Category Archives: Bitcoin

Tesla, Block and Blockstream team up to mine bitcoin off solar power in Texas – CNBC

MIAMI Blockstream and Jack Dorsey's Block, formerly Square, are breaking ground on a solar- and battery-powered bitcoin mine in Texas that uses solar and storage technology from Tesla.

Tesla's 3.8 megawatt solar PV array and 12 megawatt-hour Megapack will power the facility.

Blockstream co-founder and CEO Adam Back, a Britishcryptographeranda member of the "cypherpunk" crew, told CNBC on the sidelines of the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami that the mining facility is designed to be a proof of concept for 100% renewable energy bitcoin mining at scale.

"People like to debate about the different factors to do with bitcoin mining. We figured, let's just prove it. Have an open dashboard so people can play along, maybe it can inform other players to participate," Back said.

The dashboard will be publicly accessible and show real-time metrics of the project's performance, including power output and total bitcoin mined. The company said a later version of the dashboard will also include solar and storage performance data points.

"This is a step to proving our thesis that bitcoin mining can fund zero-emission power infrastructure and build economic growth for the future," Back said.

West Texas is a mecca of renewable energy in the United States.

"You get this perfect overlap with both sun quality and wind speed in West Texas," said Shaun Connell, executive vice president of power at Houston-based tech company Lancium.

But a lot of that wind and solar power is concentrated in remote parts of the state. With no financial incentive, there's little reason to build out renewable infrastructure to harness this energy.

Enter bitcoin miners. When these energy buyers co-locate with renewables, it creates a financial incentive for buildout and improves the core economics of renewable power production, which has been fraught with volatility.

Miners provide demand to these semi-stranded assets and make renewables in Texas economically viable, according to Castle Island Venture's Nic Carter.

The constraint is that West Texas has roughly 34 gigawatts of power, five gigawatts of demand, and only 12 gigawatts of transmission. You can think of bitcoin miners as temporary buyers who keep the energy assets operational until the grid is able to fully absorb them.

Back said the off-grid mine, expected to be completed later this year, highlights another key tenet of the bitcoin network: Miners are location agnostic and can "do it from anywhere without local infrastructure."

Should the project prove profitable in its pilot stage, Back said, the companies would add wind power to the mix and scale the entire project.

"You're making a sort of calculation of the optimal economic mix between solar and battery," Back said. "There's 3.8 megawatts of solar and one megawatt of mining, so you can see you have to overprovision, because the peak solar input varies during the day and, of course, it's not there at night."

Adding wind to the mix, however, would reduce overall costs and help to balance out the downtime with solar.

Ultimately, Blockstream said, a key goal is to strengthen the bitcoin network by diversifying the cryptocurrency's energy sources.

"By collaborating on this full-stack, 100% solar-powered bitcoin mining project with Blockstream, using solar and storage technology from Tesla, we aim to further accelerate bitcoin's synergy with renewables," said Neil Jorgensen, global ESG lead at Block and project lead for Block's Bitcoin Clean Energy Initiative.

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Tesla, Block and Blockstream team up to mine bitcoin off solar power in Texas - CNBC

Should You Invest in Bitcoin? Here’s What Elon Musk Thinks – The Motley Fool

Image source: Getty Images

Musk owns Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin -- and he's not selling.

It may come as a surprise to learn that Elon Musk -- a prolific crypto presence on social media -- is somewhat lukewarm on Bitcoin (BTC). To be clear, Musk does own Bitcoin, along with Ethereum (ETH), and his pet coin, Dogecoin (DOGE). But he's not as bullish about the granddaddy of cryptos as some might expect.

Let's dive into Musk's biggest concern -- the environment -- first, before looking at what the well known billionaire thinks of Bitcoin.

Musk's main concern about Bitcoin is its high carbon footprint. Bitcoin uses about the same amount of electricity as a country the size of Thailand each year, according to Digiconomist. Given he is the CEO of Tesla, an electric vehicle company that says its mission is to accelerate the worlds transition to sustainable energy, it's an understandable point.

