Alyssa Hertig

A contributing tech reporter at CoinDesk, Alyssa Hertig is a programmer and journalist specializing in Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. Over the years, her work has also appeared in VICE, Mic and Reason. She's currently writing a book exploring the ins and outs of Bitcoin governance. Alyssa owns some BTC.

Alyssa Hertig

Latest from Alyssa Hertig


Tech

Lightning Operators Are Bracing for a Bitcoin Bull Run

Lightning routing node operators are preparing for the horde of new users that will come in bitcoin's next bull run.

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Tech

Unconfiscatable? Using Bitcoin to Resist Police Extortion in Nigeria

It's common in Nigeria for police officers to threaten and extort citizens for whatever money they can find. This man uses bitcoin as a hiding spot.

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Tech

Another Bitcoin Lightning Startup Is Working With Visa to 'Fast Track' Card Payments

With help from the Visa Fast Track program, LastBit will let users make any purchase with bitcoin, without needing the merchant to actively accept it.

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Tech

Ready to Wumbo: LND Enables More, Larger Bitcoin Transactions on Lightning

LND now supports Lightning Network wumbo channels. These channels have the capacity to hold more funds, and users can send larger bitcoin transactions.

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Tech

Writing Bitcoin Smart Contracts Is About to Get Easier With New Coding Language

Bitcoin smart contracts are tricky. Minsc, a new language created by Bitcoin developer Nadav Ivgi, is making them easier to write.

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Tech

Nigerians Are Using Bitcoin to Bypass Trade Hurdles With China

Nigerian entrepreneurs are increasingly using bitcoin as a way to trade internationally, noting its significant benefits over legacy financial systems.

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Tech

How a Decentralized Randomness Beacon Could Boost Cryptographic Security

Filecoin will be the first protocol to use this production-ready version of drand to create decentralized, verifiable randomness for “leader selection.”

(Riho Kroll/Unsplash)

Tech

Fixing This Bitcoin-Killing Bug Will (Eventually) Require a Hard Fork

The bug sheds light on the challenges of Bitcoin's decentralization. At least we've got 86 years for the community to join together and implement a fix.

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Tech

OKCoin Exchange Awards Grant to One of Bitcoin Core's Most Active Developers

The grant from OKCoin will allow Bitcoin developer Marco Falke to continue the maintenance work he's done since 2016, like reviewing proposed code changes.

(Aristo Rinjuang/Unsplash)

Tech

'Rat Poison Squared on Steroids': What's New in Bitcoin's Latest Lightning Release

With a sly poke at Warren Buffet's comment that Bitcoin is "rat poison squared," c-lightning developers' latest release adds some key new Lightning features.

(Shutterstock)