Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas has outlined four key reasons why investors should buy bitcoin, including long-term growth potential, diversification, and protection against inflation and currency devaluation. Moreover, he advised: “You have to know how to invest and be patient, not get scared when it goes down and buy, and not get excited when it goes […]
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Adam Back States ‘You Can’t Stop JPEGs on Bitcoin,’ Proposes Block Size Increase to Host Inscriptions
Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream and legendary cryptographer, has acknowledged that inscriptions, media embedded directly on top of Bitcoin, cannot be stopped, stating that any action focused on this will only prompt users to do it in “worse ways.” Instead, Back proposed adding a new blob of data to Bitcoin blocks dedicated to inscription purposes.
Adam Back Proposes Block Size Increase to Support Inscriptions
Blockstream CEO Adam Back recognized that fighting Ordinal inscriptions, media embedded directly on the Bitcoin blockchain, is useless. In recent statements posted in X, Back stated that JPEGs (images) on Bitcoin were unstoppable and that any actions directed to stop them would only worsen the situation.
Back declared:
Complaining will only make them do it more. trying to stop them and they’ll do it in worse ways. the high fees drive adoption of layer2 and force innovation. so relax and build things.
Back has been critical of the Ordinals protocol and its purpose since its launch, calling it “inefficient” and “stupid,” prompting developers to use other solutions like IPFS to achieve the same objective.
The issuance of Ordinal inscriptions and stamps, another media embedding protocol on Bitcoin, recently took transaction fees to over . According to Back, a solution to this congestion issue can come in the way of allocating space directed to host this and other Bitcoin-centric data through a “segwit annex” to each block. He explained:
Inscriptors want unavoidable scarcity derived from bitcoin mining and blockspace limits, and they want to pay less not more. so a segwit annex for another 4MW space, paid by miners, with a higher discount than taproot inscriptions.
Back acknowledged this proposal would include a Bitcoin block size increase that would not be required for consensus and would also be used to save Bitcoin wallet-related data.
Many users in the community signaled that Back’s proposal resembled Ethereum EIP-4844, also known as Proto-Danksharding, which adds data blobs with a limited life to the Ethereum blockchain, which also have their own fee market.
What do you think about Adam Back’s “segwit annex” block size increase proposal for Ordinal inscriptions? Tell us in the comments section below.
Elon Musk Unveils Plan to Turn X Into ‘Powerful’ Financial Platform — ‘You Won’t Need a Bank Account’
Billionaire Elon Musk has revealed that he is turning his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, into an all-encompassing financial platform. “When I say payments, I actually mean someone’s entire financial life … If it involves money. It’ll be on our platform,” he claimed, emphasizing: “You won’t need a bank account.”
Elon Musk’s Plan for X
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and Spacex and owner of social media platform X (formerly Twitter), revealed to X employees in an all-hands call on Thursday that he is transforming X into a financial hub for users, The Verge reported, citing an audio recording of the meeting it had obtained.
Noting that he expects financial and payment features to launch on X by the end of 2024, Musk claimed that people will be surprised with “just how powerful it is.” The billionaire described:
When I say payments, I actually mean someone’s entire financial life … If it involves money. It’ll be on our platform. Money or securities or whatever. So, it’s not just like send to my friend. I’m talking about, like, you won’t need a bank account.
The social media company is currently in the process of securing money transmission licenses across the U.S. in order to offer financial services to users. Musk said during the Thursday meeting that he hopes to obtain the additional licenses X requires within “the next few months.”
In addition, Musk revealed that the X/Paypal product roadmap was written by him and venture capitalist David Sacks in July 2000. Sacks served as Paypal’s first product leader and then as chief operating officer. However, Musk noted that once Paypal was acquired by Ebay in October 2002, “not only did they not implement the rest of the list, but they actually rolled back a bunch of key features.” He opined: “So Paypal is actually a less complete product than what we came up with in July of 2000, so 23 years ago.”
Regarding when the financial features will be available on X, Musk said:
It would blow my mind if we don’t have that rolled out by the end of next year.