Tesla owns a decent chunk of Bitcoin and its decision to accept BTC payments in February 2021 was one driver for the crypto's huge growth in the first half of 2021. In a similar vein, Tesla's subsequent decision to stop taking Bitcoin payments was a big factor in May's crypto slump. Since then, Musk has hinted that Tesla might start accepting Bitcoin payments again, but only if there's evidence that half of the mining is powered by renewables.

What's slightly strange in all this is that Dogecoin uses the same widely-criticized proof-of-work mining model that's so damaging to the environment. As it's grown, so has its environmental footprint -- its annual energy consumption is roughly the same as Honduras.

Putting the environment to one side, Musk told the B Word Conference last summer that Bitcoin could potentially change the way we use money. "In general, I'm a supporter of Bitcoin and the idea of cryptocurrency in general," he said.

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"It's best to think of money as an information system," he explained. That information exists in a series of databases, such as those in banks around the world. Musk points out that, with a few exceptions, the current system moves relatively slowly. Plus, he says in many cases it is not very secure. As a result, Musk thinks there is potential for a better system. "I think it makes sense to support something that improves the quality of information with which we conduct the economy."

"Bitcoin is a candidate," he said. It stands out because of its scarcity, decentralized nature, and open ledger technology. But Musk also raised the low transaction volume and high costs as issues that could hold it back. Plus, he pointed out the average person will find it difficult to use.

In terms of Bitcoin as an investment, Musk has stressed several times that he's not an investor. Nonetheless, he recently tweeted that at times of high inflation such as the one we face right now, it is better to own physical assets like property or stocks.

"It is generally better to own physical things like a home or stock in companies you think make good products, than dollars when inflation is high," he tweeted. "I still own & wont sell my Bitcoin, Ethereum or Doge fwiw."

Bitcoin is the most-established cryptocurrency and many argue it's the "safest" in what is a high-risk asset class. As such, it's well positioned to survive a prolonged market crash and -- as Musk points out -- potentially change the way we use money. However, this is a relatively new and unregulated market and there's a lot we don't know about how it will evolve.

READ MORE: Best Crypto Apps and Exchanges

One golden rule is to only invest money you can afford to lose in Bitcoin. That way, you'll be able to benefit from any gains without facing financial disaster if it collapses. Before you invest, stock up your emergency fund and make sure you're up to date on things like your retirement savings. Don't prioritize crypto over your other financial goals.

When you see headlines about people who've become Bitcoin billionaires, it is tempting to go all in. Instead, try to make sure high-risk assets like crypto only represent a small percentage of your overall investments. Financial advisors increasingly recognize that Bitcoin can play a role in a balanced portfolio, but the key is balance.

Ultimately, the decision to invest in Bitcoin depends on several factors. These include your financial situation and your views on how Bitcoin might perform in the long term. And don't take Elon Musk's word about crypto -- or any other commentators for that matter. Do your own research into what Bitcoin might do, what the risks are, and how blockchain technology might evolve.

There are hundreds of platforms around the world that are waiting to give you access to thousands of cryptocurrencies. And to find the one that's right for you, you'll need to decide what features that matter most to you.

To help you get started, our independent experts have sifted through the options to bring you some ofour best cryptocurrency exchanges for 2022. Check out the list here and get started on your crypto journey, today.

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Should You Invest in Bitcoin? Here's What Elon Musk Thinks - The Motley Fool

I will not stop: Jackson mayor responds to state bill blocking bitcoin options for city governments – The Jackson Sun

Jackson City Mayor Scott Congers plan to make Jackson the first city in the nation to allow bitcoin as a payment option for city employees seems to have hit a major snag, as the state senate passed an amendment to a bill prohibiting local government from paying, compensating, awarding or remitting funds" in the form of cryptocurrency.

The bill comes shortly after the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Jason Mumpowers February rebuke of Congers plans.

