Bitcoin awaits major network upgrade – Crypto weekly update

This week, the total market capitalization exceeded 1.37 trillion EUR. Increase at the 7-day interval is 3.8 %. Bitcoin increased by 5.25 % during the week to a current value of over 33,000 EUR. Bitcoin dominance is 45.2 %.

Bitcoin awaits most significant update in recent years

It’s finally here. Bitcoin’s first upgrade after four years was approved earlier this week by miners all around the world. Upgrade, called Taproot, should be implemented into the network after block 709 632 will be mined – approximately on 14 November.

Taproot is Bitcoin’s most anticipated upgrade since Segregated Witness (SegWit) in 2017. Whereas the main focus of SegWit was scaling the Bitcoin protocol, Taproot will outfit Bitcoin with a new signature scheme known as Schnorr signatures. New Schnorr signatures scheme will replace Bitcoin’s current elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA).

The Taproot upgrade should ensure that the privacy and efficiency of transactions are increased. In addition, Taproot should contribute to reducing network transaction fees and increasing security.

The next phase of activation is basically a five-month waiting period. During this time, miners and nodes will have ample opportunity to update their software to Bitcoin Core 0.21.1, the newest version of Bitcoin Core that contains activation logic for the Taproot soft fork. Source

Tesla rethinks bitcoin’s re-acceptance

Tesla CEO Elon Musk annouced on Sunday via social network Twitter that the company will resume bitcoin transactions once it confirms there is reasonable clean energy usage by miners.

Elon Musk says that if it is confirmed that miners are using more than 50 % of clean energy to mine Bitcoin with the potential to increase that number in the coming period, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions.

Musk was reacting to comments from Magda Wierzycka, CEO of South African asset manager Sygnia, who said that Musk’s tweets on bitcoin prices were “market manipulation” and would have triggered an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission if they had been about a publicly listed company.

Tesla suspended Bitcoin acceptance as a payment method in mid-May due to the environmental impacts of Bitcoin mining. Source

Second-oldest U.S. bank set up a digital unit focused on cryptocurrencies

U.S. Bank State Street, the second-oldest U.S. bank, plans to set up a “digital unit” to focus on cryptocurrency endeavors. The statement comes shortly after the bank officially announced that they will enable crypto trading through its platform.

State Street Digital comes after the enhanced appetite from customers, whose demand towards digital assets has increased by 300% in the past few months.

The division’s person in charge Nadine Chakar also said that the new initiative will be the result of a collaboration between the large bank and several academic organizations, and local regulators, she explained.

Several banks in America have changed their tune on cryptocurrencies in the past several months. Banks like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley have already joined or are planning to join the digital asset space. Source

Microstrategy increased its stock offering

In last week’s review of the cryptocurrency market we informed you that Microstrategy plans to buy Bitcoins for debt – through foreign funds. On Monday, the company definitively ended the process of selling so-called “secured notes” worth $500 million (€410 million), which it is investing in buying Bitcoins.

However, that is not all. In addition, Microstrategy has filled with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, plans to proceed the sale of class A common stocks worth $1 billion (€820 million ) in the near term, and the proceeds, if complete, will be used towards ‘general purposes,’ which may include additional investment in Bitcoin.

The company currently owns more than 92,000 BTC, which is likely to soon be added another $500 million (€410 million) purchase of Bitcoin. Source

Solana expands

Solana Labs, the blockchain development studio devoted to incubating Solana projects, announced Wednesday that it had raised $314.15 million (€263 million) through a private token sale — marking one of the largest private sales of the year.

The funding will be used to bootstrap existing and forthcoming decentralized applications and platforms building on Solana. It will also be used to establish a venture investing arm and trading desk dedicated to the Solana network.

Solana has received considerable attention of late, with dozens of decentralized finance projects having launched on its platform since March. Among the most popular projects on Solana blockchain are, for example, decentralized exchange Serum or NFT marketplace Metaplex. Source

David Guetta sells his luxury apartment for cryptocurrencies

Renowned French DJ David Guetta has put his luxury apartment on Miami Beach up for sale and will accept payments cryptocurrencies.

The three-bedroom 2,528 square foot beachfront property is on the 37th floor of the luxury Setai Residences condominium complex and is on sale for $14 million (€11.7 million), or around 380 BTC.

This isn’t Guetta’s first crypto move. In September, the DJ signed a partnership with decentralized virtual reality platform Sensorium Galaxy, which focuses on the development of virtual reality. Source

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