The New York-based property management company – Magnum Real Estate Group – would accept Bitcoin (BTC) as a payment method for the sale of three ground-level shops worth nearly $30 million located in Manhattan.
In addition, the Autism Science Foundation (ASF) announced it would allow people to make cryptocurrency donations. Initially, the non-profit organization would accept the following digital assets: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), USD Coin (USDC), and Dai (DAI).
BTC Invading The Real Estate Industry
According to a recent report, one of the leading American property management firms – Magnum Real Estate Group – would enable buyers to use bitcoin for the purchase of three ground-level shops worth $29 million. BitPay – a bitcoin payment service provider – would process the future cryptocurrency transactions.
The shopping center, also known as CODA, is located on the luxurious part of Manhattan – 385 First Avenue. It covers over 9,000 square feet of space and consists of M&T Bank, clinic ProHEALTH Urgent Care, and restaurant Mighty Pita.
Ben Shaoul – Managing Partner of Magnum Real Estate – pointed out that his firm has experience with digital assets as it has previously sold apartments using this payment method.
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In his turn, Sonny Singh – Chief Commercial Officer of BitPay – explained that potential buyers from every part of the globe, including those from Hong Kong or mainland China, can use bitcoin to purchase the property:
“The beauty of crypto is that it is a global digital asset. The buyer simply scans a QR code to pay.”
If someone pays the $29 million in BTC, the deal would mark the most expensive transaction in the real estate industry purchased with crypto. As of the moment, the record belongs to a deluxe penthouse in Miami Beach. In June this year, an anonymous buyer paid a whopping $22.5 million in digital assets to acquire the oceanfront condo.
New York City. Source: Street Easy
ASF Accepts Crypto Donations
Another example of cryptocurrency adoption came from the Autism Science Foundation. The non-profit organization that supports the lives of children and adults suffering from the disease announced that it now accepts donations for its cause in seven different digital assets. Namely, those are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Bitcoin Cash, USD Coin, and Dai.
Alison Singer – Co-Founder and President of the ASF – raised hopes that the new opportunity could turn to be highly beneficial for the people in need:
“We are thrilled to expand our fundraising mechanisms to now include cryptocurrency, which allows both individuals and corporations yet another way to make a meaningful difference in the lives of people with autism.”
She also mentioned the Wall Street Rides FAR (WSRF) fundraiser. Many prominent crypto companies such as Gemini, BlockFi, FTX, Paxos, and Fireblocks have vowed to sponsor the upcoming annual charity cycling and walking event that has raised more than $2 million for the ASF to date.
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El Salvador has now marked its 10th day of bitcoin being legal tender in the country. This is a huge milestone that could not have been predicted to happen this soon. But as with bitcoin, everything is happening on an accelerated timeline. The country had introduced its own government-backed crypto wallet named Chivo in order to enable its citizenry to spend bitcoin in the country.
The adoption of this wallet was incentivized by the El Salvadoran government, which said that it was giving away $30 in BTC to every citizen 14 and above who downloaded the Chivo app. This announcement had come about a month before the law went into full effect and as of September 7th, El Salvador became the first sovereign nation to accept a cryptocurrency as legal tender.
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One important point remained if the citizens of the country would actually assimilate into using bitcoin as a way of buying and selling. This is because BTC is not the only legal tender in the country. It operates alongside the U.S. dollar, which is already familiar to the residents. According to a recent tweet by President Nayib Bukele, it looks like El Salvadorans are adapting to using the crypto as legal tender just fine.
17% Of El Salvadorans Have Downloaded Chivo Wallet
The president took to his Twitter account to announce that 17% of the country had now downloaded the government-backed Chivo wallet. This number translated to about 1.1 million citizens who have already downloaded the wallet.
This comes only 10 days after the country had officially started using BTC as legal tender. The president added that this number was despite the fact that 65% of all of the smartphones in the country do not support the wallet. Yet they were recording an impressive number of downloads.
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El Salvador might not be seeing the smoothest transition to using BTC as a legal form of currency in the country but the current numbers show that its citizens are adjusting to the new normal. The $30 incentive for downloading the wallet is paid after a user registers and confirms their identity on the app.
Paying With Bitcoin
Paying with bitcoin in El Salvador is getting easier as outlets implement bitcoin payments. Big franchises like McDonald’s and Starbucks have already begun accepting bitcoin payments on “Bitcoin Day.”
Another interesting fact about using BTC in the country has to do with the number of crypto ATMs currently installed. Data shows that just behind the United States and Canada, El Salvador now ranks third in the highest number of crypto ATMs installed. The government had installed crypto ATMs across the nation to facilitate ease of use.
BTC trading north of $47K | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
Featured image from Bitcoin News, chart from TradingView.com
Cryptocurrency trader and YouTube influencer Lark Davis says Ethereum (ETH) is poised for a 190% rally en route to hitting a five-figure price.
In a new video, Davis tells his 431,000 YouTube subscribers that the second-largest crypto asset by market cap is preparing to appreciate to above $10,000 based on key fundamental factors.
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Davis says one of the reasons why Ethereum is set to more than double in price is its falling supply in exchanges.
According to Davis, the supply of the leading smart contract platform in exchanges is in a strong downtrend over the past year as holders either lock their Ethereum in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols or use their ETH to buy non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
With the supply mechanics working as they are, it’s only a matter of time before the Ethereum supply crisis ends up jacking up the price in a serious way.”
Davis also cites a tweet by blockchain intelligence platform IntoTheBlock, which says that the net amount of Ethereum exiting crypto exchanges recently reached a new record high.
“The net amount of Ethereum leaving exchanges just hit a new record. Over $1.2 billion worth of Ethereum left centralized exchanges yesterday. That is a mind-blowing number.”
The crypto trader adds that when Ethereum worth over a billion dollars previously left centralized exchanges, the price of the second-largest crypto rose by double-digit percentage points within around four weeks.
“And what’s interesting, as IntoTheBlock points out, the last time that a billion dollars or more of Ethereum left centralized exchanges, Ethereum increased by 60% within 30 days.”
Davis also says cites research by blockchain analytics firm Glassnode, which shows that a huge chunk of Ethereum’s supply has not moved within the last 90 days.
“87% of Ethereum supply has not moved on-chain for three months or longer. 87% of the supply! That is insanity”
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The crypto trader says that the lack of movement is an indication that Ethereum holders are “waiting for higher prices,” driven by among other factors, the burning of Ethereum transaction fees.
“People are holding for higher prices, they’re not selling below the previous all-time high. They know a new all-time high is coming. They know price discovery’s coming. They’re watching and seeing what is happening economically with Ethereum right now. They’re seeing how much, for example, Ethereum is being burned at the moment…
We have now had $1.1 billion worth of Ethereum burned away – 309,500 Ethereum at the time recording this video.”
Davis also says the proliferation of scaling solutions, known as layer-2 protocols, is also bullish for the second-largest crypto asset as they boost demand for Ethereum.
“We’re also seeing Ethereum layer-2s taking off now. In order to use Ethereum layer-2, you need to have Ethereum. Plain and simple. You have to have ETH to pay the gas fees on Ethereum layer-2.”
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Coming every Saturday,Hodler’s Digestwill help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.
Top Stories This Week
Cardano launches smart contracts after successful hard fork
After years of anticipation, Charles Hoskinson’s brainchild, Cardano, finally launched its smart contract functionality via the Alonzo hard fork on Monday. You’d think the result of this would be some bullish price action for ADA but, alas, itsprice dropped 10%following the rollout.
While Cardano was keen to celebrate the milestone, it also emphasized in a blog post that it’s still in the “early days” of the project, adding that now is when “the mission truly begins.”
The team also urged its community to not be overzealous in boarding the hype train just yet, and to be patient with the smart contract functionality in its formative stages:
“There are high expectations resting on this upgrade. Some unreasonably so. Cardano watchers may be expecting a sophisticated ecosystem of consumer-ready DApps available immediately after the upgrade. Expectations need to be managed here.”
Fake news: Litecoin price surges 35% following Walmart adoption hoax
While real news made the price of ADA drop, fake news made the price of Litecoin (LTC) pump this week.
Numerous publications reported Monday that Walmart planned to have a “pay with Litecoin option” for its e-commerce websites starting on Oct. 1 as part of a partnership with the Litecoin Foundation. Following the spread of the fake report, the price of LTC surged 35% before sharply falling within hours.
A spokesperson from Walmart confirmed that the news was fake within an hour, while the Litecoin Foundation’s director of marketing, Jay Milla, also told Cointelegraph that the announcement did not come from Litcecoin’s side of things.
“The Litecoin Foundation has yet to enter into a partnership with Walmart,” said Milla.
Vitalik Buterin makes list of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2021
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of this year, joining the likes of Naomi Osaka, Britney Spears, Xi Jinping and Elon Musk.
Buterin was featured in the “Innovators” section of the Time 100 list, with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian authoring his profile. Ohanian highlighted Buterin’s work in building the Ethereum network and encouraging the development of decentralized apps and NFTs.
“No one person could’ve possibly come up with all of the uses for Ethereum, but it did take one person’s idea to get it started,” Ohanian said. “From there, a new world has opened up, and given rise to new ways of leveraging blockchain technology.”
Coinbase increases junk-bond offering to $2B after investors swarm
After seeing enormous demand for its$1.5 billion junk-bondoffering that was announced on Monday, Coinbase reportedly increased the size of the sale to $2 billion.
According to a report from The Economic Times, there was at least $7 billion worth of orders that were placed in competition for seven- and 10-year bonds offering interest rates of 3.375% and 3.625%, respectively.
Coinbase stated on Monday that the raised funds will be put towards “continued investments in product developments” and “potential investments in or acquisitions of other companies, products, or technologies” in the future.
The funds might also come in handy when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, comes knocking on the door with a lawsuit if the USD coin lending program is actually launched.
US lawmakers propose adding digital assets to ‘wash sale’ rule and raising capital gains tax
Reports surfaced this week that Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives proposed tax initiatives that could swipe some extra profits from the gains of “certain high-income” crypto users.
According to a document released by the House Committee on Ways and Means on Monday, the proposal wouldincreasethe tax rate on long-term capital gains from the existing 20% to 25%.
On the same day,President Joe Bidensaid he planned to nominate acting chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Rostin Behnam, to assume the role permanently, while also naming Kristin Johnson and Christy Goldsmith Romero to fill two other vacant commissioner seats.
In a private meeting held on Sept. 8 betweenFidelity Digital AssetsPresident Tom Jessop, six of the firm’s executives and several SEC officials, the executives outlined a number of reasons why the enforcer should finally approve the Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund.
These examples included increased demand for digital assets, the prevalence of similar funds in other countries, and the rise of Bitcoin adoption — all of which sound like reasons that would fall on deaf ears for the SEC.
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin is at$46,951, Ether at$3,376and XRP at$1.07. The total market cap is at$2.11 trillion,accordingto CoinMarketCap.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Curve DAO Token(CRV)at 41.73%, Hedera Hashgraph(HBAR)at 41.16% and Avalanche(AVAX)at 33.23%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are Arweave(AR)at -19.24%, Solana(SOL)at -21.27% and Revain(REV)at -17.11%.
For more info on crypto prices, make sure to readCointelegraph’s market analysis.
Most Memorable Quotations
“Many platforms have dozens or hundreds of tokens on them. While each token’s legal status depends on its own facts and circumstances, the probability is quite remote that, with 50, 100, or 1,000 tokens, any given platform has zero securities.”
Gary Gensler, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman
“One can even see an inscription about the regulator’s obligations on the banknotes, while cryptocurrency is not backed by anything.”
Behzod Khamraev, Central Bank of Uzbekistan deputy chairman
“Advocates say crypto markets are all about financial inclusion, but the people who are most economically vulnerable are the ones who are most likely to have to withdraw their money the fastest when the market drops. […] High, unpredictable fees can make crypto trading really dangerous for people who aren’t rich.”
Elizabeth Warren, U.S. senator
“Rising valuations across asset classes, massive price swings in cryptoassets and event-driven risks observed in 1H21 amid elevated trading volumes raise questions about increased risk-taking behaviour and possible market exuberance.”
The European Securities and Markets Authority
“It’s a no-brainer that your crypto earnings are taxable like other income and should be declared in the Income Tax Returns. As of now, it is not clear whether the GST would be applied on the amount of cryptocurrency bought or on the transaction fees paid by the user.”
Nischal Shetty, WazirX CEO
“If a person has assets in Bitcoin and makes high profits, there will be no tax. This is done obviously to encourage foreign investment.”
Javier Argueta, legal adviser to El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele
“While it might be helpful for the SEC to provide advisory guidance to companies, it has no obligation to do so.”
Marc Powers, former SEC Division of Enforcement officer
“In a situation where the relevant taxation infrastructure is not sufficiently established, the deferral of taxation on virtual assets is not an option, but an inevitable situation.”
Noh Woong-rae, South Korea National Assembly member
Prediction of the Week
New Bitcoin price model suggests BTC won’t go below $39K again
Analyst William Clemente came up with a new metric for Bitcoin price boundary forecasts, posting the tool on Twitter this week. Called the “Illiquid Supply Floor,” the chart merges PlanB’s stock-to-flow metric and on-chain Bitcoin supply data from Glassnode. The result? A chart showing Bitcoin’s current price against the backdrop of possible upper and lower price range boundaries.
Bitcoin’s price rallied this week, showing recovery after the asset took a sizable dive down to the $43,000 range duringthe week of Sept. 7.
According to Clemente’s chart, the $39,000 price range could be the current bottom limit for Bitcoin’s price should it drop once again, given “a price floor based on Bitcoin’s real-time scarcity” — Clemente’s description of the lower limit on the chart.
FUD of the Week
Solana and Arbitrum knocked offline, while Ethereum evades attack
The recent Solana-rama was temporarily brought to a halt this week after the supposed “ETH killer” suffered a denial-of-service disruption for around 45 minutes.
