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.

Bitcoin miners are facing tighter margins as the network’s hashprice, a key profitability indicator, nears its one-month low following a record-breaking difficulty adjustment. The latest 5.61% increase in Bitcoin’s mining difficulty has pushed the competition to new levels, reducing miner earnings while Bitcoin’s price struggles to stay above $96,000.

The Czech Republic president Petr Pavel has officially removed capital gains tax on Bitcoin for holders who keep their BTC for more than three years. The law marks a major victory for bitcoin adoption in Europe and strengthens the country’s position as a Bitcoin friendly nation.

In a recent statement, Bill Gates criticized Bitcoin, calling it “useless” and dismissing its value. This sparked a strong response from Daniel Batten, a climatetech investor and Bitcoin analyst, who challenged Gates’ perspective with a well-researched open letter. Batten argued that Gates’ comments are uninformed and overlook Bitcoin’s positive impact on various humanitarian and environmental causes.

Russia’s deputy energy minister, Yevgeny Grabchak, has proposed the creation of a centralized registry for Bitcoin and crypto mining equipment to enhance regulation and enforcement efforts. This move comes as part of the Russian Ministry of Energy’s plans to update the regulatory framework for mining, focusing on identifying and controling mining activities, especially in prohibited regions.

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.

In a historic moment for Bitcoin mining, The 256 Foundation successfully raised funds for open-source Bitcoin mining development—not through direct donations, but by collectively mining a full Bitcoin block. This first-ever hashrate-based fundraiser attracted 350 participants, generating a peak of 1.12 EH/s and ultimately solving block 881,423. The initiative raised 3.146 BTC (valued at approximately $330,300) to support decentralized mining infrastructure.

Tether is making a groundbreaking move by bringing USDT to the Bitcoin blockchain and Lightning Network. This integration, powered by the Taproot Assets protocol from Lightning Labs, combines the security of Bitcoin with the speed and low costs of Lightning. The move aims to enhance Bitcoin’s financial ecosystem, boost cross-border payments, and facilitate AI-driven transactions.

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.

The Bitvocation Annual Bitcoin Job Market Data Report (2024) sheds light on the growing ecosystem of Bitcoin employment, presenting detailed data, trends, and insights.

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.

Bitcoin mining difficulty decreased by 2.12% at block height 880,992.

The difficulty level fell from 110.45 trillion to 108.11 trillion, marking the first decline since September.

Hashprice (revenue miners earn per unit of hashpower) rose slightly to $59/PH/s following the adjustment.

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.

A debate over the framing of proposed state legislation has captured the Bitcoin communities attention. At it’s core, the discussion centers on whether these bills should be labled as “Bitcoin Strategic Reserve” (SBR) bills.

@Astro raised concerns over the language and intent of the bills refered to as “Bitcoin Strategic Reserve” legislation. According to Astro, many of these bills do not exclusively focus on Bitcoin and instead use terms like “ digital assets,” “stablecoins,” and “staking as a service”

Astro shared examples to support his claims