Governments across Europe are ramping up efforts to mandate encryption backdoors, sparking concerns over privacy, security, and digital sovereignty. From France and Sweden to the UK and the European Commission, policymakers are advancing legislative measures that would compromise the privacy and security of European citizens under the pretext of crime prevention.

Unbank, one of the largest Bitcoin ATM networks in the U.S., has successfully processed over $40 million in Bitcoin payments through BTCPay Server in just six months. With 41,416 transactions recorded, Unbank continues to solidify its place as a leader in the Bitcoin ATM and mobile exchange market.

Bitcoiner’s have long faced challenges with seamlessly spending their sats in everyday transactions. Bringin has now introduced the Bringin Debit Card, a solution that enables Bitcoin holders to top up and spend their BTC effortlessly worldwide. This launch marks a major step in bridging the gap between Bitcoin and traditional financial systems.

A highly coordinated social engineering scam has been uncovered, involving fraudulent impersonations of well-known figures in the Bitcoin and finance space. Scammers are using fake identities and Calendly phishing links to trick victims into screen sharing, allowing them to gain access to sensitive accounts and steal funds.

The UK government has secretly ordered Apple to create a backdoor allowing British security officials access to encrypted iCloud backups, according to reports. Issued under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (Snoopers’ Charter), this demand could have global implications for digital privacy and cybersecurity.

After an incredibly successful early access phase with over 100,000 onboarded users, Proton Wallet is now officially available for all! The team has received overwhelmingly positive feedback and is committed to making Bitcoin self-custody easier and more accessible than ever.

Miljan, the builder behind Primal, has announced the release of Primal v2.1, introducing Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC) support, richer feeds, and Legend Cards to recognize key contributors. This update enhances wallet connectivity, media integration, and user recognition, making Primal’s ecosystem more seamless and interactive.

Sparrow Wallet has released v2.1.0, bringing improvements for USB hardware wallets, multisig functionality, and PSBTv2 support. The update introduces Lark for better hardware wallet communication, eliminates the need for Ledger multisig re-registration, and adds Jade Plus USB support.

To celebrate two years of Damus on the App Store, the team has launched Damus Notedeck, a fast, native, multiplatform Nostr client. Previously limited to Purple subscribers, Notedeck is now publicly available for everyone to test on Linux, Windows, and macOS, with mobile support coming later.

ZEUS, the Bitcoin and Lightning wallet and remote node manager, just got even better with the release of v0.9.5. Available now on iOS and Android, this update brings a smoother user experience, faster performance, and smarter automation.

Alby has released version 3.11.0 of its Lightning Browser Extension, introducing key improvements, bug fixes, and expanded language support. This update enhances performance, usability, and transaction transparency for users.

The Rage reported that DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has launched a new program, Anticipatory and Adaptive Anti-Money Laundering (A3ML), designed to modernize anti-money laundering (AML) practices. The program seeks to employ predictive algorithms to prevent illicit financial activities before they occur.

Zaprite has announced an integration with BTCPay Server, enabling users to receive Bitcoin payments directly into their BTCPay wallets and nodes. This feature enhances the flexibility of Zaprite's commerce tools, allowing merchants to accept both on-chain Bitcoin payments and Lightning transactions alongside traditional fiat options. Here's a quick summary of the steps to connect and enable BTCPay on Zaprite.

Chainalysis reports that while global trends indicate a decline in cryptocurrency contributions to extremist groups, Europe has emerged as a hotspot for concerning growth. Extremist organizations are leveraging cryptocurrency to bypass traditional financial restrictions, using innovative and covert strategies to sustain operations.

Draft BIP for Unspendable Keys in Descriptors
A new BIP by Andrew Toth proposes using provably unspendable keys (NUMS points) in descriptors, enhancing Taproot's scriptpath functionality. Discussions are ongoing.

PSBTv2 Integration

• Merklized PSBTv2: The Ledger Bitcoin App uses a Merkle tree approach to handle PSBTv2 data efficiently.

• Silent Payments: BIP352 relies on PSBTv2’s PSBT_OUT_SCRIPT field for enabling silent payment outputs.

Offchain DLC Protocol Correction
The DLC factories protocol allows pre-signed contracts without interactivity, simplifying the renewal process compared to DLC channels, but limits flexibility until maturity.

Coinswap has released its first public beta version (v0.1.0), introducing a decentralized, Sybil-resistant protocol for trustless Bitcoin UTXO swaps. The beta is now live on Testnet4, marking a significant step toward providing private, censorship-resistant Bitcoin transactions. This release is aimed at developers, testers, and early adopters.

Nunchuk has launched the Taproot Multisig Wallet, an experimental Bitcoin wallet leveraging Taproot, Schnorr signatures, and MuSig2 protocol. This wallet offers enhanced privacy, lower fees, and flexibility, representing a significant upgrade to traditional multisig wallets.

Bitcoin Bull is now available to European users, empowering them to buy, sell, and pay with Bitcoin while retaining full sovereignty.

”We arrive in Europe with a brand-new platform, the culmination of nearly three years of rigorous development. This third version of Bull Bitcoin is designed to deliver a superior Bitcoin experience to European users, combing speed, security, efficiency, and an unwavering commitment to sovereignty,” - announced the company.

The legal battle involving Roman Storm, one of the founders of Tornado Cash, a non-custodial privacy protocol for cryptocurrency transactions, has ignited controversy and debate over privacy rights, software development, and governments role in regulating it. Storm faces up to 45 years in prison, accused of operating an unlicensed money transmitter business, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and sanctions evasion. The case has far-reaching implications for all software developers and those advocating for privacy.

BTCPay Server, an open-source Bitcoin payment processor, recently released version v2.0.6, introducing important updates and fixes. This release, announced by lead contributor Nicolas Dorier, focuses on critical security improvements, bug fixes, and new features aimed at enhancing user experience and merchant functionality.