cringe? Opinions vary. One thing’s for sure, however, it captured the mase’s attention and got eyeballs on the Lightning Development Kit project. So, it definitely worked as a marketing tool and the Bitcoin community should cherish it. Even though the Spiral team says that the main layer is too slow, “sucks,” and it’s “painful to use.” Nothing could be further from the truth, layer one does perfectly what it needs to do. If you want speed and ease of use, just go up to layer two. That’s where the LDK lives.

Related Reading | Jack Dorsey: Square Could Build Bitcoin Mining System

What’s The Lightning Development Kit?

The project’s documentation defines it as:

“Lightning Development Kit (LDK) is a generic library which allows you to build a Lightning node without needing to worry about getting all of the Lightning state machine, routing, and on-chain punishment code (and other chain interactions) exactly correct. LDK tends to be suitable for use cases where a degree of customization is desired, e.g. your own chain sync, your own key management and/or your own storage/backup logic.”

On the Lightning Development Kit’s introductory page, they promise the product was “designed from the ground up to be easily customized to your application needs.” Also, “as lightweight as you need it to be and optimized to run on all embedded devices such as mobile phones, IoT devices, PoS terminals and more.” Also, and this is very important, the use the Muun approach and help you create a single wallet experience. What does this mean?

“No need to create separate Bitcoin & Lightning wallets, forcing users to backup an additional recovery phrase. Instead, we let you define your own wallet and create one unified experience.”

What’s Spiral BTC And What Else Do They Do?

The company used to be called Square Crypto. When Jack Dorsey abandoned Twitter to focus on other ventures, it change its name to Spiral BTC. The aim was to convey better what their mission is all about. “Bitcoin is the best money. It should be used like it. We build and fund free, open-source projects aimed at making bitcoin the planet’s preferred currency.” When all of this happened, our sister site Bitcoinist gave us the 411:

“The year is almost at its close and as such companies have begun to make plans for the coming year. For Spiral, the year 2022 will be a year of expansion as it will be working on a number of projects in the new year. To do this, Spiral (formerly Square Crypto) plans to double the number of full-time developers in the coming year.
Some of the projects the devs will be working on include the Lightning Development Kit (LDK), the Bitcoin Development Kit (BDK), the grant program, and the Bitcoin Design Guide and Community.“

That’s right, they sponsor the fantastic Bitcoin Design Guide and already released a Bitcoin Development Kit for those who wish to build on layer one. They also give grants to Bitcoin developers, designers, and great projects like BTCPay Server, Lightning Signer, The Eye of Satoshi, and the widely used Mempool. 

BTC price chart for 12/07/2021 on Gemini | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Other Jack-Dorsey-Led Bitcoin Projects

As soon as the rumor of Jack Dorsey leaving Twitter hit… well… Twitter, Bitcoinist ran a piece that praised his contributions to the space and speculated on what he would do next:

“The allegedly soon-to-be former Twitter CEO is perhaps best compared to Hal Finney in terms of the positive impact he has had on the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Both of have famously tweeted about “Running Bitcoin,” and both are now names nearly as synonymous with the top ranked crypto asset as Satoshi Nakamoto themselves.
Finney’s legacy has sadly ended, but could Dorsey’s truly just be at the very beginning in terms of what the business entrepreneur could bring to the overall Bitcoin ecosystem?”

Related Reading | Is Hyperinflation Inevitable? Jack Dorsey Says It’ll “Change Everything”

Before that, Jack Dorsey’s other Bitcoin-focused company TBD announced its first big project. The tbDEX will be a decentralized exchange and liquidity protocol. When the company released the whitepaper, NewsBTC reported on it and described the project as:

“The tbDEX aims “to build bridges between the fiat and cryptocurrency worlds,” that much is clear. We still live in a Fiat world and, if Bitcoin is going to succeed, we need new, simpler, and cheaper ways to interact with said world. “There are serious challenges to realizing this vision. Fiat rails are regulated, and no interface with either the traditional monetary system or “real world” can be completely trustless.”

At the Bitcoin 2021 Conference, Jack Dorsey said “Bitcoin changes absolutely everything. I don’t think there is anything more important in my lifetime to work on”. And now, he’s laser-focused on it. Things are moving fast since he left Twitter. It wouldn’t surprise us if the tbDEX releases a working version soon. They didn’t announce any timeline, though. Only one thing’s for sure. When the decentralized exchange is ready for the world to see, TBD should use Jack Dorsey’s puppet to promote it.

Feature Image: Screenshot from the promotional video | Charts by TradingView