đ˝A Pro-Bitcoin president? Trumpâs Bitcoin policies and what they mean for business
Letâs dig deep into the new president electâs policies on bitcoin and what it means to Bitcoin Commerce.
USA politics front and center, bitcoin rewards and tech, and more in this edition of the Bitcoin Commerce Roundup.
USA President elect Donald Trump's crypto campaign policies analyzed
How bitcoin rewards can be used to boost user engagementÂ
LightSpark announces an interesting Bitcoin Layer 2 protocol aimed at business
MoneyBadger makes an innovative UX improvement for South African bitcoin payments
Looking for a laugh? Check out our Bitcoin meme of the week at the back of the Roundup! đ
Find it all here, and thanks from the Velas Team!
Does the USA have a new bitcoin president?
USA president elect Donald Trump can be a deeply divisive figure. Weâre not getting into that. Â
On the other hand, he has announced a surprising number of potentially important policies that could have a huge impact on Bitcoin Commerce worldwide in coming years.
Letâs look at the top three policies from the Bitcoin Commerce perspective:
Create a strategic bitcoin reserve.
This could have a two-fold impact on Bitcoin Commerce. The most obvious is that increasing demand for bitcoin over coming years would cause the price of bitcoin to increase, and bitcoin prices on the rise are almost always a boost to businesses in the industry.
A more subtle benefit could come from legitimization and stability such a reserve could make to bitcoin, both in the USA and around the world. Â This really could put Bitcoin Commerce on the big stage and keep us there for good.
Make an industry-friendly crypto advisory.
Regulation of Bitcoin and crypto in the USA has been a rocky road. We have seen this most recently in large-scale debates over what constitutes a security and questions about whether Bitcoin Lightning wallets can be seen as money transmitters.
Having a more crypto-savvy and industry-friendly advisory could really help develop more reasonable approaches to sometimes very niche and technical, yet very important policy decisions.
Overall this could be a huge boost for Bitcoin Commerce.
Bitcoin self-custody as a right.
The last in our Top 3 will provide Bitcoin-focused businesses the assurance they need that setting up shop in the USA is a safe long-term bet.
There really isnât anything more fundamental to Bitcoin than the need for self custody.Â
Assuring Bitcoin businesses that this will never be taken from them is a solid foundation for the future of Bitcoin Commerce in the USA.
Check out this CoinTelegraph article that covers all these and more, as well as analyzing their feasibility in the near future:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-promises-crypto-election-usa
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Users win big with bitcoin rewards
Check out this article in Bitcoin Magazine, where Nikolaus Haufman breaks down all the bitcoin rewards he earned effortlessly by using Fold and Lolli to make everyday purchases.
Thereâs a really clever takeaway that Bitcoin businesses can use when weâre designing rewards systems:Â
âThatâs when I realized the genius of these platforms: they donât require customers to go out of their way to acquire bitcoin. They just allow them to live their lives and get rewards. They make it so that no real change in behavior is required, and people donât have to invest their hard-earned dollars to get their hands on some bitcoin.â
Itâs a brilliant take and some of the most successful Bitcoin projects have been built around this philosophy.
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/i-did-basically-nothing-and-got-500-in-bitcoin Â
LightSpark announces a new L2 designed for business
This is a story we recommend keeping an eye on if your business is planning an enterprise grade integration.
LightSpark announced their new âSparkâ protocol, which is designed to make Bitcoin Lightning integrations an easier process for businesses and development teams.
They also continue building on their UMA (Universal Money Address) protocol, which could be a significant improvement in payment UX.
Itâs cutting edge stuff and we recommend keeping a close eye on this:
South African retailer continues to improve bitcoin payments
Pick n Pay and their partner MoneyBadger continue to work on improving bitcoin payment UX in South Africa.
The South African retailer has reported some significant successes in the 1+ year since adopting bitcoin payments. For details on that, check out a previous edition of the Roundup linked below.
Now theyâve improved the UX for customers at checkout with a novel way to use Lightning Addresses behind the scenes.
Check out the video on Twitter to see it in action, and the Stacker News post for the technical details.
https://x.com/BitcoinEkasi/status/1851625973382279475Â
https://stacker.news/items/748849Â
https://velascommerce.substack.com/p/bitcoin-payments-boom-for-major-south
And our Bitcoin Commerce meme of the week.............đĽđĽđĽđĽđĽđĽ
đť 2140.dev launches at Bitcoin Amsterdam
2140.dev launches a non-profit dedicated to supporting open-source Bitcoin research and development. Check it out here: 2140.dev
âĄAfrica Free Routing offers a Nairobi bootcamp
Itâs a four day deep dive into Bitcoin Lightning development scheduled for December 2024. Scholarships are available now here: https://freerouting.africa/bitcoin-lightning-dev-bootcamp/