Whether it's good news or not depends on what your hopes for Bitcoin are.
If you'd like to have an open and decentralized protocol for direct cash transactions in online commerce, then this is indeed fantastic news.
But if what you want from Bitcoin is a standalone currency that's immune to political manipulation, it's not such great news: in this and other similar recent stories, Bitcoin is being used merely as a proxy for dollar transactions. If this type of transaction ended up becoming dominant, Bitcoin would effectively be pegged to the dollar, nullifying its advantages as a non-fiat currency.
For Bitcoin to work as a standalone currency, there has to be a real economy with prices denominated in Bitcoin, not just a dollar-denominated economy with an instant spot exchange built into transactions.
If you'd like to have an open and decentralized protocol for direct cash transactions in online commerce, then this is indeed fantastic news.
But if what you want from Bitcoin is a standalone currency that's immune to political manipulation, it's not such great news: in this and other similar recent stories, Bitcoin is being used merely as a proxy for dollar transactions. If this type of transaction ended up becoming dominant, Bitcoin would effectively be pegged to the dollar, nullifying its advantages as a non-fiat currency.
For Bitcoin to work as a standalone currency, there has to be a real economy with prices denominated in Bitcoin, not just a dollar-denominated economy with an instant spot exchange built into transactions.