Latest news with #Bitcoiners
Business Insider
01-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Botanix Launches Mainnet to Power the Bitcoin Economy with Chainlink, Fireblocks, GMX, Dolomite and Others
New York, United States, July 1st, 2025, Chainwire Botanix is the first and only EVM-equivalent Bitcoin L2 that is decentralized from the start meaning no single entity, including Botanix Labs, can unilaterally influence or control the network as the network is run by a growing federation of industry-leading node operators. Users can now trade, lend, borrow, stake, pay, LP, leverage, go short, go long, and stay stable all in bitcoin on Bitcoin, with an expanding ecosystem of Bitcoin-native applications. Launching today, Bitcoin 2100 is a retro-futuristic immersive experience where players can earn bitcoin by exploring a world built on Bitcoin. Each house in the experience highlights a live app on the Botanix network, making it a fun way to discover what's possible when Bitcoin becomes programmable. Botanix Labs, the protocol research team developing Botanix, the Bitcoin-based blockchain that powers the Bitcoin economy, today announced the launch of Botanix mainnet, with live applications including GMX and Dolomite, and ecosystem partners such as Chainlink and Fireblocks now active on the network. This milestone also marks the launch of new Bitcoin-native applications committed to building exclusively on the network, including Arch, Bitzy, Palladium, and Rover. With the launch of Botanix, Bitcoin users experience a significant improvement in transaction times, with block times reducing from 10 minutes to five seconds, and $0.02 transaction fees on average. Mainnet goes live just days after Botanix officially transitioned governance and consensus to a 16-node founding federation of independent node operators, including Galaxy, Fireblocks, Alchemy, Antpool, XBTO, Kiln, Chorus One, and others. With this transition and the support of the Spiderchain, a novel Bitcoin scaling cryptographic primitive, Botanix becomes the first and only secure Bitcoin-based blockchain that is decentralized from inception, which means no single entity, including Botanix Labs, has control over the network. Botanix expects the operator set to expand beyond 100 in 2026. 'We've spent the last two years building Botanix to give Bitcoin real utility without compromising on self-custody,' said Willem Schroé, CEO and Co-Founder of Botanix Labs. 'Too many Bitcoiners have been burned by centralized platforms, which is why Botanix is fully decentralized at launch. No single party, including us, can touch a user's Bitcoin, and that's why I'm incredibly excited to see mainnet go live and finally put real tools into the hands of Bitcoiners. If we want a world that runs on Bitcoin, we have to build systems that honor its core principles of self-custody, open participation, and global fault tolerance.' As part of the mainnet launch, Botanix is also introducing 'Bitcoin 2100', a retro-futuristic immersive experience that invites users. Players can collect free bitcoin, denominated in sats, by playing in a stylized world set in the year 2100, where Bitcoin has become the rails of a new financial system. Each house within the experience represents a different live application on the Botanix network, offering a creative and engaging way for users to discover what's possible when Bitcoin becomes programmable. Both mainnet and Bitcoin 2100 are live beginning today. "Botanix adopting Chainlink is a significant step towards redefining what's possible for Bitcoin,' said Johann Eid, Chief Business Officer at Chainlink Labs. 'Botanix developers are now equipped to build advanced applications and unlock new utility for Bitcoin. This is a pivotal moment for the evolution of Bitcoin finance and the broader Bitcoin economy." Botanix testnet has completed over 26M transactions since its launch in December 2024. Founded in 2023, Botanix Labs is the protocol research and development team that initiated and coined the Spiderchain protocol and developed Botanix, an EVM-equivalent Bitcoin L2. With Botanix fully decentralized and independently operated, Botanix Labs contributes through research, developer tooling, and ecosystem growth. Contact Margaret Botanix
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lose your Bitcoin keys? Liana's new ‘Safety Net' recovery could save you
Lose your Bitcoin keys? Liana's new 'Safety Net' recovery could save you originally appeared on TheStreet. For Bitcoin holders worried about losing access to their wallets, Liana has introduced a game-changing solution: the Safety Net Recovery Service. It's an optional feature designed to give users a backup plan — without giving up self-custody. Think of it as a hybrid insurance policy for your wallet. 'You can choose to have a trusted third party become a key recovery for you in case you lose all of your keys and backups,' explained Kevin Loaec, co-founder and CEO of Wizardsardine in an interview with TheStreet Roundtable's Alp Gasimov. While banks aren't offering this yet, Liana has partnered with regulated custodians who will. The model isn't fully custodial — users still manage their funds—but it offers a last resort. After a time lock, the service can step in and help restore access to funds, assuming you've subscribed.'We don't keep the keys,' Loaec clarified. 'It's regulated custodians offering this service, and they'll help you only if you hit that worst-case scenario.' 'It's like the best of both worlds between a custodial wallet and self-custody,' he added. 'You don't have to trust them but if you really screw up, they are still there to help you.' That kind of safety net is critical for high-net-worth Bitcoiners who don't want a single point of failure. Whether it's fire, theft, or forgotten seed phrases, disaster scenarios are real. And with millions on the line, even the most secure cold storage setup can come with sleepless nights. 'Even if the setup is secure, they don't want to have the problem of sleeping at night,' Loaec said. 'They just want to know in case everything goes wrong, there is still someone behind.' Lose your Bitcoin keys? Liana's new 'Safety Net' recovery could save you first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 24, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 24, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Billionaire VC Tim Draper Says 'The Dollar Is Going Extinct' Touts Bitcoin As Replacement