The Tesla boss stated last November that X could offer “an extremely compelling money market account,” debit cards, checks, and loan services. Moreover, he previously said that X would become an “everything app.”
Do you think Elon Musk will successfully turn X into a financial platform that everyone will want to use? Let us know in the comments section below.
Renowned Investor Jim Rogers Expects Worst Bear Market in His Lifetime — Says ‘You Should Be Extremely Worried’
Veteran investor Jim Rogers, who co-founded the Quantum Fund with billionaire investor George Soros, says he expects the next bear market to be the worst in his lifetime. “You should be extremely worried. If you’re not, you don’t know what’s going on,” he stressed, adding that there will be trouble in all markets.
Jim Rogers on US Debt Crisis, Worst Bear Market, and the US Dollar Losing Dominance
Veteran investor Jim Rogers reiterated his warnings about the biggest market downturn and the U.S. dollar losing its global reserve currency status during an interview with Real Vision last week. Rogers is George Soros’ former business partner who co-founded the Quantum Fund and Soros Fund Management. He cautioned:
The next bear market will be the worst in my lifetime, because the debt has gone up by such staggering amounts in the past 14 years.
Rogers reiterated his previous explanation that the U.S. experienced a bear market in 2008 due to excessive debt. He pointed out that since 2009 the debt level worldwide has skyrocketed. “We should always be concerned about Washington. They don’t have a clue what they’re doing. And they prove it day in and day out,” he opined.
The renowned investor also believes that the U.S. dollar will lose its status as the world’s reserve currency. Discussing the global de-dollarization trend, he emphasized that numerous countries are actively seeking alternatives to the U.S. dollar, partly due to concerns over its substantial debt issue. Moreover, he mentioned that the weaponization of the U.S. dollar creates an incentive for nations to reduce reliance on the USD. He warned:
You should be extremely worried. If you’re not, you don’t know what’s going on.
Rogers shared that he is “looking every day” for an alternative to the USD because he knows “something bad is going to happen in the currency markets in the next two or three years.” He recently said that the U.S. dollar’s time is coming to an end as countries seek alternatives to the USD.
The veteran investor also expects interest rates to increase worldwide. While admitting that he does not know how high central banks will increase interest rates to curb inflation this time, he stressed: “The world has never seen the debt and the spending and the money printing like in the last few years. So something is going to have to be very, very ruinous to solve this problem this time.” Rogers warned:
There’ll be trouble in all the markets — property markets, stock markets, bond markets, currency markets, everything.
What do you think about the warnings by Jim Rogers? Let us know in the comments section below.
Microstrategy Founder Michael Saylor to Argentines: ‘You Need Bitcoin’ — Critics Insist BTC Is Too Volatile
Micheal Saylor, the founder of Microstrategy, has told people living in inflation-stricken Argentina that they now “need bitcoin.” While many bitcoiners have welcomed Saylor’s suggestion, a few critics have said the top crypto asset’s volatility makes it an unsuitable alternative for the faltering local currency.
The Dollarization Option
As the Argentinian currency — the peso — continued with the slide that has seen it depreciate by more than 40% over the past twelve months, Micheal Saylor, the founder of Microstrategy, has chimed in by tweeting that people living in the South American country now “need bitcoin.” In a subsequent tweet, Saylor, a bitcoin critic turned advocate, also shared news about the South American country’s inflation rate after it topped 7.58% per day.
If you live in Argentina🇦🇷 right now, you need #bitcoin.
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) April 22, 2023
The tweets by Saylor, whose firm is one of the largest corporate holders of BTC, came as reports suggested that some Argentinian politicians favor replacing the peso with the U.S. dollar. As reported by Bitcoin.com News, the Argentinian presidential aspirant Javier Milei has said dollarization can put the brakes on inflation, which officially stood at 103.4% in March.
Milei, who is seen as a frontrunner in presidential elections set to be held on Oct. 22, said he plans to shut down the central bank before starting the dollarization process. Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, has similarly suggested the South American country can only escape its present predicament by dollarizing.
