The Bitcoin Taproot upgrade will activate later in 2021 as developers urge to create applications that will leverage its advantages.On June 12, Bitcoin (BTC) mining pool Slush Pool mined block 687,285 with the transaction including a Taproot upgrade activation signal. That particular block was the 1,816th to include a signal for Taproot activation by a BTC miner within the difficulty epoch that lasted from May 30 to June 13.

With 2,016 blocks created every difficulty period, crossing 1,816 blocks with a Taproot activation signal satisfied the 90% signaling threshold required to lock in the upgrade. This event meant that Taproot, Bitcoin’s first protocol upgrade in over four years, was set for its activation phase to be expected in mid-November. source

Inner Mongolia issued a new ruling on crypto mining that, if violated, would see Bitcoin miners "blacklisted" by the Chinese credit system.This means that illegal Bitcoin miners within the province, if caught, would face limited access to financial products, blocks to foreign travel, and more, according to sources. The blacklisting is just one of several curbs the provincial government put forth in the proposal. Other punishments include a business suspension for dealing in virtual currencies or if caught supplying energy to a crypto business, criminal charges. source

The little guy takes the win while the big guys shrink in size. While Ethereum investors line up at the job center and Bitcoin maximalists hold on for dear life, it’s a great day to be a Celo investor.

The coin, which is listed (and widely promoted) on Coinbase, increased by about 46% in the past day to $3.9, according to metrics site CoinGecko, and 60% in the past week.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin has fallen 5.6% in the past 24 hours and 11% in the past week; Ethereum fell by 3.9% and 19.1%, respectively.more