29.03.2024

Lightning powers instant debit card Bitcoin buys

In a blog post and associated social media posts on Sept. 19, Zap Solutions founder Jack Mallers said Olympus was specifically designed to bypass extant offerings from BitPay and Coinbase.

The creators of Bitcoin wallet Zap have revealed a new tool for instantly purchasing Bitcoin using a bank account via the Lightning Network.

The Lightning Network facilitates instant delivery of BTC purchases, and Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures are kept to a minimum.

“Someone who has never experienced Bitcoin before should be able to swipe their debit card, get Bitcoin delivered to them directly onto the Lightning Network, and make inexpensive instant micropayments within seconds of purchase”, Mallers explained.

The service does not require a Zap wallet for use and operates as a standalone component for existing wallet users. For them, using the purchasing function is optional, with KYC only applicable to those who choose to use it.

Testing remains underway, with Zap applying for money transmitter licenses in each U.S. state prior to a rollout in 2020.

Developer on Coinbase and BitPay: “F*** that”

Explaining the impetus behind Olympus, Mallers did not mince his words.

“Do we wait for Coinbase and BitPay to come around to Lightning? Leave it up to the closed-source elites that have misrepresented bitcoin for years to take the baton and run to the finish line? No. F*** that”, he wrote.

Both companies have felt the pressure this year as dissatisfaction grew among clients. In the case of BitPay, arbitrary rejections of certain payments – including charity donations – sparked outrage on social media.

Widow of QuadrigaCX Founder Hands Over $9 Million in Assets to Users

The widow of QuadrigaCX founder Gerald Cotten, Jennifer Robertson, is handing over $9 million in assets to the users of the now-defunct crypto exchange.

Robertson returns most of her assets

On Oct. 7, Robertson announced in a personal statement, posted by Coindesk, that she would be transferring the vast majority of estate assets – previously valued at about $9 million – to EY Canada. The Big Four audit firm acted as the bankruptcy trustee of QuadrigaCX during its insolvency hearings. Robertson stated:

«I have now entered into a voluntary settlement agreement where the vast majority of my assets and all of the Estate’s assets are being returned to QCX to benefit the Affected Users.»

Robertson explains that she was under the impression that her assets were all purchased with her husband’s legitimately earned profits, salary and dividends, adding:

“I was upset and disappointed with Gerry’s activities as uncovered by the investigation, when I first learned of them, and continue to be as we conclude this settlement.”

Canada Revenue Agency audits QuadrigaCX

Cointelegraph reported in September that QuadrigaCX is being audited by the Canada Revenue Agency, the country’s tax authority, which has requested tax returns from Oct. 1, 2015 to Sept. 30, 2018.

Over the past year, the exchange has been engaged in a lengthy court case with the exchange’s creditors, some of whom have speculated wildly as to the fate of the lost cryptocurrency, with some wondering whether Cotten is even dead.

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