The Praia Bitcoin experiment set a record with P2P transactions occurring every three seconds.

On February 18, 2023, a new world record for peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin transactions was established using the Lightning Network. The Praia Bitcoin experiment, a Brazilian nonprofit social project, was able to perform 71 P2P bitcoin transactions in just 3 minutes and 33 seconds, making it the largest number of P2P bitcoin transactions via Lightning to occur in the shortest time possible. 

Kits were distributed to students and residents of the village of Jericoacoara, containing a piggy bank, a t-shirt and a Bitcoin debit card (Bolt Card), and using this, a payment was made every three seconds.

Children were able to use the card by tapping it at 21 local merchants, as well as buying fruits at school for 10 sats, approximately one cent in Brazilian currency. All of this was done with no smartphone required. The initiative was organized by Fernando Motolese, Vinicius Kinczel, and Lucia Helena Buso and was supported by 2go Fintech, Bipa CEO Luiz Parreira, and Bitcoin Beach. The achievement was audited by Lucas Ferreira of Lightning Labs, confirming that the funds traveled between the Bitcoin servers and were available in the Lightning wallets of the participants.

Fernando Motolese, founder of Praia Bitcoin, explained why the record is important. "This record is proof of the power of Bitcoin and that it's ready for the masses," he said. "We're excited to see what the future holds for the Lightning Network, and we hope this achievement inspires other communities to adopt Bitcoin as a medium of exchange and who knows, maybe even surpass our record."

The Praia Bitcoin team plans to try a new attempt to break their own record later this year, but this time with the Guinness Book of World Records team in attendance, in order to make it an official record.

THNDR's new Sudoku and Tetris inspired mobile game Bitcoin Blocks lets players earn bitcoin while solving puzzles.

THNDR Games has released a new Bitcoin game called Bitcoin Blocks, which allows players to test their problem-solving skills against others to win Bitcoin. The game is similar to Tetris and Sudoku, and is available on the THNDR mobile gaming platform. THNDR has also announced the Gaming Graph, a reputation and badging system that will allow players to earn badges that are tied to their identity and can be transferred to other ecosystems.

The launch of Bitcoin Blocks marks an important milestone in the development of THNDR's mobile gaming platform, the press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine states. The game is the first to showcase THNDR's social competitive layer and features, which include Leagues, THNDR's leveling system that pits community members against each other.

Gaming Graph will serve as a badging and reputation system for players that is easily transferable to other environments and clients, including Nostr. Through Cameris NIP-58, as players advance through THNDR Leagues and achieve gaming milestones, badges will be issued to their Nostr pubkey and tied to their identity, allowing users to build a virtual reputation. These established reputations built in THNDR games may have merit or value in other communities.

We're thrilled to add Bitcoin Blocks to the THNDR platform and continue our mission of spreading Bitcoin adoption through play, Desiree Dickerson, THNDR CEO, explained. By combining two familiar classics - Tetris and Sudoku - we hope to reach new users traditionally underrepresented in gaming and financial access and introduce them to Bitcoin. Bitcoin Blocks marks a major milestone for THNDR, as it showcases the first of many social, competitive features on the platform."

THNDR plans to continue rolling out competitive gaming and social features to the platform throughout the year. The companys most recent title Club Bitcoin: Solitaire, has become the highest ranking bitcoin game of all time, reaching #21 in the U.S. App Store, according to THNDR.

A volunteer from Guatemalas Bitcoin Lake project shares the rewards of working on this circular economy.

Bitcoin is a disruptive technology that has emerged as a fundamental component of the financial industry. My work at Bitcoin-friendly companies has allowed me to observe the many ways in which Bitcoin is transforming the industry. Looking to contribute more, I embarked on a Bitcoin-only journey and joined the non-profit project, Bitcoin Lake.

Located in Panajachel, Guatemala, Bitcoin Lake launched just over a year ago. The project aims to create a circular economy powered by Bitcoin, providing a novel and accessible solution for unbanked as well as banked merchants. In Guatemala, approximately 60% of the adult population doesn't have access to formal financial services, and Bitcoin Lake's initiative to onboard merchants has a significant impact on the local community.

