Bitcoin Mining
US lawmakers urge EPA to consider the potential benefits of crypto mining
A group of 14 United States senators and House representatives have signed a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency extolling what they believe are the benefits of crypto mining. In a Thursday letter, many U.S. lawmakers including pro-Bitcoin Senator Cynthia Lummis and Representative Tom Emmer addressed EPA administrator Michael Regan, requesting the government agency analyze the potential impact of crypto mining in an effort to balance innovation with environmental concerns. The group of 14 senators and representatives claimed mining could have a “substantial stabilizing effect on energy grids” and cited examples of mining operations using flared gas and renewable energy sources. “Digital assets, and their related mining activities, are essential to the economic future of the Unite...
The crypto industry must do more to promote encryption, says Meltem Demirors
“I like to call myself a future, or aspiring, cult leader,” Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer of CoinShares — a publicly listed investment firm managing around $5 billion in assets — told Cointelegraph. Demirors, who first entered the Bitcoin (BTC) space in late 2012, further mentioned that it has been “fun to see how big the crypto sector has become,” noting that people from all walks of life are now interested in the cryptocurrency space. As such, Demirors explained that “crypto cults” are bringing people together in a positive manner, especially since it gives people a sense of purpose and belonging. When it comes to regulations — one of the most important topics facing the crypto industry today — Demirors expressed skepticism. “Having been in this industry professiona...
Bitcoin miners’ exchange flow reaches 7-month high as BTC price tanks below $21K
Bitcoin’s (BTC) price tanked to a 52-week low of $20,800 earlier on Wednesday, down by over 70% from its all-time high of $68,788. Although the price has since recovered above $21,000, key market indicators point toward bears having a significant hold on the current market. Bitcoin Miners to Exchange flow, a metric that indicates the volume of BTC sent by miners to crypto exchanges, rose to a seven-month high of 9,476. The rise in exchange flows indicates miners are currently selling their BTC in anticipation of the price going down. The actions of the BTC miners often reflect the larger market sentiment as they mostly sell BTC to ensure they don’t incur losses on their mining rewards. The rise in Bitcoin miners selling activity is backed by the significant decline in mining profitab...
Here’s how blockchains are helping to advance the global energy grid
The blockchain industry’s impact on the energy sector has been a major source of controversy over the past five years. Governments and environmental protection advocates have routinely expressed concerns about the amount of energy required to keep the Bitcoin network secure. Data shows the network’s energy consumption now rivals the yearly energy consumed by some small countries. Historical Bitcoin network power demand. Source: CCAF While much of the debate has centered around the negative environmental impacts of Bitcoin (BTC) mining, the drive to maximize earnings from mining and integrate blockchain technology with the energy grid has also introduced new developments that have the potential to be beneficial in the long term. Here’s a look at several developments that have arisen out of ...
Bitcoin’s real energy use questioned as Ethereum founder criticizes BTC
The ever-raging debate around Bitcoin’s energy consumption has been re-ignited, with founding member of Ethereum Anthony Donofrio claiming that Bitcoin is using “way too much” energy. According to figures from Digiconomist, Bitcoin (BTC) currently uses 0.82% of the world’s power while Ethereum (ETH) uses 0.34%. Ethereum researcher Justin Drake posted the figures to his 56,000 followers that Donofrio retweeted, stating: If bitcoin is really using nearly 1% of the energy on earth that is way too much for a pet rock. https://t.co/CDL32jk5FF — Texture, PhD (@iamtexture) June 9, 2022 Ethereum proponents are attempting to take shots at Bitcoin while simultaneously promoting Ethereum’s upcoming transition to proof-of-stake, Drake added another tweet moments later that read: “Ethereum post-m...
Traders think Bitcoin bottomed, but on-chain metrics point to one more capitulation event
The bull market euphoria that carried prices to new highs throughout 2021 has given way to bear market doldrums for any Bitcoin (BTC) buyer who made a purchase since Jan. 1, 2021. Data from Glassnode shows these buyers “are now underwater” and the market is gearing up for a final capitulation event. Bitcoin net unrealized profit/loss. Source: Glassnode As seen in the graphic above, the NUPL, a metric tha is a measure of the overall unrealized profit and loss of the network as a proportion of the market cap, indicates that “less than 25% of the market cap is held in profit,” which “resembles a market structure equivalent to pre-capitulation phases in previous bear markets.” Based on previous capitulation events, if a similar move were to occur at the current levels, t...
Here’s how much Kazakh gov’t made off crypto mining in Q1 2022
The government of Kazakhstan, one of the world’s largest countries by the Bitcoin (BTC) mining hash rate distribution, has reported budget earnings derived from cryptocurrency mining. On May 30, Kazakhstan’s state revenue committee of the Ministry of Finance released a report on the amount of total energy fees paid by local crypto miners in the first quarter of 2022. According to the report, Kazakhstan’s budget added 652 million Kazakhstani tenge ($1.5 million) in energy fees from crypto mining in Q1 2022 after the government introduced a digital mining fee on Jan. 1, 2022. The committee stressed that a significant amount of the expected sum of fees has not been received by the budget as the government has shut down a wide number of crypto mining firms in order to “ensure energy security.”...
Bitcoin network difficulty falls 4.3% to 29.897T, biggest drop in 10 months
The Bitcoin network witnessed a historic event on May 12 when the network difficulty attained its all-time high of 31.251 trillion as miners mined nearly 50,000 BTC of the remaining 2 million tokens. While the Bitcoin community rejoiced the added resilience to the network owing to the rising difficulty in mining a Bitcoin block, the network difficulty recorded a drop of 4.33% — falling from 31.251 trillion to 29.897 trillion on May 26. As Cointelegraph reported on several occasions, Bitcoin’s network difficulty consistently achieved all-time highs over the past ten months as it recovered from a massive drop of 45.4% — from 25.046 trillion on May 29, 2021, to 13.673 trillion on July 22, 2021. Ever since then, Bitcoin’s network difficulty witnessed a total growth of 128.56% as it surged to i...
3 metrics contrarian crypto investors use to know when to buy Bitcoin
Buying low and selling high is easier said than done, especially when emotion and volatile markets are thrown into the mix. Historically speaking, the best deals are to be found when there is “blood on the streets,” but the danger of catching a falling knife usually keeps most investors planted on the sidelines. The month of May has been especially challenging for crypto holders because Bitcoin (BTC) dropped to a low of $26,782, and some analysts are now predicting a sub-$20,000 BTC price in the near future. It’s times like these when fear is running rampant that the contrarian investor looks to establish positions in promising assets before the broader market comes to its senses. Here’s a look at several indicators that contrarian-minded investors can use to spot opportune moments for ope...
GPU prices are still on a decline: Is Bitcoin’s sorrow gamers’ joy?
The prices of graphics processing units (GPUs), also known as graphics cards, are undoubtedly still a far cry from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP). However, they aren’t what they used to be either, especially considering what GPU prices looked like just a year ago. For instance, the price of a GPU from Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series is 14% over its MSRP, according to reports from 3D Center. Whereas AMD’s Radeon RX 6000 is up 7% from its MSRP from April 17 and May 8. On the other hand, it is the first time since January that AMD’s Radeon RX 6000 dropped below 10% over MSRP. Meanwhile, just a month ago, these same prices were 19% and 12% above their MSRPs, respectively. The Nvidia RTX 3080 currently goes for a price range between $1,000 to $1,300. Despite being at such a long ...
Contrarian Bitcoin investors identify buy zones even as extreme fear grips the market
Bitcoin (BTC) support at the $30,000 level has proven to be quite resilient amidst the turmoil of the past two weeks with many tokens in the top 100 now showing signs of consolidation after prices bounced off their recent lows. Fear & Greed Index. Source: Alternative.me During high volatility and sell-offs, it’s difficult to take a contrarian view and traders might consider putting some distance from all the noise and negative news-flow to focus on their core convictions and reason for originally investing in Bitcoin. Several data points suggest that Bitcoin could be approaching a bottom which is expected to be followed by a lengthy period of consolidation. Let’s take a look at what experts are saying. BTC may have already reached “max pain” The spike in realize...
China returns as 2nd top Bitcoin mining hub despite the crypto ban
The Chinese government has not managed to take down cryptocurrency operations as part of its crypto ban last year as China has re-emerged as one of the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining hubs, according to a new report. China became the second-largest Bitcoin hash rate provider as of January 2022, months after the local government banned all crypto operations in the country, according to the latest update from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) shared with Cointelegraph on May 17. Bitcoin miners in China accounted for 21.1% of the total global BTC mining hash rate distribution as of early 2022, following only the United States, which produced 37.8% of the total hash rate as of January, according to the data. China was once the world’s largest Bitcoin m...
