Square Crypto is building a Lightning Dev Kit that will give developers more flexibility for Lightning tech and bitcoin wallets.
Square’s crypto arm expects that bitcoin payments will overtake cash.
Bitcoin’s volatility has gotten in the way of its use case for payments.
While some of Twitter gets on Jack Dorsey’s case for allegedly trying to interfere with the presidential election, he has set his sights on something else – crypto. Square Crypto, the Bitcoin development arm of $29 billion fintech giant Square, introduced what it calls the Lightning Development Kit (LDK), and it is what their developers are working feverishly on to bring bitcoin to the forefront for payments.
The unveiling of LDK happens to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos, where

Whether people admit it or not, the privacy feature is one of the biggest draws to cryptocurrencies.  If there was ever any doubt, those have been erased by Monero’s (XMR) rally in recent days. In the early days of the new year, the Monero price has advanced by 10%, and investors have privacy to thank for it.Source: TradingViewEarlier today, the privacy coin shot up more than 3% from $45.50 to $47 and has since taken more ground, rising to $49 – a 7% gain in the last 24 hours – as of press time. The rally comes on the heels of a Europol report chronicling what the XMR army could have told you already – that Monero transactions are untraceable. Europol used the transaction activity of a suspect who was able to skirt the authorities to make its point.A report in Decrypt spotlights a

Danish regulators are targeting crypto traders in a tax avoider crackdown. Skattestyrelsen, or Skat, Denmark’s tax agency, has issued warning letters to “20,000 cryptocurrency tax avoiders,” according to European crypto tracking and tax reporting startup Koinly. The move comes months after regulators were sniffing around at a trio of local exchanges for information on crypto investors, placing trading activity from the years 2016-2018 in their sights. Koinly Founder Robin Singh told CCN: The letters are not exactly a shock as the Danish tax authorities had received info on the crypto traders back in August so people were kind of expecting something to happen. At this stage Skattestyrelsen isn’t treating them as serious offenders as cryptocurrencies are new and they don’t want to start

Crypto Twitter members breathed a collective sigh of relief today after some reassurance from the man himself. Square Crypto, whose Twitter account is seemingly manned by bitcoin bull Jack Dorsey, revealed that the Twitter account of the late Hal Finney isn’t going anywhere. It started with a tweet by bitcoin rewards app Lolli, which asked Dorsey and Twitter what would happen to the @halfin handle in light of the social media platform’s pursuit to shutter inactive accounts. Hal Finney was a software engineer and cryptographer who is famous for receiving the first ever Bitcoin transaction sent by Satoshi Nakamoto. Finney’s succumbed to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in 2014. Dorsey’s other company, Square Crypto, which is the cryptocurrency arm of payments platform Square,

Bitcoin’s recent plunge to below $7,000 pretty much shell-shocked much of the crypto community, leaving some market participants scrambling and others to speculate about why it happened. The months leading up to the next bitcoin halving event are supposed to be exciting, but bitcoin has once again proven its unpredictable not to mention highly volatile nature.
Source: TwitterNo crypto investors have been unscathed by the fallout, billionaire trader Mike Novogratz included. The Galaxy Digital CEO has felt the pain of the November sell-off, seemingly turning his attention to other causes when things seemed the darkest. Given that it’s darkest just before the dawn, bitcoin could break out of this rut sooner than later – but the clock is ticking.
Novogratz tipped his hand to how he is

The bitcoin price is putting the crypto community to the test.Bitcoin fundamentals, however, remain solid.Altcoins are down in sympathy.It’s not easy being a crypto investor these days. China is sending mixed messages, the bitcoin price is in the doldrums, and there is major FUD being spread around the industry that is only exacerbating already precarious market conditions. In fact, the only thing harder than being a bitcoin investor these days is being an altcoin investor, given they are subject to the whims of a violently volatile larger peer, the latter of which currently boasts a dominance rating of more than 66%.Source: TwitterFundamental FocusBitcoin is currently trading where some said it would never trade again – below $10,000. In fact, it’s down 15% in the past week alone and is

MimbleWimble, the Harry Potter inspired protocol that Litecoin is integrating to become a privacy coin, is in the spotlight but for all the wrong reasons.  Ivan Bogatyy, a venture capitalist with Dragonfly Capital, has published a report drawing attention to a security flaw in MimbleWimble’s privacy model. According to Bogatyy, the “attack traces 96% of all sender and recipient addresses in real time.” Privacy, however, is a complicated issue, especially when it comes to cryptocurrencies.
The timing couldn’t be worse. Grin, which is an implementation of the MimbleWimble protocol, in recent days received an anonymous donation of 50 BTC from an early bitcoin coinbase to its General Fund (nobody is saying anything about Satoshi Nakamoto.) That may have placed a target on the

The crypto market may not be growing as quickly as many had hoped, and there have been some unexpected twists and turns. Nonetheless, the blockchain space is more mature today than it was two years ago, with some of the froth having been removed and a leaner and meaner ecosystem taking shape. In 2017, the last time the bitcoin bulls were in control, it was a different world. Billionaire Mike Novogratz concedes to having gotten swept up in it, saying at the Reuters Global Investment Outlook 2020 Summit that even he got “too greedy.” Since then, however, investors have had to come back down to earth. We’ve gone from 2017 when it was really this emotional, speculative, wild ride when lots of wannabe coins got thrown in and everything went up together because it was retail driven, it was

Ray Dalio is making many friends in the crypto community after sounding the alarm about the perilous conditions in the financial system. In a post entitled “The World Has Gone Mad and the System Is Broken,” the billionaire hedge fund manager outlines why something has to give amid unsustainable circumstances comprised of free money, government deficits,  underfunded pension and healthcare systems, and a rising wealth gap.
Dalio mentions bitcoin zero times. But he strikes the right chords with themes such as the Fed printing money and the threat of “three major world reserve currencies” losing their status “as viable storeholds of wealth.” Never one to miss the writing on the wall, the cryptocurrency community was quick to respond to Dalio’s ominous warning, seemingly taking it as

In which asset class would you direct $10,000 in investment capital – bitcoin or gold? There’s one condition. You can’t touch the funds for 10 long years.
According to a Twitter poll crafted by former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, bitcoin and gold are the top choices, with the leading cryptocurrency having overtaken the precious metal as the investment of choice with more than 55% of the vote. Gold, which earlier in the day was leading, puts up a good showing at 37%. The rest of the votes were spread across the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond, which is yielding less than 2%, and Federal Reserve notes at 6% and 2%, respectively.
Source: TwitterBefore bitcoin took the lead, Paul’s followers sharpened their knives against gold investors on the Twitter thread, showing a clear preference for

The Litecoin Summit is unfolding in Las Vegas, and MimbleWimble is center stage.
Litecoin is on its way to becoming a privacy coin, which for Charlie Lee is about fungibility.
The privacy push is a risky one that could cost the coin exchange listings in some countries.
It’s no secret that Litecoin wants to become a privacy coin. Litecoin Creator Charlie Lee made that clear when he revealed a change in direction for the project, chief among which involved partnering with a Grin developer David Burkett to implement the MimbleWimble protocol and use extension blocks for privacy and scalability on the network.
Privacy has been a major theme in the cryptocurrency market, one that has cost some high-profile coins, including Zcash and Monero, exchange listings in Japan.  Charlie Lee is

After Wednesday’s crypto crash that left bitcoin trading at the $7,500 level, many investors never thought they’d see this kind of buying opportunity again. Now market leaders are predicting that the BTC price could have further to fall before regaining its upward momentum alongside improving fundamentals, which if they’re right could play out before the end of the year. Still the bitcoin price downturn has taken a toll on sentiment in the crypto market.
As a veteran trader, bitcoin bull Mike Novogratz, who predicted bitcoin’s tight trading range months ago, is able to see the forest from the trees. Now that the BTC price has dipped below $8,000 and the bulls and bears wrestle for control, things could go either way in the short term. In an interview with CNBC, Novogratz

