After some turbulent back-and-forth, the EU is moving forward with its Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) bill. The landmark legislation will go ahead without the inclusion of a controversial provision that would have restricted proof-of-work cryptocurrencies. Proof-of-work (PoW) is a decentralized consensus mechanism used by cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum,

In a historical first for the Lightning network, Synonym, a Bitcoin-powered service provider, demonstrated the first Tether (USDT) transaction in a Lightning channel. This was the first time a mainnet stablecoin was bridged to Lightning. The transaction was performed using Omni, a platform for creating custom digital assets on the

I’m old enough to remember when the Lightning Network was supposed to solve Bitcoin’s transaction limitations. Instead of being slow and traceable, Lightning payments would be quick and private. Nocoiners would finally be forced to eat their FUD. It’s been five years since its initial launch, but

The Lightning Network is a layer 2 solution which provides instant peer-to-peer payments for almost no cost on top of the Bitcoin network. When comparing the Bitcoin network to the current banking network, one may think of Bitcoin as SWIFT or Western Union while Lightning is more akin to Visa

The United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has announced its plans to regulate “crypto mixers” to decrease criminals’ money laundering activities. The agency is concerned that criminals looking to launder funds are using this practice to allow themselves greater protection and anonymity.   Coin mixing is essentially the practice of

On March 15th, 2022 the Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) of the Republic of Kazakhstan released a report that shows their progress on enforcing a ban for unregistered Bitcoin and cryptocurrency miners. Kazakhstan has been experiencing rolling blackouts since the beginning of the year and government agencies have taken steps to

When Bitcoin was announced as legal tender in El Salvador, thousands of Salvadorians eagerly downloaded the Chivo wallet furnished by the countries government. However, many users experienced challenges and the hyperbitcoinization dream was slowed. After several user complaints about the Chivo wallet, El Salvador reached out to Alpha Point, which

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom issued a warning on March 11th, 2022 to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency ATM (CATM) owners that all of their kiosks must be registered with FCA and comply with UK Money Laundering Regulations (MLR).  In a statement, the FCA claims that none of