CRYPTO FIRST: Coinbase, the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, says it’s the "first pure-play crypto company" to be approved as a Visa principal member. While Coinbase could issue cards to other crypto companies under its new status in theory, the firm said the membership would allow it to offer new features for its Coinbase Card and expand to new markets. Full story
CODERS’ CONUNDRUM: An old debate is resurfacing in the bitcoin developer community: how to update the software when no one's in charge. The catalyst this time is called Taproot/Schnorr, a years-in-the-making privacy and scaling upgrade that's seen exciting progress recently, and has now reached the "pull request" review stage. Full story
NO USERS: Contents Protocol, an $8 million ICO content-sharing project, is shutting down citing “negative perceptions” of crypto brought regulatory uncertainty and difficulties in onboarding new users. The platform said Wednesday it will refund investors as much as $7.5 million-worth of the ether (ETH) raised in its token sale. Full story
FLYING THE FLAG: Samsung Electronics unveiled a suite of flagship blockchain phones in the Galaxy S20 range, which are equipped with a new "secure processor dedicated to protecting your PIN, password, pattern and Blockchain Private Key." Full story
PROTOCOL BEFORE PEOPLE: In her first opinion piece as a CoinDesk columnist, Jill Carlson implores developers to forget about the end users, for once. "Users are generally the sign that product-market fit has been achieved, Carlson said. Yet, it's not enough to satisfy the wants of consumers, but "about the wants and needs of the developers and dreamers who will get us there." Full story | 