Argentina has turned into an over-indebted IMF deadbeat. By my measure, the Argentinian peso has depreciated against the USD by 52% since Jan 1, 2022. ARG must dump the peso and dollarize NOW. Argentina, THE WORLD’S BIGGEST DEADBEAT. pic.twitter.com/4HyFei1WzO
— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) April 25, 2023
Yet, despite the apparent widespread support for dollarization in Argentina, critics of the U.S. dollar, including Saylor’s followers on Twitter, have voiced their support for his call on residents to choose bitcoin instead.
Policy Brief: Argentina’s Fiscal Imbalances Will Not Go Away After Dollarization
However, some of Saylor’s followers on Twitter like Manu Ferrari B, a self-proclaimed “liberty maximalist,” have said BTC is too volatile and therefore it cannot be a viable alternative to the falling peso just yet. The user suggested that while it is possible for a bitcoin-backed stablecoin to become the solution, more still needs to be done. He added:
But the whole tech is not ready, yet. Most bitcoiners not living in Argentina, Líbano, Venezuela will not understand this. Most bitcoiners talking about Argentina don’t know what they are talking about. Completely centralized stablecoins running on fiat legacy rails are also not a solution.
In addition to being an expensive undertaking, dollarizing the Argentinian economy would result in the country’s central bank becoming subservient to the policies of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Dollarizing would also see the country’s central bank losing seigniorage — the profit earned from printing currency.
A policy brief published by the Policy Center for the New South on April 28, 2022, described the calls for dollarizing the economy as the “revival of a zombie idea.” Denouncing the Argentinian Congress’ proposal to retain the greenback as the country’s primary currency, the brief warned that the country’s “fiscal imbalances will not be eliminated by dollarization.” The brief also said dollarization would further require “a selective default of domestic currency liabilities, a brutal devaluation, and/or a unilateral conversion of public deposits.”
What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
‘Self-Custody Should Mean the Ownership of Everything About You’ Says Sharering’s Tim Bos
According to Sharering, a blockchain-based platform enabling the creation and use of “self-sovereign” verifiable credentials, millions of potential world wide web users are still disconnected from the internet because they lack required or verifiable identities, among other things. Without such verifiable identities or credentials, many disadvantaged groups, including refugees, are thus precluded from accessing information from the web that may enhance their way of life.
Sharering on Proving ID Online
To help such disadvantaged groups overcome this challenge, tech entrepreneurs and blockchain startups like Sharering have proposed or created a technology that enables internet users to “prove who they claim to be online.” Known as self-sovereign digital identity, this technology also ensures that “individuals maintain control and security over their own data.”
While the technology is seemingly still in its infancy stages, a growing number of organizations including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have fully embraced it. For instance, Unconnected.org, a United Kingdom-based social enterprise that “connects the unconnected” to the world wide web, recently said it had partnered with Sharering.
As explained in a recent press release, Unconnected.org, which is seeking to connect one billion people to the internet, believes that barriers which “add friction to the availability of data” can be overcome or resolved with self-sovereign digital identities which are verifiable.
Some critics have argued that such verifiable digital identities come with flaws or disadvantages that may nullify the perceived advantages. However, according to Tim Bos, the CEO of Sharering, through hard work and constant adjustments self-sovereign digital identities are ideal when seeking to verify online identities.
In written responses to questions sent by Bitcoin.com News via Telegram, Bos also offered his thoughts on what he thinks needs to be done to help regulators and governments understand what Sharering and others are trying to achieve with self-sovereign digital identities.
Below are Bos’ answers.
Bitcoin.com News (BCN): Sharering recently said it had become the official partner of unconnected.org, a social enterprise that seeks to “connect the unconnected” to the world wide web. The objective of this initiative is to connect 1 billion users to the internet. Can you tell our readers more about this partnership and why you support the goal to connect that many people?
Tim Bos (TB): I believe that everyone can agree to the fact that the internet is a realm of information that grows every day, serving people from all walks of life and connecting them to one another in a relatively frictionless way. However, as the web continues to evolve, so does the need for our digital identities, that is, how we are represented and recognized online.
