Software analytics company MicroStrategy recently added more Bitcoin (BTC) to the firm’s holdings. Members of the crypto community had mixed reactions to the move. In a recent tweet, MicroStrategy’s executive chairman Michael Saylor announced that the firm had made another Bitcoin purchase. The move puts the firm’s total BTC holdings at 132,500 BTC, purchased for a total of $4.03 billion but worth only around $2.1 billion at the time of writing. Many commended the move, while some brought up some potential negative effects. Michael Saylor, you are a rock star. Your mission Jim aka Michael Saylor, if you choose to …

MicroStrategy executive chairman Michael Saylor has shared his firm’s plans to release Bitcoin Lightning Network-powered software and solutions in 2023. In a recent Twitter Spaces on Dec. 28, Saylor shared that the company is exploring software and solutions that utilize the Lightning Network, such as solutions that “support” enterprise marketing as well as a cybersecurity solution aimed at corporate websites. The Lightning Network is a layer-2 payment protocol layered on top of Bitcoin’s blockchain that allows for off-chain transactions, raising payment throughput and lowering transaction fees. The business intelligence and tech company, known for its massive Bitcoin holdings, has been …

The Lightning Network strikes again. In a small yet significant development for Bitcoin (BTC), a new type of BTC address has been introduced: the "Lightning Address." These unique identifiers are specifically designed for use on the Lightning Network, a layer-2 payment protocol that operates on top of the Bitcoin blockchain. A user-friendly addition to ways in which Bitcoin users can send, receive and even raise money, Lightning addresses can be custodial, or users can connect to their own nodes. Crowdfunding is among the most popular real-world use for Lightning Addresses. Cointelegraph spoke to MetaMick, the CTO of Geyser Fund, to …

The Lightning Network continues to shock the Bitcoin (BTC) community. A swiss IT Professional called F418 (not his real name) surgically implanted a Lightning-enabled chip into his right hand to make Lightning Network (LN) payments. Speaking with Cointelegraph, F418 said he experimented with body modification and LN payments for fun. He does not recommend that Bitcoin enthusiasts take the layer-2 payments network, the LN, into their own hands as he did. “The use is just to show that it is possible and you can do stuff like that." He added that most people carry cards, it’s just his hand has …

The ongoing crypto winter is not stopping the industry from pushing for global adoption and accessibility. A new partnership between CoinCorner and Bitnob opens a way for users across continents to perform cross-border transactions involving multiple fiat currencies. Typically transfer of funds between Europe and Africa requires a third-party facilitator like Western Union, which rely on centralized entities. These transactions often have processing times of multiple parties prior to approval and are known for their expensive cuts. World Bank estimates that remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa went upwards of $40 billion yearly as of 2020 —with Nigeria receiving almost half of …

In mid-November, as crypto markets reeled in the aftermath of FTX’s meltdown, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman made use of his New York Times column to disparage crypto assets — again. Despite his unquestionable academic credentials, Krugman reiterated a common misunderstanding in his attempt to understand crypto assets — by conflating Bitcoin (BTC) with other cryptocurrencies. Despite being the oldest, most valuable and most well-known member of this emerging class of digital assets, Bitcoin has a unique use case that differs widely from all others. Therefore, in order to understand this asset class as a whole, it would make more …

Are L2 networks the saviors? The emergence of a new tier of blockchains called layer-2 chains that have leveraged new cryptographic techniques like zero-knowledge-proofs (ZKPs) has helped address the scalability enigma. While the world was busy solving the blockchain trilemma at the L1 level, there were a bunch of smart developers who understood that optimization need not necessarily happen at the L1 level. One can create a network on top of L1 networks to solve fundamental problems. There are a few L2 networks, such as Polygon, Immutable and the Bitcoin lightning network, which use concepts such as sharding and rollups …

A Bitcoin (BTC) advocate on Twitter known by the name of ShireHodl, or simply Shire, sent over 110 micropayments to first-time Bitcoin Lightning users in response to Michael Saylor's Lightning Network pool. Shire asked those new to Lightning to download a Lightning wallet from App Store or Google Play Store and to send him a QR invoice. To pay the invoice, Shire scanned the code with his camera, and the Bitcoin Lightning Network did the rest. In the Tweet, Shire said he’d send 1000 sats to as many people as he can be bothered before sleep. OK guys. Sent 76 …

The Lightning Network has struck Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria. During a conference in Ghana, Strike CEO Jack Mallers announced that the Bitcoin (BTC) payments company has partnered with the mobile app Bitnob to facilitate payments into Africa. Mallers made the announcement on stage at AfroBitcoin, a Bitcoin conference in Ghana's capital city of Accra. He stood alongside Bernard Farah, the Nigerian CEO of Bitnob, following a short presentation on how it works. Money transfers into Africa take advantage of the Lightning Network, the layer-2 payments network built atop Bitcoin. The feature is called “Send Globally,” and it enables instant, low-cost …

The revenue earned by Bitcoin (BTC) miners fell to two-year lows owing to poor market performance and a heavier computational demand amid rising network difficulty. However, an ongoing downturn in the Bitcoin hash rate over the past month has allowed miners to recoup losses. The total Bitcoin mining revenue — block rewards and transaction fees — in U.S. dollars fell down to $11.67 million, a number last seen on Nov. 2, 2020, when Bitcoin’s trading price was around $13,500. While the current market price of around $16,500 suggests an obvious increase in mining revenue, factors including greater mining difficulty and …

No, it’s not Groundhog Day. Subway is accepting Bitcoin (BTC), again — but this time it’s using the fast, nearly free Bitcoin Lightning Network. Kicking off the 7-day #usingbitcoin week with Lunch at Subway, Chausseestrasse in Berlin! 50% off when paying with #bitcoin #spendyourbitcoin pic.twitter.com/f81kdMOnEQ — felix (@felixbillert) October 19, 2022 The world’s largest franchise by number of restaurants is trialing Bitcoin payments at three Subways in Germany’s capital, Berlin. Subway first experimented with Bitcoin almost 13 years ago in Moscow, Russia. Over the past few months, Daniel Hinze, the Berlin Subway franchise owner, recorded over 120 Bitcoin transactions. In …

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 …