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Galoy Newsletter #5: Fee structures research, Plan ₿, Lightning Hackday IST

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Galoy Research: Self-Balancing Fee Structures for Inbound Liquidity

Nicolas Burtey and Galoy data scientist José Rojas Echenique dig into fee structures for Bitcoin banks in a new research paper published this week. They propose a dynamic fee structure to ensure each user is charged the right fees regardless of how they are using liquidity. Read an overview on the Galoy blog or download the full text on Github.

Updates from #LightningHackdayIST

Lightning devs convened in Istanbul for two days of presentations and project hacking. Carla Kirk-Cohen, Nicolas Burtey and Rene Pickhardt shared ideas on where the Lightning Network is today, and where it’s headed. Watch the presentations and listen to the Twitter Spaces Recap. 

Plan ₿: City of Lugano, Switzerland adopts Bitcoin

Tether and the City of Lugano are partnering to bring Bitcoin and Lightning to Lugano (the project also includes Tether, and select CHF-based stablecoins). The plan includes the creation of a physical hub as well as funding to support business adoption and attract talent to the city. Per the press release, “Lightning Network will be one of the solutions that the City, with the support of Tether, will integrate into the services.” Watch the full announcement on YouTube.

Stripe moves to integrate Bitcoin 

Stripe announced a “crypto toolkit for businesses” that allows clients to integrate Bitcoin and crypto onramps and offramps that benefit from the company’s fraud protection and regulatory compliance tools. The move comes five months after the company assembled a dedicated cryptocurrency engineering team. 

Open Source community is making leaps in decentralized Bitcoin privacy solution

Coinjoins are an important tool for using Bitcoin privately, however centralized coordinators like Wasabi or Samourai can easily become a target for regulators, which recently happened. Fortunately, the more decentralized Coinjoin implementation Joinmarket has recently attracted open source devs to work on a user-friendly Web UI called “JAM” to make it more accessible. A promising Alpha is already available in the latest release of the Raspiblitz node implementation.  


SatsXSW Hackathon at Pleblab in Austin 

The SatsXSW Hackathon brought developers together in Austin during SXSW to build on Bitcoin and Lightning. Nifty from Blockstream – who gave a presentation at the event – shared a tweet thread of some of the projects presented on Sunday. View the winners and watch video on thrillerbitcoin.com.

Bitcoin Developers Academy

Bitcoin application developer Fodé Diop from Senegal announced that Bitcoin Developers Academy will be launched on April 11. “Any student with an open mind and a laptop” will have the opportunity to learn how to develop Bitcoin applications with the future-proof Rust programming language in the self-paced course. Over 1,100 students already enrolled according to Diop, who recently shared an AMA on the Academy’s YouTube Channel. Students are advised to learn the first 8 chapters of the Rust Book in preparation for the academy.

Block receives backlash for plans to add a fingerprint sensor on its wallet

The March update for Block’s wallet project outlines plans to build a screenless device that uses a rechargeable lithium polymer battery and USB-C port. It also includes plans to add a fingerprint sensor as a means to reduce friction for the user. The Bitcoin community has pushed back on the fingerprint sensor, citing security concerns. 

The Head of Decentralized Identity at Block hopped in to combat the fingerprint FUD: 

“Check Your Financial Privilege” – a new book from Alex Gladstein

For years, Gladstein’s articles have made the case for Bitcoin as a tool for Human Rights. His new book culminates two years of reporting into a single text. Check out his announcement thread and order the book on Amazon. 

Institutions are bullish on Bitcoin, but ETFs still face uphill battle

Credit Suisse contributor Zoltan Pozsar published a report called “Bretton Woods III” that examines the downstream effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the financial system. The report ends with a nod to Bitcoin: “After this war is over, ‘money’ will never be the same again…and Bitcoin (if it still exists then) will probably benefit from all this.” 

The SEC declined spot ETF applications for both NYDIG and Global X Bitcoin Trust after deferring on a decision several times in the last year. Grayscale is still trying to convert its Bitcoin Trust into a spot BTC ETF – a decision is expected to come by July 6. 

Biden Administration publishes Executive Order on crypto 

The Executive Order outlines the US interest in “responsible financial innovation, expanding access to safe and affordable financial services, and reducing the cost of domestic and cross-border funds transfers and payments, including through the continued modernization of public payment systems.” The order has been received positively by Bitcoiners, as it appears to take a measured approach rather than an attempt to hastily over-regulate the industry. Read Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer’s take:

Bitcoin dodges ban by European Parliament

A proposal to ban blockchains that rely on Proof-of-Work was rejected in a vote by the Parliament of the EU. The proposal pushed forward by parties on the left of the political spectrum caused a lot of uproar in the Bitcoin community after it had been snuck into the MICA regulation last minute. Fortunately, the proposal was rejected with 32 votes against and 24 in favor. 

Join the Team: Galoy is Hiring!

Join our growing, global team of Bitcoiners who are working to make it easy for communities, companies and governments around the world to use Bitcoin as money.

We’ll leave you with the latest version of “Pump It Up” from Bilal Goregen.

Thanks for tuning in; see you next month!

Header photo credit: @fulmolightning

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