As of Sunday, March 3, 2024, bitcoin’s value persists in the ,000 per unit vicinity, signaling the fifth instance this year that its price has sustained above this level. Naturally, as bitcoin’s value escalates, its duration above such thresholds shortens when contrasted with past significant milestones such as ,000, ,000, and ,000. Bitcoin’s Price Discovery […]
Bitcoin News
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Hits Record 72 Trillion Amid Hashrate Surge and $600M Spent on ASICs in December
On Dec. 23, 2023, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty soared to a record level at block height 822,528. The difficulty surged by 6.98%, marking the most substantial escalation in nine months, since March 23. This increment set a new precedent, making the discovery of block rewards more arduous than ever with a difficulty hitting an unprecedented 72.01 trillion.
Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Soars to Historic 72 Trillion
The ascent in mining difficulty signifies a considerable leap, climbing from 67.30 trillion to a strenuous 72.01 trillion. This metric of Bitcoin’s mining difficulty is defined by a specific target hash value that miners aspire to attain.
Essentially, with a difficulty level of 72 trillion, miners are tasked with generating a hash value beneath this threshold to successfully mine a new block. Post this 6.98% rise, it’s anticipated that the next difficulty adjustment will be around Jan. 5, 2024.
Coinciding with the spike in difficulty, the network’s hashrate has reached new zeniths, achieving an all-time high on Dec. 24, 2023. Data from Luxor’s hashrateindex.com reveals that the seven-day simple moving average (SMA) of BTC’s hashrate has hit 538 exahash per second (EH/s).
This record-breaking figure was achieved shortly after the network reported a historic 527 EH/s peak on December 20. As of December 24, around 50 mining pools are contributing SHA256 hashrate to the BTC network, with Foundry USA at the forefront, commanding 32.30% or 173.55 EH/s of the total hashrate.
Antpool is not far behind, contributing 26.95% or 144.81 EH/s. Collectively, these two pools dominate, holding 59.25% of Bitcoin’s aggregate hashrate over the preceding three days. Currently, just a hair over 17,000 blocks remain until the anticipated halving event, projected to occur around the end of March or the beginning of April 2024.
This surge in hashrate aligns with the significant expansion in bitcoin mining operations. Throughout 2023, the leading three application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) manufacturers unveiled their latest next-generation mining rigs. Mining entities have aggressively incorporated these new machines into their operations, substantially boosting efficiency, particularly in joules per terahash.
The Financial Times reports a notable investment surge with publicly listed mining companies expending 0 million on new machinery in December, and a total of .3 billion on ASIC acquisitions over the year, according to The Miner Mag.
What do you think about the network’s difficulty skyrocketing to a new peak? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Mirror Trading International Liquidators Spent More Than $6 million on Lawyers and Investigators
Liquidators of the now defunct bitcoin trading platform, Mirror Trading International have so far used approximately .2 million on expenses such as lawyers’ or consultants’ fees. Between Jan. 23, 2023, and the date of their appointment, liquidators claimed to have recovered approximately 0,000 which belonged to MTI.
Liquidators’ Fees
Liquidators of the collapsed bitcoin Ponzi scheme Mirror Trading International (MTI) have so far spent approximately .9 million (90.2 million rands) on lawyers and consultants since assuming control, a report has said. According to a Mybroadband report, a total of approximately .1 million has so far been disbursed while a further .3 million is earmarked for liquidators’ fees.
In April 2021, a Bitcoin.com News report said more than million was raised from selling 1,281 bitcoins belonging to MTI. A few months later, another report said more than 8,000 BTC belonging to MTI had been “traced” and that investigators were on track to finding more.
However, according to the report, between Jan.23 and the day they took control of MTI assets, liquidators have so far recovered around 0,000. While liquidators are said to be expecting an “exponential increase in the amount recovered from the so-called net winners,” they are less certain about the growth rate of their expenditure.
