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Bitcoin News
TL;DR
VISA to launch Bitcoin cards in the UK and 40 APAC countries
Strike will now allow businesses to send US dollars through Bitcoin’s Lightning Network
The Wyoming legislature passed a bill prohibiting the compelled disclosure of private keys
CleanSpark buys 20,000 ASICs and expands with it its capacity by 37%
VISA to launch Bitcoin cards in the UK and 40 APAC countries
Wirex, a leading crypto payments platform, has announced a long-term strategic partnership with payment giant Visa to expand its footprint in the United Kingdom and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
Under the partnership, Wirex will directly issue crypto-enabled debit, and Bitcoin (BTC) prepaid cards to more than 40 countries, the crypto payment firm said in a press release on February 13.
The partnership will support further collaboration in significant markets such as Europe, the USA, and APAC between two countries.
Strike will now allow businesses to send US dollars through Bitcoin’s Lightning Network
The application from strike adds a new benefit, the ability to instantly send US dollars through the Bitcoin Lightning Network.
This is a first, as it allows companies to access new markets and customers without the need for a bank account or payment processor.
With Strike, companies can reach customers in countries where traditional payment methods are unavailable or too expensive. For example, a small business in the United States can sell its products to customers in Nigeria or Argentina without having to worry about currency conversions or high transaction fees. (more details here)
The Wyoming legislature passed a bill prohibiting the compelled disclosure of private keys
The passing of the bill comes as the private key law has been in the works since as early as September 2019. Wyoming has long been touted as one of the most Bitcoin-friendly states in the U.S.
“No person shall be compelled to produce a private key or make a private key known to any other person in any civil, criminal, administrative, legislative or other proceeding[s]” in the state of Wyoming, the incoming law reads.
The law includes any private keys associated with digital assets, one’s digital identity or any other interests or rights to which the private key provides.
CleanSpark buys 20,000 ASICs and expands with it its capacity by 37%
For $43.6 million, CleanSpark Inc. has acquired 20,000 brand-new Antminer S19j Pro+ units and will pay $32.3 million after coupons.
Once deployed, the new set of miners will increase the company’s mining capacity by 37%, or 2.44 exahashes per second (EH/s). With 15,000 machines slated for its Washington, Georgia, facility, CleanSpark wants to deploy the remaining fleet of new machines to its wholly-owned Bitcoin mining facilities across the U.S.
“Building and owning our mining campuses at multiple locations provides us with a level of agility and reliability that cannot be achieved otherwise. As machines are delivered to us, we will have rackspace waiting for them at one of our sites. This is the advantage of proprietary mining or the ‘prop mining’ model. We exercise tremendous control over our infrastructure and, therefore, our ability to be highly efficient in the way we allocate our resources.” by Zach Bradford, CEO of CleanSpark
Global Economic News
TL;DR
Wells Fargo thinks the bear market is over in the US, is it?
Why will the USD be the last FIAT currency?
Wells Fargo thinks the bear market is over in the US, is it?
“We see neither a bull nor a bear market, just a market.” stated by Christopher Harvey, Wells Fargo equity analyst
Let’s see this week’s news:
The new CPI print came in at 6.4%. The metric was changed (again) in Jan 2023 where weights were adjusted. Chart shows historic changes to CPI:
“Looks like eggs will soon be removed from the CPI basket.” by James Lavish hedge-fund manager
“Wall Street Homebuyers are running out of money. In Pandemic Boom they raised $32 Billion to fund home purchases. Last 3 quarters? Only $3 Billion. Very soon they will need to sell properties in order to fund new acquisitions. That's when things will get fun.” by Nick Gerli, CEO & Founder of Reventure Consulting (more details here)
I get the question a lot of times from my friends and family why I think that the USD will be the last FIAT currency? Here are some possible answers/news related to it:
“While the assumptions behind the US labor force growth might be a bit optimistic, the widening gap between the US and Europe, China and Japan is likely to be pretty impressive.” by Alf, Founder & CEO of TheMacroCompass.com
“Real GDP per capita
Rise from 2007 - 2022, in %
1. USA (blue): +16%
2. Portugal (orange): +11%
3. Euro zone (black): +9%
4. France (pink): +7%
5. Spain (red): 0%
6. Italy (green): -4%” by Robin Brooks, Chief Economist at IIF
“The picture that's emerging from both sides of the Atlantic: a resilient US and slowing Europe. Real retail sales in the US (black) remain near their post-COVID highs, while retail sales volumes for Germany (blue) tanked towards the end of 2022. Euro will go back below parity…” by Robin Brooks, Chief Economist at IIF
Bitcoin Shorts
Funny Bitcoin short stories
Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance to offer Bitcoin and shitcoin courses in partnership with Binance
Hong Kong "will soon develop" a thriving Bitcoin and shitcoin ecosystem - Financial Secretary
“Everybody knows @upstreamdatainc's Black Box for home mining, but we designed it originally for oilfield! Here is our 96" Black Box with 12x M30's chewing up vented methane for breakfast.” by Steve Barbour
The first menu ever written In bitcoin!
HomeMining next level: 300W = 4 Th/s Total silence! (video)
El Salvador has now opened a Bitcoin Embassy in: 🇨🇭 Lugano, Switzerland
