Global Metrics#
Here are the top stats from the last period:
- Total Bitcoin-accepting merchants: 16,273 → 16,683 (+410)
- Recently verified (1y): 7,842 → 8,082 (+240) The rest of our dataset is slowly decaying, help us before it's too late!
- Avg. days since last verification: 403 → 409 (+6) More mappers, please!
- Merchants boosted: 22 (-12)
- Total boost duration: 1,140 days (-3,185)
- Comments posted: 17 (-17)
Find current stats over at the 👉 BTC Map Dashboard.
Blink Wallet is Integrating BTC Map#
After bullying talking with the Blink team for a while, we are making good progress on a native BTC Map integration.
This differs from the simple web page inclusion you see in wallets like Wallet of Satoshi as they are using our API directly for a deeper, more on-brand integration.
Blink will be the first wallet to use our shiny new and super-performant v4 API and CDN - it's going to be lightning fast and kind on users data plans
Coming soon™️.
Bitcoin Dominicana Community Gains Momentum#
We're thrilled to see the relatively new Bitcoin Dominicana community making waves in the Dominican Republic! 🌊
- Merchant adoption is expanding rapidly across the region
- Data quality is high.
- Another strong example of grassroots Bitcoin adoption in Latin America
The Dominican Republic joins several forward-thinking nations in the region exploring Bitcoin's potential. We can't wait to see how this community develops further!
Bitcoin Design#
After many offers, we finally reached out to the most excellent Bitcoin Design Community to start the process of a design review - initially focusing on the btcmap.org Web App.
We held a kick-off session and held a user research workshop at the BTC Prague dev/hack/day. The main areas of improvement have been identified as:
- Simplification of navigation and information architecture.
- A map-first experience with omnisearch.
- So-called "Airbnb" style UX with context panels showing merchants and communities.
- Simplify merchant onboarding.
There's no timeline for these changes yet, as we want to make the sorely needed performance improvements first.
BTC Prague#
Nathan made the annual pilgrimage to BTC Prague to wave the BTC Map flag and meet users and contributors from across the world. He finally got to meet one of the earliest Shadowy Supertaggers, @jpnLedger!
Nathan also presented at the dev/hack/day on how digital identities in cyberspace (Nostr) can be connected to physical places in meatspace. This uses Proof-of-Place Attestations that entail physically mailing out cryptographic shared secrets in the mail. 📭️
Check out his presentation below if you're curious ...
docs.google.comThe Tags That Just Won't Die#
When we started the project almost three years ago now, there were thousands of ultra outdated locations, many of which had the deprecated payment:bitcoin=yes tag.
As you can see from the chart, we managed to get this to zero back in 2023. However, that tag has recently begun to raise it's head again!
This happens because it's more natural tag to use for those new to the sometimes quirky world of OpenStreetMap. Fear not, as Comino (one of our most prolific and valued Shadowy Supertaggers) had spotted this trend and stopped it dead in its tracks as you can see from the final drop on the chart! Even better than just making the changes himself, Comino has been contacting new taggers and showing them the ropes. 🫂
Orangic Maps Hack#
Although this has technically been supported forever, we added instructions on our wiki on how to display merchants within Organic Maps - a popular, privacy-focused mapping app with offline features and navigation.
You can now add stops at BTC-accepting merchants as you plan your routes!
Great meme from Yojimble!
Wiki Refresh#
Comino has also been busy giving our wiki a Spring clean. In addition to copy changes, it's now visually more appealing with screenshots and OG image headers. Comino has also created a dedicated Bitcoin Accepted Logo Pack to help merchants with marketing.
Technical#
- Better REST v4 API documentation
- More place properties exposed and documented for v4
- Started working on a massive website performance bump
- API performance and stability improvements
Credits#
Thanks to everyone who directly contributed to the project this period:
Support Us#
There are many ways in which you can support us:
Become a Shadowy Supertagger and help maintain your local area or pitch-in with the never-ending global effort.
Consider a zapping this note or make a donation to the to the project here.
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