(The bill) is a bit of a hurdle for us, Conger said. Talk about small government and not wanting government overreach. And now we have government overreach via the state government telling local governments what contracts theyre allowed to enter into.

The amendment, added to bill SB 535 on March 4, 2022, requires local governments to get the written approval from the treasurer of the state of Tennessee to enter into a third party contract to provide options for those payroll conversions, Conger said.

Its rough, he said, adding to his statements on twitter that the state government does not understand the trend lines of the value of cryptocurrency.

Conger continually reiterates the fact that he was never intending to pay individuals directly in bitcoin, but rather simply make it an option for city employees to utilize if they wanted.

More: City employees could see cryptocurrency payroll conversion options next year

We were never intending to pay individuals directly, he said. It was going to be a third party option to do like deferred compensation. I guess they dont like competition with traditional investment opportunities.

Conger pitched the idea last year with the intention of allowing city employees to further diversify their incomes, as well as make Jackson more attractive to techindustries on the heels of expected industry booms following Blue Oval City and Georgia-Pacific.

I think its a great opportunity for us as a city to move the conversation forward not just in this one instance of cryptocurrency payments, but how we can look at the big picture and set our goals high as to what we want Jackson to look like in 10 years," Conger previously said.

Mumpowers letter of rebuke, which came shortly after Congers interview with the New York Times regarding cryptocurrency, and shortly before the amendment was added to the state bill, warned Conger that "such direct payments could run afoul of the Fair Labor Standards Act and other state wage laws."

Mumpower alluded to the rapidly changing landscape of cryptocurrency in his letter, saying that based on"significant fluctuation in the cryptocurrency market in recent days," his officewould "therefore urge you to remember your fiduciary responsibility to the citizens and to govern accordingly as you make such decisions in the future."

The amendment has passed the senate and now awaits Governor Bill Lees signature, as of April 5th, 2022.

Where does that leave Congers plan?

Were going to focus on education for our employees, and give them the opportunities to look at (bitcoin) themselves, and not give them a structured avenue approach that we were planning to, Conger said. Which wouldve made it easier for our employees, but well just have to focus on the education portion.

I will not stop. We will lead the way for bitcoin.

Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@gannett.com, by phone at 731-343-5212, or followher on Twitter at @angele_latham.

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I will not stop: Jackson mayor responds to state bill blocking bitcoin options for city governments - The Jackson Sun

Cryptocurrency Prices Today April 9: Bitcoin, Ethereum trade in red, Tether bucks the trend – Moneycontrol

Market dominance of Bitcoin, worlds largest cryptocurrency, declined marginally by 0.03 percent to 40.99 percent

April 09, 2022 / 08:39 AM IST

Most cryptocurrencies traded in the red early on April 9. The global crypto market dropped 2.8 percent to $1.96 trillion, while the total crypto market volume rose 9.4 percent to $89.50 billion during the last 24 hours.

The total volume in DeFi stood at $13.13 billion, accounting for 14.67 percent of the total crypto market 24-hour volume. On the other hand, the volume of all stable coins stood at $74.34 billion, or 83.06 percent of the totalcryptocurrencymarket 24-hour volume.

Market dominance of Bitcoin, worlds largest cryptocurrency, declined marginally by 0.03 percent to 40.99 percent.

Except Tether USD (up 0.55 percent), all major cryptos slumped. Bitcoin declined over 2.5 percent, while Ethereum was down overone percent. Dogecoin slid nearlysix percent, Avalanche declined 5.8 percent, and Ripple retreated overthree percent in early trade today.

In other news, the European Union (EU) on Friday targeted crypto wallets, banks, currencies and trusts in its fifth package of sanctions on Russia in a bid to close potential loopholes which could allow Russians to move money abroad.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, EU-based crypto exchanges were already required to apply sanctions that bar transactions from targeted individuals, but there were concerns that loopholes remained.

The EU on Friday said it was extending the prohibition to deposits to crypto-wallets.

