The next time Bitcoin (BTC) comes under fire for energy consumption, remember this statistic. The banking industry uses at least 56 times more energy. That's according to cryptographer and founder of Valuechain, Michel Khazzaka: "I’m not saying it uses less or the same, just know it uses 56 times more than Bitcoin." The statistic, first shared by Michel Khazzaka in the summer, caused a stir in the Bitcoin and wider crypto community. He published his estimates in a Valuechain report, a company he founded to investigate the world of crypto payments. In an exclusive Cointelegraph Crypto Story interview, Khazzaka talks …

Over the weekend, thousands of Bitcoiners and crypto enthusiasts descended on the small, sleepy Swiss town of Lugano. More specifically, they piled onto a McDonald’s restaurant. Perched on Lake Lugano, Mcdonald's Lugano received countless visits from Bitcoiners keen to trade Satoshis (the smallest denomination of a Bitcoin) for Big Macs, McFlurrys and coffee. But why were European crypto enthusiasts excited to pay in Bitcoin (BTC) at one of the world’s most recognizable brands? Well, firstly to demonstrate the Lightning Network, a Layer-2 technology built atop Bitcoin. But also to live up to Satoshi Nakamoto’s promise that Bitcoin is, in fact, …

An emergency update was released to all Lightning Network's LND node operators on Nov 1., after a critical bug caused LND nodes to fall out of sync chain. This was the second critical bug experienced by the network in less than a month. According to Lightning Labs, developer of the Bitcoin Lightning Network, some LND nodes stopped syncing due to an issue with the btcd wire parsing library. The hot fix (v.015.4) was released nearly three hours after the break. The release stated: "This is an emergency hot fix release to fix a bug that can cause lnd nodes to …

Bitcoin and Lightning Network service provider Synonym has launched a new BTC-focused mobile wallet it says could enhance the user experience for holders of the flagship digital currency — and broaden Web3 adoption without relying on convoluted blockchain applications. Synonym unveiled its mobile Bitcoin (BTC) wallet, dubbed Bitkit, at the PlanB Forum in Lugano, Switzerland on Oct. 29. The wallet supports BTC and Lightning Network payments with a self-custodial node and encrypted backup service, which users can utilize free of charge. Bitkit is being launched as a limited public beta app for both Apple and Android devices. The Bitkit app …

The United States Department of Justice has announced charges against two Chinese intelligence officers who allegedly bribed a double agent with Bitcoin. In an Oct. 24 announcement, the Justice Department said Guochun He and Zheng Wang had attempted to obstruct the prosecution of an unnamed global telecommunications company based in China, which allegedly involved paying a U.S. government employee roughly $61,000 in bribes using Bitcoin (BTC). However, the individual was a double agent working on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and did not move against authorities in the Eastern District of New York in the case against the …

The global Bitcoin (BTC) payments market will reach $3.7 billion by 2031, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.3% from 2022 to 2031, with private keys and hardware driving the sector expansion, forecasted Allied Market Research in a report published on Oct. 24. According to the document, operational demand for efficiency and transparency in payments systems, along with data security services growth and a surge in demand for remittances in emerging economies, are among the major factors supporting growth in the sector in the coming years. The report also stated: "Furthermore, increase in demand for bitcoin among banks, …

Mexico is the second-largest recipient of remittances in the world, according to 2021 World Bank statistics. Remittances to the nation jumped to a record $5.3 billion in July, which is a 16.5% increase year-over-year compared to the same period last year. The steady growth presents myriad opportunities for fintech companies. Not surprisingly, droves of crypto companies are setting up shop in Mexico to claim a share of the burgeoning remittance market. Over the past year alone, about half a dozen crypto giants, including Coinbase, have set up operations in the country. In February, Coinbase unveiled a crypto transfer service tailored …

El Salvador-based Bitcoin (BTC) holders could soon spend their BTC using the “tap-to-pay” feature wherever the near-field communication services (NFC) card readers are available. The cardless pay service would be utilizing Lightning Network (LN) to facilitate retail BTC transactions. Contactless card payments are quite popular in the current fast-paced world, and with the help of LN, these services can now be utilized by BTC holders as well. The Bitcoin Lightning services are being introduced in El Salvador by CoinCorner, which has, in turn, partnered with IBEX, a lightning infrastructure services company, to add NFC support across businesses in the country. …

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has been pointing out the flaws affecting the Ethereum protocol following its latest upgrade. A major issue, according to Hoskinson, is the locking mechanism that prevents investors from withdrawing their staked Ether (ETH) from the Beacon Chain until the completion of the next upgrade. “Ethereum is the Hotel California of cryptocurrencies. You can check in but you can't check out,” said Hoskinson in a recent Cointelegraph Interview. According to Hoskison, this mechanism heavily impacts ETH's liquidity and could eventually spark a liquidity crisis. “You'll have less and less Ether trading in the marketplace," he explained. "And …

Colorado is accepting crypto as payment for any taxes owed to the state as of Sept. 1. It was the result of a promise made earlier in the year by Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who has proven his commitment to establishing the state as pro-cryptocurrency. Colorado isn’t the only U.S. state trying to incentivize cryptocurrency investment within its borders, as legislatures in Arizona, Wyoming and Utah have all previously introduced bills to accept tax payments in the form of digital currencies in varying degrees. There is much to gain economically for states who embrace blockchain technology and the crypto sector. …

Mastercard has launched customizable nonfungible token (NFT) debit cards, allowing some cardholders who own avatars from select NFT collections to add the artwork onto the payment's card. The debit cards are made available through a Sept. 26 partnership with European cryptocurrency exchange platform, “hi” allowing its “Gold” members to personalize their debit cards with an NFT they verifiably own Gold membership with the platform is obtained by staking a minimum of 100,000 hi Dollar’s (HI), the platform's native token, a sum worth around $4,600 according to data from CoinGecko. NEWS! Today @hi_com_official launches the world’s first debit card featuring NFT …

With the Trade Ministry officially approving the use of cryptocurrencies for foreign trade, Iran will become the first-of-a-kind adopter in the world. The obvious problem with the news is that the country’s innovative policy obviously aims at circumventing financial sanctions that have been hampering its participation in the global economy for many years. These circumstances set an ambivalent tone for Iran’s experiment — while for some, it could prove crypto’s emancipating ability to shirk the all-too-real hegemony of the United States political will and international financial institutions that enforce it, hardline crypto skeptics could get the proof they need for …