Reddit Roundup for July 2020
Welcome to the second edition of Reddit Roundup by Nik and Flip of Bitcoin Magazine!
This roundup contains 45 links to the best quality content that was uploaded to Bitcoin Reddit this month. Most links come from the popular r/bitcoin, but we also retrieved posts from other forums as well, such as r/BitcoinMining.
In this roundup there are 10 different categories of links: Privacy, Adoption, Development, Security, Mining, Business, Education, Regulation & Politics, Archaeology (Financial Incumbents) and, last but not least, Memes, Fun, And Other.
Big shoutout to Sam Wouter, creator of BitcoinSnippets. From October 2016 to October 2019, he was creating these monthly link summaries to help everyone keep up to date with Bitcoin. He's kept adding to his plate and has less time to put these together, so we decided to pick up the torch where he left off.
Recap Of r/Bitcoin In July 2020
The most impactful news from around Bitcoin is about how we move forward protocol enhancements through soft forks. In particular, how we go about activating Taproot is the focal point for the majority of the core developers. There have been active conversations all summer, but it finally feels like we're getting closer to making decisions on activation.
While Taproot seems to be largely accepted by those on Bitcoin Twitter, there are ongoing discussions about the best way to implement it. Lots of opinions, lots of options on how to move forward.
We had reports of adoption picking up in more economically oppressed countries such as Argentina, El Salvador and in Sub-Saharan Africa. Peer-to-peer trading in Africa and Argentina was hitting new all-time highs in response to the economies in these countries weakening. Also, bitcoin use among villages in El Salvador continues to rise as yet another village adopted bitcoin as its main currency.
The weak legacy system has been getting beat up lately and some countries have gone through currency crises because of all the money printing. Lebanon was a big one, as we saw riots in the streets and even their citizens burning down their central banks. We have a full recap of it down below and this... this is why we Bitcoin.
Halfway through the month, multiple big Twitter accounts were hacked with the same message being tweeted from each. The hackers wanted to steal bitcoin and tried the ol’ “send me x amount of bitcoin, and I’ll send you double the amount back” trick.
While many uneducated people were blaming Bitcoin itself for the hack, U.S. Congressman Tom Emmer stepped up and defended BTC rightly, as it was not to blame. Bitcoin can't hack anything, it's just a computer protocol. When you get an IRS scam call, you don't blame the U.S. Dollar, now do you?
Goldman Sachs (like the rest of us) confirm they are worried about the U.S. Dollar's current position as the world reserve currency. With Bitcoin breathing downs its neck, it's no wonder that these big institutions are starting to come public with these statements. Looking back at history, the hardest money always wins, and bitcoin is the hardest money the world has ever seen.
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
Privacy
10 Tips For Using Bitcoin More Anonymously. (7/9)
Technical: Taproot: Why Activate? (7/15)
Adoption
Argentina Sets New Bitcoin Trading Record As Economy Worsens. (7/7)
P2P Bitcoin Trading is Booming in Sub-Saharan Africa. (7/15)
This El Salvador Village Adopts Bitcoin As Money. (7/15)
You're never too late for Bitcoin. Bitcoin Obsoletes All Other Money. (7/20)
Your Savings Are Being Printed Away. Buy Bitcoin! (7/27)
An Open Letter To The Average Joe: $11,000 Bitcoin Is Just A Drop In The Ocean. (7/30)
Development
Lightning Exchanges - Radar Redshift Allows You To Make Lightning Invoices Using on Chain Bitcoin (7/9)
Visa Partner Zap Raises $3.5 Million To Expand Bitcoin Payments. (7/16)
Security
So You Want to Understand Bitcoin's Security? (Explanation of SHA-256) (7/8)
Bitcoin Total Hash Rate Reached New All Time High. (7/14)
Bitcoin 101 – Quindecillions & The Amazing Math Of Bitcoin's Private Keys. (7/15)
Mining
The Bitcoin Mining Year So Far. (7/27)
The Difficulty of Bitcoin Has Renewed Its All-Time High. (7/20)
10,000 Antminers Vanish From Bitmain-Owned Mining Farm. (7/25)
Iran Allows Industrial Bitcoin Mining As It Seeks Economic Refuge. (7/30)
Business
When Bitcoin Broke $11,000, Bakkt Volumes Set A Record High. (7/28)
Education
US Money Base Has Grown By Over 1000% In 40 Years = ~6.5%pa True Inflation. (7/7)
Electrum Lightning Network Walkthrough. (7/5)
Masters and Slaves of Money. (7/5)
Understanding Inflation And The Purpose of Printing Money. (7/13)
Why Bitcoin? It's Important To Understand Bitcoin From First Principles. 5 Critical Properties. (7/14)
Lebanon Financial Crisis Explained - And Why We Need Bitcoin. (7/16)
Bitcoin Is Not a Get Rich Quick Scheme, It Is Here to Avoid You Get Poor Slowly Over Time. (7/20)
Regulation & Politics
Twitter Hack, Not Bitcoin Scam – Twitter Hackers Fool Fools Out of Bitcoin. (7/16)
Archeology (Financial Incumbents)
And They Keep Trying To Paint Bitcoin As The Bad Guy. (7/7)
Douche Bank Caught In Epstein Sex Ring, Bitcoin Could Never Do This. (7/8)
US Congressman Defends Bitcoin In Wake of Twitter Hack. (7/16)
Goldman Warns Dollar's Role as World Reserve Currency Is at Risk. (7/28)
First National City Bank of New York: Bitcoin Price will Hit $120K (7/30)
Fidelity Bitcoin Investment Thesis: Bitcoin As An Aspirational Store of Value System. (7/30)
Memes, Fun, & Other
This Pokémon Card Collector Unpacked A Limited Edition Charizard Worth $55,000. (7/6)
I Wanna Learn Bitcoin. (7/5)
"Banksters Paradise" Song by Renegade Investor Got Bitcoin OGs Revving (7/8)
Bitcoin Is The Safe Bet! (7/9)
My USD Price Tracker With Coaster Guy Trend Indicator. (7/10)
Saw This On The Road Thought You Guys Could Enjoy It A Little. (7/26)
Bitcoin 11K. (7/30)
If you have suggestions on how to make our Bitcoin Reddit Roundup better, please drop us some comments on the thread and we'll keep improving for next month!