The 🐐

Presidio Bitcoin has been in the works the past 10 months. Wences Casares and Mark Casey approached me wanting to give back to bitcoin. I reached out to several others (@HBerkoe, @Martellfox, @MaxAWebster, @dksf, @bobscully, JD, @_austin_f), had many conversations, and we came up with Presidio Bitcoin. An overarching goal of the space is to be a bridge between Silicon Valley and bitcoin, two communities that often seem to misunderstand each other. Presidio Bitcoin will offer a space for big tech companies, local universities like Stanford and Berkeley, and organizations like EFF to learn more about bitcoin and appreciate how bitcoin is distinct from cRYpTo and web3. We envision this as a vibrant space for bitcoin developers and entrepreneurs to work from everyday. In fact, we have been living that the past 3 months during our build out with a regular base of 15 people working here. We also expect it to be THE hub for out of town bitcoiner visitors and local bitcoin-curious folks. We've already had ~100 different people visiting so far and hosted 2 events. Many more events to come including technical seminars, developer hackathons, the intersection of AI and bitcoin, innovation on bitcoin, freedom money initiatives, and policy discussion. All of this wrapped up in a delightful package with this view from every single desk and conference room within the space.

Kudos @DavidSacks, you delivered.

Today we're announcing that Tether is coming to bitcoin and Lightning! 💸⚡ With the security and decentralization of bitcoin and the speed and scalability of Lightning, USDT will bring hundreds of millions of users and trillions in volume. It all comes back to bitcoin.

Tether 🧡 Bitcoin Tether Brings USDt to Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, Ushering in a New Era of Unstoppable Technology Read more: tether.io/news/tether-brings…

TETHER ANNOUNCES USDT WILL RETURN TO BITCOIN VIA TAPROOT ASSETS

Newcomers to Bitcoin may not understand why old timers care so much about Ross Ulbricht. Let me explain. He embodied the ethos of early Bitcoin more than anyone. He was an entrepreneur who created a thriving marketplace. He believed in radical freedom, including the freedom to trade anything with anyone else so long as it was peaceful and voluntary. He regularly wrote about his views on freedom and why he built the first truly successful Bitcoin business - the Silk Road. He wanted to created a better world and believed his principles deeply. Politicians like Schumer targeted both Silk Road AND Bitcoin as criminal enterprises that needed to be shut down. When he was convicted the judge and the establishment threw the book at him. He was a first time, non violent criminal and they locked him up and effectively threw away the key. In the early Bitcoin community we all felt how unjust this was. It was like they were locking up one of our own out of spite for what we all believed was a peaceful revolution. Now tens of millions of people own Bitcoin and many just because of Number Go Up. Never forget there was a deeper purpose here and that getting rich is a nice side effect of that greater purpose. Fix the money, fix the world.

Ross was just granted a FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL PARDON by @realDonaldTrump. Words cannot express how grateful we are. President Trump is a man of his word and he just saved Ross's life. ROSS IS A FREE MAN!!!!!

