Happy Sunday!
In today’s snapshot, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who told a Miami Bitcoin conference in May that he was not an investor, seems to be one now. We also find that AI has learned to hold, send and receive Bitcoin payments, and a Salvadoran teenager has left behind a $6-a-day job to teach the elements of Bitcoin. All this and more!
These are some stories we’re looking at right now.
Records show Kennedy holds Bitcoin
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke in May at a Miami Bitcoin conference and said: “I am not an investor and I am not here to give investment advice.” He later added that he would accept campaign donations in Bitcoin.
Financial records subsequently uncovered by CNBC show that Kennedy possesses Bitcoin valued at as much as $250,000. Dennis Kucinich, Kennedy’s campaign manager, said the acquisition was made after the candidate’s statement, so there was no contradiction involved.
Salvadoran teen becomes Bitcoin teacher
A Salvadoran teenager recently completed a Bitcoin diploma program and returned to his former high school to educate teachers about the cryptocurrency, Cointelegraph reported.
Gerardo Moran, 18, said via Twitter that the program, which is backed by the Ministry of Education, enabled him to leave behind construction work “earning 6 dollars a day.” El Salvador in 2021 became the first country in the world to use Bitcoin as legal tender.
AI can now manipulate Bitcoin
Lightning Labs revealed new developer tools that can integrate Bitcoin with AI applications and Large Language Models including ChatGPT, Decrypt reported.
The developers said that AI applications will now be able to hold, send, and receive Bitcoin payments on-chain and on the Lightning Network as well.
Weather impairs Marathon Digital mining
The hot Texas summer contributed to Marathon Digital’s 21% decline of Bitcoin mined in June.
“We produced 979 bitcoin in June, down 21% from last month and up 599% from June 2022,” CEO Fred Thiel said in a statement. “The decreased production relative to last month was due to weather-related curtailment in Texas and a significant decrease in transaction fees.”
Tether freezes $2.5 million USDT
Stablecoin issuer Tether froze two addresses on the Ethereum network that had received about $2.5 million in USDT from Multichain’s multi-party computation address.
The addresses may be connected to an exploit of cross-chain router protocol Multichain in which assets valued at almost $130 million flowed out of several Multichain bridges under suspicious circumstances.
What we’re reading around the web
South Korea, Singapore, Thailand clarify crypto rules as U.S. in state of regulatory ‘warfare’ — Forkast
Elizabeth Warren’s anti-crypto crusade may bolster Wall Street’s land grab in Bitcoin market — DL News
New ChatGPT Code Interpreter Can Prove to Flat Earthers That the Earth Is Round — Decrypt