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Billionaire investor Tim Draper has reiterated that the dollar will soon become worthless. According to Draper, Bitcoin will replace the dollar. Draper's recent remarks follow a debate over whether Bitcoin is intended to serve as a store of value or a medium of exchange. There is often a fine line between sound money proponents and market doomsayers. Both share concerns over inflation and debt that spur predictions of catastrophic market crashes and a shift away from the dollar as a reserve currency. Among the latest to blur the lines is billionaire investor Tim Draper. Over the past few weeks, Draper has said that the dollar is on the fast lane to becoming worthless, touting Bitcoin as an alternative. He has recently reiterated this message in perhaps its bluntest form yet. 'The dollar is going extinct,' Draper said over the weekend on X. 'People will rush to spend it as it loses value.' Don't Miss: — no wallets, just price speculation and free paper trading to practice different strategies. Grow your IRA or 401(k) with Crypto – . On the other hand, Draper said that people will flock to Bitcoin for safety. 'Retailers will soon prefer Bitcoin,' he said. 'And when they do, that's when people will start spending Bitcoin.' Draper's most recent remarks came in response to a post by Bitcoin-focused financial services firm Swan on the reemerging debate over whether Bitcoin should be viewed as a store of value or a medium of exchange, as influential Bitcoiners Michael Saylor and Jack Dorsey differ on the matter. While Saylor has continued to advocate for people to spend dollars and accumulate Bitcoin, Dorsey argues that the OG cryptocurrency risks irrelevance if it is not used for everyday payments. Both are putting their money where their mouth is. Saylor's MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) is the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, with approximately 581,000 BTC in its coffers, and it continues to accumulate nearly every week. Dorsey's Block (NYSE:XYZ) is preparing to roll out support for Bitcoin payments on its Square point-of-sale terminals in the second half of the year. Trending: New to crypto? on Coinbase. Swan shared comments from board member Lyn Alden, who suggested that Bitcoin serves as both a medium of exchange and a store of value. However, she noted that the asset's path to becoming a medium of exchange begins with it serving as a store of value. 'Order matters,' she said. 'So I think at scale, and as we've seen, large-scale store value usage comes before large-scale medium exchange usage.' Draper expects the adoption of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange to happen sooner rather than later. He told CoinDesk in May that the digital asset would replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency within a decade. At this point, he predicts that Bitcoin 'will be worth infinity against the dollar.' In the short term, however, he sees Bitcoin hitting the $250,000 price point in 2025. At last look, the asset is trading at $105,000, down 0.51% on the day. Draper has cited declining faith in the dollar, as reflected in the DXY's poor performance this year, as a reason for his increasingly pessimistic views. The DXY's woes come amid global unease over President Donald Trump's trade policies. Read Next: A must-have for all crypto enthusiasts: . Invest Where It Hurts — And Help Millions Heal: Image: Shutterstock This article Billionaire VC Tim Draper Says 'The Dollar Is Going Extinct' Touts Bitcoin As Replacement originally appeared on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Jack Dorsey buys $100 worth of fries, and folks are losing it
Jack Dorsey buys $100 worth of fries, and folks are losing it originally appeared on TheStreet. In a viral post made on Thursday, Jack Dorsey, who was a co-founder of Twitter, posted pictures of himself buying fries at Steak 'n Shake with the Bitcoin Lightning Network, saying 'full circle.' The receipt indicates that Dorsey paid 96,173 sats (satoshis), or roughly $100.07, by scanning a QR code on a payment terminal operated by Tryspeed, a Lightning payments service provider. The transaction was immediate, on-chain, and Bitcoin-settled. "Bought with bitcoin @SteaknShake," Dorsey wrote in his post, which received over 330,000 views in only a few hours. The visual carousel featured the fries, the QR code screen, a payment confirmation, and a printed receipt that explicitly stated, "All Bitcoin transactions are final." For long-time Bitcoin fans, this mirrors Satoshi Nakamoto's initial idea of peer-to-peer digital payment. It also recalls the memorable Bitcoin Pizza Day in 2010, when 10,000 BTC was swapped for two pizzas. But this time, the transaction was quick, inexpensive, and widely apparent. Steak 'n Shake officially began taking Bitcoin as a payment option on May 16, in all locations. According to Steak 'n Shake Executive Dan Edwards, this implementation gives customers a different option for payment. Edwards, speaking at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas on May 27, stated that Bitcoin payments are faster and cheaper than standard credit card purchases. Riding the success of Bitcoin payments, Edwards stated that the company is exploring new methods to use technology to carry its meals into the future, such as robo-taxis, cyber-chefs, and drones. Bitcoiners couldn't stop buzzing on Dorsey's post. 