In Bitcoin, each satoshi counts and should not get lost or destroyed. Taproot is a recent update to Bitcoin.

Specialists discovered that a developer destroyed 0.0002 BTC due to the wrong implementation of Taproot, the most recent Bitcoin update.

Bitcoins came to get burned or destroyed because a developer either mistakenly or intentionally failed to generate a proper public key to create the Taproot address where they would send the BTC. To guard, send and receive bitcoins, users need a public key and a private key, which form the basis of the security of our wallets.

Taproot also includes a new algorithm or mathematical procedure to generate these keys, called Schnorr. This algorithm is into Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 340, or BIP-340, and got included in Bitcoin as a privacy enhancement for all who wish to use it in November 2021.

As expressed in Suredbits, a firm that develops functionalities and derivative assets in Bitcoin, a developer wanted to create a public key through Schnorr using an incompatible parameter for the algorithm elliptic curve, the secp256k1 curve.

This parameter caused the Taproot script or command to fail to execute its activities since the public key inserted into the script originates from an invalid x-coordinate. In this way, 0.0002 BTC, or 20,000 satoshis, which are currently equivalent to 8.40 US dollars (USD), were destroyed.

When users refer to the BTC being burned or destroyed, they mean that the assets got sent to an address that no one can access, as it would be cryptographically unlikely that users could generate the correct keys to move the said bitcoins.

This event appeared when Suredbits found a bug in their Taproot transaction reader/explorer, where they could only see correct or valid transactions, not incorrect ones. Updating their bitcoin-s code library, they found that someone had burned the bitcoins that way.

Additionally, Suredbits has also found 14 different bugs related to the implementation of Taproot by some developers. In total, the errors add up to 24,197 satoshis burned, which is equivalent to approximately USD 10.

Although it may seem like a minimal amount, one of the maxims of Bitcoin is that every single satoshi (sat) counts, so having lost these funds can be just as painful considering the limited scarcity of this cryptocurrency.

It should not be necessary to expect these sats to be worth millions of dollars to realize the importance of taking care of them and not losing them in this way.

It is not the first time that errors happen when there is an attempt to carry out Taproot transactions, but with the wrong parameters. One of the most notorious cases was the Binance exchange, which made a mistake when sending some BTC via Taproot to a user, permanently losing them.

The exchange later acknowledged the error and refunded the funds. However, this situation raised red flags regarding the adoption of Taproot in services like this, which are giants of the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Preference for Bitcoin-based products, like ETFs, crumbled down markedly in 2021. Bitcoin has lost market dominance spaces against other digital assets, but it remains an absolute leader.

A cleanup of non-transcendental cryptocurrency projects, such as those based on memes or some non-fungible tokens (NFTs), would be coming this year.

This idea is what the blockchain analysis firm CryptoCompare maintains in its most recent report entitled: Market Dynamics and Evolving Trends.

Bitcoin is in its fourth halving cycle, a period in which the miners’ rewards get divided in half. During 2016-2020, a lot of speculations arose; it was the case of Initial Coin Offerings (ICO).

It is worth remembering that, at that time, these projects were popular among investors. Disbursements approached at least USD 7.8 billion in 2018, before falling precipitously to USD 371 million, CryptoCompare recalls.

Now, and two years after the fourth Bitcoin halving closes, there is a new mania. These are the projects linked to DeFi, NFT, and meme coins. According to the company, many of these projects will disappear, and only the most popular will stand.

The company also states that, while the most popular of these projects would survive, it is more than likely that many of these, which provide no additional utility to buyers, will end up failing and disappearing, along with other cryptocurrency projects that do not add value to the ecosystem.

NFT and its Lack of Usefulness

In the same narrative, CryptoCompare warns against NFTs. According to the company, many projects would fail in an eventual market crash after challenges with this technology. CryptoCompare also criticizes that money laundering and market manipulations are crimes that proliferate in NFTs. So it is no wonder that collectible tokens are a winner-take-all market.

In the end, they warn that the NFT market is one of the most prone to manipulation and is arguably the riskiest area of cryptocurrencies, even though, during 2021, these tokens flooded all industries. They recommend market participants tread carefully in this space.

Bitcoin It is Still King

On the other hand, the CryptoCompare report presents that bitcoin has lost a lot of dominance in the cryptocurrency market due to the growth of other assets and projects. However, despite the drop, it remains the absolute leader of the Crypto ecosystem.

According to the firm, BTC experienced a significant loss of its dominance in 2021, compared to 2020. In figures, Bitcoin dominated 70.98% during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, one year later, that dominance crumbled down to 39.79%; a decrease of 44%, approximately.

New projects expanding cryptocurrency use cases led to the decline of bitcoin dominance in a matter of a year. Those projects are related to Ethereum (ETH) and decentralized finance, in addition to other minor cryptocurrencies, such as Solana (SOL), Binance Coin (BNB), and Tether (USDT), whose market dominance grew.