"This will contribute to closing potential loopholes," the EU's executive European Commission said in a statement.

Download your money calendar for 2022-23 here and keep your dates with your moneybox, investments, taxes

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Cryptocurrency Prices Today April 9: Bitcoin, Ethereum trade in red, Tether bucks the trend - Moneycontrol

If You Invested $100 In Bitcoin, Ethereum And Dogecoin 5 Years Ago, Here’s How Much You’d Have Now – Benz – Benzinga

Investors who have put money into major U.S. indices have enjoyed respectable returns over the past 5 years. In fact, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY, Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 QQQ and SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust DIA have returned 90.79%, 163.39% and 69.24% since April 2017.

As good as investors in the major US indices have had it in recent years, cryptocurrencies have performed that much better. Cryptocurrency bulls who bought in 2017 and held through when U.S. markets bottomed out in March 2020, despite the ongoing volatility, have been treated to epic returns on their investment.

Winners Since April 9, 2017: Heres how much $100 in each of the following cryptocurrencies back in April 2017 would be worth today:

Also Read:If You Invested $100 In Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, Netflix And Amazon 10 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now

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If You Invested $100 In Bitcoin, Ethereum And Dogecoin 5 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now - Benz - Benzinga

Will Bitcoin’s Price Hit $100,000? Apple’s Wozniak Thinks So – TheStreet

The Mighty Woz has spoken.

Apple (AAPL) - Get Apple Inc. Report co-founder Steve Wozniak put in his two cents about bitcoin recently, saying that he believes the cryptocurrency will reach $100,000.

Wozniak made his comments on the podcast "Steve-O's Wild Ride," hosted by the "Jackass" star.

He discussed his experience with bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Wozniak noted how bitcoin prices have soared a few times when he owned it and he now only has a small amount to experiment with.

"I think Bitcoin is going to go to $100,000," he said. "I dont know where I get that feeling. I cant put any mathematics to it. I just really feel it based on all the interest. The interest in crypto is so high."

Bitcoin was down 8.6% to $38,807 Friday at last check, according to CoinGecko.

Wozniak,who founded Apple with Steve Jobs in 1976,cited the increasing number of cryptocurrencies, saying "everybody has a way to create a new one, and you have a celebrity star with it."

"It seems like theyre just collecting a bunch of money from people who want to invest at the very earliest stage, when its worth pennies," he added.

He also said that the number of people getting ripped off with crypto and NFTs, or non-fungible tokens "is just outrageous."

"Bitcoin is safe because it's the big elephant on the block," he said. "It's stable."

Wozniak, who left Apple in 1985, has had his own experience with crypto scams.

Last year,Wozniak has lost his lawsuit to sue YouTube over scam videos that claimed he was the host of a fake bitcoin giveaway and used his image.

Santa Clara County (Calif.) Superior Court Judge Sunil R. Kulkarni ruled that YouTube and its parent company Google (GOOGL) - Get Alphabet Inc. Class A Reportwere protected under federal law from responsibility for their users' posts.

Images and a video of Wozniak were used by YouTube scammers to trick viewers into believing he was hosting a live giveaway, in which anyone who sent him bitcoin would receive double the amount in return, according to the lawsuit.

Wozniak is involved with a realityshow called "Unicorn Hunters", which introduced its own cryptocurrency, Unicoin, last month.

In 2020, Wozniak launchedEfforce, a Malta-based blockchain project for funding energy-efficient businesses.The company's cryptocurrency token is named WOZX.

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Will Bitcoin's Price Hit $100,000? Apple's Wozniak Thinks So - TheStreet

Bitcoin And Ethereum See $120M In Weekly Outflows What’s The Major Trigger? – Benzinga – Benzinga

After seven weeks of consecutive inflows, digital asset investment products saw $110 million worth of net outflows last week.

What Happened:In thelatest editionof its Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report,CoinSharesfound that $80 million worth of outflows were from North America alone. CoinShares believes these outflows may have been a response to the U.S.Presidential Executive Orderon digital assets.

