One of the original core developers behind Bitcoin (BTC), Luke Dashjr, has taken to social media to call out an auction site that has used his name and code without his consent to create and sell a “misleading” NFT. The core developer said he hasn't been the first Bitcoin developer to have his name or his work used in this way. In a Feb. 27 post on Twitter, the developer revealed a non-fungible token (NFT), featuring a picture of code he wrote, was sold at auction site for 0.41 Bitcoin (BTC), or roughly $9,500 at the time of writing. I …

Fran Finney, the wife of crypto pioneer Hal Finney, has announced a charity event to benefit victims of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Discussing the event on Twitter, Finney encouraged Bitcoin users to run a half marathon and share their experiences on social media between January 1 and January 10, 2023, to help raise funds to fight the disease. https://t.co/xpcvzCmtMd Hi everyone, this is Fran Finney, wife of Hal Finney, an early pioneer of Bitcoin. I want to let you know about a special event I'm organizing in honor of my husband. Thank you for all your interest in Hal and …

The Human Rights Foundation announced on Jan 4 that it intends to distribute 425 million satoshis — the smallest divisible unit of a Bitcoin — to various contributors as a part of its ongoing Bitcoin Development Fund. Launched in May 2020, the Bitcoin Development Fund launched with a primary focus on improving the Bitcoin network’s privacy, usability and security. The foundation said that it will focus this particular round of grants on expanding Bitcoin education and translation as well as Bitcoin core, lightning, and wallet development. According to the organization’s press release, it will divide these grants between a number …

Developer Samuel Dobson announced via a series of tweets on Thursday night that he is stepping down as a Bitcoin Core maintainer after 3 years. His reason being that he “can no longer dedicate the time required, as I approach the end of my PhD.” I am officially stepping down as a maintainer of Bitcoin Core. Serving as the wallet maintainer for the past three years has been an absolute privilege, and I want to thank my incredibly generous sponsor John Pfeffer (@jlppfeffer) for his support throughout. /1 — Samuel Dobson (@meshcollider) December 9, 2021 As a Bitcoin Core wallet …

The number of reachable Bitcoin network nodes has crossed the 13,000 mark for the first time. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the previous all-time high was 11,613 achieved back in January. According to data from Bitcoin network statistics dashboard Bitnodes.io, this milestone was reached back on July 5 when the number of reachable nodes clocked in at 13,374. At the time of writing, Bitnodes’ data puts the current network node count at about 12,835, Coin.Dance, another tracking website, also has Bitcoin’s node count at a new all-time high of 12,825. Nodes running the Bitcoin Core software make up 98.77% of …

It is no longer possible to download the Bitcoin Core software from Bitcoin.org if you visit the website with a United Kingdom internet protocol (IP) address. A notice on the website reads: “This software is presently not available for download in the UK, and download links will not work if you are located within the United Kingdom.” Indeed, attempting to proceed with downloading the Bitcoin (BTC) software from the site using a U.K. IP returns a “404 error.” Detailing the reason for blocking access to the software download for U.K. site visitors, Bitcoin.org’s pseudonymous owner Cøbra responded to a tweet …

Long-time cryptocurrency critic and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said in a string of tweets on Wednesday that Bitcoin (BTC) could very well survive indefinitely, but only as a fundamentally useless cult. Krugman’s harsh words were prompted in response to Wednesday’s market plunge which saw numerous coins lose close to 50% in value, and resulted in close to $1 trillion in value departing the global market cap before a recovery bounce brought some of that sum back. “I don't write much about Bitcoin because there aren't any fundamentals to discuss,” tweeted Krugman, who wrote about Bitcoin as early as 2013 …

A new non-profit aiming to fund Bitcoin development education and research has been approved for special tax status, conferring benefits on donors. Brink, which launched in the fall, has been approved as a 503(c)(3) organization according to a Feb. 10 blog post. The status both exempts Brink from federal taxes and provides some interesting benefits to donors, especially considering their use of Bitcoin. Donations to 503(c)(3) organizations in the U.S. have always been an important tax write-off, but considering the long-term confusion over the IRS seemingly asking for Bitcoin users to pay capital gains taxes on any use of Bitcoin …

Craig Wright, the Australian computer scientist who claims to be Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto, has threatened legal action against the owners of two Bitcoin (BTC) websites whom he accused of stealing his whitepaper and other intellectual property. As announced on Jan. 21, Bitcoin.org along with another website, Bitcoincore.org, had received allegations of copyright infringement from Craig Wright’s lawyers. The counsel reportedly claimed that Wright, as Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto, was the legal copyright holder of the Bitcoin whitepaper, that he owned the Bitcoin name and trademark, as well as the two websites listed above. The announcement stated: “Yesterday both Bitcoin.org …

The number of Bitcoin nodes is at an all-time high, with 11,558 reachable nodes currently active, according to Bitnodes.io. Another Bitcoin network statistics tracker, coin.dance, calculates the total number of Bitcoin nodes at 11,613, which is just above the previous high of 11,250 set one year ago this month. The Bitcoin Core software update 0.21.0 was released for public download on Jan. 14 2021 and is currently the fourth most utilized version of the software among nodes There are currently 619 nodes running this version of the software, which represents about 5.5% of all nodes running some version of Bitcoin …

Digital currency exchange Coinbase has awarded its first-ever Bitcoin Core developer grants, and a familiar name is among the recipients. João Barbosa and 0xB10C, the alias of a pseudonymous developer, were selected winners earlier this week. Although the funding amounts weren’t revealed, Coinbase said both developers will “be funded to work on Bitcoin for all of 2021” in amounts payable via BTC or USD. As Coinbase states: Both candidates demonstrated a consistent history of contributing to Bitcoin Core, and provided the Fund’s advisory board [...] with a clear, actionable outline of the projects they intend to work on.” Barbosa’s development …

Bitmain, one of the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) miner producers, has reportedly halted its funding for some primary developers maintaining Bitcoin-related software. Jonas Schnelli, a major Bitcoin Core contributor and maintainer, claimed that Bitmain halted its support after funding his efforts for more than three years. In a Dec. 1 tweet, Schnelli said that he lost his sponsorship from Bitmain alongside Joao Barbosa, another Bitcoin Core contributor also known under the “Promag” nickname on GitHub. “Thanks Bitmain for all the help (despite the disagreement we had),” Schnelli tweeted, asking the crypto community to contribute to his further efforts on Bitcoin …