Over the weekend, a prominent personality in the bitcoin and blockchain sector, Bruce Fenton, addressed Jack Dorsey, CEO of Block, Inc., through a post on the social media platform X. Fenton asserts that Dorsey owes an explanation, as Twitter’s senior leadership has faced accusations of orchestrating one of the most significant acts of censorship in […]
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Ex-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Says Bitcoin Will Reach $1 Million, Here’s When
Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of X (formerly Twitter) has predicted when Bitcoin will reach million. The tech entrepreneur is a familiar figure in the crypto space and is known to be heavily invested in the flagship crypto.
When Bitcoin Will Hit Million
In an interview with Pirate Wires, Dorsey mentioned that BTC could hit million in 2030 and beyond. In addition to predicting Bitcoin’s future trajectory, Dorsey took time to appreciate the Bitcoin ecosystem. He remarked that besides its history, “the most amazing thing about Bitcoin” is how those who work on it, earn from it or invest in it all contribute to making the ecosystem, which in turn causes Bitcoin’s price to go up.
Dorsey further claimed that Bitcoin is a “fascinating ecosystem and movement” and that he has learned a lot from it. Based on his assertion, the tech entrepreneur is undoubtedly one of those contributing to the growth of the Bitcoin ecosystem. Dorsey and his digital payments company, Block, already hold over 8,000 BTC.
His company also recently announced plans to begin investing 10% of its monthly Bitcoin-related gross profits in buying more BTC. This investment plan could lead to the company investing as much as million in BTC one year from now. It is also worth mentioning that Dorsey has been actively looking to build in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
It was previously reported that the former Twitter CEO was planning on building a decentralized exchange (DEX) for Bitcoin. More recently, Dorsey’s Block announced that they had completed a BTC mining system they had been working on since April 2023.
BTC Hitting Million Could Be This Year
The CEO of Jan3 and Bitcoiner Samson Mow shares a contrary opinion with Dorsey. He predicted before now that Bitcoin could reach million before the end of this year. Mow alluded to the increasing demand for Bitcoin as why he holds such a belief. The crypto founder suggested that this prediction would likely be attained next year if it didn’t happen this year.
Crypto analyst PlanB also believes that next year is a more feasible timeline for BTC to reach this price level. He stated that million could be the market top for BTC in this bull run based on the Bitcoin stock-to-flow (STF) indicator, which hinted at 0,000 being the average price for BTC in this market cycle.
Other crypto analysts have given more conservative price predictions for this bull run. CryptoQuant’s CEO Ki Young Ju recently predicted that BTC could hit 5,000. Meanwhile, Anthony Scaramucci, the founder of SkyBridge Capital, predicted that BTC could peak at 0,000 in this market cycle.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at around ,800, down over 3% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Jack Dorsey Forecasts Bitcoin to Reach $1 Million by 2030
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey predicts that the price of Bitcoin could hit at least million by 2030, suggesting its value may grow even further thereafter. In an interview, he expressed his enthusiasm not just about Bitcoin’s potential for price growth but also highlighted the unique and collaborative nature of its ecosystem, implying that efforts […]
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Jack Dorsey Backed Bitcoin Mining Pool Ocean Acknowledges Filtering Ordinal Inscriptions
Ocean, a Bitcoin mining pool that recently raised .2 million in a seed funding round led by former Twitter (now known as X) CEO Jack Dorsey, is currently filtering ordinal inscription transactions. Giacomo Zucco, a bitcoiner, confirmed that Ocean was using Knots as a node, a software developed by Luke Dashjr known to filter Ordinal inscriptions.
Ocean Bitcoin Mining Pool Filtering Ordinal Inscriptions
Ocean, a Bitcoin mining pool, has acknowledged that it is currently applying a filter that affects Ordinals-related transactions. The pool, which recently closed its .2 million seed round led by former X CEO Jack Dorsey, excludes certain Bitcoin Ordinals transactions using Knots, a Bitcoin node known to apply these filtering policies.
Giacomo Zucco, who was part of the conference as part of the relaunch of the pool, confirmed this fact, stating that it was currently using several filtering policies, excluding what he called “spam.”
Zucco stated:
Some ‘inscription’ spam is done this way, so it’s filtered away from Knots, which Ocean uses right now for centralized template creation. So shitcoin spammers will have to wait [for] phase2 of Ocean (the real deal) to create their own templates full of sh*t. I guess they are impatient.
