Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation
Lightning Labs has released the mainnet alpha of Taproot Assets, which could bring stablecoins and real-world assets to the Bitcoin blockchain. Senator Elizabeth Warren has amped up her campaign against crypto with a letter urging the White House to consider the role of digital assets in terrorism financing. Meanwhile, Reddit is sunsetting its blockchain-based rewards system, “Community Points."
Lightning Labs releases Taproot Assets, bringing stablecoins to Bitcoin
Bitcoin layer-2 infrastructure firm Lightning Labs has released the mainnet alpha of Taproot Assets, a protocol aimed at enabling stablecoins and real-world assets to be issued on the Bitcoin and Lightning Network.
The current version, Taproot Assets v0.3, will provide a “feature-complete developer experience” to issue, manage and explore stablecoins and other assets on the Bitcoin blockchain, according to Ryan Gentry, head of business development at Lightning Labs.
Announcing the first mainnet release of Taproot Assets , a protocol for assets on #bitcoin and Lightning.
With this release, developers can issue financial assets on-chain in a scalable manner.
Today marks a new era of multi-asset bitcoin. https://t.co/2cNvZSvv8v
— Lightning Labs⚡️ (@lightning) October 18, 2023
“With this release, developers can issue financial assets on-chain in a scalable manner,” Lightning Labs stated on Oct. 18 in a separate post. “Today marks a new era of multi-asset bitcoin.”
Gentry says the integration will extend Bitcoin’s network effects and move it one step closer toward “bitcoinizing the dollar.” He added:
“This is how we make bitcoin the global routing network for the internet of money. This is how we bitcoinize the dollar and the world's financial assets.”
Lawmakers sign letter urging White House’s attention to crypto terrorism financing
Notable crypto cryptic Elizabeth Warren was joined by over 100 legislators in signing a letter to alert the White House about the role of digital assets in financing terrorism.
The letter, which was dated Oct. 17, was addressed to the Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. The authors cited a recent news article claiming that Palestinian militant groups raised over $130 million in crypto donations between 2021-2023.
"US Treasury sanctions Gaza-based crypto operator allegedly tied to Hamas. Find out how terrorist organizations used Buy Cash Money for fund transfers. Stay informed and read more on Cointelegraph: https://t.co/j1IhVDNU3o #DYOR @HRM69INU"
— Blackhat ™ (@blackhat_TM) October 18, 2023
“As Congress considers legislative proposals designed to mitigate crypto money laundering and illicit finance risks, we urge you to swiftly and categorically act to meaningfully curtail illicit crypto activity,” the letter said.
The letter was signed by 29 senators, including Warren, and 76 members of the House of Representatives.
Reddit winding down blockchain-backed “Community Points”
Social platform Reddit will shutter its long-running blockchain-based rewards service, “Community Points,” by Nov. 8, citing scalability issues.
In an Oct. 17 post in the r/cryptocurrency subreddit, a Reddit team member said there was no path to scale the service broadly across the platform.
The points were Ethereum-based ERC-20 tokens available in Reddit’s in-house crypto wallet service dubbed the “Reddit Vault” and were used to incentivize higher-quality content on the platform, rewarding users for engagement on certain subreddits.
Subreddits had their own tokens, such as the r/cryptocurrency board’s Moons (MOON) token or Bricks (BRICK) for the r/FortNiteBR subreddit. The value of MOON and BRICK plunged following the news, with Reddit users and crypto enthusiasts voicing disappointment and anger at Reddit’s decision.
Pseudonymous trader Byzantine General told his 163,000 followers on X (Twitter) that Reddit had essentially “rugged” their community.