(6 June 2021):  Over the past several days, the cryptocurrency world has been extremely busy.  With the Bitcoin 2021 Conference wrapping up this weekend in Miami, there has been a ton of press that has come out.  Additionally, Bitcoin continues to gain ground in the global economy as El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announces a bill to make Bitcoin legal tender in his country.  While the overall tone in the markets was not necessarily affected, the past weekend of has shown the world one thing - Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are here to stay.

Bitcoin Miami 2021

The Bitcoin Conference this year in Miami attracted a massive audience with numerous celebrities in attendance.  In total, nearly 50,000 people descended on Miami this weekend to partake in the Bitcoin festivities which features numerous speakers and an obvious display from Miami Mayor Francis Suarez to make his city the blockchain capital of the world.

City of Miami Adopts Blockchain & Crypto 

In addition to putting Miami in the middle of the cryptocurrency spotlight, Mayor Suarez has also recently proposed a resolution to have city workers and officials paid in Bitcoin, has announced he will be purchasing cryptocurrency himself, and has also attracted major investing power into the city.  He has bee adamant of not only including Bitcoin as apart of the Miami city budget, but also being a vocal supporter of Bitcoin "committed to promoting the emergence of Bitcoin as it continues to gain mainstream acceptance" per Mayor Suarez.

Billboard promoting Algorand in Miami, FL

From an investment perspective, Mayor Suarez has already been successful in convincing firms to move into Miami.  Most recently, the investment firm Borderless Capital will be providing $25 million USD in funding to Miami-based blockchain projects.  This investment from Borderless Capital is being powered by Algorand (ALGO) and Circle, the technology operator behind US Dollar Coin (USDC).  The money will be used to provide working capital to developers building projects on the Algorand Network.  Outside of Borderless and Algorand, Blockchain.com and eToro are also planning on setting up operations in Miami.  The willpower of Mayor Suarez to be an active supporter is already having an impact in possibly establishing Miami as the center of the cryptocurrency world.

Jack Dorsey & Square

Also announced this weekend is Jack Dorsey's intentions to have the company Square develop a hardware wallet for Bitcoin.  This was announced via a Tweet on June 4th.  The tweet can be seen below:

Jack proceeded to outline a number of guiding principles that demonstrate his and Square's expectations.  I can encourage you to read the rest of that thread.  You can find it here.

Additionally, Square has just announced a partnership with Blockstream to develop an open source, full solar powered Bitcoin mining facility to promote a transition to cleaner energy for Bitcoin.  Square will be investing $5 million USD into the project with the goal of demonstrating at scale that a full transition to sustainable, clean energy is very achievable for Bitcoin.

The press release via Blockstream for this announcement can be found here.

El Salvador Aims to Make Bitcoin Legal Tender

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced in a video yesterday that his country is making the necessary moves to make Bitcoin the first country to officially embrace the cryptocurrency as legal tender.  This was labeled as a "historic day for Bitcoin" and could be the first stepping stone towards Bitcoin being placed in the same legitimacy of other foreign currencies.

There are likely to be either delays or discussions prior to El Salvador officially recognizing Bitcoin as legal tender, but if the bill does go through, El Salvador may be placing themselves at the forefront of the next great societal evolution in the full adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies.  An estimated 70% of the population in El Salvador are said to not have a bank account.  The adoption of Bitcoin for the nation could help to finally establish citizens with adequate financial resources.

With a successful demonstration of Bitcoin being utilized in El Salvador, it may entice other developing nations to adopt Bitcoin as well.  This, in theory, could create a chain reaction of widespread adoption.  No one wants to be last.  Nevertheless, it is still a historic milestone for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency community.

Anonymous Threatens Elon Musk

After such a chaotic and busy week in the cryptocurrency world, this one is too good to leave out.  The decentralized activist group Anonymous recently released a video threatening Elon Musk for trying to manipulate Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market.  Feel free to give that short video a watch below:

Closing

There was a ton of press released this past weekend, with multiple new collaborations, investments, and other news being announced.  Many projects such as Algorand has shown to have very bright futures as blockchain and crypto continue to gain popularity in the mainstream market.  More institutional investment is expected to come as Jack Dorsey announces more plans to integrate cryptocurrency technology with his ventures. 

The news of El Salvador adopting Bitcoin is also a key story to keep an eye on.  The plethora of news this weekend, while not necessarily affecting the markets outright, still point to a very bright future for cryptocurrencies.  I would fully expect to have a lot positive news come out as we continue to move into June.

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