Integrity matters. Unfortunately, many in the broader cryptocurrency industry reject this lesson. Media pundits seize on crypto crashes and collapsed exchanges to smear bitcoin via guilt by association.

The conflation of bitcoin with crypto rackets is harmful in the short term. It scares people away from the best money the world has ever known.

What can bitcoiners do? All we can do is lead by example. Eventually, as we continue to write, work, and live with integrity, the proliferation of virtuous bitcoiners and bitcoin companies will inspire others.

Education is essential. Learning the difference between bitcoin, crypto, and fiat awakens people to bitcoin’s monetary soundness. As bitcoiners, our role is to speak that truth to power.

Ultimately, bitcoin itself will lead the charge. Its role as an alternative monetary system built on truth and certainty will snowball through the fiat system and its associated mischief. Leviathan begone.

And thanks to principled bitcoiners and bitcoin companies laying the foundation, its influence will cascade as truth in money permeates to everything else.

NEWS

🚔 SBF protected from incriminating himself in senate hearing, gets arrested by Bahamian Authorities

Onlookers expecting to hear former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) testify before Congress were disappointed as authorities arrested him the day before his scheduled hearing. Authorities indicted the former media darling on eight criminal charges, including wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

📰 Media outlets failed the public on FTX

Two separate reports this week revealed the same thing: the media appears to have been complicit in FTX's rug pull of the public. The first report revealed famous media company The Block was secretly funded by Alameda Research, FTX's sister firm that "borrowed" funds from the now-bankrupt exchange.

The second came from an interview Business Insider held with prominent bitcoiner Jack Mallers, back in June, in which Mallers cited his concerns with SBF and FTX before anyone knew what was happening. The interview was never made public. The Business Insider employee who interviewed Mallers claims he "begged (the company) to release it - but they refused."

🙃 Unconstitutional digital asset bill proposed in response to FTX

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Roger Marshall, harsh critics of digital assets, introduced a bill that, if successful, would enact stringent compliance and regulatory measures on the entire ecosystem. The bill has little to do with FTX, mainly targeting users and developers. Coin Center's Peter Van Valkenburgh refers to the bill as "an opportunistic, unconstitutional assault on cryptocurrency self custody, developers, and node operators." Fortunately, Senator Warren is notorious for introducing weighty bills that never pass, and it was only a matter of time before she aimed at digital assets.

🌐 Bitcoin settled $60 trillion on the network last year

That's trillion with a T. Demonstrating incredible network strength, the Bitcoin network processed trillions in BTC. While mainstream reports cite concerns about the health of the BTC network amid the bear market and central bankers call on its demise, bitcoin's on-chain data tells a different story. For more details, check out the eye-opening thread posted by VP of Research at Riot Blockchain Pierre Rochard.

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BITCOIN ADOPTION CONTINUES

The largest power company in Japan, Tepco, is jumping into bitcoin mining to capitalize on excess energy. The company is deploying mining operations across the nation.

Large bitcoin billboards in Kansas City depict how much the dollar has depreciated since 2010.

South African digital bank Be Mobile Africa is providing businesses the ability to accept bitcoin and digital assets for payments.

Bitcoin available on exchanges has hit a 4 year low with only 2.3 million BTC remaining. Many hodlers are self custodying and not making their bitcoin available for sale.

November saw the largest amount of bitcoin withdrawals from exchanges ever recorded, notching over 91,000 BTC as hodlers take custody of their BTC, leaving less available for sale on the marketplace.

Hong Kong is officially launching a Bitcoin Futures ETF, the first of its kind in Asia.

Bitcoin and regulatory policy with Joe Ciccolo from bitAML

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HOW BITCOIN WORKS

Learn one key idea about bitcoin each week. This week: Bitcoin is a trustworthy third party.

This week, Michael McCaffery, CEO of The Block, resigned after reports revealed that Sam Bankman-Fried, formally of FTX, now facing prison, used FTX funds to purchase a $16 million apartment for McCaffery.

The revelations demonstrate that, yet again, everything is not as it seems in the world of crypto and fiat.

Readers must now question whether reports they read on The Block were bought and paid for by FTX.

Unmaskings like these show why bitcoiners love the term “don’t trust, verify.”

Too often, the people and institutions we trust for news and other services betray us, seeking personal objectives rather than truth and integrity.

But what if we could trust something that dispenses with the need to put our faith in humans?

Unlike centralized institutions that require us to trust third parties and individuals, bitcoin requires none.

But how?

First, because the community must approve all changes made to the code, there is less risk of fraud or corruption from within the system — no shady backroom deals.

Second, since everyone can access and read the code behind bitcoin, there is complete transparency across all users and transactions — everyone knows what they are signing up for.

Finally, because unrelated users across the world must verify every transaction (and both parties digitally sign each transaction), users can rest assured that no one will be able to interfere with their money.

At its core, bitcoin offers us something we haven’t had in a long time — trust without blind faith in other human beings. In a time marred by institutional misconduct, corporate greed, and government corruption, the trust-less nature of bitcoin is right on time.

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COIN CHECK

How many bitcoin confirmations are considered to be secure enough to make a transaction immutable?

1. Six
2. One
3. Twenty one
4. Four

Check your answer at the end of the page.

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Answer: A. Six

Confirmations are subsequent blocks added to the bitcoin blockchain after a transaction has been made. The more blocks added after a transaction is made, the more secure the transaction becomes because the amount of work that miners would need to produce to change it becomes infeasible.

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