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There have been a lot of articles over the last few days that I've taken some interest in.

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Square Lightning Network API

Square is taking it upon themselves to create an API to make dapp integration easier for everyone. This development kit is a key example of the benefits of the emergent open-source economy.

Companies like Microsoft and Amazon have a lot to offer this space. Facebook included. Sure, they'll be doing to to make money, but the open-source nature of crypto promotes open-source layers on top. A lot more toolkits like this will come out that make operating in the space much simpler.

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Craig Wright Saga Continues...

The missing piece that would provide Wright with full access to the registry was supposed to arrive in January 2020 with a “bonded courier.” In a recent interview with Cointelegraph, Wright stated that he is 99.9999% sure that he will be in possession of the crypto soon.

Saying 100% is a pretty common over-exaggeration.
I've never seen this 99.9999% 'with a couple more 9's' strategy employed before.

District Judge Bloom’s order enumerates multiple ways, in which the defendant “delayed and obstructed the discovery process” of the case, and notes how he “refused to give and interpret words in their very basic meanings, was combative, and became defensive when confronted with previous inconsistencies.” Combined with the opinion of Bruce Reinhart, another legal official in the case, this makes two federal judges essentially calling Wright a liar.

My word! You don't say?

I wonder if Bitcoin will spike on Feb 3rd when he finally runs out of rope.

Who would ever want to buy Bitcoin right now if there's even a slight possibility that lame ass Craig Wright is now the proven inventor of Bitcoin and has access to a million Bitcoins, half of which he is doomed to lose in a court battle?

Think of how ridiculous this is! Craig Wright wants the title of Satoshi Nakamoto so badly that he's willing to lose half his fortune immediately in court?

Also the tulip-trust? That's the name you came up with? Is that a reference to Bitcoin being compared to Tulip-Mania? Isn't that kinda like the inventor of Bitcoin calling his own project to create peer-to-peer currency worthless? Plus he solved the Byzantine Generals problem and got laughed at for even implying that the Bitcoin network defies the problem in the first place. This same person calls their pre-mine Bitcoin stash the Tulip Trust? What a terrible thing to make up. You're not clever, Craig Wright. Or perhaps he is clever and just a narcissist that likes to show off.

The market is trying to ascend in preparation for the halving event pump/dump. However, this 'little' piece of news is probably holding it back a bit. Bitcoin will crash pretty hard if Satoshi Nakamoto is revealed at all, let alone to be some self-absorbed narcissist who stole money from his deceased business partner.

I expect the market to dip further to $8k until this matter resolves, at which point there will probably be a lot of pressure in the market looking to capitalize on May 14th's halvening event.

Condolences to Bitcoin SV Feb 3, 2020

"The day of red."

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On-Chain Bitcoin Futures Market

There’s a new concept called Powswap that lets people speculate on hashrate in order to hedge against price volatility.

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Software developer Jeremy Rubin recently announced the launch of a new project he developed called Powswap. It lets people speculate on hashrate to offer “mining derivatives with no trust required.” Essentially, in Rubin’s words, Powswap is a “smart contract/platform for trading Bitcoin hashrate derivatives” with “No middlemen. No oracles. No escrows. Nothing but Bitcoin.”

Uh... badass. So basically this would allow miners to hedge against the incoming halving pump and dump. If the price of Bitcoin dumps too low after a halving event (which it is very primed to do due to the overzealous pump beforehand) they can mitigate the losses of having inflation cut in half in a jarring manner. Of course this is just one example, there are a lot of reasons to bet on the correlation between hash-rate and Bitcoin value.

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Bitcoin Atomic Swaps With Monero

This has been getting talked about more and more.

Atomic wallet, a multi-assets wallet with a decentralized platform with atomic swap support, just announced they will add Monero (XMR) – Bitcoin (BTC) atomic swap support in up to two months.

Two months?! The value of atomic swaps between Bitcoin and Monero is massive. It allows Bitcoin users to anonymously trade their Bitcoin for Monero and then gives them all the privacy that Monero has to offer. How many people are currently being forced to trade Bitcoin for Monero on a centralized exchange? This could be a thing of the past in very short time.

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Amazon vs Microsoft Locked in Legal Battle...

For who get's to implement the DoD JEDI program; a cloud-computing spy network. That's fun.

Since last year, Amazon has suggested that it did not get the contract because of political interference. There were rumors that the project was to go to Microsoft but U.S. President Donald Trump intervened and requested a reexamination of the case.

Apart from his position as Amazon chief, Jeff Bezos also owns major American daily newspaper, the Washington Post. The newspaper is popular because of its constant criticism of the Trump administration. Trump has in turn also criticized the newspaper company for publishing fake stories.

Whoever eventually gets the JEDI project will be faced with a herculean task. They will have to secure the DoD on the cloud and improve its technology.

Yikes.

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peter-schiff-wallet-fiasco-sinister-smear-campaign-against-bitcoin

Yep it looks like ol' Schiffy really was the winner in all this. He didn't "forget his password". He thought his pin was his password. In the end his brand of Bitcoin bashing will not only continue to survive, but be profitable. Good for you, bud.

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Conclusion

That's all the news I have for you at the moment.
There's some good news out there.
Hopeful for this next run up.
Waiting for Feb 3 apparently.