It's no secret that Jack Dorsey is a big fan of Bitcoin (his Twitter bio only contains a bitcoin hashtag, for example), and so it's likewise no surprise that his companies have started dabbling with the popular cryptocurrency. In his latest statement about the crypto, Dorsey said it is possible Square may make its own "Bitcoin mining system" that utilizes open-source software.
An update to Valve's rules for games on Steam effectively bans all Blockchain games that use cryptocurrencies or NFTs. This is GOOD news if you're a cryptocurrency or NFT holder, at the moment, as it represents another public acknowledgement of the real-world value of cryptocurrencies and NFTs alike.
Coinbase has announced plans to make NFTs more approachable for the general public. Though the new NFT platform isn't available right now, Coinbase has launched a waitlist for those who are interested in trying it out for themselves. Among other things, Coinbase says its NFT platform will include social features, centralized showcases, and discovery features.
We're a little more than two weeks away from FanDome 2021, a free virtual fan event for DC fans. This year's event comes with something special: DC's first batch of NFTs, a collection that is made possible in partnership with Palm NFT Studio. DC fans will be able to get at least two NFT collectibles from the collection.
The People's Bank of China just released a note that effectively outlawed cryptocurrency in China. This note was issued to "the people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities under the Central Government, and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. That's basically everyone in China - every Chinese citizen, anyway. They're targeting what they're called "virtual currency trading hype activities" of all sorts.
Twitter started using Bitcoin this week with the addition of a feature called Tips. You might've seen Tips in Twitter before when it was called "Tip Jar" - now it's just Tips. This Tips feature also just rolled out to all iOS users around the world - and Android is next.
As of the 7th of September, 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as legal tender. "For the first time in history, all the eyes of the world will be on El Salvador," said El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, "The bitcoin achieved this." Officials in the country hope that Bitcoin will open opportunities for new business in the country, "reduce costs and attract tourists from anywhere in the world."
Space Jam: A New Legacy, a sequel to the original 1996 movie made for the next generation of fans, will arrive in theaters and on HBO Max starting later this week. Among the promotions for the movie are tens of thousands of NFTs in the style of old-school lenticular sports cards. Though some of the NFTs are already sold out, many others remain available.
An NFT called "Source Code for the WWW" was sold on June 30, 2021 for a winning bid of 5,435,500 USD. This NFT was created by Tim Berners-Lee, the writer of the code that would become the internet. This NFT (non-fungible token) is roughly the equivalent of if Jonas Salk had at some point written down the formulation and production processes for his polio vaccine and put said piece of paper up for auction.
Chinese government officials cut power to cryptocurrency mining operations on Monday morning, resulting to an immediate drop in price for the coin and related cryptocurrency. This is the latest in a line of similar targeted operations in China aimed at cutting down on mining operations throughout the country here in the year 2021. Officials suggested this year that cracking down on crypto mining is aimed at bringing the country closer to environmental goals as a significant amount of the energy used was (and continues to be) generated by coal power stations.
Jack Dorsey revealed that Square was considering creating a Bitcoin hardware wallet this week. He suggested that "if we do it", they'll build it "in the open, from software to hardware design, and in collaboration with the community." Jack suggested that if they do it, they'll do it with principals like "bitcoin is for everyone" and "no keys, no cheese."
Christies is set to auction several Andy Warhol digital works of art on the NFT blockchain. This would at first seem like the perfect opportunity to demonstrate how an NFT could be used to buy and sell art that would otherwise seem ephemeral. There's just one problem: The files described by the auction are not the originals they profess to be - they couldn't be.