Twitter account Solana Status explained that a large increase in transaction load to 400,000 per second overwhelmed the network, creating the denial-of-service and causing the network to start forking. The incident appears to have slightly damped enthusiasm in SOL, as the price is down 26% over the past seven days.
Ethereum layer-two rollup network Arbitrum One also reported its sequencer had gone offline for roughly 45 minutes this week, while Ethereum was also the subject of an unsuccessful node attack from an unknown identity.
OpenSea exec used the platform’s influence to pump his own NFTs
Earlier this week, OpenSea head of product Nathan Chastain was named and shamed after he was outed for hyping NFTs he purchased and then featuring them on the homepage of the popular marketplace.
While being bullish on NFTs is nothing new, getting caught for tokenized insider trading is — and Nathan Chastain is estimated to have earned at least 18.875 Ether (ETH), $65,700 at time of writing, from his antics.
OpenSea officially confirmed the accusations on Wednesday, noting that it was “incredibly disappointing,” and emphasized that the behavior did not represent the firm’s values. Chastain then proceeded to hand in his resignation the following day with his tail between his legs.
Protesters burn Bitcoin ATM as part of demonstration against El Salvador president
Anti-Bitcoiners and protesters of El Savador President Nayib Bukele’s policies destroyed a BTC ATM in the nation’s capital city on Wednesday.
Local news outlets shared images of the ATM burning in San Salvador within a crowd of journalists and protesters. The booth hosting the BTC ATM was defaced with anti-BTC graffiti and a sign saying “democracy is not for sale.”
Despite maintaining a strong approval rating, Bukele appears to have caused a stir with his forceful approach to politics. There have now been multiple protests in El Salvador regarding adoption of BTC, with activists taking the streets as early as July to voice their concerns.
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Thanks to El Salvador’s daring move, digital money looms large on global policymakers’ radars.
Fidenza: Tyler Hobbs wrote software that generates art worth millions
“I started wondering if I could write a program that would create a painting.”
The number of people believing that bitcoin could top $100,000 by the end of the year continues to grow, with the latest being Bloomberg’s Senior Commodity Strategist – Mike McGlone. By outlining the growing mass adoption, declining active supply, among other reasons, McGlone predicted that BTC could more than double its value in the next three months.
BTC to $100K: Bloomberg
This year has already been a wild roller-coaster when it comes down to BTC’s price as it surged from below $30,000 to above $60,000 for a new all-time high in a few months before crumbling back down to its 2021 entry-level.
Since those dark days in July, it has gained roughly $20,000 and currently stands just below $50,000. And, although there’re less than four months left until the end of the year, the predictions envisioning a more than 100% increase against the dollar within that time frame continue to amass.
Bloomberg’s Mike McGlone has also joined this bandwagon by outlining a few reasons. Firstly, he touched upon historical BTC trading trends before broaching the decreasing supply of the primary cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin Price Chart. Source: Bloomberg
This could be regarded from a number of viewpoints. The speed of creation of new bitcoins reduces every four years after an event called the halving. After the latest (third) one in 2020, the rate is now down to 6.25 BTC per block.
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We can also add the three million coins considered lost and unaccessible to this. Additionally, long-term holders seem determined to retain their bitcoin holdings and refuse to sell even when the price tumbles as it did earlier this month.
This also coincides to a large extent with the stock-to-flow model. By reviewing the stock as the size of existing reserves (or stockpiles) and the flow as the annual supply of BTC on the market, the S2F also envisions a $100,000 price tag per coin by the end of the year.
Adoption Has a Role Too
McGlone’s third reasoning – increasing adoption – works jointly with the decreasing supply. Basic economic principles dictate that if the supply of an asset declines, while the demand stays the same or goes higher, the price should, in theory, rise as well.
And, the demand for the primary cryptocurrency has indeed been growing lately. We have giant companies allocating billions of dollars in it, some of which pledged not to sell any portions.
Institutional investors continue to pressure large banks to provide them with regulated venues where they can receive BTC exposure. The AUM in Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust has multiplied 10-fold since late 2019.
As such, it’s not that big of a surprise that so many different people – from Jordan Belfort, Adam Back, Tom Lee to Chainalysis’ CEO believe that bitcoin could indeed go into a six-digit price territory by the end of 2021.
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Something is brewing, and those with finely tuned noses can smell it. As traders have come to expect, Bitcoin (BTC) is doing “Bitcoin things” by bouncing around between the usual “key” support and resistance levels, and to be honest, it’s all starting to feel a bit boomerish.
