Verdicts From Vegas | THE BITCOIN BRIEF 80

A bi-weekly news show informing you on the latest in Bitcoin, privacy and open source tech hosted by Ungovernables, Max and Q.

AOB

• Prime Time reminder
• Vibe coding
• Vegas recap
  • Zach Panel
  • Q panel (video not up yet)

NEWS


Vegas Product Announcements

• Block launched a new Bitkey hardware wallet with a secure touchscreen and 2-of-3 multisig that removes the need for seed phrases, tying transaction verification directly to the device screen (Bitcoin Magazine).
• Blockstream released Jade Core, an entry-level open-source hardware wallet with Bluetooth pairing, offline signing, and Blind Oracle PIN protection (Bitcoin Magazine).
• Lightspark became a Visa principal member and unveiled Grid Global Accounts, connecting Bitcoin-based payments to 175M Visa merchants across 33 countries with plans to reach 100 by year-end (news.bitcoin.com).
• Block demoed Square NFC tap-to-pay for Bitcoin settled over the Lightning Network with 0% processing fees through 2026, with 800,000+ Square merchants already auto-enrolled (block.xyz).
• Aven unveiled a Bitcoin-backed Visa credit card with revolving credit lines from $1K to $1M starting at 7.99% APR, 2% cash back, and BitGo custody (GreekReporter).
• Cash App rolled out auto-conversion of P2P payments into Bitcoin, a 5% Bitcoin Back rewards program at Square merchants, and 5x higher withdrawal limits ($10K/day, $25K/week) (block.xyz).
• Tether Investments proposed a three-way merger of Twenty One Capital, Strike, and Elektron Energy to combine treasury, mining, lending, and capital markets, with Elektron contributing roughly 5% of global hashrate (BM).

Sztorc eCash Fork

• Topic: Paul Sztorc announced a Bitcoin hard fork called "eCash" set for August 2026 (block 964,000). Copies Bitcoin's ledger but reassigns ~500,000 of Satoshi's forked coins to early investors. 80-85% negative community reaction.
• Posted: April 24-28, 2026
• Link

DOJ "Developer Exemptions" Announced at Bitcoin 2026 - But Are They Real?

• Published: April 27-28, 2026
• Sources: The Rage | Crypto.news
• Summary: Acting AG Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel told Bitcoin 2026 that developers who write code without "knowingly" helping criminals will not be charged. Blanche claimed the DOJ has "fundamentally changed the game" and ended "regulation by prosecution." L0la L33tz at The Rage argues the exemption is performative - the government's existing cases treat receiving a complaint email or reading a news article about misuse as sufficient "knowledge."

Keonne Rodriguez Writes from Prison - "Letter #6: Two Years In"

• Published: April 25, 2026
• Sources: The Rage | Reason Magazine
• Summary: Samourai Wallet co-founder Keonne Rodriguez published his sixth letter from federal prison, marking two years since his arrest. He's serving 5 years for conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Trump said he would "look into" a pardon but has taken no action.

Tornado Cash Retrial: DOJ Pushes for October Date

• Published: Ongoing (retrial proposed October 2026)
• Sources: The Rage (April 22)
• Summary: Prosecutors are pushing for an October 2026 retrial of Roman Storm on money laundering and sanctions charges after a jury deadlocked in August 2025. Storm was convicted on the unlicensed money transmitter charge but the jury couldn't agree on the two more serious counts (up to 40 years combined).

Vercel Hack Exposes Crypto Infrastructure Supply Chain Risk

• Published: April 20, 2026
• Source: LINK
• Summary: Vercel disclosed a breach traced to a compromised Google Workspace connection through a third-party AI tool (Context.ai). The hack exposed environment variables and API keys for numerous Web3 projects. Solana DEX Orca confirmed it rotated all deployment credentials. A cybercrime forum post claimed to be selling Vercel data for $2M.

BIP47DB

• Published: May 3, 2026
• Source: LINK
• Summary: An open protocol for inscribing BIP47 reusable payment codes onto the Bitcoin blockchain using Ordinals inscriptions with compressed binary encoding. The protocol creates a decentralised, censorship-resistant, and publicly verifiable directory of payment codes that eliminates single points of failure in the PayNym ecosystem. Anyone may write to the directory, and all entries are client-side verifiable against the secp256k1 curve.