I have seen firsthand that this project has successfully onboarded more than 60 merchants, of whom 90% are unbanked and solely accept cash and bitcoin. The project continues to seek support and ways to enhance the experience for the Bitcoiners there. The Bitcoin tuk tuk (see figure one below) and the Bitcoin boat (cleverly named Peer To Peer) are examples of such initiatives.

a very common vehicle in Panajachel. 

Bitcoin Lake has made significant strides in a short period. Business owners are astounded by the ease of using Bitcoin, and the education projects have been an outstanding success. Centro Educativo Josu, Guatemala's first school to receive the "Mi Primer Bitcoin" course, has seen its students gain an exceptional understanding of Bitcoin. The progress and impact of Bitcoin Lake are significant and serve as an inspiration to all.

During my first month volunteering with Bitcoin Lake, my understanding and dedication to Bitcoin has grown significantly. As one of my first tasks, I collected data to assess the progress made in one year. As shown in figures two, three and four below, charts illustrate the flow of bitcoin in the project and the number of transactions completed within the past year, indicating significant growth.

Once a major banking partner for various cryptocurrency firms, Silvergate will end its operations in line with regulatory requirements.

In a press release shared on Wednesday, Silvergate Capital Corporation, the holding company for Silvergate Bank, announced the immediate winding down of the banks operations along with voluntary liquidation of the bank.

In light of recent industry and regulatory developments, Silvergate believes that an orderly wind down of Bank operations and a voluntary liquidation of the Bank is the best path forward, the press release states. The wind down process will include full repayment of all deposits.

Silvergate Bank will also discontinue the Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN), which it announced previously on March 3, 2023 on its website. According to the press release, all other deposit-related services remain operational.

Centerview Partners LLC will act as the banks financial advisor, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP will act as its legal advisor, and Strategic Risk Associates will provide transition project management assistance.

Just yesterday, Bitcoin Magazine PROs Dylan LeClair detailed the reason for this sudden collapse, writing that Silvergates share price isnt imploding due the performance of a crypto token as was the case for many companies in the crypto winter of 2022, but rather from a deposit exodus that has forced the firm to liquidate long-duration securities at a loss in order to remain liquid. He goes on to explain the fractional reserve and lending system that evidently has led to the downfall of the bank.

In March, Bitcoin and Lightning builders and developers will congregate at a beachside resort in Da Nang, Vietnam.

Asias first Bitcoin and Lightning Network conference will take place in Da Nang, Vietnam, March 22-24, 2023 at the beachside Furama Resort, according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. 

Hosts Neutronpay and BitcoinVN will organize the event in the town which some have dubbed Bitcoin Beach Vietnam. The two companies, along with Nunchuk, are all Vietnam-based Bitcoin-only companies, and are excited to share what is happening in Asia as it relates to Bitcoin projects, Bitcoin communities and Lightning adoption across the region.

Founder and CEO of Neutronpay Albert Buu, said of the decision that When we looked around, we noticed that other parts of the world were being represented with Bitcoin and Lightning events, but Asia and more specifically emerging markets in Asia had none and were being completely overlooked considering high bitcoin usage in the region. Were proud to say that since we announced the event it has been highly talked about and is now on many people's yearly must-hit conference calendars.

Were extremely excited to be putting on the world's first bitcoin & lightning event in Asia, Malcolm Weed, COO of Neutronpay said, echoing Buu. Bitcoin adoption is very strong across the region with countries like Vietnam (1), Philippines (2), India (4), Pakistan (6), Thailand (8), and China (10) all being in the top 10 global rankings for bitcoin adoption, making it the world's bitcoin epicenter. With over 4B people in Asia, representing half the world's population, 70% of which are unbanked, it is no wonder bitcoin adoption is so strong.

Starting on March 22, the event will commence with a beach meet and greet, followed by two days of speakers who will share the latest advancements in the Bitcoin ecosystem. These presentations will cover both the technological and economic aspects of Bitcoin. Companies building on the Lightning Network are also expected to be well-represented and provide updates on the current state of affairs and exciting ongoing projects.