Let's talk Bitcoin and taxes. While discussions about establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve often generate excitement, the reality is that tax policy will have a far greater impact on Bitcoin's future adoption and integration into the global economy. To understand this, it's helpful to look at historical precedent. The early internet, a revolutionary technology much like Bitcoin, thrived in part due to favorable tax policies. By creating a relatively low-tax environment for internet-based businesses and online transactions, the US government fostered innovation and investment in this nascent technology. This allowed the internet to flourish and become the ubiquitous force it is today. A similar approach could be transformative for Bitcoin. A key factor to consider is the impact of the capital gains tax on capital formation. This tax, levied on the profit from the sale of an asset, can significantly discourage investment and economic activity. When individuals and businesses are faced with a substantial tax burden on their profits, they are less likely to take risks and invest in new ventures. This directly hinders capital formation, the process of accumulating capital for investment and growth. Consider the examples of Singapore and Dubai. Both have experienced astonishing economic growth in recent decades, and a significant contributing factor is their absence of a capital gains tax. This creates a powerful incentive for capital formation, as investors are able to retain a greater portion of their profits, encouraging them to reinvest and further stimulate economic activity. This same principle can be applied to Bitcoin. Currently, the capital gains tax creates a significant barrier to Bitcoin's widespread adoption in everyday commerce. Every time someone uses Bitcoin to buy a cup of coffee, a new taxable event is triggered. This necessitates meticulous record-keeping and creates a huge accounting hassle for Bitcoin users, making it impractical for frequent transactions. Imagine having to track and calculate the capital gains on every single purchase you make with your debit card! However, by dramatically reducing or even eliminating the capital gains tax on Bitcoin transactions, its adoption would greatly accelerate. People would be far more likely to use Bitcoin for everyday purchases if they didn't have to worry about the complex tax implications of each transaction. This would unlock Bitcoin’s potential as a truly peer-to-peer electronic cash system and drive its integration into mainstream commerce. In his first term, Trump promised he would consider capital gains tax reform, yet he left the marginal capital gains rate at 23.8%, almost 60% higher than it was under President G.W. Bush. This was not entirely Trump's fault, because he inherited this tax rate from Obama. Yet, he did nothing to remedy the damage done. In his second term, President Trump has the opportunity to provide significant relief on capital gains. There is no policy proposal that would turbocharge US growth, and accelerate Bitcoin's adoption more than an abolition of the capital gains tax. Even a significant cut in the capital gains tax would have an enormous impact. A strategic Bitcoin reserve, while potentially beneficial for the state through its tremendous growth in value, primarily serves the interests of the government itself. In contrast, a significant reduction in the capital gains tax on Bitcoin transactions would have a far broader and more profound impact. This policy change would directly benefit the entire nation by stimulating economic activity, encouraging innovation, and fostering wider adoption of Bitcoin. It would empower individuals and businesses to more freely engage with this technology, driving its integration into everyday commerce and unlocking its full potential as a tool for economic growth and financial freedom. @CynthiaMLummis @DonaldJTrumpJr @berniemoreno @EricTrump @RandPaul @DavidSacks @howardlutnick @DavidFBailey @PatrickMcHenry @tedcruz @elonmusk @VivekGRamaswamy

We did it. #Bitcoin 100k. Shout out to everyone who never stopped believing.

⚡️Nodeless Lightning⚡️ @tankredhase's StashPay uses the Breez SDK - Nodeless (@Liquid_BTC implementation) to provide bitcoin payments for its users. @MiyaharaUmi shares in this video how it all works — featuring @SATO_Compute's @ClubMiningApp 👇 twitter.com/MiyaharaUmi/stat…

today we're excited to announce the mainnet release of end-to-end Taproot Assets integration w/ the Lightning Network! 💱🌐⚡ with this release, the Lightning Network evolves into a global currency agnostic payment layer, all backed by #Bitcoin Backbone of the network 🚊

Jealous! Miss you guys and wish I was there!

Today we're excited to release LND 0.17: Tapping into Taproot! 🥕 Featuring: Simple Taproot Channels enabling a lower cost and more private LN 🔮 Faster Neutrino syncs for mobile development ⏩ More efficient Watchtowers 🗼 Read more and upgrade today: lightning.engineering/posts/…

1/ 🎉Exciting news! Announcing the VLS Beta release (vls.tech/posts/vls-beta) - a significant step towards improved Lightning Network security 🥳 We invite Bitcoin Lightning devs and companies to explore VLS and help shape its future with their feedback. 👨‍💻👩‍💻

Today we're excited to announce the newest version of Taproot Assets 🥕, a scalable protocol to issue assets on #bitcoin and Lightning. With this release, developers have the core set of features to bitcoinize the dollar in a chain-efficient manner! 💸⛓️ lightning.engineering/posts/…

To realize the Lightning⚡ economy, it has to be easy for developers. Lightning as a Service (LaaS) lets anyone access #Bitcoin payments from any app thanks to the revolutionary Breez SDK. Now build 🔨🔨🔨 Read more here 👇 medium.com/breez-technology/…

🔔 The time has come! 🔔 ⚡ Announcing RLS: River Lightning Services ⚡ 🔌 A Lightning Network gateway designed to power the next generation of payments 🇸🇻 RLS is proud to power LN transactions for El Salvador’s Chivo wallet Let’s go 👉 rls.dev

Today we're excited to announce the initial code for Taro 🍠, a new protocol to issue and transfer assets on #bitcoin and Lightning 🔜. With this release, we're one step closer to bitcoinizing the dollar, and the global financial system! 🌍💱 lightning.engineering/posts/…

Hi All, I recently joined @Blockstream as Frontend Engineer. Thrilled to work full time on #LightningNetwork applications, thanks to @Blockstream. Special thanks to @Suheb__ for supporting me in making this dream come true.