This quarterly update is all about breaking records. Not only is it the latest update we’ve ever published, it also contains the most words and most links of any Spiral blog post. Thanks to the latter, parts of it are almost illegible.
For bitcoin to become the planet’s preferred currency, educational content must entice the average person. It needs to reach people where they’re at and perform well on social platforms beyond Twitter and Nostr. While there’s a great deal of content out there, a lot of it is somewhat technical, too long for short attention spans, or lacking the creative flair that makes marketing palatable.
This quarter’s newsletter was delayed by a number of factors, one of which was last seen wandering the streets of New York between July 14–17. Even if you don’t know what we’re talking about, for once, we do. And you will.
Spiral is hiring bitcoin “wizards,” though we will settle for bitcoin mages, sorcerers and sorceresses, witches, warlocks, and druids.
The quarterly blog post bitcoin deserves and needs right now.
It’s just like every Spiral quarterly update, except this one includes swearing.
This quarterly update has got it all: LDK, BDK, Taproot, Summer of Bitcoin, Designathons, Hackathons, grantee spotlights, our TABConf schedule, a high-concept introduction that I’m amazed didn’t get shot down, and more.
Welp, we’re doing another one of these, which means we’ll keep doing them every quarter until the man shuts us down or I pack it all in to go work on a weasel farm.
Much of what we do at Spiral aims to support FOSS (free and open-source software) bitcoin developers and designers. Our grant program currently funds over two dozen developers and designers across more than 18 countries—the largest bitcoin fund of its kind. These individuals are helping make bitcoin the world's preferred currency by tackling a range of projects from Bitcoin Core and Lightning to general UX improvements.
We have a lot going on, and tweets weren’t cutting it. So here’s a new kind of update that we’ll be releasing quarterly to cover what we’re working on, where we’re speaking, who we’re funding, etc.
Once Square decided to rebrand, we knew it was time for our own long-overdue rebrand. After all, Square Crypto was never the best name for our team.
To foster a greater and more engaged bitcoin design community, we are expanding our existing grant program to designers. Initial grants will last 6 months. Our hope is that all grant recipients will serve as stewards for the growing bitcoin design community.
Great design is essential to the adoption of new technologies. That’s what made it one of Square Crypto’s earliest considerations.
We support bitcoin by building developer toolkits, contributing to the Lightning Network and Bitcoin Core, and supplying grants that free up developers to work on bitcoin in their own way. To date, we’ve supplied grants to BTCPayServer and ZmnSCPxj. Today we’re awarding two more to Jon Atack and Tankred Hase, in addition to providing steps that could help your bitcoin project get funded by us.
For bitcoin to become a widely used global currency — one that can’t be stopped, tampered with, or rigged in anyone’s favor — improvements to bitcoin’s UX, security, privacy, and scaling are required.
Square Crypto was founded to improve and promote bitcoin, both through our own work and by supporting the work of others. In that spirit, today we’re announcing the first of what will be many grants to support open-source bitcoin projects.
Bitcoin has demonstrated incredible resilience in its first 10 years largely due to its sophisticated technical design and passionate community. However, for Bitcoin to eventually become a daily-use currency with widespread adoption, there is a need to significantly improve the user experience, as echoed by Jack Dorsey when he announced Square Crypto.
