This week in Bitcoin payments, one theme tied everything together: self-custody — the right to hold your own bitcoin.

In Europe, Bull Bitcoin secured a MiCA license in France, letting EU users continue without interruption — while keeping self-custody, privacy, and in-house Bitcoin infrastructure intact, and passing PASSI and DORA audits without outsourcing. Concrete proof that EU compliance and self-custody can coexist.

In South Africa, Bitcoin communities are fighting Draft Capital Flow Management rules that would target self-custody — organizing a formal response while running six live circular economies (Witsand, Karoo, Loxion, Plett, Sedgefield, and Ekasi), with MoneyBadger letting merchants accept Bitcoin and settle in rand.

A few more signals worth noting:

→ Bolivia now has at least one Bitcoin-accepting business in all 9 departments — genuine nationwide coverage, up from a single cluster a year ago.

→ MoneyBadger built a Lightning refund workflow (capturing the payer's Lightning Address at checkout), and BTCPay Server extended Bitcoin checkout to Jumpseller and Lightspeed — closing real retail gaps around returns and platform compatibility.

→ In rural Kenya, a builder completed two bamboo cabins in two months using bitcoin-only payments across transport, labor, and materials.

The throughline: as Bitcoin payments mature, the question isn't only "can you pay" — it's "do you still control your money when you do."

Full brief: https://www.blink.sv/blog/weekly-brief-2026-26