📈 One in four Americans now own bitcoin!?!
Welcome to the Bitcoin Commerce Roundup!
We have an exciting Bitcoin Commerce Roundup with surprising numbers of Bitcoin ownership, "Zap-vertising," crypto payments, and Bulgarian football embracing Bitcoin and Lightning!
Recent study by Unchained Capital finds one in four Americans now own bitcoin
“Zapvertsing” is a new trend where businesses send a bitcoin payment along with an ad
Crypto payments are growing in retail, dining and luxury
Bulgaria’s oldest football club adopts Bitcoin, Lightning and NOSTR
Looking for a laugh? Check out our Bitcoin meme of the week at the back of the Roundup! 😁
Find it all below, and thanks from the Velas Team!
One in four Americans now own bitcoin
Check out this study by Unchained Capital and the Bitcoin Magazine summary.
Bitcoin ownership in the USA seems to have quietly exploded. The Bitcoin Magazine summary states that of 596 total surveyed, one in four owned bitcoin.
When the query was narrowed to 400 self-identified investors, the number rose to 55 percent!
The report is full of indicators that interest in Bitcoin is growing in the USA.
Seems like a great time to get in front of all these new bitcoin owners and to be in Bitcoin Commerce!
Find all the info here:
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/one-in-four-americans-own-bitcoin-unchained-study
https://unchained.com/blog/bullish-on-bitcoin-us-investor-outlook-for-btc-in-2024/
Getting to the bottom of “Zap-vertising”
If you have a Bitcoin Lightning Address, you may have noticed a recent trend in targeted advertising.
Businesses are sending a small payment, from our experience between 1 and 3 Satoshis (about 0.0003 US dollars), along with an embedded advertisement.
We've received these from a range of businesses and organizations too, ranging from video and podcast promotions to e-commerce sites.
There are several businesses that seem to be capitalizing on this demand, offering both to broadcast advertisements for a fee, as well as offering rewards for users that opt in with their Lightning Address.
So are these payments a nuisance? Are ad-viewers just happy to receive the free sats? We haven’t seen any formal surveys yet, but from our research it’s a mixed reaction.
We’re also researching the tech behind the scenes. It’s possible that services are trawling NOSTR, an emergent social media protocol that is heavily bitcoin-focused, for lightning addresses for targeted ads.
Likely we’ll see the bar raised in coming months, where users will filter out tiny payments as a spam filter. It also seems likely that this trend could continue and that this is the early days of a new method of advertising.
Check out some of these services and this interesting write up for more info:
https://michaelantonfischer.com/nostr-the-hidden-advertising-champion
Where are crypto payments taking off?
Check out this hidden gem from CCN and Coinledger. It’s an analysis of where crypto payments are gaining most traction across various business types.
The winners (so far)?
Retail & e-commerce, food & dining and the luxury sector.
It’s a great way for Bitcoin Commerce to focus our efforts and I think it also points to some areas where we could get a lot of growth.
Surely gaming and online services are massive potential growth areas.
Check it out here and get inspired!
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto-payments-retail-luxury-top/
Bulgarian Football goes for Bitcoin Lightning and NOSTR
Maybe this story got lost on us with all the preparations for the Latin American Bitcoin Conference! It’s a gem though so we’re going with it anyway.
Bulgarian football club Botev Plovdiv FC has adopted Bitcoin and Lightning payments and even made a NOSTR profile!
The club is accepting bitcoin payments for in-person purchases at shops and stands, and also has plans to incorporate ticket sales soon.
Check out the story here. And if you’re on NOSTR, consider sending them a shoutout too:
Find them on NOSTR here:
https://iris.to/npub19jfsjxx7gtw2t52qepx93ek57fdstfwszct3qqwzns4zxmvsc5gswf8rx0
BotevFC NOSTR ID:
Npub19jfsjxx7gtw2t52qepx93ek57fdstfwszct3qqwzns4zxmvsc5gswf8rx0
And our Bitcoin Commerce meme of the week.............🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
⚡Tapping intoTaproot Assets
Lightning Labs is working on a series of short demo videos walking through using the Taproot Assets Daemon, tapd, from install to mint to transfer to burn! Find the playlist on YouTube here.
🌐 Our redesigned website is up!
We've been working hard on a website rebuild. Next we're working on adding some feature projects. Check it out here and let us know what you think.
⚡ BTCPay Server and LND gRPC: Connecting the Dots
If you’re a developer or a fan of BTCPay Server and you’re keen to get more out of the Lightning Network, this guide is for you. We walk you through how to control your BTCPay Server’s internal LND lightning node using gRPC. Find the guide here.