For the company, these new initiatives have taken the shine off Bitcoin, and now the ecosystem has a lot of promising projects that can attract new investment away from Bitcoin.

By: Jenson  Nuñez

Cryptocurrency owners that carry out activities in Colombia multiplied by two. According to Finder, these owners share similarities with the Argentines that claimed first place in adoption among Latin Americans.

Colombia became the third nation with the highest growth of owners of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies worldwide. Likewise, Argentina joined Mexico as the Latin American region with the most prominent adoption rate. This information comes from the most recent survey by the Finder group, a provider of statistics of Australian origin.

The data comes from the December 2021 query, in which Finder included Argentina and Venezuela, countries that were not evaluated in the previous version of the survey, carried out in October 2021.

The most recent results revealed that Colombia went from an average of 7.7% to 14.5% between October and December of the Internet users who own some cryptocurrency. This figure implies that the owners of these digital assets multiplied by 1.9 in the last three months of the year. Only Norway and Russia had experienced higher growth rates of 3 and 2.9.

However, the adoption ranking among Latin Americans got headed by Argentina, which shares a position with Mexico as the country with the highest percentage of cryptocurrency holders. According to the Finder survey, these countries have at least 15.2% among respondents, and both won 13th and 14th ranking positions in a list based in 27 countries.

Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil achieved the first pots in the Latin American table, with positions 15, 16, and 17, respectively. All the countries in the region show results near the global average, which stood at 15.4% in the December survey.

Bitcoin holders in Latin America are below the world’s Average

The pollsters had pulled apart the Latin American preferences for certain cryptocurrencies. It showed that the piece of Bitcoin inside the cryptocurrency portfolio of Latin Americans is below the global average.

The highest percentage got registered in Brazil, where 28.4% of those surveyed said they owned bitcoin. Brazil got followed by Venezuela with 27.5%, Mexico with 22.8%, and Colombia with 20.5%. Argentina is at the bottom of the list, with a proportion of 16.6%, well below the global average, stood at 39.1%.

Argentines seem to prefer diversified portfolios. The survey included questions about ownership of ether (Ethereum cryptocurrency), dogecoin, Solana, and XRP, with participants from Argentina registering between 14% and 11.7%. On the other hand, Colombians and Venezuelans prefer Ethereum as a second currency, and in the rest of those evaluated, they showed averages below 10%.

It is worth noting that, to build its cryptocurrency adoption rate, Finder got based on an ongoing survey of Internet users in the 27 participating countries.

For August 2021, another survey carried out by the firm Chainalysis in 150 countries placed Venezuela in the first place of adoption in Latin America, followed by Argentina and Colombia.

By: Jenson Nuñez

A Google director told Bloomberg that the company considers allowing users to store cryptocurrencies on digital cards.

Tech giant Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, has hired new staff to lead a broad financial services strategy that will include cryptocurrencies. This information got announced in a Bloomberg report published this Wednesday.

According to the report, Google has hired former PayPal executive Arnold Goldberg to lead its payments division. Goldberg, who used to run PayPal’s merchant business, will now become the vice president and general manager of the company’s payments and emerging markets efforts, an initiative Google calls Next Billion Users (NBU).

An Effort to Break into the Crypto Environment

Google’s president of commerce and payments, Bill Ready, told Bloomberg that Goldberg’s hiring is part of a broader effort to expand its financial services. In this context, the representative revealed that the company has become interested in digital currencies.

The report also highlighted that Google considers allowing users to store cryptocurrencies on digital cards. To this end, the company has been forming partnerships with companies in the crypto space.

Bloomberg noted that Google joined digital currency exchange Coinbase and crypto payment processor BitPay to store cryptocurrency on its digital cards. The tech giant’s executive said his team is looking at additional partnership opportunities in the industry, although the company is not yet accepting Bitcoin for transactions.

In October of last year, the cryptocurrency platform Bakkt teamed up with Google to make its Visa card available to Google Pay users. The move followed in the footsteps of Coinbase, which implemented support for its cards through Google Pay in mid-2021.

Google Would be changing its stance on Bitcoin

The post suggests that Google, which has historically shunned cryptocurrencies for its payment services, may change its view around the new asset class.

Google, whose Internet search engine is the most popular, dominates the market for web services; however, compared to other tech tycoons, the company has not yet dabbled as widely in the financial sector.

Google Pay remains far behind compared to payment services like Apple. Google did not launch its credit card, as Apple has done. This credit card offers benefits such as zero commissions on your mobile wallet transactions.

The exact release schedule for the new cryptocurrency-related functionality is unclear. If carried out effectively, these developments could drive the adoption of assets like Bitcoin among a high number of users. On the other hand, the foray into the space could also be beneficial for Google, driving the adoption of its wallet.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Cryptocurrency ATM operators in Singapore got forced to comply with new advertising regulations for digital asset services.

