Author: Joseph Hall

El Salvador’s ‘My First Bitcoin:’ How to teach a nation about crypto

Joseph Hall

The grassroots Mi Primer Bitcoin or “My First Bitcoin” program has picked up steam in El Salvador. The first cohort of Bitcoiner-come-students began studies in May this year. Founded by John Dennehy, an American activist and journalist, the program also has the support of the El Salvador government.  El Salvador’s first #Bitcoin diploma program launched with the support of its Ministry of Education pic.twitter.com/ajIHPHzqap — Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) May 2, 2022 Cointelegraph spoke with Dennehy and Gilberto Motto, El Salvador’s Director of Education, to delve into the country’s struggles and successes…

Andorra green lights Bitcoin and Blockchain with Digital Assets Act

Joseph Hall

A small light of progress shines from Andorra, a tiny European country nestled between France and Spain. The country’s government, the General Council of Andorra, recently approved the Digital Assets Act, a regulatory framework for digital currencies and blockchain technology.  The act is split into two parts. The first regards the creation of digital money, or “programmable digital sovereign money,” which can be exchanged in a closed system. In effect, this would allow the Andorran state to create its own token. The second half of the act refers to digital…

A homage to weird and wonderful BTC purchases

Joseph Hall

Happy Bitcoin Pizza Day! Before you dial for a Margherita to commemorate the world’s first real-world Bitcoin transaction, here’s a slice of trivia: What do a family holiday to Japan, a 50 Cent album, a steak dinner, and a framed cat photo all have in common?  They were all paid for with Bitcoin (BTC) by members of the Cointelegraph Bitcoin community! And just like the Bitcoin pizzas that cost 10,000 BTC, which are now worth more than $300 million, the community’s Bitcoin purchases have also skyrocketed.  Benjamin de Waal, the VP…

What’s left in Luna’s reserve wallet?

Joseph Hall

The Luna saga continues. In a Twitter thread, the team behind the failed algorithmic stablecoin UST and the token LUNA shared precisely how much Bitcoin and crypto assets they had disposed of. The Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) also shared a promise to “compensate remaining users of UST, smallest holders first,” with the remaining assets. In summary, 80,081 Bitcoin (BTC) or 99.61% of the Bitcoin that LFG guarded, has exited the fund. The group confirmed a sale of “33,206 $BTC for an aggregate 1,164,018,521 $UST” in a tweet. The remaining 47,188 BTC…

Bitcoin celebrates halfway to the halving with new hash rate record

Joseph Hall

Bitcoin (BTC) marks a milestone mining journey on Thursday, crossing the halfway point on the way to its next halving.  In Block number 735,000, mined at approximately 10:29 UTC, Bitcoin crossed the halfway point to the next halving. The block was mined by Poolin, earning 0.16215354 BTC ($6,402.45) in fees.  Halvings occur every 210,00 blocks, and May 5 marks the cross-over point into the second leg of 105,000 blocks. For some Bitcoiners, such as Samson Mow, the Bitcoiner pioneering Bitcoin nation-state adoption, the halving is a reminder to stack more SATs:…

How a Bitcoiner used BTC to buy his mom a house

Joseph Hall

There’s a special bond between mothers and their sons. For pseudonymous Alan, a 28-year-old engineer, a Bitcoin (BTC) loan helped his mom to buy a house. Alan told Cointelegraph that he took out a Bitcoin-backed loan in 2021 — serendipitously on his sister’s birthday — to gift his mom the tax-free money. She then used the funds to buy a house in North Yorkshire, England, while Alan kept his Bitcoin. Yorkshire, England, known as “God’s own country.” Source: North Yorkshire City Council Alan first used Bitcoin in 2012, learning it…

Seven times Bitcoin miners made the world a better place

Joseph Hall

What do a swimming pool, beef jerky, a caravan, timber, animal waste, a Guatemalan lake and a high school have in common?  They’ve all been saved by Bitcoin (BTC) mining. From reusing “waste” heat to getting the job done — to receiving a cool blast of air to dehydrate meat, to cleaning up pollutants, Bitcoin mining does more than just secure the network.  Here’s a round-up of seven times Bitcoin mining lent a hand or simply made the world a better place. Free Bitcoin mining education in Washington Sustainable Bitcoin…

Bitcoin hits the 19 million milestone

Joseph Hall

The 19th millionth Bitcoin (BTC) was mined today, a landmark occasion for the number one c. 19 million Bitcoin are now in circulation, with just 2 million Bitcoin yet to be minted (or mined) until roughly the year 2140.  In block 730002, mined by SBI Crypto, the 19 millionth Bitcoin entered circulation. SBI crypto earned ‎6.32 BTC, roughly $293,000 for the trouble in transaction fees and block reward.  A momentous occasion, the Bitcoin community was quick to celebrate the milestone event. The 19,000,000th bitcoin was just mined. Only 2 million more bitcoin…

Bitcoin veteran tricks crypto scammer into learning Lightning

Joseph Hall

There’s a poetic justice to scammers getting beat at their own game. A cryptocurrency scammer met their match when trying to trick Bitcoiner, Felix Crisan into sending them Tether (USDT).  The scammer tried to impersonate John Carvalho, the CEO of Synonym, a Bitcoiner Cointelegraph regularly cites. The scammer, who we will call fake John from now on, wanted Crisan to send USDT, but Crisan–who’s been learning and getting involved with Bitcoin (BTC) for almost a decade–had other ideas: Today I’ve convinced a scammer to install a Lightning Network wallet. BTW…

‘Satoshi Island’ crypto utopia receives 50K citizenship NFT applications

Joseph Hall

Step aside, El Salvador, there’s a new Bitcoin-centric destination on the map. As a 32-million-square-foot private island sanctuary in the remote South Pacific, Satoshi Island is a “place for the crypto community to call home.” A combination of honeymoon getaway, Bond-villain hideout and naturalist paradise, there’s one enigmatic exception to Satoshi Island: it’s 100% crypto. Talking to Cointelegraph, the Satoshi Island team of Denys Troyak, James Law, Taras Filatov and Benjamin Nero mentioned that it is: “A true crypto-economy where everything will be paid for in crypto and all ownership…