'That's a lot of sats. Hope that was a big order,' one user (@88shibe88keyz) joked, echoing the surprise many felt about the price tag. Another, @meerkatmaxi, chimed in: '96173 sats?!?! Those are some expensive fries.' Some users even questioned the transaction economics. @OwlGuy4 wrote, '$100? What did you buy…the restaurant?' Still, most saw it as a milestone for Bitcoin adoption, and a nod to its earliest use-case as peer-to-peer digital cash. @hidden_whale added, 'I see that you got fries with dat ,' while @TheBTCTherapist called it 'Pretty cool.' Even skeptics admired the gesture, with @AlanKepper asking, 'How long did the transaction take?' Back in 2010, a programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz famously spent 10,000 BTC to buy two pizzas, the first real-world Bitcoin transaction, now celebrated as Bitcoin Pizza Day. At today's price of $105,000 per BTC, those pizzas would be worth over $1 billion. That's why some are trolling Jack Dorsey for spending $100 in Bitcoin on fries — joking that he might've just made his own Pizza Day mistake. Jack Dorsey buys $100 worth of fries, and folks are losing it first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 5, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 5, 2025, where it first appeared. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bitcoiners roast Elon Musk's new ‘Bitcoin-style' XChat
Bitcoiners roast Elon Musk's new 'Bitcoin-style' XChat originally appeared on TheStreet. Elon Musk wants X to become the most secure communication platform on the planet. But his latest branding choice has left the crypto world confused, and a little amused. On June 1, Musk announced XChat, a new feature for X (formerly Twitter) that includes encrypted messaging, vanishing messages, file sharing, and audio/video calling — all without needing a phone number. The architecture is reportedly built on Rust, and as Musk described it, uses 'Bitcoin-style encryption.' That phrasing triggered an instant response from Bitcoin experts. 'Brother w*f is bitcoin style encryption, bitcoin literally doesn't have any encryption in it whatsoever,' wrote Taproot Wizards contributor Udi Wertheimer, whose tweet quickly racked up over half a million views. Short answer. Not in the way you think. Despite being one of the most secure financial systems ever created, Bitcoin does not use encryption to keep data private. Instead, it relies on cryptographic hashing and digital signatures, both critical tools in cryptography, but not encryption. Hashing (like SHA-256) is used to generate unique fingerprints of data, crucial for mining and verifying transactions. Digital signatures (using ECDSA or Schnorr) ensure that only someone with the correct private key can authorize a transaction. As Wertheimer explained, encryption is when you take a message and keep it secret from everyone but the intended recipient. Bitcoin doesn't hide anything. Every transaction is open, auditable, and publicly visible on the blockchain — that's part of its entire design. 'Seriously, what is Bitcoin-style encryption?' asked cryptographer and assistant professor Ian Miers. 'Bitcoin primarily uses signatures, not encryption. This is like saying, we decided to run our rocket on water, since NASA uses hydrogen and oxygen.' Some users pointed out that Bitcoin Core implemented BIP-324, a proposal to encrypt peer-to-peer (P2P) network messages, in 2023. That means nodes talking to each other on the Bitcoin network can now encrypt their communication — but this is not the same as encrypting transactions or wallets. So while there's some encryption involved at the networking layer, it's misleading to suggest that Bitcoin's core value proposition revolves around encryption. Even Wertheimer admitted he may have jumped the gun: 'I might have to stop tweeting about bitcoin forever… turns out they do have some encryption in Bitcoin Core for the P2P protocol since 2023. Elon knows more about Bitcoin than I do. It's over, bye.' Musk was probably referring to end-to-end encryption and threw in 'Bitcoin-style' as shorthand for peer-to-peer privacy and decentralization — even if the terminology isn't accurate. As crypto OG Wei Dai speculated: ''Bitcoin-style' ~= 'peer-to-peer' ~= 'end-to-end'... So 'Bitcoin style encryption' means 'end-to-end encryption'.' Musk's XChat may very well offer a solid privacy layer for communications. But if you're calling it "Bitcoin-style encryption," be ready for pushback — because in Bitcoin, transparency is the feature, not the bug. And if you're going to cite the world's most open protocol, maybe… read the whitepaper first. TheStreet Roundtable reached out to X for clarification on what Musk meant by 'Bitcoin-style encryption.' This story will be updated if and when the company responds. Bitcoiners roast Elon Musk's new 'Bitcoin-style' XChat first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 2, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
