Hash Rate
Bitcoin network power demand falls to 10.65GW as hash rate sees 14% drop
The overall power consumption of the Bitcoin (BTC) network recorded a drastic drop after mimicking the two-week-long fall in the mining hash rate, which reduced the commuting power for mining BTC blocks to 199.225 exahash per second (EH/s). According to the data shared by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, the Bitcoin network recorded the year 2022’s lowest power demand of 10.65 gigawatts (GW). At its peak, the BTC network demanded 16.09 GW of power. Bitcoin network power demand from 2018-2022. Source: ccaf.io On June 16, a Cointelegraph report highlighted how the banking sector utilizes 56 times more energy than the Bitcoin ecosystem. Publisher Michel Khazzaka, an IT engineer, cryptographer and consultant said in an exclusive interview: “Bitcoin Lightning, and Bitcoin, in...
Bitcoin daily mining revenue slumped in May to eleven-month low
Bitcoin (BTC) mining revenue and profitability have continued to slide along with the asset’s price this year as the crypto winter deepens. May has been one of the worst months for Bitcoin miners in the past year as revenue and profitability continue to tank. Bitcoin daily mining revenue tanked as much as 27% in May, according to data from Ycharts sourcing data from Blockchain.com. On May 1, the analytics provider reported daily revenue of $40.57 million for BTC miners, but by the end of the month, it had fallen to $29.37 million. Daily mining revenue hit an eleven-month low of $22.43 million on May 24. BTC daily mining revenue YTD – ycharts.com Daily mining revenue spiked to a peak of around $80 million in April 2021 but has since fallen 62% to current levels. May ended the...
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...
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...
Bitcoin network fortifies as mining difficulty records ATH of 31.251T
Further distancing itself from any concerns of planned attacks on the blockchain, the Bitcoin (BTC) network established a new mining difficulty all-time high of 31.251 trillion — exceeding the 30-trillion mark for the first time in history. The creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, warranted the security of the BTC network through a decentralized network of BTC miners who are tasked with confirming the legitimacy of transactions and minting new blocks. Given the extensive community support — from developers to hodlers to traders to miners — that spans over 13 years, the BTC network was witness to a historic 10-month-long rally as it achieved mining difficulty of 31.251 trillion. Bitcoin network difficulty. Source: Blockchain.com Mining difficulty safeguards the BTC ecosystem against networ...
Bitcoin celebrates halfway to the halving with new hash rate record
Bitcoin (BTC) marks a milestone mining journey on Thursday, crossing the halfway point on the way to its next halving. In Block number 735,000, mined at approximately 10:29 UTC, Bitcoin crossed the halfway point to the next halving. The block was mined by Poolin, earning 0.16215354 BTC ($6,402.45) in fees. Halvings occur every 210,00 blocks, and May 5 marks the cross-over point into the second leg of 105,000 blocks. For some Bitcoiners, such as Samson Mow, the Bitcoiner pioneering Bitcoin nation-state adoption, the halving is a reminder to stack more SATs: WE ARE HALFWAY TO THE NEXT HALVING AND YOU HAVEN’T STACKED ENOUGH #BITCOIN YET. — Samson Mow (@Excellion) May 5, 2022 The halving cycle is a unique device that envelops the Bitcoin issuance rate. As the Cointelegraph Cry...
Bitcoin network difficulty breaks into a new all-time high of 29.794T
Reassuring its position as the most resilient blockchain network against attacks, the Bitcoin (BTC) network recorded a new all-time high network difficulty for the second time this month in April — jumping from its previous all-time high of 28.587 trillion to 29.794 trillion. Greater network difficulty demands greater computational power to successfully mine a BTC block, which prevents bad actors from taking over the network and manipulating transactions, also known as double-spending. As evidenced by data from blockchain.com, Bitcoin’s network difficulty has seen almost a year-long uptrend since August 1, 2021. Before that, between May and July 2021, was a timeline when BTC network difficulty fell nearly 45.5% from 25.046 trillion to 13.673 trillion — at the time raising momentary concern...
‘Something sure feels like it’s about to break’ — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week
Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week in an uncertain place facing uncertain times — is $40,000 now resistance? The largest cryptocurrency has just closed a fourth red weekly candle in a row, something that has not happened since June 2020. As cold feet over the macro market outlook continues to be the norm, there seems little to comfort bulls as the week gets underway — and Bitcoin is not done selling off yet. On the back of $4,000 in losses over the past four days alone, price targets now focus on retests of liquidity levels further towards $30,000. It is not all doom and gloom — long-term hodlers and key participants such as miners are showing a more positive stance when it comes to Bitcoin as an investment. With that in mind, Cointelegraph takes a look at the forces at work when it comes to ...
One-fifth of global Bitcoin hash rate is now controlled by listed companies
A recent report has shown that nearly one-fifth of the total share of Bitcoin’s (BTC) hash rate now belongs to publicly-listed mining companies. The report, published by Arcane Research, details that publicly-listed Bitcoin mining companies now account for 19% of Bitcoin’s total hash rate, growing considerably from a mere 3% in January l. Public miner’s share of BTC hash rate The term hash rate refers to the total computing power used by a miner’s computing equipment to confirm a transaction. A higher hash rate ensures increased protection against double-spending attacks, which is the process of reversing BTC transactions over the blockchain by contributing to at least 51% of the BTC hash rate. While there were only a small number of public mining companies at the beginning ...
BTC starts 2022 all over again — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week
Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week and a new quarter as if it were starting the new year — at just over $46,000. In what will seem like some serious deja-vu for hodlers, BTC/USD is at practically the same level it was on Jan. 1, 2022. Price action has been quiet — too quiet, perhaps — in recent days, but behind the declining volatility, there are signs that the market is busy deciding future direction. From macro to on-chain, there are in fact plenty of cues to keep an eye on in April, amid a backdrop of Bitcoin — at least so far — retaining its yearly open price as support. Cointelegraph takes a look at five of these factors as they pertain to BTC price performance over the coming week. Inflation meets fresh money printing There has been much talk of the end of the post-COVID “easy money” pe...
Bitcoin miner Riot Blockchain files prospectus for $500M stock sale
In a document filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday, Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Riot Blockchain announced that it would be selling up to $500 million worth of common stock to finance general corporate expenses, such as working capital, repayment of corporate obligations, capital expenditures and acquisitions, and investing in existing and future projects. After the offering, the company would have more than 139 million units of common stock outstanding, giving it a market cap of close to $3 billion at Friday’s prices. The company is authorized to issue 170 million units of common stock in total. RIOT’s share price has experienced volatility over the past 12 months. Source: TradingView Currently, Riot Blockchain operates a flee...
