This month we saw a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal for Schnorr Signatures, another Sidechain for Bitcoin, many blocks over 2MB, over 40% SegWit adoption, a few billionaires investing in bitcoin, continued growth in the Lightning Network and much more!

What the monthly news is about:

For those unfamiliar, each day I pick out the most popular/relevant/interesting stories in r/Bitcoin and save them. At the end of the month I release them in one batch, to give you a quick (but not necessarily the best) overview of what happened in bitcoin over the past month.

A recap of Bitcoin in July 2018

01: Lightningspin.com has routed 400 payments worth 6M satoshis for a combined $0.10 in fees
02: Coinbase launches its custodial service for institutional investors
03: Users can now create their own assets on the Liquid sidechain
04: According to Bitrefill’s blockchain analysis, Bitpay lost over half of their payment traffic since implementing BIP70
05: A comparison between proof-of-stake and the central banking system & What developers have learned from bootstrapping the Lightning Network & The state of merchant adoption
06: Pieter Wuille submits a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal for Schnorr signatures
07: The capacity of the Lightning Network has been steadily rising
08: Someone becomes the biggest node on the Lightning Network by opening $50k worth of channels
09: BTCPayServer has integrated with the Lightning Network & Ledger launches Leder Live, a companion app for their hardware wallet
10: 100 Merchants can trial Bitcoin’s Lightning Network risk free through CoinGate
11: Another day, another bank laundering $8b while claiming Bitcoin is for criminals
12: A house is sold for bitcoin in the United States
13: Billionaire Steven Cohen invests in cryptocurrency hedge fund
14: There are 3 blocks over 2MB in a row & A 45 min talk on future technological upgrades to Bitcoin & Someone livestreams eating M&M’s from a Lightning-powered candy dispenser
15: Over 40% of all transactions now use SegWit, while some large companies still haven’t adopted it & A stress test of all the popular metal cold storage devices
16: Dave helps recover someones lost 2.44 btc & A story from someone working at a financial firm on how they treat clients asking about bitcoin & A community member translates Bitcoin.org into his native language - Serbian
17: The bitcoin price rises $1000 in a day with a clear example of how connected exchanges are now
18: A reminder to properly secure your bitcoins
19: A billionaire states he has 1% of his wealth in bitcoin & It is now possible to buy Amazon gift cards with Lightning & A US Congressman says bitcoin is for criminals, while his own funding source is from illegal gambling
20: Blockchain.com still hasn’t implemented SegWit despite promises & Robin Hood (the movie) is partnering with Robinhood (the app) to give away $50k in cryptocurrency
21: The Lightning Network now has over 10k channels & An infographic on how to identify cryptocurrency scams
22: Google is allowing some cryptocurrency ads again
23: People discuss a Bitcoin ETF decision on 10th of August & The upgrade path to post-quantum computing & How Square could help bitcoin adoption
24: New Zap desktop and iOS apps
25: A visualisation of the Lightning Network growth over the past 6 months & Stratis to release a Bitcoin privacy solution using masternodes based on the TumbleBit protocol & Skrill users can now buy and sell bitcoin
26: A resort in Sri Lanka is accepting bitcoin & Mycelium android wallet is implementing SegWit support a year late & Marco Polo got laughed away by the Venetian Republic upon introducing paper money
27: An SEC Commissioner disagrees with a bitcoin ETF rejection & Google bans cryptocurrency mining apps from its Play Store
28: An article on what happened when Jameson Lopp, a Bitcoin engineer, got SWATted a year ago
29: Bitcoin Core 0.16.2 is released & Bitcoin adoption in New Hampshire & A petition to free Ross Ulbricht reaches 43k signatures
30: Kim Kardashian mentions bitcoin on Instagram to her 114M followers
31: Iran’s bitcoin trading volume rises as their currency loses value due to US sanctions & Ross Ulbricht’s murder-for-hire charges dropped related to the Silk Road