According to the blockchain intelligence firm, Chainalysis, MTI was the biggest crypto scam in 2020 which netted more than 0 million for the scheme’s masterminds.
What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
TRON Makes Record For Period Spent In Deflationary State – Good For TRX?
TRON (TRX), a lesser known cryptocurrency when compared to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano and Dogecoin, made a loud noise in April 2021 when Tron Foundation announced the asset successfully leaped into the deflation era.
In doing so, TRON managed to be the first ever deflationary virtual currency in the world, reducing its total supply then by over 5.7 million, from 101.678 billion to 101.673 billion.
The crypto’s parent company shared that the asset’s move from inflation to deflation was carried out after its community reached the consensus to turn TRX into a deflationary altcoin.
Since then, from October 28, 2021 to October 12, 2022, the cryptocurrency has maintained its state of deflation for 50 weeks and was closed to reaching one full year.
Source:TRONSCAN
The milestone was disclosed in a tweet by TRONSCAN, the official TRON blockchain explorer, on October 17th.
But as that era ends for TRON, analysts and experts are keen on seeing how it will help the crypto especially during this bearish time for the space.
TRON Makes History – But What’s ‘Deflationary’ Crypto?
Deflationary cryptocurrencies are those that decrease in terms of supply over time, providing a window for the value of every coin to increase even in cases where there is consistent demand.
$TRX has been in a state of #deflation with the total amount of deflation reaching 9.6 billion #TRX, for 50 weeks (2021.10.28-2022.10.12)!! pic.twitter.com/zc2xiGNc2W
— TRONSCAN (@TRONSCAN_ORG) October 17, 2022
TRON completed its transition from inflationary to deflationary asset when its network’s community agreed to the introduction of a burning mechanism that was meant to reduce its supply as time went by.
On August 14, 2021, the total of TRX tokens minted reached 5,273,312 but that figure failed in comparison to the total number of burned coins which peaked at 1,106,056,407 on May 22, 2022.
Fast forward to the present, tracking from Coingecko shows the current total supply of TRX is 101.9 billion, 92.3 billion of which are in circulation.
The asset is currently experiencing a high supply inflation rate of 38.51%.
A Glance At Current TRX Price And Forecast
At press time, according to data from Coincodex, TRON is trading at .0625, painting its monitoring charts in green. It is up by 1.41% over the last seven days and by 1.15% over the past month.
The next few days will be full of struggle for the asset, as it is predicted to undergo a slight price correction and fall all the way to .0620.
However, TRX is seen to bounce back from this as its 30-day price forecast shows it will climb up to .0695.
Sentiment towards the first deflationary cryptocurrency is neutral, as 15 of its technical analysis indicators are sending bullish signals. On the other hand, 14 of its indicators point towards bearish momentum.
It remains to be seen how TRON will be affected by the end of its deflationary status considering a crypto’s supply plays a vital role in its price movement.
TRX market cap at .8 billion on the daily chart | Featured image from Zipmex, Chart: TradingView.com
Disclaimer: The analysis represents the author’s personal views and should not be construed as investment advice.
NewsBTC
MicroStrategy Deepens Its Crypto Bet With Another $240 Million Spent On Bitcoin
MicroStrategy has stuck to its bitcoin strategy through thick and thin. At this point, every dip seems to be a buying opportunity for the firm, which has completely thrown its weight behind bitcoin. Its CEO Michael Saylor is a maximalist that believes the future is bitcoin. MicroStrategy has been upping its bitcoin investment through the year, garnering a stash of over 100K bitcoins.
Even now, the firm continues to straighten its position in the digital asset. CEO Michael Saylor announced that the firm had bought another 5,050 bitcoins, bringing the total assets held by the company to approximately 114,042 bitcoins. The 5,050 bitcoins were bought for around 2 million, with an average price of ,099 per BTC. This brings the total amount of the digital asset held by the firm to .6 billion. All are gotten at an average price of ,713 per coin.