Taking that statement into consideration, it was a natural response for us to reach out to unconnected.org, and support their organization. They have an ambitious mission to connect 1 billion users to the internet. However, most or if not all of these users are underserved, meaning they barely have the basic equipment to access the internet.
Sharering could potentially be that bridge between these underserved communities and their access to gated information and services online. Take refugees for example, their identities would be difficult to transfer from their country of origin, and thus they would require some form of identity infrastructure to assimilate into the new communities. This relationship with Unconnected.org ignites the conversations for exploring Sharering’s identity technology to bridge underserved communities to the web and establish recognition through their digital identities.
BCN: Supporters of self-sovereign digital identities often argue that self-custody of one’s identity is the future. What does self-custody in the digital identity realm mean, and do you foresee more people embracing self-sovereign digital identities in the future?
TB: There’s a lot of talk about people having self-custody of tokens, wallets, and things like that along with the usage of cold wallets, hot wallets, and so on. But we believe that self-custody should mean the ownership of everything about you. Your passport, your driver’s license, your medical certificates – all these documents that are used to create and build your digital identity.
We feel that society has gone too far in the direction of giving too much information about ourselves to large organizations. In doing so, we’re losing self-custody of our information. Over and over again, we’ve seen that information hacked or stolen and used for nefarious purposes.
BCN: As we have seen with crypto assets, how regulators understand or perceive blockchain-based self-sovereign digital identities may to some extent determine their fate. Therefore, what are you and other players in the digital identities space doing to ensure powerful organizations or individuals are fed the right information about your work and what you want to achieve?
TB: To start with, Sharering can’t do anything with anyone’s identity. One of our core values is to give users full control. Our mission statement is centered around removing friction from everyday interactions while enabling our users with a higher level of security, trust, and ownership of their information, so it’s not about us telling people what to do with their identities, but it’s about them controlling what they do with their identities.
We believe people should be able to access goods or services by sharing only a minimal amount of information. For example, when I sign up for a service, the website always asks for more information than what’s needed in order to provide me with that service. If it’s a service where I need to prove that I’m 18 or older, why do they need my full name, my address, my driver’s license, and my passport number?
What we believe is that we should be able to answer that simple question with “Yes, I’m over 18” without oversharing any other personal information. So users remain in control throughout the verification process, and anytime they share any information through Sharering technology, they’re always notified and asked before any information is actually shared, so they go into these processes understanding exactly what data or personal information they are sharing.
BCN: It has been said that self-sovereign digital identities not only add security and flexibility to users, but also allow them to share data only when they choose. However, critics point to the complex process of tracking personal data and permissions which may be beyond ordinary users. They insist that this and other cons outweigh the benefits of self-sovereign identities. What would be your response?
TB: We’ve started this journey with user experience at the core of everything we do. It’s taken a lot of hard work and a lot of testing to get to a point where we believe the solution that we have actually caters to the ordinary, everyday user.
When somebody needs to sign up for a service or prove something about themself, we ask a very simple question to them through the Sharering app, and they need to approve that request in order to answer the question. For example, do you want to send your date of birth to this company? Or do you want to tell this company that you’re over 18? All the user needs to do is put their thumb on the fingerprint reader on their mobile device in order to verify and approve the request.
We’ve seen a lot of blockchain-based, self-sovereign digital identity companies with systems that aren’t user-friendly. They assume users have a lot of existing knowledge and then users are required to set up a wallet, go through processes, and connect with things like Metamask. We want to remove those barriers. We want to make sure it’s easy for people. In fact, a new version of what we’re doing removes things like the recovery key, so you can sign up without having to think about a recovery key, and you just give your name and email address. There’s no need for a password; you just use your biometrics.
An exception is when you want to back up your Vault, at which point you’ll be asked to save and note down a recovery key. The identity part – where you scan documents to prove and verify your identity – you only need to do this the first time you use your digital identity. We call this the ‘adjusting time process,’ to make it easier for users to access the Sharering ecosystem since we’re removing this barrier from future data transactions.
What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
‘Shame on You,’ Shark Tank Judge Tells Bitcoin Bull Pompliano
Kevin O’Leary, the judge of the popular business reality show Shark Tank, has slammed Anthony Pompliano for allocating half of his wealth to bitcoin.
“Shame on you,” the television personality told Pompliano on the sidelines of a CNBC Squawk Box debate about bitcoin’s performance against gloomy macroeconomic periods. O’Leary stated that he purchased 0 worth of bitcoins about two months ago, but the value of those assets now dropped to about . And if a person does not assume the risks of holding bitcoins and concentrates half of his wealth on them, then he is “nuts.”
“I forbid that,” O’Leary told Pompliano. “That’s insane. That breaches everything about diversification and investing.”
"I teach this stuff you never go beyond concentrations of that nature. 50% shame on you! That's nuts!" @kevinolearytv tells @apompliano #btc pic.twitter.com/e4pTEt5sgC
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) August 6, 2019
Non-correlated Bitcoin
Across the table, Pompliano explained why he increased the risks of his portfolio by putting bitcoin, a volatile asset, on the driving seat. The Morgan Creek Digital Assets co-founder told O’Leary that the cryptocurrency had proven itself as a non-correlated asset, i.e., it does not get heavily influenced by macroeconomic events. He stressed that every significant financial institution should hold bitcoin for the very same reason.
“Institutions,” said Pompliano, “have spent decades looking for assets to use as a diversification in their portfolio. We’ve been banging the drums [from] over a year saying [bitcoin] is a non-correlated asymmetric asset.”
He added that bitcoin surged 55 percent soon after the United States President Donald Trump escalated his trade war against China in May. That proved a negative correlation between the cryptocurrency and every significant financial market, including the benchmark S&P 500 Index and Gold.
“There’s people around the world that are electing to put their wealth into something that is controlled by software and cannot be manipulated by a single country or politician,” Pomp said.
"There's people around the world that are electing to put their wealth into something that is controlled by software and cannot be manipulated by a single country or politician," says @apompliano on #btc pic.twitter.com/3ZpE53xl91
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) August 6, 2019
The Shark Does a Flip
The difference-in-opinion between O’Leary and Pompliano surprised onlookers in the cryptocurrency community. That is because O’Leary earlier appeared positive about the prospects of bitcoin. He called the cryptocurrency “a proxy for central bankers,” stating later that he would be interested in it if it’s market valuation soars above a billion dollars.
“So is it here to stay? Oh yeah. So will I put 2-3% in it? I think I might,” O’Leary had told CBC in 2013.
Comments he made:
– “This is a proxy for the mistrust people have in central bankers”
– “Once it crossed B market cap I became interested”
– “So is it here to stay? Oh yeah. So will I put 2-3% in it? I think I might”— Ceteris Paribus (@ceterispar1bus) May 15, 2019
His opinions about bitcoin flipped following his attempts to use the cryptocurrency as a mode of payment. In May this year, O’Leary admitted that he tried bitcoin to complete a real estate transaction but fell short due to its price volatility. He later called bitcoin a useless currency.
“But everyone says, yes, you can. But, what happens is the receiver wants some guarantee. Let’s say you want to buy a piece of real estate for million in Switzerland. […] They want a guarantee that the value comes back to you as currency at ten, you have to somehow hedge the risk of bitcoin. That means it’s not a real currency.”
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Crypto Community Responds to Fake Satoshi’s “F**k You” Email to Roger Ver
Two of Bitcoin Cash’s most high-profile supporters have fallen out over the pending BCH hard fork. Craig “Fake Satoshi” Wright sent an abusive email to Roger Ver earlier this week. Yesterday, Ver responded.
Ver Supports Bitcoin ABC, But Thinks the Whole Fork Dispute Could Resolve Itself
In a video posted to the Bitcoin.com YouTube channel, one of cryptocurrency’s earliest proponents and investors, Roger Ver, has responded to an email sent from self-proclaimed Satoshi, Craig Wright.
The two early Bitcoin pioneers have each sided with one of the opposing camps in the November 15 hard fork (Ver is with ABC and Wright backs Bitcoin SV). Evidently, from the wording of the email, Wright strongly disapproves of Ver’s allegiance.
