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- Bitcoin Roundup #1
Bitcoin Roundup #1
When did you send your first email? Mid-90's? Well, the first email was sent in 1971. If bitcoin is like email, what will the world look like in 20 years?
Dave Birnbaum
March 01, 2022
Welcome to the first edition of our humble newsletter. We hope you enjoy this jaunt through the week in bitcoin. Bitcoin Roundup is an evolving project to which you are invited to contribute. If you have any feedback about it, please let us know!
NEWS
Ukraine turns to bitcoin 🇺🇦
The Ukraine-Russian conflict has been a hot topic. Front and center has been the weaponization of money. The international community is looking to remove Russia's access to SWIFT. Ukraine has asked for bitcoin donations and posted an official government bitcoin wallet address. As of today, it has received over 161 BTC. Read our blog post about the conflict & the subsequent bitcoin price drawdown here.
Tourism & GDP explode in El Salvador 🇸🇻
President Bukele took to Twitter to proudly share El Salvador's 10.3% GDP growth in 2021, which was the first recorded year logging double digit growth. He also reported that tourism and travel has surged 30% since adopting a bitcoin-centric monetary policy.
Bitcoinization continues worldwide 📈
In the past 2 weeks, Russia introduced a crypto bill, Mexico is considering legislation that would adopt bitcoin as legal tender, Brazil's senate took the first step to provide legal framework for crypto, and a bill under consideration in California would allow bitcoin to be used for tax payments.
Bitcoin hash surge shows confidence ⛏️
Despite bitcoin's price remaining flat or negative, hash rate has been surging to new all time highs. Hash rate is not directly tied to price, but serves as a signal of confidence in long-term viability of bitcoin as companies and individuals invest resources in the ecosystem.
KC Federal Reserve president admits the dollar is based on mass delusion 🙃
In a surprising interview with Jon Stewart, president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve admits that the dollar has no backing, and instead is secured by the collective faith of its validity. This comes as a start contrast to bitcoin's ethos of "don't trust, verify."
HOW BITCOIN WORKS
Learn one key idea about bitcoin each week. This week:
Bitcoin is absolute scarcity
Bitcoin is known for achieving digital scarcity, but it’s also the first instance of absolute scarcity in money.
We already know there is no limit to the amount of dollars that can be created each year. However, even the most sound forms of money prior to the dollar, namely gold, are only relatively scarce.
Gold supply grows about 1 to 2% each year as a result of mining, with demand influencing the amount that is mined and refined. On the other hand, bitcoin is absolutely scarce. No matter how many people want to buy bitcoin, its supply is hard-capped to 21 million, a number that can never be changed.
This concept is also reviewed in The Bitcoin Standard, which we highly recommend to anyone wanting to understand bitcoin at a deeper level. Get it here.
Ready to get started with bitcoin? Coinbits is the best option. It's fast, safe, and free to create your account.
COIN CHECK
How many confirmations are needed for a bitcoin transaction to be considered valid and irreversible?
Three confirmations
Four confirmations
Six confirmations
Seven confirmations
Check your answer at the end of the page.
ANSWER
3. Six confirmations
That’s all for this week, folks! When you signed up for this newsletter, we promised to act as your personal guide and help you understand what’s happening in the world of bitcoin. What did you think of today’s newsletter? Reply to this email and let us know what you’d like to see more of.
Until next week!
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