MicroStrategy has purchased an additional 5,050 bitcoins for ~2.9 million in cash at an average price of ~,099 per #bitcoin. As of 9/12/21 we #hodl ~114,042 bitcoins acquired for ~.16 billion at an average price of ~,713 per bitcoin. $MSTRhttps://t.co/2ESbTy6ad7
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@michael_saylor) September 13, 2021
Related Reading | Cathie Wood Reiterates 0K Bitcoin Call, Reveals Ethereum Rebalancing
MicroStrategy has refused to sell off its crypto holdings at any point. Crashes seem to not phase the firm as they invest even more into the asset with every price dip. This latest acquisition goes to show their commitment to the long-term growth of bitcoin. Saylor also has both personal and institutional interest in the asset and is one of the most vocal corporate supporters of the digital currency.
MicroStrategy Making All The Right Moves
MicroStrategy has now seemingly abandoned traditional assets in favor of investing in bitcoin. A report from Bitcoinist shows where the firm would be profit-wise had it opted to invest in one of the most well-known traditional investments, gold, instead of investing in bitcoin. Since bitcoin has consistently outperformed gold by at least 200% year over year for the past couple of years, MicroStrategy’s investment would have way less in the way of return. Or as the report shows, the firm would be recording losses at this point.
Related Reading | New To Bitcoin? Learn To Trade Crypto With The NewsBTC Trading Course
Comparisons between the digital asset and gold from March to June 2020, the time period when the firm first invested in bitcoin, shows what the current value of the investment would be. MicroStrategy had put about billion into its bitcoin investment, which presently has appreciated over 376% in the span of a year. On the other hand, had the firm put this billion into a traditional asset like gold, it would have lost 80% of its total value.
This is because gold has given negative returns on investment in the past year. Thus any investment in the asset would result in a loss. The success of MicroStrategy’s bitcoin investment has also bolstered the company’s standing profit-wise. Not only is its investment outperforming gold, but the company itself has also outperformed gold in the market.
BTC price above ,000 | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
MicroStrategy’s shares have appreciated 428% in the year following the launch of its bitcoin fund. Outperforming both the NASDAQ and the S&P500 combined. MicroStrategy is currently the leading corporate investor in bitcoin.
Featured image from CoinQuora, chart from TradingView.com
NewsBTC
Visa Customers Have Spent Over $1B On Crypto-Linked Cards This Year
Crypto-linked card spending is on the rise. Visa shared this week that consumer spending with Visa-based crypto credit cards has exceeded B this year, through just the first six months of the year.
Increasing Adoption Through Accessibility
Visa also shared this week that it plans on partnering with 50 different cryptocurrency platforms to allow ease of access for consumers converting and spending digital currencies at millions of merchants across the globe. These crypto companies include the likes of Coinbase, Block, Crypto.com, and more.
The transaction business moves quickly; it was just earlier this year that the company said it would allow consumers to use stablecoin USDC to settle transactions.
Visa is also pairing up with FTX for the company’s FinTech “FastTrack program”. As part of the program, they will help facilitate FTX paying 50% of its employees in USDC. The partnership and program is nothing new for the credit card firm, as partnerships with firms like Circle have come into the fold in the past year.
Related Reading | Why VISA Thinks Bitcoin Has Potential In Cross-Border Transactions
More From Visa’s Report
Visa has also built out a “Digital Currency Roadmap” that was initially published last year. This week’s report highlights on progress from that roadmap, calling out three major sticking points: “an expanding and evolving ecosystem, rewards reimagined, and stablecoins come to the fore”.
The company looks to continue to leverage relationships with crypto-first firms to expand growth in the aforementioned ecosytem. They cite an infrastructure that they believe will help “establish Visa as the network of choice for crypto native companies.” Interest accounts, lending, and direct deposits are major focal points for Visa and it’s partners.