Due to the limited availability of tickets, only 500 attendees will be able to participate. General admission two-day passes are currently priced at $500, but prices will rise again on March 22. Local Vietnamese attendees can access the non-profit event at a discounted rate of $40. The press release strongly encourages local participants to attend and learn about the technology, as well as meet Vietnamese companies that are building on Bitcoin and Lightning.

Software developers from Vietnam that are interested in working with the Lightning Network, are encouraged to cont...

A new Lightning partnership will let Perth Heat fans scan QR codes after stolen bases and home runs, rewarding them with bitcoin instantly.

The Perth Heat, the Australian Baseball Leagues most successful baseball team, has announced a new partnership that rewards fans in bitcoin every time a player from Perth Heat steals a base or hits a home run.

The partnership with Bitrefill, Wallet of Satoshi and IBEX will allow fans to Steal Sats by scanning a QR code displayed on the game stream or on the team's social media channels when a player makes an impressive play. Fans will receive their reward instantly after scanning the code with a Lightning-enabled wallet, introducing a novel fan interaction system that brings further excitement to thrilling moments in games.

"We are thrilled to be launching Stealing Sats in partnership with Bitrefill, Wallet of Satoshi, and IBEX," Steven Nelkovski, CEO of the Perth Heat, said in a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. "This is an innovative way to engage with our fans and offer them something new and exciting. We believe this program will further enhance the fan experience and incentivize our players to push themselves to achieve their best on the field."

The baseball team made headlines in 2021 when they adopted a Bitcoin standard and integrated Lightning, becoming the first professional sports team to do so. Afterwards, the Heat proved their desire to further integrate Bitcoin, widely introducing Lightning services to their stadium and fan experiences. The team then announced sats4stats, which is a way to boost fans favorite players through the Lightning Network.

The latest introduction of Stealing Sats is simply another innovation for the team using Bitcoin and Lightning.

Ry Sterling, business development at IBEX, described how they seek to play a role in revolutionizing fan engagement, saying, At IBEX our focus is spreading innovation via the Lightning network and with the lead from Perth Heat, #stealingsats and #satsforstats has opened our eyes to a whole new market of global fandom that we had not considered before.

Chris Pavlesic, Bitrefills Australia manager, said that "With Stealing Sats, fans can now participate in the game in a whole new way, and we are excited to see how this will continue to evolve over time."

Daniel Alexiuc, CEO at Wallet of Satoshi added, "The whole team at Wallet of Satoshi is really excited about Stealing Sats with Perth Heat It's such an innovative way to demonstrate that Bitcoin is easy and it is for everybody.

The partnership is aimed at enabling further access to bitcoin while encouraging more education.

Bitcoin technology company, River Financial Inc. has partnered with Bitcoin Magazine to provide users with the ability to sign up with River and purchase bitcoin through the Bitcoin Magazine App.

Users were already able to earn free sats by reading articles on the app, that they can then withdraw to a River wallet or another wallet of the user's choice. This now now be done through the Lightning Network, making the process even faster. "This new partnership provides the on-ramp for millions of people to not only buy Bitcoin but actually earn it by learning," said Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey.

River CEO Alex Leishman also commented on the partnership, stating "River shares this mission and serves as a gateway for people who want to learn about and invest in Bitcoin." The integration is now live on the Bitcoin Magazine app, with BTC purchases and Lightning transfers available on River via the River app or at River.com, the release added.

The partnership between River Financial and Bitcoin Magazine is focused on educating individuals about Bitcoin and providing them with the opportunity to invest in the digital asset in a secure and efficient manner.

While the broader crypto industry has suffered from bad actors in recent months, there are still innovative, mission-focused companies like River and Bitcoin Magazine that are working to cultivate a more fair and just financial system, the release noted.

The Lightning Network has been gaining traction as a fast and cheap way to transfer Bitcoin, and this partnership between River Financial and Bitcoin Magazine is another example of how it can benefit users. With the ability to earn free sats through reading articles on the app, and now the ability to easily purchase bitcoin through River, users have much easier access to opportunities to learn about and invest in bitcoin. 

The global history of fiat money and U.S. world reserve status has incentivized many countries to abandon their own cultures and sovereignty.

This is an opinion editorial by Jimmy Song, a Bitcoin developer, educator and entrepreneur and programmer with over 20 years of experience.