Singapore’s Bitcoin ATMs are shutting down amid restrictive measures recently taken by authorities against the digital currency sector.

Cryptocurrency ATM operators in Asian countries have been forced to close their machines after the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued new regulations seeking to limit trading in the new asset class.

The MAS, the central bank of Singapore, issued a set of new guidelines on Monday this week that prohibit companies in the crypto sector from promoting their services through advertising campaigns on public sites, websites, and social networks. The regulation is specifically aimed at providers of digital payment tokens (DPT)

New Guidelines apply to Cryptocurrency ATMs

According to Bloomberg, digital asset ATM operators are choosing to halt their operations to comply with the new regulation. Singapore’s largest crypto ATM operator, Daenerys & Co, told the outlet that the new MAS guidelines “came to an unexpected surprise.” The company added that it will keep the ATMs closed while it seeks clarification from the central bank.

Another local ATM operator, Deodi Pte, announced this week via its website that it has closed its only cryptocurrency ATM in accordance with guidelines. More than 100 companies provide crypto-related services in Singapore, noted Bloomberg.

In the newly announced guidelines, the MAS had highlighted that “providing in-person access” to cryptocurrency trading services “through the use of automated teller machines (ATMs)” represents a form of DPT service promotion. They had also indicated that the convenient access could motivate users to trade cryptocurrencies “on impulse, without taking into account the risks”.

It should be noted that these types of ATMs offer users a quick and easy way to trade cryptocurrencies. Through these devices, people can buy assets such as Bitcoin or Ethereum in exchange for cash.

Governments Turn their Attention to Crypto Advertising

This is not the first time that the central bank of Singapore has carried out efforts that could be interpreted as a crackdown on the digital currency sector. Last year, MAS had warned Binance and other cryptocurrency trading platforms with a presence in the nation that they were operating without the required license.

However, the latest measures have caused surprises for some; especially because of the positive climate that had been glimpsed in the country. Singapore-based fintech startup Coincub had named Singapore the most crypto-friendly country in December, due to its “good legislative environment” and “high cryptocurrency adoption rate.”

The new regulation for the promotion of crypto services in the Asian nation comes at a time when regulators in several countries are enforcing stricter measures for cryptocurrency advertising. Just this week, authorities in Spain and the UK strengthened their rules governing advertisements related to digital currencies.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Grand View Research projects the global bitcoin ATM market to grow nearly 60% per year. Bitcoin ATMs would be more concentrated in restaurants, hotels, and shopping malls.

The size of the global cryptocurrency ATM market would grow by 59.2% per year, at least from 2022 to 2028, market research agency Grand View Research revealed on 17th June. January would become the month for the industry to reach a valuation of USD 1,880 million.

The reasons behind this projection are the constant increase in the number of new users of cryptocurrencies and the subsequent need for ATMs to convert them into fiat money, as reported.

One of the reasons that encourage the boost of bitcoin ATMs is that they allow users to buy cryptocurrency with cash from a reliable source. This usage is also easier for users looking for more traditional methods and avoiding online platforms from home or anywhere.

Likewise, crypto businesses from the cell phone stand out. The company mentioned that, during last March, 62% of the people worldwide used computers or tablets to exchange bitcoins and 34% cell phones.

The company declared that the increasing penetration of smartphones is one of the main factors that accentuate the growth that currently impacts the market. The company exposed this idea because mobile devices allow users to take advantage of ATM capabilities, such as scanning a QR code to provide a bitcoin address instead of typing the code.

Something that could also encourage ATM’s use is that, in countries like Spain, there are ATM companies that do not request personal data to use them. This is the case of the bitcoin ATMs that will receive its activation in Carrefour shopping centers in Spain. This information might differ from Chivo ATMs in El Salvador because they ask for private information.

Bitcoin ATMs will Increase in Shopping Malls

Grand View Research highlighted that the bitcoin ATM market was globally worth $75 million last year. The company stated that the hardware segment became the leader of the cryptocurrency ATM market in 2021.

About the spots where bitcoin ATMs have gained the most ground, restaurants, hotels, and hospitality sites stand out. Second, there are the shopping malls and transportation stations. The agency estimates that commercial spaces are the segment that will grow the fastest.

The agency stated that many commercial space operators are aggressively trying to provide cryptocurrency ATM services to their customers as part of efforts to improve their services. An example of this effort is the 200 bitcoin ATMs launched by the Walmart supermarket chain.

The market got dominated by North America with a revenue share of more than 45% generated mainly by the United States, the research agency said; although it is also gaining a presence in Spanish-speaking countries, such as Uruguay, Panama, El Salvador, and Spain, the latter of which stands out for its greater dominance.

By: Jenson Nuñez