Ocean’s Bitcoin Mechanic also acknowledged this, stating that the pool would “continue to filter inscriptions spam,” inviting others to mine with other pools if this bothered them.
The issue was first raised by checksum0, co-founder and CTO at Pow.re, a Bitcoin mining company, when he found that Ocean was excluding high-value transactions “costing on average 5-10% in fees, much more sometimes.” He declared:
Doing spot check of high-paying transactions, I have seen no transactions including any data after op_false … Mining with Ocean WILL cost you money.
The findings divided the cryptocurrency community, with some considering this filtered data as spam and agreeing with the measure, while others rejected this behavior, stressing that this was considered censorship. F2Pool, another Bitcoin mining pool, recently admitted it had been excluding transactions from OFAC-flagged addresses but ceased after facing a backlash from the community.
What do you think about the transaction filtering policies of Ocean? Do you believe they constitute censorship? Tell us in the comments section below.
Jack Dorsey Contributes $1M to Kickstart Guaranteed Basic Income Pilot in St. Louis
Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and current CEO of Square Inc., is contributing million to support the launch of a pilot program for guaranteed basic income in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. According to the city, applicants will be selected on a first come, first serve basis “for 0 monthly payments for 18 months.”
Jack Dorsey Supports St. Louis’ Guaranteed Basic Income Pilot
Twitter’s co-founder and the current CEO of Square Inc., Jack Dorsey, is contributing million to jumpstart St. Louis’ Guaranteed Basic Income (STL GBI) Pilot Program, which aims to combat poverty in the city. The city of St. Louis announced the launch of the program on Tuesday, noting that participants will receive 0 a month for 18 months.
The announcement details that in December last year, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones signed Board Bill Number 116 (BB116), sponsored by Alderwoman Shameem Clark Hubbard, to establish the first guaranteed basic income program in the U.S. state of Missouri. The program originally planned to enroll 440 families. However, thanks to Dorsey’s contribution, the program can now handle 100 more participants. The city described:
Jack Dorsey’s #startsmall philanthropic initiative, with operational support from Deaconess Foundation, is contributing million to add an additional 100 participants to the program for a total of 540 participants.
To be eligible for assistance, applicants must meet specific criteria, including residing in the city of St. Louis, having a child or dependent under 18 enrolled in a public school, maintaining a combined household income below 170% of the federal poverty level, and demonstrating negative financial impacts due to the Covid-19 pandemic, such as loss of work or increased childcare costs.
A number of U.S. cities have independently initiated pilot programs to provide basic income for residents. “St. Louis is joining more than 30 municipalities across the country in trying this new, exciting way to financially empower families and lift them out of poverty,” said Mayor Jones. She added that the city is “thrilled to have the support of St. Louis native Jack Dorsey to help even more families make ends meet.”
The city explained, “Applicants chosen via lottery will be invited to submit financial documentation and verification of City of St. Louis residency,” adding:
Applicants will then be selected on a first come, first serve basis for 0 monthly payments for 18 months.
What do you think about Jack Dorsey contributing million to kickstart St. Louis’ guaranteed basic income program? Let us know in the comments section below.
Bitcoin Voucher Provider Azteco Secures $6 Million Funding Round Led by Jack Dorsey
On Thursday, California-based bitcoin voucher company Azteco revealed it had garnered million in seed funding through a round spearheaded by Block, Inc.’s CEO and chairperson, Jack Dorsey. Azteco stated that the newly acquired capital would further its objective to “provide billions of people” with a “solution that promotes financial inclusion and long-term stability.”
Jack Dorsey Leads Million Investment in Azteco
Azteco, a firm offering minute bitcoin (BTC) portions through a voucher system, announced raising million in seed funding. The investment round was directed by Block executive Jack Dorsey, accompanied by participants such as Lightning Ventures, Hivemind Ventures, Ride Wave Ventures, Aleka Capital, Visary Capital, and Gaingels. Investors David Van Der Weele and Sunil Rajaraman also took part in Azteco’s seed round.
Azteco aims to assist the unbanked through bitcoin solutions, with the startup’s founders convinced that “bitcoin presents a low-cost, secure, and flexible alternative to traditional banking that removes payer fraud and allows the unbanked population to store value, make purchases, and access credit without a traditional bank account.” In Thursday’s statement, Dorsey expressed his involvement stemming from an earnest admiration for the startup’s mission.
The principal executive officer of Block remarked:
The unbanked population is immense. We have the technology and resources to close this gap, but until now, no one has taken that important next step. Azteco is providing so much more than just access to a secure financial system; it is building an ecosystem of financial self-determination that is secure and supported by local communities. I am honored to support them.
Founded in 2014, Azteco’s voucher system has enabled users to save, spend, and transfer small bitcoin amounts. “This investment is a catalyst to help us achieve our mission of bringing unconditional financial freedom and control to the next billion users,” Paul Ferguson, the co-founder of Azteco stated. “This funding will fuel our market activation and product refinement efforts, enabling us to reach consumers more effectively, to develop deeply intuitive products and empower individuals worldwide to participate in global commerce regardless of their financial or technical experience level.”
What are your thoughts on Azteco’s mission to provide financial inclusion through bitcoin vouchers? Do you believe it has the potential to bridge the gap for the unbanked population? Share your opinions and insights in the comments section below.
Binance Market Share Allegedly Hits 77%; Criticism Grows As Even Jack Dorsey Speaks Out
It is no secret that Binance benefits from FTX’s insolvency. After the second largest exchange in the world went belly up, other exchanges had to divide FTX’s market share among themselves.
And that Binance is one of the biggest winners now seems to be confirmed by recent data. The Block claims that Binance now has a 75% market share on the spot market, 8.5 times more than the second Coinbase.
Binance now represents 75% of all exchange volume, and almost 8.5x that of the second (Coinbase)
Good or bad for the ecosystem? pic.twitter.com/ykPisGn3W2
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) November 30, 2022
Other Data Providers Do Not Agree
The chart is based on CryptoCompare data and shows that total volume for the month was 2.7 billion. Binance’s share of the yet-to-be-completed month of November reportedly equates to 1.7 billion.
However, there are discrepancies with other data providers. Their data doesn’t find a massive dominance by Binance.
Coinmarketcap, which was acquired by Binance in April 2020, shows that the exchange currently has .5 billion in daily trading volume. It is followed by Coinbase Exchange with .5 billion dollars, Kraken with 6 million and KuCoin with 5 million.
With a total volume of .985 billion over the past 24 hours, this only calculates to a much healthier 27.8% market share for Binance.
CoinGecko, on the other hand, tracks 544 crypto exchanges with a total 24-hour trading volume of .5 billion. Binance’s market share is actually only 21.7% based on this figure. However, both data providers only provide daily volumes and thus not a complete picture.
Binance Is In The Crosshair Due To Other Reasons
Regardless of the discussion about Binance’s market supremacy, the exchange is in the crosshair of critics due to other reasons. One of the harshest critics is Bitcoin analyst Dylan LeClair.
As he notes, BNB has made 9x in two months during the bull run with barely a retrace, 10x versus BTC since 2021. “Must be a new paradigm,” LeClair wrote and shared the following chart.
The analyst drew comparisons to FTX and commented ironically; “I’m sure it was retail that sent BNB 10x in two months. Same with FTT, right?”, and shared a chart of FTT and BNB with a similar price trend.
“It definitely wasn’t the exchange operator with an incentive to drive up the price of their own token to create a feedback loop of attention, hype, and more users…. Definitely not,” LeClair further commented.
He argues that the outperformance against “everything” is significant, and one should wonder what the reason is.
Who is supporting this market (we know), and do they have infinite money? […] Think of some alts that outperformed this bull run? SOL (Alameda leverage and fraud), AVAX (3AC), LUNA (perpetual motion machine), etc.
To support his conjecture, LeClair also looked at the volume side profile for BNB/BTC spot market and BNB/USDT perpetual swaps (leverage) on Binance. He found a striking disparity.
While Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said the exchange never uses leverage, users are encouraged to do so by means of various offers on Binance, according to the claim.
Also, CZ reiterated after the FTX collapse that Binance has never used its BNB token as collateral and has never taken on debt. LeClair only commented, “CZ my man, I really hope you’re telling the truth.”
Jack Dorsey And Others Also Express Criticism
Remarkably, Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey took a stand on the matter, commenting: “All made up.” Dorsey is known as a Bitcoin proponent, but his statement is vague.
