The idea of sidechains as a scaling and feature extension mechanism for Bitcoin is a very old concept. A kind of basic “ancestor” idea of sidechains, merge mined chains, even goes back to before Satoshi disappeared. That proposal was simply the idea of two completely separate and unrelated chains being mined by the same group … Read more
Mercury Wallet, a Layer 2 application built for Bitcoin, is currently developing infrastructure to integrate with the Lightning Network. Applications like Mercury are a way of scaling the use of Bitcoin by temporarily performing transactions off chain before returning to the main chain, making it easier and more cost-effective to make payments to other users. … Read more
Decentralization is the core ethos of Bitcoin. In this article, I will discuss the importance of keeping Bitcoin mining decentralized with widespread, small-scale mines. The future is competitive. Large Bitcoin mines have economies-of-scale advantages and are able to be set up in jurisdictions with the lowest power costs. While large-scale mines do play an important … Read more
This is an editorial opinion by Katie The Russian, CEO of Plan B Passport and co-host of the “The Bittersweet Podcast.” Because you are born into a nonconsensual monopoly brought upon you by the government, you have no real options — no real choices to pick the services that you want to receive from the … Read more
Bitcoin mining revenue streams are historically very boring. Miners earn money from two sources: subsidies built into the protocol and fees for processing transactions. Sometimes a company will pay miners to put a special message in a block header. Sometimes cryptocurrency exchanges will negotiate fees with pools to reserve block space during times of high … Read more
This is an editorial opinion by Jessica Hodlr, COO of Plan B Passport and co-host of the “The Bittersweet Podcast.” The world is used to a centralized system that requires us to present identification cards in order to open bank accounts, get on planes or even stay at hotels. But now, we have Bitcoin, a … Read more
On June 16, 2022, the Draper Decentralized Studio hosted a demo day for their accelerator candidates to propose solutions to an invite-only group of 60-plus investment funds, angel investors and media. With Tim Draper, Alyse Killeen of Stillmark and Nic Carter of Castle Island forming the investor panel, this an exciting opportunity for early-stage companies … Read more
On Tuesday, June 21, entertainment gossip YouTube channel Popcorned Planet’s Andy Signore showcased a clip from Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s Eastern Columbia building. In the security camera footage from the elevator of their apartment, the Aquaman star is claimed to be shown sharing a kiss with a woman. As per Signore, he “stumbled upon” … Read more
One reason why miners often pay close attention to bitcoin’s price is because mining machines have a strong positive correlation to its fluctuations. And as bitcoin’s dollar-denominated value has dropped precipitously this month, mining hardware prices followed. At its recent lows, bitcoin was trading near $17,000, a drop of over 60% year to date. Over … Read more
What is BOLT 12? Well, it is a lot of different features and moving pieces put together to accomplish multiple different things — static QR codes, modular invoices, privacy for the person receiving the payment. But what is the whole package? It’s a way to have a single QR code, an “offer,” allow you to … Read more