Tag: Bitcoin

Microsoft announced earlier that it has signed a five-year, $97 billion contract with Australian infrastructure operator IREN to secure more AI cloud computing power to meet strong customer demand for AI services. This move follows Microsoft's agreement last month with cloud startup Nscale, marking another large-scale procurement to secure AI infrastructure. Securing GB300 computing power, IREN will purchase $58 billion worth of equipment from Dell. Under the agreement, Microsoft will acquire computing infrastructure built using NVIDIA GB300 GPUs. IREN plans to complete the phased deployment at its Childress, Texas facility by 2026, which is planned to support up to 750 MW (megawatt) of computing capacity. IREN also stated that it will invest an additional approximately $58 billion to purchase the necessary GPUs and related equipment from Dell. Microsoft is actively expanding its AI infrastructure. Microsoft has recently been making frequent moves to secure AI computing power. For example, in October, Microsoft launched its first production cluster using the NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 system for its Azure cloud service. This system is optimized for inference models, agency AI, and multimodal generative AI. In addition, Microsoft also signed an agreement with Nscale in October to purchase approximately 200,000 NVIDIA GB300 GPUs, which are expected to be deployed in four data centers in Europe and the United States. IREN: Profitably Transitioning from Bitcoin Mining to AI. It's worth noting that IREN's background is similar to that of emerging AI cloud providers like CoreWeave; it was initially a Bitcoin mining operator. After realizing that its large number of GPUs were better suited for AI workloads and that it could benefit from them, even more so, IREN transformed its original Bitcoin mining-focused business model into a provider of AI computing resources. According to a Bloomberg report, IREN CEO Daniel Roberts expects the deal with Microsoft to account for only about 10% of the company's total computing power throughput, but is projected to generate approximately $19.4 billion in annualized revenue, highlighting the current impressive returns on the AI ​​business. Similar to IREN, Nscale, a previous Microsoft partner, was formerly part of Bitcoin miner Arkon Energy. It was also spun off from Arkon Energy in 2022 to become an AI infrastructure provider due to the surge in demand for computing power from AI workloads.

David Sacks, Trump's appointed head of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, stated on his personal "X" page that Trump has signed an executive order establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve, as well as a US Digital Asset Stockpile for holding cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. However, the White House has not issued any official press release. President Trump recently announced that he would include five major cryptocurrencies—Ripple (XRP), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Bitcoin (BTC), and Ethereum (ETH)—in the US strategic cryptocurrency reserve, a move that appears to echo Senator Charles Schwertner's earlier proposal for a Bitcoin reserve. Prior to this, Schwertner proposed that Texas, under the jurisdiction of the Texas Comptroller, become the first state in the US to create a Bitcoin reserve, holding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with a total market capitalization of at least $5000 billion, to address various emergencies, economic crises, or national security needs, covering energy, metals, agricultural products, finance, and defense. David Sacks' explanation indicates that the Bitcoin in this reserve system primarily comes from criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, as well as Bitcoin acquired through strategies devised by the Treasury and Commerce Secretaries to avoid impacting the budget, emphasizing that it will not impose an additional financial burden on taxpayers. Informal statistics suggest the U.S. government currently holds approximately 20 Bitcoins, and the Bitcoins placed in the reserve system will not be sold but used as a value-preserving reserve, with policies designed to maximize their value. The digital asset reserve, on the other hand, will be used to store digital assets other than Bitcoin, sourced entirely from forfeiture proceedings, without expansion through additional acquisitions. Just a few minutes ago, President Trump signed an Executive...