Ver opened the video by screen-sharing and reciting Wright’s correspondence:
“If you want a war…
I will do 2 years of no trade. Nothing.
In the war, no coin can trade.
If you want ABC, you want shitcoins, welcome to bankruptcy.
It was nice knowing you.
Bitcoin will die before ABC shits on it. I will see BCH trade at 0 for a few years. Will you?
Side with ABC, you hate bitcoin, you are my enemy. You have no fucking idea what that means.
You will.
I AM Satoshi. Have a nice life. You will now discover me when pissed off.
And so. You could have had proof. Your choice.
Fuck you.
Craig.”
After sharing the email and bringing Wright’s maturity into question, Ver contrasted the controversial crypto figure’s words with those of fellow Bitcoin SV proponent and gambling entrepreneur Calvin Ayre. The Bitcoin.com owner stated that he likes Ayre and paraphrased his response to his decision to side with Bitcoin ABC:
“Hey Roger, wherever you’re ready to rejoin the camp that supports economic freedom, we’re here ready for you. That seems like something a sane person would say.”
Throughout the video, Ver displayed a mixture of confusion and exasperation whilst explaining how he felt about the disagreement. The man formerly known as Bitcoin Jesus stated that he believed the fork would pass rather uneventfully. He compared it to the Y2K bug, saying that most likely there would be no long-term split but it didn’t hurt to be prepared for that outcome:
“I think it’s probably unlikely that there will be a long-term fork, especially because there’s no replay protection… The only way you can prepare for [the fork] in the long-term is to make sure you can treat the two coins as separate coins.”
To illustrate his point, Ver reminded viewers of the mess that was made of the Ethereum hard fork following the DAO hack. Since some exchanges did not implement replay protection, customers and exchanges lost money.
Ver then mused on which chain would have the majority support if there was a long-term split. Drawing on hash rate evidence, the early Bitcoin investor stated that ABC would have a “significant majority”. He supported this with data from Poloniex, an exchange which has launched futures trading for Bitcoin SV and Bitcoin ABC already:
“At the moment, it’s about 1:10 in favour of ABC but I think the volume’s pretty light still.”
During the video, Ver is clearly not enamoured by the prospect of another hard fork less than 18 months after that which created Bitcoin Cash in the first place. He even goes as far as to empathise with the “Bitcoin Core” position prior to the August 2017 fork:
“One thing that I guess I have learned… The core people previous were really really opposed to any sort of contentious hard fork and I think there’s some merit to being afraid of that. We’re seeing right now the damage that can be caused by having contentious hard fork.”
Later in the video he also states:
“I wish everyone could all just get along but that’s not reality… I wish that we could build a cryptocurrency that enables more economic freedom for the entire world.”
However, Ver does acknowledge that it was only thanks to the ability of one minority group to reject the majority and fork off that created his pet project originally.
Finally, the Bitcoin millionaire finally offered up some words of advice for those Bitcoin Cash holders concerned about the outcome of a fork:
“Hold you coins in a wallet in which you control the private key. That’s always pretty good advice.”
It was not just Roger Ver who has weighed in on the email though. Many prominent commentators and participants in the space have taken to Twitter to voice their opinion. Jihan Wu, the CEO of mining hardware giants Bitmain, tweeted:
The whole BCH community are working together to kick Fake Satoshi out. The resisitence against cult leader proves the inner strength and sophistication of the BCH ecosystem!
— Jihan Wu (@JihanWu) November 9, 2018
Meanwhile, Emin Gün Sirer referred to the outburst from Wright as a “meltdown”:
Can we cut through the CSW meltdown quickly, and go right to the part where he starts filing frivolous lawsuits?
— Emin Gün Sirer (@el33th4xor) November 8, 2018
Finally, CNBC’s Crypto Trader presenter Ran Neu-Ner posted a tongue-in-cheek poll referencing Wright’s bout of megalomania:
If @ProfFaustus (Dr Craig Wright) launched his own coin would you support it?
— Ran NeuNer (@cryptomanran) November 9, 2018
Related Reading: Roger Ver Hints at Launching a Bitcoin Cash-Centric Exchange
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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