In the first three parts of this series, I examined the different ways that fiat money has led to terrible incentives at the individual, corporate and national levels. We are more isolated than ever, we are less satisfied with our work and we work under tyrannical, authoritarian governments as a result of fiat money. In this article, I go through the ways the entire world is incentivized by fiat money.

The previous articles spoke more generally about how individuals, companies and nations are affected by fiat money. This article will be a lot more specific as there's only the one world we live in and we don't need to speak generally. Thus, I will start this article with some historical context as that will give us a better understanding of why the financial incentives in the world are the way they are.

Bretton Woods

We start the analysis of global fiat money incentives with one of the major historical events that precipitated the world we live in today and that's the Bretton Woods Agreement from 1944.

Bretton Woods is a small town in New Hampshire where government bureaucrats from all over the world came to establish what they called "a new monetary world order." If that sounds ominous and sinister, that's because it is.

The idea of the conference was to fix the problems from World War I (WWI), where reparation payments and loopholes around the then re-established gold standard wreaked havoc over so many economies and eventually led to World War II (WWII). Returning to the pre-WWI gold standard was too difficult to square with the central banking monetary control that every country had gotten used to, so the conference was a way to figure out how to establish some other monetary order.

The main problems were that every country wanted the legitimacy of gold but also the stealth taxation of central bank fiat money. The solution they came up with was to add a level of indirection to gold redemption.

Prior to WWI, gold was convertible directly at banks. In the U.S., you could exchange $20.67 for one ounce of gold. In the U.K., you could exchange 4.25 for one ounce...

The partnership will provide a secure and easy way to purchase and store self-custodial bitcoin, through a widget in the BitBoxApp.

Swiss-based hardware wallet manufacturer Shift Crypto has announced a long-term partnership with Swiss bitcoin broker Pocket Bitcoin. The collaboration aims to provide an easy and secure way to purchase and store self-custodial bitcoin.

Pocket Bitcoin already offers a dollar-cost averaging (DCA) service, and the partnership with Shift Crypto will make it even simpler and more secure, according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. The BitBox02 hardware wallet allows users to safely store and transact bitcoin. Its code is open-source, including the companion BitBoxApp, which has now integrated the Pocket Bitcoins widget to allow investors to buy bitcoin directly to their hardware wallet.

At Pocket Bitcoin, our goal is to make buying bitcoin as easy as making a bank transfer, said David Knezi, CEO and co-founder of Pocket Bitcoin. We have created a way for customers to buy bitcoin without having to open an account or identify themselves. Our customers receive their bitcoin directly into their wallet. For this, there is no better partner than Shift Crypto and we are excited to work with them to make buying and storing bitcoin even easier.

Through the new widget, BitBoxs users can now easily set up a DCA without going through extensive KYC processes. There is no verification required for orders up to 950 (~$1,000) per day. In addition, users can share their xpub, which includes all bitcoin addresses from their account. This feature allows for the bitcoin to be paid out to new, unused bitcoin addresses, which increases privacy when using bitcoin.

Douglas Bakkum, CEO and co-founder of Shift Crypto, said his company believes everyone deserves financial sovereignty. In our vision, that starts with the optimal security provided by a hardware wallet. Together with Pocket Bitcoin, this continues by enabling individuals to acquire bitcoin directly in the BitBoxApp while staying in full control at all times. We are excited to partner with Pocket Bitcoin, a company that matches our values of self-custody and financial freedom.

The partnership offers a cheaper service for European customers, with the option to buy bitcoin via bank transfer at a 1.5% fee. To celebrate their partnership, the two companies are offering a bonus of 10k sats on all first-time transactions via the new BitBoxApp integration until March 15th, 2023.

The development kit is envisioned as having multiple components that would enable increase the accessibility and openness of bitcoin mining hardware.

Jack Dorseys Block has posted a new blog that details the Mining Development Kit, a new project that would seemingly replicate the Lightning Development Kit and Bitcoin Development Kit projects, providing developers access to bitcoin mining projects focused on integrating bitcoin mining into various novel use cases.