In 2022, GameStop announced the launch of its own NFT marketplace, hoping to reverse losses through digital content. However, due to the continued uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrency regulations in the United States, it terminated its GameStop Wallet service last November. More recently, it confirmed that its own NFT marketplace will officially cease operations on February 2nd. Similar to the previous closure of its wallet service, GameStop stated that the closure of its NFT marketplace service was also due to the uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrency regulations in the United States. However, it did not specify that the two services were not closed at the same time, but rather approximately four months apart. GameStop's own NFT marketplace service operated on two Ethereum extension networks, Immutable X and Loopring. Therefore, users' previously held NFTs and other digital collectibles on this service can still be accessed or traded through other Ethereum extension networks. Prior to this, GameStop anticipated expanding its digital content development opportunities through the NFT market. Its NFT marketplace was designed for non-custodial transactions on Ethereum Layer 2, directly connecting to the GameStop Wallet. It touted itself as a platform for players, creators, and users of other social media platforms to buy and sell NFT content. However, subsequent setbacks, including low consumer interest in NFTs and cryptocurrencies, unclear regulations regarding cryptocurrencies in the US, and the bankruptcy of its previous partnership with cryptocurrency exchange FTX, severely impacted GameStop's cryptocurrency strategy. This led to layoffs in December 2022 and ultimately, the company's decision to discontinue its cryptocurrency operations. Even with the recent approval by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an index fund investing in Bitcoin, GameStop clearly remains pessimistic about the future of the cryptocurrency market.

Amid the recent sharp decline in cryptocurrency prices, El Salvador, which previously used Bitcoin as fiat currency, has suffered a loss of up to $56 million due to a more than 65% reduction in Bitcoin's market capitalization. However, El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele appears unconcerned, revealing plans to continue buying more Bitcoin at lower prices. Bukele earlier announced this on his personal Twitter account. Prior to this, he had already purchased 2301 Bitcoins at an average price of $45908 per Bitcoin, totaling approximately $1.056 million. However, with the current significant reduction in cryptocurrency market capitalization, his Bitcoin purchases have lost approximately $56 million in value. You're telling me we should buy more #BTC? https://t.co/jwvn0A1kTb— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) June 14, 2022 However, the Salvadoran government is clearly not worried about this. Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya even emphasized in an earlier statement that the actual impact would be very small. But the price of Bitcoin has now fallen to $21339, less than half of the original average purchase price. Coupled with the fact that Salvador has approximately $800 million in bonds maturing in January next year, this has caused considerable concern.

David Marcus, who previously headed Meta's cryptocurrency business and left at the end of last year, has now founded a new cryptocurrency company, Lightspark, with investment from the US venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). According to an announcement from Andreessen Horowitz, they have confirmed an investment in Lightspark, co-founded by David Marcus and others, but did not disclose the specific investment amount. However, they emphasized their confidence in Lightspark, given Marcus's past role as president of PayPal and his experience in the early days of Facebook, particularly in the Libra blockchain project and payment services. They anticipate Lightspark will further drive growth in the cryptocurrency business. Lightspark primarily focuses on expanding Bitcoin applications and promoting the development of the Lightning Network, a cryptocurrency payment protocol layer. They are currently recruiting platform architects and engineers familiar with Lightning Network technologies. While revealing their focus on expanding Lightning Network applications, Lightspark has not yet disclosed whether they will actively engage in cryptocurrency-related business or simply provide application technology. I wanted to share that we are starting a new company called @lightspark to explore, build, and extend...

Following El Salvador's announcement last year that it had become the first country in the world to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender, the Central African Republic (CAR) also plans to adopt it as its national currency. According to a Forbes Monaco report, the CAR's parliament recently passed a bill designating Bitcoin as its national currency, making it the second country in the world, after El Salvador, to officially recognize Bitcoin as legal tender. This bill was jointly submitted by the CAR's Minister of Digital Economy and Telecommunications, Gourna Zacko, and Minister of Finance and Budget, Calixte Nganongo. The draft bill outlines a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, listing Bitcoin as one of the CAR's officially recognized currencies. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele believes that recognizing cryptocurrency as national currency will accelerate financial circulation through its characteristics and drive the growth of more innovative applications. He also hopes to capitalize on the current positive growth trend in the overall market capitalization of cryptocurrencies to boost the national economy. However, many market observers believe that while the overall market capitalization of cryptocurrencies is growing, the market capitalization of Bitcoin, previously considered a stablecoin, has been declining. Therefore, they argue that El Salvador's reliance on Bitcoin for its national economy may have a greater impact.

In response to El Salvador's recent sharp decline in Bitcoin prices, following its announcement last year that it would use Bitcoin as legal tender, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the Salvadoran government to abandon its policy of using Bitcoin as legal tender to avoid further complications. Last year, El Salvador purchased Bitcoin worth $5 million at $6600 per coin, and recently announced an additional $1500 million purchase. However, the recent significant price drop has resulted in even greater investment losses for El Salvador, potentially impacting its economic stability and even leading to a larger fiscal crisis. Therefore, the IMF is urging El Salvador to reduce its use of Bitcoin and even suggesting abandoning its use as legal tender altogether. Bloomberg News reports that El Salvador has estimated to have accumulated losses of $2000 million in its Bitcoin investments last year. Prior to this, El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced that Bitcoin would be accepted as legal tender, and even went so far as to announce the construction of a Bitcoin city in El Salvador, boasting that it would be exempt from all taxes and built in the shape of a coin. A power plant would also be built nearby to provide electricity for the city's operation and mining, and even the city center square would be decorated with Bitcoin symbols. However, this policy in El Salvador has faced numerous problems since its implementation. For example, many businesses still do not accept Bitcoin transactions, and some people have reported missing hundreds of dollars from their digital wallets. These problems have not yet been significantly resolved.

Jack Dorsey, who stepped down as Twitter CEO for the second time at the end of last year, recently announced the establishment of the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund. This non-profit fund aims to assist members of the Bitcoin community in preventing legal disputes from hindering the development of Bitcoin-related applications and projects. According to Dorsey, most developers involved in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency technologies operate independently. Therefore, when faced with disputes, they often lack sufficient legal resources or funds to hire lawyers, develop litigation strategies, and pay court fees. This often leads to setbacks in court proceedings, impacting their continued investment in cryptocurrency technology development and potentially hindering the future growth of cryptocurrency applications. The newly established Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund will initially consist of a group of volunteers and amateur lawyers. It will assist cryptocurrency developers in securing their rights when facing court proceedings, providing legal advice and financial assistance. The fund's board of directors will also discuss which types of litigation they will assist with in the future and whether to raise more funds externally. The first lawsuit assisted by the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund is a lawsuit filed by Tulip Trading, a UK-based company established by Australian entrepreneur Craig Steven Wright, against 16 Bitcoin Core developers. Tulip Trading believes that the developers responsible for Bitcoin Core bear custodial responsibility for the theft of the keys to two cryptocurrency wallets containing 31,000 and nearly 80,000 Bitcoins respectively in 2020. Therefore, they filed a lawsuit in a London court in February of this year, with proceedings expected to begin in May. The Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund will provide funding to assist the developers listed as defendants in seeking external legal counsel.

El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele recently announced the creation of a new Bitcoin City, exempt from all taxes, including income tax, property tax, and VAT. The city will be located near the Gulf of Fonseca and will be shaped like a coin. A power plant will be built nearby to provide electricity for the city's operation and mining. Even the city center square will be decorated with Bitcoin symbols. The city will include airports, ports, railways, and other transportation services, as well as residential and commercial areas. Aside from Bitcoin transactions and tax exemption, it will be largely similar to a traditional city. The Bitcoin circulating in the city will be purchased through $1 billion worth of Bitcoin bonds issued by El Salvador. $500 million will be used to purchase Bitcoin, and the remaining $500 million will be used to build the power plant and mining equipment. The Bitcoin bonds will offer a 6.5% interest rate, and the held Bitcoin will have a minimum five-year lock-up period before it can be sold at a higher interest rate. While El Salvador officially adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in early September, becoming the first country to recognize digital currency as an official circulating currency, it clearly faces numerous challenges with this policy. For example, many businesses still refuse to accept Bitcoin transactions, and some individuals have reported inexplicably lost hundreds of dollars from their digital wallets – issues that have yet to be significantly resolved. However, El Salvador's adoption of Bitcoin has undoubtedly attracted support from many overseas Salvadorans, with approximately $32 million already repatriated to El Salvador through the Chivo Wallet cryptocurrency wallet.

Following Square's recent confirmation of developing a hardware-based digital wallet for Bitcoin transactions, founder Jack Dorsey has revealed plans to build a Bitcoin mining system. According to information shared on Dorsey's personal Twitter account, this mining system will utilize a custom processor and open-source software to cater to specific, globally-oriented transaction needs. This mining system will be integrated with the previously confirmed hardware-based digital wallet, potentially serving as the underlying transaction system. This also signifies Square's commitment to tackling the higher risks and complex security and technology aspects of cryptocurrency transactions. Square is considering building a Bitcoin mining system based on custom silicon and open source for individuals and businesses worldwide. If we do this, we'd...