RELEASES


Zeus v13.0.0 - April 27, 2026

• Major release: new "node in the phone" using LDK Node, redesigned onboarding, embedded LND channel migration preserving existing channels, Cashu protocol rewrite with offline transaction capabilities, embedded LND upgraded to v0.20.1-beta, revamped amount input with currency selection, Cashu mint review via Nostr social graph, ZEUS Pay+ custom profiles, Android stealth mode. Over 100 merged PRs.
• Release link

Mempool v3.3.0 - April 21, 2026

• Major release: taproot script tree visualization, sighash highlighting, stale block comparisons, annexes support, sub-1-sat/vB transaction handling, ephemeral dust support, PSBT signature display, Liquid Simplicity support, new API endpoints, Angular framework upgrade. v3.3.1 hotfix same day.
• Release link

Umbrel 1.7.0 / 1.7.1 - April 27-28, 2026

• Home screen shortcuts, built-in text editor in Files, advanced networking (hostname customization, static IP), network sharing for external USB drives, 17 new languages. v1.7.1 fixed a false storage error on restart.
• Release link

BTCPay Server v2.3.8 / v2.3.9 - April 23-24, 2026

• v2.3.8: Enhanced subscription management with new API routes, improved POS QR code login, LUD-21 support for LNURL-pay verification. v2.3.9: Patch fixing server recovery after plugin crashes and xpub parsing issue.
• Release link

BULL Bitcoin v6.9.1 - April 21, 2026

• FSS10 migration fallback for Android, Colombia (COP) deposit support, real-time WebSocket notifications, 11 new languages, Ledger hardware wallet support. Extensive bug fixes.
• Release link

Envoy v2.2.14 - April 23, 2026

• Hardened iOS Bluetooth connectivity, fixes for Passport Prime account display, Magic Backup bug fixes, coin control/fee flow improvements, updated translations.
• Release link

Cake Wallet v6.1.0 / v6.1.2 - April 20-23, 2026

• Native USDT bridging between Ethereum, Polygon, and Arbitrum. Optimized core engine, improved multi-chain wallet stability, Lightning invoice generation and EVM connectivity fixes.
• Release link

Start9 v0.4.0-beta.7 - April 29, 2026

• Beta for the complete StartOS rewrite. Tunnel design refinements, backup reliability fixes with rsync and CIFS support, improved TCP connection timeouts in reverse proxy. Requires careful update process.
• Release link

LNbits v1.5.4 - April 23, 2026

• Ability for operators to cap number of users or extensions per instance. AppImage installation fix. UI fixes, QR code optimization, webhook error handling.
• Release link

Dojo v1.29.1 - April 27, 2026

• Patch reverting a bitcoinjs dependency update that caused block sync to stall. Dependency reversion and lockfile updates.
• Release link

Bitkey - April 19-26, 2026

• Three app releases shipped (2026.5.0, 2026.6.0, 2026.7.0). Rapid release cadence; full notes at bitkey.world/releases.
• Release link

Nunchuk v2.4.2 / v2.4.3 - April 23 / May 2, 2026

• Bug fixes and maintenance improvements.
• Release link

EDUCATION

• BTC Vegas Talks  (https://www.youtube.com/@BitcoinMagazine/videos)

TO DONATE TO ROMAN'S DEFENSE FUND: https://freeromanstorm.com/donate

HELP GET SAMOURAI A PARDON

• SIGN THE PETITION ----> https://www.change.org/p/stand-up-for-freedom-pardon-the-innocent-coders-jailed-for-building-privacy-tools 
• DONATE TO THE FAMILIES ----> https://www.givesendgo.com/billandkeonne
• SUPPORT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ---> https://billandkeonne.org/

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FOUNDATION

https://foundation.xyz/ungovernable

Foundation builds Bitcoin-centric tools that empower you to reclaim your digital sovereignty.

As a sovereign computing company, Foundation is the antithesis of today’s tech conglomerates. Returning to cypherpunk principles, they build open source technology that “can’t be evil”.

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CAKE WALLET

https://cakewallet.com

Cake Wallet is an open-source, non-custodial wallet available on Android, iOS, macOS, and Linux.

Features:
- Built-in Exchange: Swap easily between Bitcoin and Monero.
- User-Friendly: Simple interface for all users.

Monero Users:
- Batch Transactions: Send multiple payments at once.
- Faster Syncing: Optimized syncing via specified restore heights
- Proxy Support: Enhance privacy with proxy node options.

Bitcoin Users:
- Coin Control: Manage your transactions effectively.
- Silent Payments: Static bitcoin addresses
- Batch Transactions: Streamline your payment process.

Thank you Cake Wallet for sponsoring the show!

MYNYMBOX

https://mynymbox.io

Your go-to for anonymous…