Bitcoin’s long-awaited “moon” depended on institutional investor buy-in, breaking the previous all-time high at $19,000, and a set of other firmly held beliefs. Well, all that happened, and the run to $64,900 exceeded many investors’ wildest dreams. But despite this, the entire BTC situation just feels predictable and boring if you are of the opinion that the top-ranked cryptocurrency will eventually top out around $100,000 in the current bull market.
So, back to what else is brewing…
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are hot, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are hot, play-to-earn gaming is hot and the Metaverse is hot.
This is where the real heads are right now — speculating, building, pondering, networking and doing shit that actually matters. And what is unique about those who are really putting in work in the trenches of crypto is that this grassroots approach and bottom-up building trend is leading to some of the space’s most groundbreaking projects.
Take Dom Hofmann’s “Loot” project as an example, or the recent Good Bridging and BridgeLoot drops in the Avalanche ecosystem.
LOOT
– randomized adventurer gear
– no images or stats. intentionally omitted for others to interpret
– no fee, just gas
– 8000 bags total
opensea: https://t.co/qSnRJ1FD0n
etherscan: https://t.co/bF9p0RSHX2
available via contract only. not audited. mint at your own risk pic.twitter.com/uLukzFayUK
— dom (@dhof) August 27, 2021
Rather than putting on a suit, throwing together some c-suite-friendly presentation and chasing after venture capital dollars, Loot was minted for free by interested participants willing to pay the gas costs, and the community ascribed value to the NFTs via OpenSea sales.
The value of new ideas was agreed upon by a flurry of discussions in Discord, and anyone with an idea was free to launch their own derivative contract where Loot holders could then replicate the minting and listing cycle again.
Will Papper’s airdrop of 10,000 Adventure Gold (AGLD) to Loot NFT holders, soon became worth over $50,000 and catapulted the entire project to stardom and into the history books. It was essentially the “YFI” of NFTs, some would say.
There’s a seismic shift at hand
What’s unique and intriguing about Loot is that it has set the precedent for what is becoming a new drop model in the space. The process involves creating a product (whether it be an NFT or a protocol), mentioning it to an interested community, and allowing them to mint tokens for free within the 7,777 to 10,000 supply range. After that, creators let the community, speculators, believers and OpenSea do the rest.
Hofmann encouraged the entire fam to do what they wanted with the project — he essentially said, “This is yours! Go and build, my children!” The anon genius behind the Good Bridging (GB) token drop also did the same but with even less guidance.
Basically, 16,000 early users of Avalanche’s Ethereum-to-Avalanche bridge got an 895 GB token airdrop, which at its peak price of $2.60 per GB was worth about $2,300. Not too shabby, eh?
To add to this, GB holders who didn’t immediately liquidate the drop were eligible to mint a gasless BridgeLoot NFT as a reward, and a few hours later, the Avalanche-based NFT marketplace Snowflake verified and listed BridgeLoot, where many holders listed their NFTs for 20 to 100 AVAX.
From a markets perspective, money chases after money. Investors chase after liquidity, and that’s part of what drives price action within markets.
We see this happening with all the layer-one incentive launches where hundreds of millions of dollars are shifting from ETH to Fantom, or ETH to Arbitrum, or ETH to AVAX, or ETH to LUNA, or ETH and USDC to Web3-based decentralized exchanges like dYdX and GMX.
The point is that crypto is driven by liquidity and trends. The whole Loot phenomenon let the cat out of the bag and enlightened builders on a feature that has always been present but only recently uncovered.
Bottom-up fundraises, NFTs with utility in the Metaverse, DAOs and the great liquidity suck into layer-2 ecosystem are here to stay.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
From early Greek philosophy to the Golden Age of Islam, I often wonder how and what was the culture that contributed to these periods of explosions of free thought and innovation? What were the impetus of Greek ideas and the early stages of science during the Golden Age of Islam?
Greek Philosophy And Thought
Where would free and innovative thought be without the great Greek philosophers? Without Thales of Miletus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Pythagoras, could the Golden Age of Islam have existed? Without Al-Zahrawi, Abbas ibn Firnas, Al-Biruni, Avicenna, Averroes, Ibn al-Nafis, Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, Alhazen, Ibn Khaldun could the Renaissance have existed? Without Leonardo Da Vinci, Nicolaus Copernicus, Andreas Vesalius, Francis Bacon, Thomas Aquinas, Isaac Newton, Galileo, Kepler, and Descartes would 19th and 20th-century modern science and philosophy have existed?
Socrates, considered the father of Western philosophy, gave us the innovation of the Socratic method. His ideas of logic and rationalism were radical and they eventually inspired the scientific contributions of future philosophers and thinkers. Origins of intellectual thought, humanism, social theory, economic ideas, and democracy can be traced back to ancient Greek ideas. The first democracy can likely be traced back to Athens. An attempt of moving from central authoritative power to a decentralized style of governance and representation was and is of enormous influence to Western democracies of today.
The Golden Age Of Islam — A New Innovation.
Mohammad was the initiator of a new shift in thought that emphasized erudition among not just the elite aristocrats, but of every single citizen. You could say Mohammad was a catalyst of literacy in the period of the world where literacy and erudition were a minority. Mohammad was not just a social innovator, but also an argument can be made, that he was also an economic innovator. I am willing to go one step further and call him a central figure in the formation of a precursor to a form of capitalism and free-market economics that we see today. During his time in Medina, Mohammad created a competing marketplace that eventually overtook other markets in Medina. This was primarily due to not imposing taxes on goods and services between the different merchants. It was radical, innovative, and brilliant.
Islam flourished and the empire expanded in the West to the Iberian Peninsula and the East near present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. The message Mohammad and his disciples preached over and over was a way of life, whether in the marketplace or everyday social interactions. The emphasis on learning to decipher some of the writings and mysteries of the world the Quran had mentioned created a culture of great philosophers and thinkers. As the Greeks did, handing the torch over to the citizens of the Islamic Golden Age, the torch was handed over to Western Europeans to eventually usher in the Renaissance.
The Renaissance
Many great thinkers were influenced by the philosophers of the Arab-speaking citizens of the Islamic Golden Age. Thomas Aquinas, Fibonacci, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Copernicus contributed to the explosion of philosophy and art. With the help of Arabic translations of Greek texts, classical Greek philosophy was rediscovered and medieval Europe arose from the ashes of the Dark Ages and the eventual beginnings of the Renaissance. The Renaissance ushered in a rebirth of intellectual curiosity and free thought. Arguably the greatest technology to come out of this period was the printing press. The printing press allowed for mass communication to develop. It allowed the development of the middle class. It also removed the centralized accumulation of knowledge from the religious and political authorities, and distributed the rebirth of knowledge to the masses. A shift from centralized accumulation of knowledge to decentralized accumulation of knowledge was ultimately a net benefit to society.
The Enlightenment
The Age of Reason was an extraordinary period that brought us the likes of Isaac Newton, Rene Descartes, and Adam Smith. As the Renaissance was also known as the rebirth of intellectual curiosity, The Enlightenment can also be called the rebirth of humanism, which can trace its origins to Greek philosophy and thought. Humanism was a philosophy which emphasized that reason and autonomy are the basic aspects of human existence. A more modern and technological definition would be a shift from centralized thought, i.e., religious central authority and/or central governance, to a more decentralized individual sovereign thought. The Enlightenment inspired democracy. We have to remember the United States was formed during the Enlightenment. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison incorporated the ideals during the framing of the U.S. Constitution. I would argue that the statement, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,” has a humanistic origin and influence.
Modern Era
Our present-day modern era is considered to have started with the Industrial Age, roughly beginning around the mid-18th century, extending to our present-day information age. The modern era can be seen as the eventual rise of digital technology and biotechnology. Before Einstein, there were Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell. Isaac Newton’s discoveries about gravity and optics were the foundations that led to one of the originators and greatest contributors to the technology age, James Clerk Maxwell. When Einstein said that he stood on the shoulders of giants, he was referring to Newton and Maxwell. Maxwell added to the discoveries of Newton and went on to unify electricity, magnetism, and light to form electromagnetic field theory. The unification contributed to the discovery of electrical power, television, and radio.
Here we are now, almost 2500 years after Socrates and almost 200 years after Maxwell. From electricity→ photography→ radio→ television→ computers→ internet→ smartphone→ Bitcoin. I would interpret that all the great philosophers and thinkers were trying to discover and decipher the mysteries of the world to create a net positive for their societies. One emergent consequence I have noticed from most of the great ideas from classical antiquity to the present day was the emphasis on decentralization and its contribution to a net positive effect for society. I give examples in the article, such as the Socratic Method, Islam’s early focus on learning and literacy during its Golden Age, the printing press, and The United States of America. Other examples in the modern era include the personal computer, the internet (or world wide web), and now blockchain technology, more specifically Bitcoin.
The Legacy Of Satoshi Nakamoto
For the sake of simplicity, we will assume Satoshi Nakamoto was a person and since Satoshi is a male name in Japanese, we will assume he is a male. I would put Satoshi on par with the great thinkers and philosophers of the past. Given what Satoshi has created, I envision him as a polymath and an erudite. We know he had to have a clear grasp of mathematical and cryptographic principles, but he must have known about economic, societal, philosophical, and psychological aspects of society. I would assume he understood the history of societies in the past, their creations, and their downfalls. He had to know the obstacles which leaders in society place to keep the status quo. Satoshi’s creation, Bitcoin, was and is a great idea. Not many deny the beauty of the 21 million cap and deflationary nature of bitcoin, the security features, and the bypass of legacy finance through the brilliant idea of self custody. But let’s stop for a moment and take a deep breath. I, and so many, believe the greatest part and feature that was introduced into Bitcoin was the pseudonymous nature of Satoshi Nakomato and the decentralization of Bitcoin.