With regards to rewards, partnerships continue to help build new avenues for Visa to grow. Users with partner programs can spend fiat to earn crypto rewards in the same fashion that we see airline and hotel points associated with consumer spending. Partner programs are already in place with firms like BlockFi and Circle, and have contributed substantially to this calendar year’s B in crypto card spending. These programs allow crypto-advocates to earn tokens from their typical spending, while also potentially exposing those less familiar with the crypto landscape with rewards that educate and inform them on the broader crypto landscape.
Finally, the company shows clear excitement around what they see as stablecoins “starting to live up to the promise of “digital fiat”: the developer-friendly characteristics of cryptocurrency combined with the reliability of fiat-backed reserves.”
While many argue that adoption from major firms is healthy for broader crypto, some long-time advocates believe that company’s that have long been ingrained with traditional banking compromises crypto’s decentralized nature.
Visa has seen strong stock growth this year, and continues to show long-lasting investments in crypto. | Source: NYSE: $V on TradingView.com
Related Reading | Swiss Bank Sygnum Launches Ethereum 2.0 Staking
Featured image from Pixabay, Charts from TradingView.com
$6.8 Million is Being Spent on Ethereum Fees Each Day as DeFi Craze Continues
The DeFi craze is reaching new peaks, with investors now throwing money into just about every Ethereum-based token with unique properties and strong “meme potential.”
One such example of this is Yam Finance, which is a protocol launched roughly 48 hours ago that drew in hundreds of millions of dollars before a fatal bug left a small portion of these funds locked within the platform.
The rise and fall of Yam Finance sent shockwaves throughout the entire crypto market, with it causing many popular DeFi tokens – like Compound – to see heightened volatility due to traders trying to farm massive yields on the platform.
One byproduct of this craze has been rising Ethereum transaction fees.
The amount of money that investors are spending to transact between ERC-20 tokens is currently the highest it has been, with a total of .8 million being spent on fees daily.
DeFi Craze Gains Traction as Fiscal Incentives Grow
Throughout the past few months, investors have been captivated by the massive returns that tokens related to the DeFi sector have provided.
Users can profit from the trend in two ways – either by purchasing the tokens associated with various protocols within the ecosystem or by “farming” the yields offered by many platforms.
To take advantage of either of these opportunities, investors use Ethereum or ERC-20 tokens.
This is widely thought to be one of the primary factors behind the influx of buying pressure that sent ETH’s price surging from 0 just over a month ago to highs of 5.
Ethereum Fees Rocket as Demand for Space On-Chain Mounts
According to a recent report from the analytics platform Glassnode, users are now spending a total of 17,500 ETH per day on fees. This is worth a combined total of 6.8 million – the highest it has ever been in the cryptocurrency’s history.
“The amount of fees being spent on the Ethereum network is higher than ever before (now even higher than the single day in June with anomalous fees unrelated to regular network usage). Over 17,500 ETH (USD .8 million) are currently being spent on fees daily on Ethereum.”
Image Courtesy of Glassnode.
The median gas price used per transaction has also reached new highs of 217 Gwei – signaling that Ethereum users have to compete heavily to have their transactions processed.
It is highly likely that this trend will continue gaining steam as users try to cash in on the DeFi sector’s explosive growth.
Featured image from Unsplash.
$515 Million in Bitcoin Spent on Illicit Activity This Year Representing 1 of Total BTC Activity
n Half a billion dollars in BTC spent on illegal transactions so far this year, research says however, 99 of BTC transactions in 2019 have been legitimaten
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$515 Million in Bitcoin Spent on Illicit Activity This Year
n Half a billion dollars in BTC spent on illegal transactions so far this year, research says however, 99 of BTC transactions in 2019 have been legitimaten
CryptScout #BitFeed RSS – Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency News 24/7
Kik CEO Says Firm Spent $5 Million on Negotiations With US SEC Report
n Startup Kik allegedly spent over million on its negotiations with the U.S. SECn
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