Bitcoin(CRYPTO:BTC) investment products saw $69.6 million in outflows for the week, whileEthereum(CRYPTO:ETH) recorded a $50.6 million outflow. Overall, the two leading crypto assets recorded $120 million in outflows.

Bitcoin investment fundssaw $1 billion in volume last week, down from the average $1.24 billion, representing just 5% of total bitcoin trading volumes, stated CoinShares.

Regulatory concerns and geopolitics remain at the forefront of investors concerns for digital assets, said the firm.

While some large-cap altcoins, includingSolana(CRYPTO:SOL),Ripple(CRYPTO:XRP), andPolkadot(CRYPTO:DOT) saw minor inflows of $300,000, $700,000, and $900,000 respectively,Cardano(CRYPTO:ADA) andLitecoin(CRYPTO:LTC) recorded $200,000 worth of inflows over the week.

See Also: https://www.benzinga.com/money/how-to-buy-cardano-ada/

Last week, CoinShares noted another report that crypto trading volumes in Russia and Ukraine had risen sharply since the conflict between the nations escalated.

Combined, Russia, and Ukraine have seen daily trading volumes rise to $80m/day at times. This has predominantly been against the crypto pairs USDT and BUSD, commonly used US Dollar stable coins (crypto coins that are pegged to the US Dollar), but we have also seen significant amounts of Bitcoin and Ethereum used too, read the report.

Price Action: At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $38,812, up 0.56% in the last 24 hours. Ethereum was trading 0.88% lower at a price of $2,549.

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Bitcoin And Ethereum See $120M In Weekly Outflows What's The Major Trigger? - Benzinga - Benzinga

Kazakhstan: Bolat Nazarbayev named and shamed over bitcoin mining – Eurasianet

As pressure mounts on the family of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the former president, the authorities have accused his brother of involvement in business activities presenting a threat to the countrys economic security.

Bolat Nazarbayev had a hand in lucrative cryptocurrency mining operations in northern Kazakhstan that have now stopped, the Agency for Financial Monitoring reported on March 15.

The shutdown was voluntary, the agency said. It did not specifically accuse him of illegally mining bitcoins, but its statement was headlined as a report about illegal mining activity.

The public naming and shaming of Bolat Nazarbayev came two days after the arrest of a nephew of Bolat and Nursultan Nazarbayev, as President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev moves to weaken the familys political and economic grip following fatal January unrest in which elite infighting played a role.

Law-enforcement officers detained Kairat Satybaldy on March 13 on suspicion of embezzlement and say they are investigating him over possible involvement in crimes undermining the security of the state.

This is the first time Bolat Nazarbayev has been publicly identified by investigators, who have already targeted the business interests of Aliya Nazarbayeva, the former presidents youngest daughter.

But Tokayev had previously ordered a crackdown on Altyn Orda, an Almaty wholesale market reputed to be associated with Bolat Nazarbayev, which the president described as a shady environment for criminal elements. Tokayev has also demanded an end to smuggling on the Chinese border, where Bolat Nazarbayev is reputed to have business interests.

Investigators also identified Kayrat Sharipbayev, who is believed to be the partner of Dariga Nazarbayeva, the former presidents eldest daughter, as another businessman involved in cryptocurrency mining. Sharipbayev lost his job as head of the state-owned Qazaq Gas company in January as the Nazarbayev family began to come under pressure.

Other powerful businessmen who have now voluntarily halted bitcoin mining include Aleksandr Klebanov, who owns a 50 percent stake in the Central Asian Power Energy Company, and Yerlan Nigmatullin, whose diverse portfolio of business interests covers the agriculture, retail, food and transport sectors. The latter is the twin brother of former parliament speaker Nurlan Nigmatullin. Pharmaceutical tycoon Kairat Itemgenov and Major-General Tlegen Matkenov, a former police chief in the southern Zhambyl Region, have also agreed to stop mining, the Agency for Financial Monitoring said.

