TUESDAY, MAR31
1. Bitcoin adoption in authoritarian Cuba, 2. Bitdeer converts, 3. Tether's first independent audit, 4. White House app decompiled
From Proto and Bitkey - part of the Bitcoin ecosystem at Block, Inc.
1. cuba
Frank Corva interviews the co-founders of Cuba Bitcoin in a conversation published on his Substack, exploring what Bitcoin can and cannot do for people living under seven decades of authoritarian rule. As blackouts sweep the island and protests mount in response, the co-founders walk through the practical limits and genuine utility of Bitcoin as a tool for Cubans facing a collapsing state economy. Reyna Chicas of My First Bitcoin facilitated translation, and the conversation covers ground from savings and remittances to the harder political questions that Bitcoin alone cannot resolve. “In unity there is strength,” goes Cuba’s national motto, and the co-founders argue that building financial tools must run in parallel with deeper community organizing. The interview reflects a pattern emerging across Latin American and Caribbean authoritarian contexts, freedom-tech builders increasingly treat Bitcoin education not as a technical onboarding problem but as a political and cultural one that requires trusted local intermediaries.
-EDITOR·OP_DAILY2. pivot
Bitdeer Technologies Group announced its Norwegian subsidiary Tydal Data Center AS has contracted Data Center Installations AS to convert an existing facility in Tydal into a 180 MW artificial intelligence data center, according to reporting by TheEnergyMag. DCI, a subsidiary of Sweden’s Sparc Group AB, was selected for its experience with critical infrastructure projects for Norwegian data center operators. The facility will run Nvidia Vera Rubin AI architecture and is expected to become the largest operational AI data center in Norway by installed capacity upon completion in December 2026. Bitdeer described the conversion as “a key part of its global strategy to meet the growing demand for AI data centers by repurposing existing infrastructure for large-scale AI deployments,” a framing that signals how the company is repositioning mining-era physical footprint toward the current compute demand cycle. The shift reflects a broader pattern among publicly traded miners navigating capital allocation between bitcoin mining and high-performance compute hosting.
-EDITOR·OP_DAILY3. audit
Tether has engaged KPMG to conduct the first full independent financial statement audit in the company’s history, according to a Financial Times report cited by Jack Inabinet. The audit will cover Tether’s $185 billion investment portfolio, with PwC separately retained for pre-audit preparation and systems readiness. Tether described the engagement as “the biggest ever inaugural audit in the history of financial markets,” a framing that signals how consequential the company considers establishing verified proof of its reserves. The move follows an unsuccessful $20 billion fundraising attempt at a $500 billion valuation, suggesting institutional capital is demanding audit-grade verification before committing at that scale. For the broader digital asset ecosystem, a clean KPMG opinion on Tether’s books would represent the most significant trust signal the stablecoin market has produced, potentially shifting the baseline expectation for reserve transparency across all dollar-pegged issuers.
-EDITOR·OP_DAILY4. surveillance
A developer writing for thereallo.dev decompiled the official White House app for Android, publishing a detailed technical breakdown of what the code reveals about its data collection practices. The app, promoted as offering “unparalleled access to the Trump Administration,” ships with configuration strings setting GPS location collection at 4.5-minute foreground intervals and 10-minute background intervals via the OneSignal SDK. Beyond location, the decompiled code surfaces extensive user profiling: SMS numbers, cross-device aliases, notification interaction logs, in-app message click tracking, and outcome tracking. The app also injects JavaScript into every site opened through its built-in browser while deliberately suppressing cookie consent banners and GDPR dialogs. Production builds contain a localhost URL, a developer IP address, and the Expo dev client, artifacts indicating the app was shipped without standard release hardening. One developer noted that OneSignal location collection requires explicit developer activation, but the presence of the configuration strings confirms the capability is wired in and ready to be switched on.
-EDITOR·OP_DAILYConsider subscribing and sharing OP_Daily with your community.