Kalam Crypto #108: Ethereum Blobs and Craig Wright is not Satoshi

This week, CoinMENA signs a milestone partnership with Network International, Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade significantly reduces L2 fees, and a U.K. court concludes that Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto.

18 Mar, 2024

CoinMENA Team

Author

“We are all Satoshi, except Craig Wright”

Ahlan wa sahlan, and welcome to the 108th edition of CoinMENA's weekly newsletter, Kalam Crypto. This week, CoinMENA signs a milestone partnership with Network International, Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade significantly reduces L2 fees, Microstrategy keeps raising funds to buy more bitcoin, and a U.K. court concludes that Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto. All that and more on this week’s Kalam Crypto.

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Local News 📍

CoinMENA Partners with Network International to Streamline Fiat to Crypto Onramps: We are thrilled to share the news of milestone partnerships we have been working on for months.

The strategic partnership allows UAE CoinMENA users to instantly deposit funds via cards directly to their wallet. In a joint statement, CoinMENA founders Talal Tabbaa and Dina Sam’an said: “Partnering with Network International, the leading enabler of digital commerce in the MENA region, marks a significant milestone in our commitment to providing our users in the UAE with seamless and secure onramps to crypto. With the ability to deposit fiat to their CoinMENA wallet instantly via cards, our users can now experience a streamlined and efficient process. This aligns with our mission to continually enhance the accessibility and convenience of crypto services. We look forward to leveraging Network International's industry leadership in the UAE and providing the best experience possible for our users.”

Global News 🌍

Ethereum Dencun Upgrade & Blobs: The recent Ethereum upgrade, known as Dencun, has successfully reduced transaction costs on Layer 2 chains. This upgrade introduced blobs, a new transaction type for Layer 2s, which has significantly lowered average transaction fees on major Layer 2 chains. For instance, in the Optimism ecosystem, including OP Mainnet, Base, and Zora, as well as other chains like zkSync and Starknet, there has been a substantial decrease in transaction fees. Data from these Layer 2s, such as Base, indicates a significant drop in median gas fees from around $0.5 to about $0.0012 since the upgrade. Similar reductions in fees are observed across other networks like OP Mainnet.

Saylor’s Microstrategy Update: Michael Saylor continues to buy more bitcoin. Two weeks ago MicroStrategy raised an $800 million convertible note and bought $821.7 million worth of Bitcoin. He then did it again last week by raising another $500 million through convertible notes and bought more bitcoin. In an interview, he said “The endgame is to acquire more Bitcoin. Whoever gets the most Bitcoin wins." MicroStrategy now owns 214,246 BTC acquired at an average price of $35,160 per bitcoin.

Tweet Of The Week 🐥

El Salvador’s president posted their bitcoin wallet address: El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele set a new standard for financial reporting and transparency for nation-states. He simply posted El Salvador’s official bitcoin wallet address, showing his citizens, and the world, exactly how much bitcoin the country owns. Anyone in the world can verify this by checking the wallet’s balance on the bitcoin network: Here is the link: https://mempool.space/address/32ixEdVJWo3kmvJGMTZq5jAQVZZeuwnqzo

FacePalm of the Week 🤦‍♂️

Craig Wright is not Satoshi: A U.K. judge has ruled that Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, or the author of the Bitcoin whitepaper. The case, brought by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), concluded this week with Judge James Mellor stating that the evidence overwhelmingly proves Wright's claims false. Key figures in Bitcoin's creation, including Adam Back and Martti Malmi, testified against Wright, disputing his assertions. We might not know who Satoshi is, but we definitely know who he is not!

CoinMENA News 🗞️

7 New Digital Assets: We're excited to share that CoinMENA has just expanded its offerings with 7 highly anticipated digital assets! Introducing FLOKI, PYUSD, XAUT, LDO (DAO), DYDX, PAXG, and BICO.

🌙 CoinMENA Ramadan Fawazeer are back: Every Friday during Ramadan, we are giving away $100 in prizes to 2 Winners ($50 on Instagram & $50 on Twitter). Check out our social media to know more!

🤳Trade > ⭐️Qualify >🏅Win: We’re giving away a $5,000 prize for 10 users ($500 each). To qualify, all you have to do is deposit or trade for a minimum of $10! That’s it! The more active you are, the more likely you are to win!

🥇$3,000 Referral Competition extended to the end of March: 🤳Invite > 🤑Earn >🏅Win $3,000 to the top three referrers this month!

🏅First place: $1,500

🥈Second place: $1,000

🥉Third place: $500

Earn $5 for every successful referral (when your friend verifies their account), and the top three referrers earn an additional bonus at the end of this month! (March 2024). The more successful referrals, the more you earn!

Quiz Corner ✅

Last week’s question: True or false: If Satoshi Nakamoto resurfaces he can change the rules of bitcoin and increase supply. The correct answer is False.

This week’s question is another true or false question. The bitcoin halving decreases the total supply of bitcoin: