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The Bitcoin Minimalist Week 9 - UK QE, FED CBDC, Private Lightning Invoices

Major macro events have occurred and financial markets seem to be breaking

September 28, 2022

This week:

  • Wrapped Lightning Invoices

  • UK Bans Paper Fiat And Restarts QE

  • Russia Approves Bitcoin For Cross-Border Payments

  • FED And Central Bankers Talk CBDC

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News

FED And Central Bankers Talk CBDC

Federal Reserve Chair Powell said on September 27th that “if” the US implemented a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), it would be private but not anonymous.

This is on the same day that ECB Chief Lagarde motioned that CBDCs are required to maintain the role of central banks.

Russia Approves Bitcoin For Cross-Border Payments

The Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance have come to an agreement that would let residents send cross-border payments using cryptocurrencies.

This is reportedly now an almost final agreement for the use of cross-border payments. Although Bitcoin is permission-less, this still shows promise that Russia is allowing it for payments, considering the country is barred from using SWIFT.

UK Bans Paper Money Plus More QE

As of September 30th, the Bank of England says all paper notes will not be accepted at businesses and should be traded for plastic notes. This is at least £11 billion worth of notes. Everyone with paper notes will need to trade them in at a bank and either keep it in their account or ask for polymer notes in return.

Today, The Bank of England said it would launch a temporary government bond-buying program.

“In line with its financial stability objective, the Bank of England stands ready to restore market functioning and reduce any risks from contagion to credit conditions for UK households and businesses.” - Bank of England

Wrapped Lightning Invoices

In a stacker news post, @lnproxy mentioned that their new tool allows one to wrap lightning invoices hiding the destinations of their payments.

If you use Wallet of Satoshi or Strike, the public node reveals the destination of the lightning transaction. This is a way to obfuscate that.

Price

Bitcoin has been trading sideways for the past week but hasn’t been below its all-time low from a few months ago. Interestingly, it has stood up to many bearish macro events.

The Cycle Low Multiple shows the past two eras bottomed around 550 days before the halving.

Era 4 is approaching day 550 with a macro outlook that has not been seen since Bitcoin was created. If the money printer starts again, this may allow Bitcoin to run again.

But there is no telling what might happen if there is another crisis. Since Bitcoin has grown up in a macro bull run, it might not fair well in a crash. Time will tell.

Tweets

Bitcoin Was A Discovery, Not An Invention

Thread: Guatemala Town Mining Bitcoin With Vegetable Oil

Meter Hardware Allowing Micropayments on Lightning

Fiat Currencies Fail Against Bitcoin

Jobs

We have recently launched Bitcoinjobs.com! Looking for a job in the Bitcoin space? Visit Bitcoinjobs.com for more job openings.

What to read

Bitcoin Will 5x In The Next 5 Years, With or Without You

Bitcoin Will Replace SWIFT Before It Replaces Visa

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