Satoshi Nakamoto leaving his identity concealed – what a wonderful feature. Thank you Satoshi Nakamoto for doing this. I wanted to reflect and try to find a period or instance in time where ideas were laid out pseudonymously. I recall during the time of Isaac Newton’s writings, there was a practice of publishing an idea or scientific article under a pseudonym. The reason was, understandably, the readers would focus on the idea rather than the author. Publishing under one’s real name can invoke an attack on the author rather than the idea. This focused the public discourse to revolve around the merits of the actual idea. Satoshi had to have known this about society. He knew the potential societal-changing ramifications of this idea were enormous, and his identity would impede the public discourse.
I want to conclude my thoughts around the most powerful aspect of Satoshi’s creation, which is the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network. You may have already had this prior before reading this article. Or at least noticed it during the early parts of this article, where I mentioned the importance of decentralization as being a net positive for society. In hindsight, it is obvious now, but it was not so much back in 2017 during the proposed larger block size debate. What I did not realize, for a great idea to stay great, decentralization needs to be part of it. Free thought, literacy, the printing press, democracy, computers, the internet, and Bitcoin are all great ideas, but without a decentralized component to the underlying idea, they are not likely to go far. Blockchain technology is a great idea and bitcoin has captured it. Can bitcoin last 100, 200, 500, 1000 years? No one knows. What I am somewhat confident about is, if a new idea comes along that is better than bitcoin, it will likely be a technology that does not currently exist, and it will have a decentralized component to it. I think the greatest net benefit Satoshi’s idea has contributed is that all great societal-changing ideas must have decentralization as an inherent and essential component.
This is a guest post by Saleh Isam. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
A prominent Canadian politician representing a party running in the country’s current federal election has spoken out in support of Bitcoin (BTC).
Maxime Bernier of the populist, right-wing People’s Party of Canada (PPC) tells his 156,100 Twitter followers he likes crypto because he’s dissatisfied with the current central banking system.
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“Many people are asking if I support Bitcoin and cryptos. Of course, I do! I hate how central banks are destroying our money and economy. I’m more of an old-fashioned gold & silver fan, but cryptos are another new and innovative way to counter this that should be encouraged.”
Bernier is a former member of Parliament for the Conservative Party and has served as a minister in various positions. He left the Conservatives and launched the PPC in 2018.
Recent polls place the PPC in fifth place with 6.3% of the vote, behind the Bloc Québécois, the New Democratic Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, according to CBC News. The election is scheduled for this Monday, September 20th.
Bernier acknowledges that either Liberal Party or Conservative Party will win the election.
Canadians will elect a minority government on Monday, whether it’s headed by the LibCons or the ConLibs.
The only important question is: Will there be any real opposition to the authoritarian, big government consensus?
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— Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) September 17, 2021
Cryptocurrencies are not legal tender in Canada, but unlike the US, the country has enabled Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
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In 1921, American industrialist Henry Ford proposed the creation of an “energy currency” that could form the basis of a new monetary system — offering striking similarities to the peer-to-peer electronic cash system outlined in Satoshi Nakamoto’s 2008 Bitcoin (BTC) whitepaper.
Front page of the New York Tribune dated Sunday, December 4, 1921. Source: Library of Congress
Bitcoin as an energy currency
On Dec. 4, 1921, the New York Tribune published an article outlining Ford’s vision of replacing gold with an energy currency that he believed could break the banking elites’ grip on global wealth and put an end to wars. He intended to do this by building “the world’s greatest power plant” and creating a new currency system based on “units of power.”
Ford, who founded Ford Motor Company in 1903, told the publication:
“Under the energy currency system the standard would be a certain amount of energy exerted for one hour that would be equal to one dollar. It’s simply a case of thinking and calculating in terms different from those laid down to us by the international banking group to which we have grown so accustomed that we think there is no other desirable standard.”
The specifics around currency values “will be worked out when Congress cares to hear about it,” he said.
Although Ford was never able to advance his vision of a fully-backed currency, Bitcoin has seemingly vindicated the idea a century later. Since 2009, more than 18.8 million BTC have been created through an energy-intensive mining process that requires computers to solve increasingly complex math problems. This proof-of-work mining process has drawn heavy criticism over its alleged environmental impact — a short-sighted claim that ignores Bitcoin’s abilily to accelerate the shift to renewable energy.