His only other comment on the subject was a response to “Bitcoin, not shitcoin” with “yes,” leaving the community in the dark as to whether he supports LeClair’s theses.
All made up
— jack (@jack) November 29, 2022
Renowned on-chain analyst Willy Woo also expressed cautious criticism of Binance, specifically on its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU):
SAFU is misleading marketing. It was boosted to “ billion,” but if you look at it closely and factor out the correlated impact of BNB and to a lesser extent BTC, the fund is really only good for 0.5% of the billion in assets on Binance. This is not hate, it is informing the public.
At press time, BNB was down 0.9%, while BTC experienced a small surge and posted a daily gain of 2.5%.
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 0 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 K.
Will Michael Saylor buy the dip?
Featured Image: screenshot from the conference’s website | Charts by TradingView
NewsBTC
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 K | 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
NewsBTC
Jack Dorsey Gets Slammed by Twitter’s Crypto Crowd For Web3 Critique
Twitter boss Jack Dorsey kicked off a major storm this week, attacking an idea that cryptocurrency enthusiasts widely believe will lead to a new dawn for decentralized finance and the internet – the coming of web3.
Proponents of web3 hail it as a major revolution of the internet, bringing back control and ownership of information and assets exchanged over the web to the people. With that promise, it will also kill off the role of many of the giants that dominate the Internet today – namely the likes of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
But Dorsey suggested in a tweet – which has been retweeted almost 7,000 times – that at the moment, web3 is more of a marketing ploy than anything else:
You don’t own “web3.”
The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label.
Know what you’re getting into…
— jack (@jack) December 21, 2021
What Dorsey is saying is that not even web3 has what’s required to escape the influence of the venture capitalists and liquidity providers that run the worldwide web today.
The tweet was quickly met with an angry backlash from the thousands of developers who’re working night and day to create a web3 entity that is precisely what Dorsey says it won’t be – an entity free from the influence of VCs. Quickly there emerged a chorus of voices calling out Dorsey for crushing the hopes and dreams of multiple brave people, with others claiming that in his naivete he simply doesn’t understand what is going on with web3 and therefore his comments should just be ignored.
Tesla founder Elon Musk, ever eager to play a part in all debates crypto, chirped in with a snarky comment that underscores how the very definition of web3 is still up for debate:
Has anyone seen web3? I can’t find it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2021
A more informed reply came from Willy Woo, an on-chain analyst with a big following in the crypto community who obviously does know what’s up with web3. In Woo’s opinion we’ve already seen the power of web3 and how it enables people to wrest back control of a project when they don’t like the direction it’s headed.
If they are truly open protocols, if the incentives get too perverse, the community rips the network away from the founder/VC coalition. It's the community that powers these networks.
E.g. 2014 CryptNote to Monero relaunch or the recent community vs Brock Pierce battle on EOS.
— Willy Woo (@woonomic) December 21, 2021
Woo was of course referring to the recent battle between the community at EOS (led by the recently-formed EOS Network Foundation) and its main developer, Block.One. Concerned by Block.One’s clear lack of commitment to the EOS project, which has struggled to capitalize on its blockbuster billion ICO in 2018, the community earlier this month voted overwhelmingly to kick Block.One from its role leading the project, in the process blocking it from receiving any more payments.
Block.One had been set to receive 67 million EOS tokens (0 million) over the next six-to-seven years, but the community decided it wasn’t working hard enough and didn’t deserve that money – so it dropped it altogether.
If that’s not a show of the power of web3, it’s hard to know what is. The lack of any kind of response or fight back from Block.One only serves to emphasize how little power it has when the community’s support is pulled out from under its feet.
“Through a super-majority consensus, the EOS network has taken its future in its own hands by voting to fire Block.one and stop vesting tokens to them. This begins a new era for EOS and highlights the power of the blockchain to enable a community to stand up against corporate interests that don’t align with theirs,” said Yves La Rose, leader of the EOS Network Foundation.
As it turned out, the response of the furious Twitterati eventually prompted Dorsey to contradict himself while attempting to show that his tweet was intended more as a “critique” that might help the community to fix any outstanding issues.
We have bigger issues if a tweet stifles hopes and dreams. Currently it’s not wrong. Critique can help fix, or divert energy to something more important.
— jack (@jack) December 21, 2021
So if web3 is not wrong, then how can Dorsey be right?