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Galoy Newsletter #2: Galoy Raises $3m Seed Round, Adopting Bitcoin Videos, Lightning Network News

51 recorded talks and panels from Adopting Bitcoin have been published to BitcoinTV. Spiral, Lightning Labs and Voltage built tools to help Lightning developers and node runners. Stripe co-founder signaled increased interest in Lightning.

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Galoy Raises $3m Seed Round

Galoy announced a $3m seed round led by Craft Ventures. The investment is fueling the Galoy mission of making it simple for communities and institutions to use Bitcoin as money. LFG!

Adopting Bitcoin Videos are Here!

The Adopting Bitcoin Lightning Summit was home to two full days of talks and panels. Each day featured an Economic track and a Development track. The videos are now live on BitcoinTV:

Day 1 – Econ track
Day 1 – Dev track
Day 2 – Econ track
Day 2 – Dev track

Lightning Network News and Developments

Devs make it easier to use and build on Lightning

In order for the Lightning Network to continue its rapid growth trajectory, it will need to attract new developers and node runners. Luckily, leading Lightning companies have been shipping updates and tools that improve the experience of using Lightning. 

Spiral (previously Square Crypto) published a video highlighting the Lightning Development Kit, or LDK. As puppet Jack shares; “LDK makes it easy for any developer in the world to build a wallet.” You can also check out Conor Okus presenting LDK and BDK (Bitcoin Development Kit) at Adopting Bitcoin. 

Lightning Labs announced Lightning Terminal, a simple web UI for node operators to improve the quality and liquidity of their node. Tools like Lightning Terminal and the Voltage Flow Dashboard – also released this month – are lowering barriers, improving the experience and enabling efficiency for developers and node operators.

Bitcoin Beach Wallet adds Lightning Addresses with help from the open source community

22 days after Nicolas Burtey tweeted asking the community for help implementing LNURL in the Bitcoin Beach Wallet, @fiatjaf shared news of the update on twitter. Now, any Bitcoin Beach Wallet user can add “@ln.bitcoinbeach.com” to the end of their username to get paid from any external wallet that supports paying to a Lightning Address.

This. Is. The. Way. 👏👏👏

Bitcoin communities come online around the world

The notion of building bottom-up circular economies on Bitcoin is picking up momentum. Be sure to follow, support and donate to these projects that are driving adoption within their local communities:

  • Bitcoin Lake. A project around Lake Atitlan in Guatemala that is rolling out its program in a local school in January. Listen to Patrick from Bitcoin Lake give an update on the latest episode of “Adopting Bitcoin, A Convo with Galoy.”
  • Bitcoin Ekasi. Bitcoin Ekasi is a circular bitcoin economy being developed in coordination with an established surf program in Mossel Bay, South Africa. Follow @BitcoinEkasi for updates. (“Ekasi” is derived from the Afrikaans word “lokasie,” meaning location)
  • “Bitcoin Island.” The unofficial name for Lord Fusitu’a’s project to bring Bitcoin to Tonga has been taking off recently. Join “Liquidity for Tonga” on Telegram to help bring liquidity into the country’s first nodes.
  • Bitcoin Jungle. A brand-new community initiative in Costa Rica using the Galoy platform to onboard the town of Uvita. See the team introduce the Bitcoin Jungle mobile wallet at a farmer’s market.

Do you know of other developing projects? Tag @GaloyMoney on twitter so we can help spread the word.

Bitcoin and Lightning gain attention and momentum

NYDIG raised $1 billion at a $7 billion valuation, marking “what appears to be the largest funding round in crypto history.” Probably nothing. 

Normies are taking notice and taking action. Visa announced a new global crypto advisory service to help “further mainstream adoption of bitcoin and other digital currencies.” And John Collison, co-founder of Stripe, shared that he’s interested in the potential of Lightning as a payment method. As Nicolas Burtey pointed out, this puts Stripe in a difficult position. 

Aarika Rhodes became the first US Congressional candidate to enable Lightning donations this month. Aarika is a California Democrat running to unseat the anti-Bitcoin Brad Sherman (the mongoose coin guy). Send Aarika sats to show support for pro-Bitcoin politicians.

The Sats Center, a non-profit business league, announced its formation on December 9 at the Southwest Bitcoin Network Christmas Party. Sats Center is a Bitcoin-only advocacy organization that will provide education to the public, elected officials, and regulators who want to learn about how Bitcoin can empower economic advancement and financial inclusion. Galoy is proud to be a founding member alongside Riot Blockchain, Casa, Trammell Venture Partners, Bitcoin Magazine and many other leading Bitcoin companies.

Adopting Bitcoin: A Convo with Galoy

Join us at 1PM EST (18:00 UTC) today, Thursday, December 16th, for a conversation with Fulgur Ventures about the Roads to Hyperbitcoinization. Set a reminder on Twitter. These spaces are recorded and posted online for those who miss the live discussion.

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