Related:Satoshi Nakamoto statue goes up in Budapest
Replacing gold, ending wars
On the relation between gold and war, Ford explained:
“The essential evil of gold in its relation to war is the fact that it can be controlled. Break the control and you stop war.”
Some of Bitcoin’s most ardent supports believe the cryptocurrency’s sound money principles could eliminate war by reducing the state’s ability to fund conflict through inflation. While a gold standard makes it harder for governments to inflate their currency, “international bankers,” as Ford explained, controlled the bulk of the bullion supply. This process of controlling and accumulating precious commodities allowed financial elites to create an active market for money, which thrived during wartime.
The remnants of the gold standard were abandoned in 1971 by U.S. President Richard Nixon, who said his government would temporarily suspend convertibility between dollars and bullion. The so-called quasi-gold standard would last until 1973, with all definitions linking the dollar to bullion removed by 1976. However, in effect, the gold standard system was eliminated by the British government in 1931, with the U.S. following suit two years later.
Related:Bitcoin set to replace gold, says Bloomberg strategist on Bretton Woods’ 50th anniversary
The New York Tribune article circulated on Reddit’s r/CryptoCurrency page on Saturday, where it received considerable upvotes. While Satoshi Nakamoto never mentioned Henry Ford in online forum posts, some Reddit users speculated that Bitcoin’s creator may have been influenced by the late industrialist. Others jokingly said Satoshi was actually Ford’s reincarnate, given the latter’s apparent belief in reincarnation.
Mastercard, a multinational financial services corporation, has jumped on the NFT bandwagon. Non-fungible tokens (NFT) have continued to gain popularity among mainstream industries. The most recent addition to the NFT world is the global payments leader.
Related Reading | Visa Describes NFTs As Promising Means To Engage With The Fans
On Thursday, September 16, the company announced that it had created its first-ever NFT in partnership with the renowned football coach José Mourinho, who is also a Mastercard global ambassador. This unique NFT is an animated digital football with José’s signature on one of the panels.
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The company’s U.K. branch made this announcement. It included a raffle for cardholders in the United Kingdom to win the company’s first NFT.
According to the company, the experience will be in English and is free to book, and is available until September 30. Cardholders based in the U.K. can sign up from now till that date for a chance to win.
Additionally, only one winner will be selected as there will be only one NFT. Details of how to receive the NFT will be shared by Mastercard’s sponsorship team, via email after the prize draw.
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The NFT will be hosted on a server owned by the company and backed by their proprietary technology.
MasterCard And Its Digital Assets Journey
The Financial Services company entered the crypto space last year. Since then, it has made big moves in crypto and blockchain integrated services. The company acknowledged that digital assets are becoming a more important part of the payments world.
Related Reading | Real Adoption: How Will Mastercard’s Crypto Acceptance Affect Bitcoin Price?
In 2020, Mastercard announced the expansion of its cryptocurrency program, making it simpler and faster for partners to bring secure, compliant payment cards to market. This effort was to aid adoption and create innovative experiences in the crypto space. The company teamed up with Wirex and BitPay to create crypto cards that allow people to transact using their cryptocurrencies.
In a bid to make crypto more accessible to everyone, in March 2021, Mastercard and Wirex officially launched the Mastercard debit card in the U.K. and EEA, as well as the rewards program across the globe.
Total crypto market cap rises to $2.17 Trillion | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap from TradingView.com
In July this year, Mastercard announced the launch of a corporate program, Start Path, for Blockchain and crypto startups. Start Path started with seven global crypto and digital assets startups that focused on solving a unique industry challenge. It has a location in every region.
Still, in July, it announced the creation of a simplified payments card offering for cryptocurrency companies. It said that it will “enhance its card program for cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges, making it simpler for partners to convert cryptocurrency to traditional fiat currency.”
Related Reading | Mastercard Furthers Investment Into Crypto Card Integration
Also, just this month, the company made a big bet on crypto by buying blockchain analytics startup CipherTrace. On September 9, the payments giant announced it entered into an agreement to buy CipherTrace for an undisclosed amount.
“Digital assets have the potential to reimagine commerce, from everyday acts like paying and getting paid to transforming economies, making them more inclusive and efficient,” said Ajay Bhalla, president, Cyber & Intelligence at Mastercard. “With the rapid growth of the digital asset ecosystem comes the need to ensure it is trusted and safe. Our aim is to build upon the complementary capabilities of Mastercard and CipherTrace to do just this.”
The creation of this NFT is Mastercard’s most recent move in the digital assets space.
Other financial services providers are also making moves in the space. Last month, Visa purchased its first NFT. It later went on to release its NFT whitepaper.
Featured image by Mastercard's priceless.com, Chart by TradingView.com
