Bitfinity Weekly: Code & Chaos

Welcome to Issue #166 of Bitfinity Weekly for our #BITFINIANS community. If this newsletter was forwarded to you, sign up here.

What's in Today's Email?

• Bitcoin Bytes
• Global Crypto News
• In the IC
• Tweet of the Week
• Meme Time
• A Matter of Opinion

Bitcoin Bytes

• Blink & Send : SoFi announced it will use the Bitcoin Lightning Network to power near-instant, low-cost cross-border remittances. In plain terms: a mainstream U.S. fintech is rolling out a product that can move money quickly using a Bitcoin layer-2 tool — useful for sending small payments across borders without waiting days.
• Wallet Wipeout : On Aug 19 a single investor lost 783 BTC after a fraudster impersonated hardware-wallet support and tricked the victim into handing over access. The funds were then routed through privacy tools, highlighting that human-targeted scams (not protocol bugs) remain the biggest risk for people holding large amounts. Simple takeaway: never share seed phrases or approve support requests out of band.
• Seedless Security : Recent reporting shows Multi-Party Computation (MPC) wallets are gaining ground for both institutions and everyday users because they split key control across parties, reducing single-point failures. Good news for people worried about theft or lost keys.
• Hash & Dash: The mining world is changing—some miners are branching into AI data-centers while others consolidate operations. This structural shift shows Bitcoin mining adapting beyond just hashing.

Global Crypto News

• Dev Jailbreak : The U.S. Justice Department said it will step back from pursuing money-transmitter cases against software developers who build decentralized crypto tools without criminal intent. That signals the government is rethinking prosecutions that treat writing code as a crime, which could reduce legal risk for developers.
• Blockchain Bureaucracy : European policymakers are accelerating plans for a digital euro, and officials are openly discussing whether parts of it could sit on public blockchain infrastructure rather than fully private systems — a step that could change how Europe designs future payments.
• Code vs. Cash : The U.S. consumer watchdog (CFPB) kicked off a review of open-banking rules for customer data, a move that could affect how crypto firms access banking data and how consumer data is shared between banks, apps, and fintechs.
• Tax Debug Mode : India’s tax authority, the CBDT, is consulting with crypto players to see if a new legal framework for virtual digital assets (VDAs) is needed. They're looking at whether the current 1% TDS on crypto sales is fair, and if traders should be allowed to offset losses. This may shed light on moving or changing existing rules.

In the IC

• Subnets Unleashed : The Internet Computer has doubled its replicated state storage to 2 TiB per subnet as of August 20, 2025. This means that apps can now handle much larger datasets—think AI models or enterprise workloads—without slowing down.
• Login Leveled-Up : Internet Identity 2.0 landed (Aug 19, 2025). The login system that many ICP apps use now supports modern passkeys and a simpler sign-in flow, so users can log into ICP apps without juggling long identity numbers. The update is designed to be easier and safer for regular people (you’ll still keep your old login methods if you want).
• Maintenance Vibes Only : Several custodial platforms temporarily paused ICP deposits/withdrawals around Aug 20, 2025 for a scheduled network upgrade (wallet maintenance tied to an ICP network release). If you use an exchange, the practical impact was a short pause in transfers while the upgrade completed — not a change to how ICP works for end users.

Tweet of the Week

Meme Time

Engineering team when the product team is stressing them out:

A Matter of Opinion

This week’s headlines show a clear, sensible pattern: the plumbing of crypto is maturing while the human and regulatory questions remain the hard part. Mainstream moves like SoFi using Lightning prove real-world use cases are finally being built — that’s the infrastructure quietly proving itself. At the same time, high-profile wallet fraud reminds us the weakest link is still people and procedures, not cryptography. Technological fixes (MPC wallets, bigger subnet storage, passkey-ready logins) are closing gaps, but they won’t matter if user practices and support flows don’t catch up.

On the policy front, regulators appear to be nudging toward nuance — less criminalizing of developers and more serious conversations about central-bank digital currencies and data rules. That’s healthier than blunt bans or knee-jerk crackdowns. The takeaway: technical scalability and better UX are converging with more thoughtful oversight. If those three move together — better tools, smarter user practices, and clearer rules — the industry can grow in a safer, more useful direction.

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