The central bankers were definitely not coming to El Salvador to discuss Bitcoin

https://galoy.io/the-bankers-were-definitely-not-coming-to-el-salvador-to-learn-about-bitcoin/

Central bankers and financial authority members from 44 countries visited El Salvador this week for the Digital Financial Services & SME Finance Working Group Meetings. The countries are all part of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) – an organization aimed at the vision of “Making financial services more accessible to the world’s unbanked.”

The first three days of meetings were held at the Sheraton Presidente Hotel in San Salvador and covered a range of topics:

“The week of events is an opportunity to hold technical deliberations on promoting digital ecosystem and financial innovations and providing greater support for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), women and individuals with lower incomes, including regulatory frameworks for consumer protection…

…members are examining the position of financial regulators and the emerging approaches to regulate and supervise the proliferation of private digital money (cryptocurrency, virtual assets, digital payment tokens, stablecoins etc) across developing and emerging markets economies.” (full post on afi-global.org)

There was one Bitcoin session. Roman Martinez (Chimbera) and Nicolas Burtey shared the story of Bitcoin Beach and provided an introduction to Bitcoin and the Lightning Network (view and comment on the deck).

Outside the conference room the Bitcoin Beach Wallet team set up tables where attendees were shown how to download and use a Lightning wallet.

 

Spending sats at Bitcoin Beach

On day four, the group traveled to El Zonte and was welcomed to Hope House, where it all started.

They paid for coconuts and coffee with sats over the Lightning Network.

They learned how to exchange Bitcoin for dollars at an ATM.

And learned Bitcoin is an open network – you can pay a Strike invoice with Bitcoin Beach Wallet.

Through firsthand experience, this group of central bankers is seeing what Bitcoin can do for people left out of the current financial system.

Twitter has been ablaze with posts about whether or not this was a Bitcoin event.

It wasn’t – it was a financial inclusion event. 

Bitcoin just happens to be the most inclusive financial network in the world. 

Congratulations to the Bitcoin Beach, Hope House and Bitcoin Beach Wallet teams for hosting a great day in El Zonte, and thank you to the whole AFI organization for exploring the potential of Bitcoin.

See you in November at Adopting Bitcoin!

Photo credits: @bitcoinbeach, @WatcherGuru, @romanmartinezc, @BTCBeachWallet

Bitcoin Legal Tender in Central African Republic

EURONEWS Report

https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/04/27/central-african-republic-follows-el-salvador-in-making-bitcoin-legal-tender

The Central African Republic has adopted Bitcoin as a legal currency, becoming only the second country to do so after El Salvador.

Lawmakers from the central African country unanimously adopted a bill to make Bitcoin legal tender alongside its CFA franc and legalised the use of cryptocurrencies.

President Faustin Archange Touadera signed the measure into law, his chief of staff Obed Namsio said in a statement.

The CAR “is the first country in Africa to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender,” Namsio said.

“This move places the Central African Republic on the map of the world’s boldest and most visionary countries,” he added.

The new legislation covers the use of cryptocurrencies and those who use them, in online trade, “smart contracts… by blockchain technology” and “all electronic transactions”.

It also said cryptocurrency exchanges are not liable to tax.

However, due to the high volatility of the digital currency, some are wary of the move.

Martin Ziguele, a former CAR prime minister who is now an opposition MP, complained the bill was approved “by proclamation” while some legislators intend to file suit against it at the Constitutional Court. “This law is a way of getting out of the CFA franc through a means that guts the common currency,” said Ziguele. “It [the law] isn’t a priority for the country,” he said. “This move raises the question: who benefits from it?”

Regulators around the world share the same concerns. Some also say that transfers using crypto are a perfect tool for traffickers and money laundering as they can be anonymised.

While countries such as India have in the past banned crypto transactions, El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender last September.

But the move by El Salvador was heavily criticised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF warns El Salvador to drop Bitcoin as a legal currency “The adoption of a cryptocurrency as legal tender, however, entails large risks for financial and market integrity, financial stability and consumer protection,” it warned.

The CAR is one of the world’s poorest countries and has been in the grips of a nine-year civil war that developed largely along sectarian lines.

In 2020, a coalition of rebels advanced on the capital Bangui, threatening to overturn Touadera as new elections loomed.

Russia dispatched paramilitaries to help repel the threat and then recover much of the rebel-held territory.

The operatives are described by Bangui as military advisers but by France, the UN, and others as mercenaries from the Kremlin-backed Wagner group, which has been accused of abuses.

Sending Bitcoin Without Internet or Satellite is now a Reality

Bitcoin

https://usethebitcoin.com/sending-bitcoin-without-internet-or-satellite-is-now-a-reality/

Jonathan Gibson · in Breaking, Bitcoin News, Crypto News

In a recent experiment, it was possible to send Bitcoin (BTC) using high-frequency radio and through a snowstorm. Due to fears of government interference and surveillance, developers have been trying to send Bitcoin internationally without using the internet or satellite. The information was released on Twitter by the hardware and software creator Rodolfo Novak.

Bitcoin Sent Through High-Frequency Radio

There have been several tests to transfer Bitcoin without using internet. For example, it was possible to do it via mesh networks and satellite. This is quite important since it would allow individuals to be connected to the Bitcoin network even if there is a country that turns the internet off.

BAM! #Bitcoin sent over 7.077Mhz via #JS8Call to @SamuelPatt

Sweep: https://t.co/mLGREGXXN0

Toronto,CAN => Michigan,USA [40W:#SnowStorm]

Bcuz its a brainwallet made ahead of time, with bearer pk I don’t require internet to broadcast this transaction at the time i’m sending pic.twitter.com/OzcbMEvYw0

— NVK (@nvk) February 12, 2019

This experiment started when Novak asked who would like to receive Bitcoin using WSPR/FT8 (amateur radio). A suitable candidate answered the comment using a SDR and an antenna. Using the application called JS8Call, Novak sent a bitcoin transaction from Toronto, Canada to Michigan, in the United States.

The computer scientist and cryptographer Nick Szabo seemed very excited about it. He wrote on Twitter that Bitcoin was sent over national borders without internet or satellite, but just using nature’s ionosphere.

Although there are some security issues related to a poorly constructed brain-wallet, this is a great way to send cross-border Bitcoin transactions offline. Brain wallets are cryptocurrency wallets that allow users to receive virtual currencies but storing the seed phrase just in users’ heads.

There are several countries that are opposed to virtual currencies, including Bitcoin. Two of these countries are Venezuela and China. Using high-frequency (HF/HAM) radio is a novelty in the space. Although we might never use these methods for transacting virtual currencies, it is very positive to know that they work. In the future, some users or individuals in some countries could have to use this method to remain connected.

According to some reports, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, ordered the country to unplug itself from the internet. The intention is to check how their economy is able to survive without being connected to the internet. This is a clear example of what countries can do with their connection to the cyberspace.

In case there is a war, Russia and countries should be prepared to be disconnected from the internet. Thus, Bitcoin would have to find new ways to be transacted.

Another way to send Bitcoin without an internet connection or cellular network is through a TxTenna device. Although the transaction does not work entirely offline it offers a secure way to send Bitcoin offline. Users have to rely on the goTenna mesh network and the Samourai Wallet. Mesh nodes receive the transaction until a TxTenna internet connection is found. This is when the transaction is sent to the Bitcoin network.

Over the weekend I sent a bitcoin transaction to a relay 12.6km away with no cell network or internet connection. Here’s a tweetstorm about how I used @gotenna and @SamouraiWallet to do it

— ℭoinsure (@Coinsurenz) October 16, 2018

Can only Support Logic and Morality

Our Fundraising NFT Gallery

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Enjoy Bitcoin

👉 https://youtube.com/shorts/VkBsdNgsGbc

OP: on medium.com

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See, the search isn’t about cryptocurrency per-se, what it is you’re looking for exactly is Bitcoin! This is the earth-shaking technology copied by all other coins, that you need and nothing else. So simply, to guarantee your digital asset future going forth into an uncertain future is to make sure you are hodling Bitcoin! Hodl, the misspelling of hold, means so much more than simply holding Bitcoin.

Hodling Bitcoin is no easy task. You have to battle wild price fluctuations, whales going after your fair share, and abstaining from temptations and promises of other-worldly profits using leverage.

The technique most espoused by the most famous global Bitcoiners is called Dollar Cost Averaging (DCAing), or in plain English, to regularly buy small amounts when Bitcoin’s price is offered at discount, like after a major sale, is when you buy.

If you still have your assets now in “cryptos” for goodness sake switch them for Bitcoin asap, cryptos are nothing more than Bitcoin forgeries.. counterfeits! After the world moves on to the Bitcoin standard what do you want to be left with holding in your bag?

If you are an American then you may have a Coinbase account, otherwise perhaps you have a Binance account, it matters little in actual fact how you exchange your cryptos but what is essential is to trade in those ***tcoins and ***tcurrencies for Bitcoin! Don’t take too long to make your trades though because the Bitcoin standard comes online in a matter of months. So be ready, be prepared, and best of luck. Peace, love, and eternity to all.. with all your Bitcoins in hand 💪

Lugano, Switzerland Will Make Bitcoin Legal Tender

Contributor Namcios Bitcoin Magazine
Published Mar 3, 2022 1:13PM EST

Lugano will also ‘roll the red carpet’ for Bitcoin and blockchain businesses and enthusiasts to relocate to the city.