Times are good at Grayscale Investments, which has had the wind at its back lately. The digital asset investment firm just experienced its best quarter ever, as evidenced by a record-setting $254.9 million flowing into its funds in Q3 2019, which is about three times as much as Q2 results of roughly $85 million.  Much of the funds are being directed toward bitcoin via the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, with more than $170 million flooding the flagship fund and setting yet another record for the firm. Grayscale’s trend of attracting institutional capital from the likes of hedge funds persisted, with more than three-quarters of inflows originating from this group. If times are so good, however, why does bitcoin seem lost at sea, with trading volume drying up and the BTC price, which is currently

General Electric (GE) has decided to freeze its pension plan, removing two of the key features that have come to be associated with retirement savings – secure and guaranteed – for tens of thousands of employees. GE isn’t the first company to pull the plug, but as one of the oldest traditional companies in corporate America, it sends a strong signal to employees that they can no longer bank on their employer for retirement benefits. Now, instead of shouldering the risk for employees, GE will essentially shift that risk back to its workers by contributing a percentage of employee salaries into a 401(k) plan, whose investments are selected by the individual from a list screened by the employer. By heaping more risk on investors, companies like GE are doing their employees a favor by

The battle cry of the cryptocurrency industry has been one of decentralization, or one without any centralized authority. It is this distinguishing feature that sets the blockchain space apart from other sectors and cryptocurrencies like bitcoin from other assets. No central bank, bankers, or government controls it, and unless your Nouriel Roubini it’s hard not to appreciate this push toward democracy and decentralization. When the industry begins to compromise, that’s when the crypto waters and Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision begin to get muddied. It’s possible that crypto market leaders moved one step closer to muddying that vision today. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, leading crypto exchanges – including but not limited to Coinbase, Circle, Kraken, and Bittrex – have

Bitcoin bull Jack Dorsey is bolstering Square’s crypto business with a string of new hires. | Credit: AP/Francois Mori

As if Facebook’s Libra doesn’t have enough trouble, they just lost a developer to a rising crypto star. Square Crypto has poached a trio of blockchain developers from across the tech industry including Lightning Labs, Facebook’s Libra, and Google. Steve Lee, who was Square Crypto’s maiden hire in June, also hails from Google. According to a Twitter post, Square Crypto, which till now has been comprised of Lee and Bitcoin Core contributor Matt Corallo, has welcomed Valentine Wallace, Jeffrey Czyz, and Arik Sosman to fill out its team. 
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Bakkt picked a tough day to begin securing assets, but it’s still been on bitcoin’s highlight reel in 2019. | Source: ShutterstockBakkt has been hailed as the leading catalyst for the bitcoin market this year, while visions of institutional capital danced in the crypto community’s collective heads. Today the bitcoin futures exchange made one giant leap toward its official launch by opening up Bakkt Warehouse Custody, which is the arm of the business that will keep big investors’ funds safe while they trade.Bakkt Warehouse custody is live.Now accepting customer bitcoin deposits and withdrawals. Only 17 days until the Bakkt Daily and Monthly Futures contracts launch on Sep 23.— Bakkt (@Bakkt) September 6, 2019Bitcoin futures trading doesn’t commence until Sept. 23, but the warehouse custody

VanEck plans to launch a bitcoin fund designed for institutional investors that The Wall Street Journal falsely describes as a "limited version of a crypto ETF." | Source: ShutterstockThe bitcoin bulls have wrestled back control of the BTC price, with the leading cryptocurrency barreling for $11,000 once again. While the positive momentum emerged over the weekend, the optimism is no doubt also being fueled by today’s VanEck development. The New York-based investment management firm plans to launch a bitcoin fund, which is designed for "qualified institutional buyers," that The Wall Street Journal describes as a "limited version of a crypto ETF." The fund is called the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust 144A Shares, and the comparison may be a little farfetched.Widely cited economist and trader