ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, retired NFL Carolina Panthers player Russell Okung announced on Thursday his hope to ensure that his newly established flag football league Bitball can pay its players in Bitcoin.In an interview, Okung revealed that he envisions a league where players can earn Bitcoin, fans can have real stakes, and the community can accumulate wealth.Okung added, "No more middlemen taking cuts or backroom deals; now, this is pure sports and pure Bitcoin, meaning pure opportunity. This is what I am building—a new league."

ChainCatcher news, according to Fox News, former U.S. President Trump used Bitcoin to pay for his meal at a bar in New York for the first time.

ChainCatcher news, Trump posted on social media, launching a limited edition sneaker that supports payments in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, with "Trump, Crypto President" printed on the shoe."I just spoke at the Bitcoin conference held in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday. Awesome! Buy your Bitcoin sneakers now. These are limited edition, each one is numbered, and you can now pay with Bitcoin or your favorite cryptocurrency. Have fun—buy before they sell out!"

ChainCatcher news, according to Beincrypto, on-chain detective ZachXBT revealed that the ransomware gang involved in the June cyberattack on CDK Global (a major provider of software for U.S. car dealerships) received over $25 million in Bitcoin. Last month, CDK Global suffered an attack that disrupted its software, affecting approximately 15,000 car dealerships in the U.S.According to ZachXBT, an address linked to BlackSuit received a payment of 387 BTC on June 21. Subsequently, these funds were transferred to several centralized exchanges. BlackSuit emerged in 2023 and has become a notorious ransomware gang targeting U.S. companies. This payment aligns with a previous report by Bloomberg, which stated that CDK Global planned to pay a ransom to prevent its data from being exposed. The company has agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars to expedite its system recovery. However, CDK has not confirmed whether it paid the ransom. Instead, it announced last week that nearly all of its approximately 15,000 car dealership customers have almost fully restored online.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Bitcoin journalist Joe Hall recently visited Lugano, Switzerland, to verify its reputation as the world's most crypto-friendly city. Lugano is known for its progressive acceptance of digital currencies and its leading position in Bitcoin transactions.Hall explored the city's Bitcoin school and interviewed Blockstream CEO Adam Back and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino to understand the future of Bitcoin and Lugano's role in crypto innovation. He also tested the feasibility of using only Bitcoin for daily expenses in Lugano, including dining and shopping, and found that Lugano not only supports Bitcoin payments but actively encourages this payment method, demonstrating that a Bitcoin-based lifestyle is entirely feasible here.

ChainCatcher news, the Bitcoin payment application Strike has launched its services for eligible customers in the UK, enabling individuals and businesses to buy, sell, send Bitcoin, and make global payments.According to the company, this hosted iOS and Android application allows UK users to purchase Bitcoin directly, with the ability to deposit unlimited pounds instantly for free from bank accounts where supported, as well as automatic conversions and recurring purchases.

ChainCatcher news, Pizza Hut accepts Bitcoin payments in El Salvador.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, former U.S. President Donald Trump gave an interview to Fox News this week during a town hall event ahead of the South Carolina Republican primary.In the interview, Trump spoke about Bitcoin, stating: "It has taken a life of its own. You might need to regulate it a bit. More and more people are accepting Bitcoin, and I see more and more people wanting to use Bitcoin for payments. You will also see some interesting things. Anyway, I'm okay with it."

ChainCatcher news, according to a report by CryptoPotato, a survey conducted by José Simeón Cañas Central American University shows that in 2023, 12% of the local population in El Salvador has used Bitcoin at least once to pay for goods and services, which is a significant decrease compared to 2022 (24.4%).It is reported that among those who have used Bitcoin for transactions, nearly half (49.7%) have only made one to three purchases using the cryptocurrency. On the other hand, 20% of respondents have used Bitcoin for 10 or more transactions.

ChainCatcher news, according to Argentine media La Capital, after President Javier Milei issued a mega decree abolishing the rent law, the first contract stipulating rent payment in Bitcoin was signed in Rosario.The agreement stipulates that the tenant will pay the landlord the equivalent of 100 USDT in Bitcoin each month and has chosen the national cryptocurrency exchange Fiwind as the provider of the Bitcoin reference price to execute these payments. The contract also specifies that the tenant will make these payments to the address provided by the landlord within the first five days of each month. Local sources say that while there have been previous records of real estate sales settled in Bitcoin, this is the first such rental agreement.

ChainCatcher news, the Japanese e-commerce platform Mercari announced that it will start accepting Bitcoin (BTC) payments from June this year. Mercari will process Bitcoin payments through its crypto subsidiary Melcoin based in Tokyo, and Melcoin will convert all BTC payments into Japanese yen, meaning that while buyers can choose to pay with BTC, sellers will receive fiat currency.

ChainCatcher message, ZeroSync project leader and BitVM developer Robin Linus published "BitStream: A Decentralized File Hosting Incentive Protocol Powered by Bitcoin Payments," proposing a decentralized file hosting incentive protocol called BitStream, which offers a sustainable alternative. For example, a user might upload a video only once, incurring a one-time fee, but if the video becomes very popular and is downloaded 100,000 times, the server's bandwidth costs could far exceed the initial upload revenue.BitStream's pay-per-download method provides a solution: it allows servers to charge for each download, ensuring that revenue scales with the media's popularity and demand, thereby creating a balanced and profitable ecosystem. There is no need to rely on trust or heavyweight cryptography. Clients and servers use an optimistic protocol to execute the coin atomic exchange of files. The server responds with a file that is claimed to be correctly encrypted. The client pays for the decryption key via the Lightning Network, and if the file cannot be decrypted correctly, the client can economically punish the cheating server, which strongly incentivizes the server to act honestly.

ChainCatcher news, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong responded to Jack Dorsey's question, "Why does Coinbase keep ignoring Bitcoin Lightning Network payment solutions," stating that they are exploring how to best add the Lightning Network. This is not simple and involves the development of full support for Bitcoin payments.

ChainCatcher news, Tesla has removed the "bitcoin" related source code from the car purchase payment page, with the last modified date of the js code file being July 21 at midnight Beijing time.Earlier, ChainCatcher reported that some users found the word "bitcoin" in the source code of Tesla's car purchase payment page, and this news has spread to some extent in both English and Chinese cryptocurrency communities. The last update time of the code source file was July 13, but this does not mean that the "bitcoin" related code was added during the update on July 13, nor does it prove whether Tesla has removed the related code after discontinuing support for bitcoin payments in May 2021.

ChainCatcher news, according to Tesla's official website, the source code of its payment page contains the word "bitcoin." The last update of this code source file was on July 11, but this does not mean that the "bitcoin" related code was added during the update on July 11, nor can it prove whether the related code was deleted after the support was canceled in May 2021. In addition, Tesla had previously included "doge" related terms in the source code of the payment page, but ultimately only supported it for purchasing merchandise from the store. Therefore, whether to accept Bitcoin payments should also depend on relevant announcements and the appearance of related displays on the front end.Previously, ChainCatcher reported that Tesla announced support for Bitcoin payments for car purchases on March 24, 2021, and then stated on May 13 of the same year that it would cancel support for this payment method.

ChainCatcher news, according to BeInCrypto, Liechtenstein plans to accept Bitcoin payments for government service fees, which will then be converted into the national currency, the Swiss Franc. Liechtenstein's Prime Minister Daniel Risch stated, "The Bitcoin payment option is coming soon."In 2019, Liechtenstein became one of the first countries in the world to pass cryptocurrency regulation legislation through the "Liechtenstein Blockchain Act." (source link)