The city of Lugano, Switzerland, will make bitcoin legal tender and allow citizens to pay for public service fees or taxes in bitcoin, city director Pietro Poretti co-announced in an event livestreamed on Thursday alongside mayor Michele Foletti and CTO of Tether Paolo Ardoino. The city has already worked with over 200 merchants to propel the adoption of bitcoin and Lightning payments.

“This is probably the most important thing of this project,” Ardoino said, referring to “Plan ₿,” a city initiative being sketched and worked in collaboration with Tether to attract wealth, smart minds, and opportunities. Tether’s stablecoin USDT will also become a legal tender in the city.

Plan ₿ involves the creation of a physical venue in the heart of the city to function as a hub for Bitcoin and blockchain startups interested in making the city their new home, as well as the go-to place for networking events and hosting Bitcoin meetups and workshops.

“El Salvador’s GDP increased by 10% and its tourism by 30% after declaring bitcoin a legal tender,” Ardoino said. “Imagine what we can do in a city at the center of Europe.”

Poretti said the city would “roll the red carpet” for Bitcoin businesses and enthusiasts, welcoming visitors and prospect relocators with a business-friendly environment featuring minimized bureaucracy and the ideal conditions for a company to thrive.

Plan ₿ also provisions the creation of two investment funds. The first will allocate up to $3.26 million to foster the adoption of bitcoin, USDT, and LVGA, the city’s stablecoin worth one-hundredth of a Swiss franc which will also be legal tender in Lugano. The second represents the formation of a pool of funds of up to $108.6 million for Bitcoin and blockchain startups that wish to relocate and set up their headquarters in the city as well as bring personnel to the Switzerland town.

Another aspect of Lugano’s Plan B involves a close relationship with academia. It plans to create a specialized curriculum on Bitcoin and Lightning in a partnership with local universities to increase the skills of young students in these new technologies. Bitcoin and blockchain education efforts will also include the creation of 500 student grants to create a skillful and specialized workforce.

In late October, the city of Lugano will host the Bitcoin World Forum, a global event focused on the acceleration of bitcoin adoption and the advocacy for freedom of expression, Ardoino and Poretti announced in the event.

The speakers also announced the intention to have Lugano start mining bitcoin as Plan ₿ researches strategies the city could leverage to employ renewable energy sources to yield BTC.

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/lugano-switzerland-will-make-bitcoin-legal-tender

Release of Bitcoin Community Constitution

BITCOIN BLOCKCHAIN BEIRUT LABS
– : | Support us – | – Support granted | : –

1> Hodl your Bitcoin leaving only the amount that can be personally dispensed in mainstream finance.
2> Defend free and open Bitcoin markets anywhere and everywhere around the world.
3> Mine Bitcoin only with renewable energy, even if starting with just one miner.
4> Spread the knowledge, awareness and best practices of Bitcoin whenever possible.
5> Consider with others in the community our unit of account in BTC.

UAE Building Biggest Crypto Mining Farm in World.

Jack Dorsey Touts Bitcoin’s Virtues at MicroStrategy Conference

Jack Dorsey
The Block CEO and Twitter co-founder cites the crypto’s transparent fees.

By: Michael Bellusci

In his first live public appearance since exiting the Twitter CEO role to focus on running payments company Block (formerly Square), Jack Dorsey reiterated his belief about how society can benefit from the adoption of bitcoin.

“We’re the closest we’ve ever been to having a native currency for the internet with bitcoin,” Dorsey said in a conversation with fellow bitcoin proponent MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor at MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin for Corporations conference on Tuesday. Dorsey added that the world needs a universal currency where, for instance, decisions made in Washington don’t affect smaller nations on the other side of the globe.

Dorsey also touted bitcoin’s transparency, where fees are clearly visible and understandable, versus traditional finance where charges are a black box and corporate managers can’t always see how they work or are priced.Read more: What Jack Dorsey’s Beef With ‘Web 3′ Is Really About“Slow things tend to last and be more predictable and secure,” Dorsey said, taking exception to traditional tech media’s criticism that bitcoin’s development is much slower than that for other cryptos such as ethereum.

With respect to corporations purchasing or incorporating bitcoin into their businesses, Dorsey said that even if they don’t use bitcoin, every company should study it and how it could potentially improve their operations. Services built around the bitcoin ecosystem will be key, he added.