April Newsletter
Bitcoin Headlines
Feeling time-poor and want to listen to (rather than read) the latest bitcoin news? We hear you! You can listen to the Australian Bitcoin Podcast's most recent news episodes for a summary of the stories below (Episode 14 and Episode 16).
Global News
- Central African Republic has become the first country in Africa to adopt bitcoin as a payment currency
- Prospera, a jurisdiction on the Roatán island off of the northern coast of Honduras, and Madeira, an autonomous region in Portugal, are adopting bitcoin as legal tender
- Fort Worth, Texas becomes the first city government to mine bitcoin
- Sri Lanka defaults on US$51 billion external debt, calls it a 'last resort' as their country runs out of foreign exchange
- Germany's annual PPI jumps to 30.9% in March, the highest since 1949
- United States annual CPI hits 8.5% in March, the highest in 40 years
- US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen presents for 30 minutes about bitcoin and digital currencies, with a surprisingly informed and positive take on bitcoin
- Strike partners with Shopify, NCR, and Blackhawk bringing Lightning payments to most American retail stores
- Fidelity (a US investment firm) manages US$2.7 trillion in pension assets and is now allowing their clients to invest in bitcoin; and MicroStrategy is the first company to offer bitcoin in their employee pension funds through Fidelity
- US bank Morgan Stanley reports the bitcoin Lightning Network is superior in terms of transaction speed and cost when compared to payment giants like Visa
- Tesla, Block, and Blockstream to establish 100% solar-powered bitcoin mine in Texas
- The Tennessee Titans are the first NFL team to essentially adopt a bitcoin standard
Australian News
- Australia's annual CPI hits 5.1% in March
- Australia's first two bitcoin spot ETFs are scheduled for release in April, with more planned in future
- Australian Financial Watchdog unveils cryptocurrency regulations road-map
- AUSTRAC releases two guides to help cryptocurrency service providers mitigate illicit activity
- OTR accepting bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments in all stores starting in July
- Bengal Energy, a Canadian oil and gas business, is mining bitcoin using untapped energy from Australian gas wells
Technical
- Bitcoin Lightning Network grew by 750% during 2021 and recently achieved an all-time-high channel capacity of 3700 BTC
- Over 65% of all bitcoin has not moved in over a year - the highest amount on record
- Bitcoin mining hash rate reaches new all-time-high (~223EH/s)
- Taro (Taproot Asset Representation Overlay), a new bitcoin proposal, enables the issuance of tokens (eg, stablecoins or alternative cryptocurrencies) on the bitcoin and Lightning networks
- Intel launches their new (second generation) bitcoin ASIC mining chip
- Taiwan's TSMC raises US$3.5 billion for new ASIC chip foundry in Arizona to further decentralize bitcoin miner manufacturing; they plan to spend $12 billion in total
- A new free bitcoin wallet calculator tool was released, which helps to experiment and learn how bitcoin wallets (including keys, receiving addresses, etc) are generated using different sources of entropy
Price Analysis – While Some Things Change, Some Things Stay The Same
During April, bitcoin’s price declined from an initial high of AU$63,339 to the monthly low of AU$52,108. In the final two weeks of April, the price fluctuated in a range between AU$52,500 and AU$56,700 until closing the month at around AU$54,250. The overall chart pattern still appears bullish, with another higher low being set during April compared to the previous months of January, February, and March.
On a Lighter Note - Experts Have Pronounced Bitcoin Dead Over 447 Times
Sideways and downward price movements can be nerve-wracking, especially when the mainstream narrative is full of claims that bitcoin has died (or will soon)!
It's helpful to remember noteworthy 'expert' bitcoin skeptics have incorrectly made such statements at least 447 times since bitcoin began.
Check out the Bitcoin Obituaries website for a full listing of alleged bitcoin deaths!