The blog also describes how the company has started developing their own bitcoin mining semiconductor chips, saying that These purpose-built application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) are the leading way bitcoin is mined today and will serve as the foundation for a full suite of bitcoin mining products intended to increase the pace of innovation in bitcoin mining.

Block then says it is considering building the MDK, and they are seeking further feedback from the community. The MDK as Block currently envisions it would have four components:

1. A powerful, reliable, industrial-grade bitcoin mining hashboard.
2. A custom controller board designed to work with the hashboard.
3. Open-source firmware, a software API and a web front-end, that would allow developers to modify the key performance parameters of the hashboard.
4. And extensive reference materials and support documentation to facilitate easy customization of the hashboard.

The intention behind the MDK is to provide developers with a suite of tools to help unlock creativity and innovation in bitcoin mining hardware, describes the blog. With the MDK, we see a significant opportunity to increase the accessibility and openness of bitcoin mining hardware, in order to accelerate innovation in the field.

Block's Bitcoin Hardware Lead Thomas Templeton said that "We want this product to really be inspired by the developers' feedback and thats one of the reasons why we are looking for input to help shape what the MDK will be, identify pain points that the community is finding and make them better. If we can get meaningful input on these ideas to make bitcoin mining more open and accessible via products like a mining development kit, we believe that the bitcoin ecosystem and Block will both benefit."

The post ends with a promise of future updates in the coming weeks and months, and a call to action for feedback that can be directed to mining@block.xyz.

DC Circuit judges hammered the SECs lawyers as they defended their decision to not approve Grayscales move toward a spot bitcoin ETF.

Grayscale Investments LLC participated in oral arguments on Tuesday in the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in relation to its attempts to get its popular Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) converted to a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). In these oral arguments, the three presiding judges seemingly sided with Grayscale in their positioning.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has repeatedly denied previous attempts at the introduction of a spot bitcoin ETF. This has led to Grayscale suing the SEC, alleging that the decisions have been arbitrary and inconsistent with the Commission's decision to approve Bitcoin futures ETFs.

In todays arguments, presiding judges Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judge Neomi Rao continually prodded the SEC Senior Counsel Emily Parise about the SECs differentiation between a futures ETF and a spot bitcoin ETF.

[The prices] move together 99.9% of the time. So where's the gap, in the Commission's view? asked Judge Rao.

The SEC response was that correlation does not equal causation, with its lawyers explaining that the key empirical question is whether fraud and manipulation in the spot markets affect futures in the same way so that they can rely on the surveillance of the future markets. Without that missing empirical piece, the SEC counsel said, the agency can't be sure it can rely on CME future surveillance to approve a spot ETF.

Questioning led to the pontification that the SEC had not provided sufficient evidence to explain their decision making, with Judge Rao telling Parise, The SEC has not offered any explanation that the petitioners are wrong.

The full record of the questioning can be listened to here.

The funding will be used to expand the platform's retail Bitcoin on-ramp in Europe, add zero-fee trading, support for Lightning and more.

Relai, a Swiss non-custodial bitcoin platform, has announced a $4.5 million funding round led by Ego Death Capital. 

New investors include Timechain, Cabrit Capital and Lightning Ventures, while participating firms Redalpine and Fulgur Ventures are both previous investors.

In addition to this news, the company announced that Ego Death Capital general partner Andi Pitt will be joining Relais board.

The current bear market is the perfect time to focus on whats most important: building a top-notch product, delivering a seamless user experience, and educating people about Bitcoin as the best savings technology ever invented, said Relai CEO and co-founder Julian Liniger. Our team is hungry for whats ahead, and we have a crystal clear plan that we will execute in the coming months. With ego death capital and the great network around Jeff Booth, Andi Pitt, and Nico Lechuga, we are ready to bring bitcoin to everyone in Europe!

The funding will go towards further expansion as a retail Bitcoin on-ramp in Europe. Relai currently has plans to add zero-fee trading, implement support for the Lightning Network and introduce a white-label product that will allow for other firms to offer fiat-to-bitcoin trading. Also in focus is the recently launched Relai Business platform.

Weve been really impressed by Julian and the Relai team and their ability to deliver long term value to users, commented Jeff Booth, general partner at ego death capital. We believe they will be a key player for European Bitcoin adoption and are excited to work with them.