Bitcoin mining presents a threat to the countrys economic security because of its rampant use of energy that increased the risks of supply disruptions and electric power shortages for ordinary consumers and entrepreneurs, the agency reported.

The government has previously blamed bitcoin miners for placing an excessive load on energy infrastructure and caused an increasing number of rolling power blackouts in Kazakhstan.

According to the Energy Ministry, power consumption in January-October 2021 grew by 8 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. In earlier years, consumption grew annually by less than 2 percent.

The authorities began cracking down on illegal bitcoin mining at the beginning of this year, closing down 13 illegal operations.

Now, 55 mining outfits have agreed to voluntarily close in the latest crackdown. Investigators have opened 25 criminal cases and confiscated 67,000 pieces of equipment worth an estimated 100 billion tenge ($194 million), the agency said.

Much of the equipment was brought in from China, South Korea, Singapore, Turkey and Georgia. In one case in Almaty, officers confiscated 1,000 pieces of kit worth 2.8 billion tenge ($5.4 million) that had been smuggled in from China.

Cryptocurrency mining boomed in Kazakhstan after a ban on the business in China last summer brought bitcoin miners flocking in, turning the country into the worlds second-largest producer.

But as Rest of World, a website based in the U.S. covering tech developments, reported this week, with the government now cracking down on illegal mining and hiking taxes on legal miners, the business now appears to be going from boom to bust in Kazakhstan.

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Kazakhstan: Bolat Nazarbayev named and shamed over bitcoin mining - Eurasianet

Abra CEO Explains Why He Thinks Bitcoin Is Going to $250,000 and Ethereum to $40,000 – CryptoGlobe

Last Friday (March 11), Bill Barhydt, the CEO of investment and trading platform Abra, shared his medium and long term outlook for Bitcoin ($BTC) and Ethereum ($ETH).

The Arba CEO made his comments during an interview on CNBCs Crypto World with reporter Tanya Macheel.

Regarding Bitcoin, he said:

So, clearly, were moving sideways in a prolonged manner Basically, you could say, we started moving sideways in either February of last year, or maybe September of last year, depending upon your perspective but clearly, weve been in this kind of sideways channel between lets say $35,000 and, and more or less $60,000, with a little bit of a band above and below for about a year now.

And whats interesting is iBitcoin had a massive infusion of cash, which was largely driven by a couple of different factors, We had this Grayscale arb So there were a lot of money to be made there. And neither of those is true anymore. And yet, Bitcoin basically is still holding the kind of middle lower end of that band.

However, he pointed out that he is bullish on both Bitcoin and Ethereum:

I am bullish on both for an underlying reason thats similar, which is network effects. Theyre getting the network effects for different reasons, and theyre both in different cycles in my opinion, in terms of getting those network effects

Bitcoin is driving network effects around becoming kind of a reserve asset that is trustless, immutable, and cant be stopped, cant be changed, you know, hard money, etc. Those network effects continue to grow. They were interrupted via the China mining ban and actually I think thats what initially caused the channel to actually stop in the high 60s. I think it would have stopped in the 80s or 90s, and we would have gone sideways from there.

Not a huge deal if youre looking, you know, in terms of exponential growth long term because I still think we get to $250K, but its the network effects of Bitcoin going to become hard money or on its way to becoming hard money that are driving its adoption.

Ethereum is different. Ethereums network effects are based on this idea that it could become the worlds computer. Its being used for stablecoins, its being used for NFTs, being used for DeFi. People looking at it for gaming now. With staking coming, I think the rates are probably going to increase to 10ish percent, which is going to show a massive influx of people trying to hold Ethereum, which is going to create more of a lockup.

So the network effects for Ethereum, in the short term, are actually more bullish to me because of these use cases, right? That are just starting to play out, and if the gas fees and the transaction fees come down, which is the promise of proof of stake, look out, because now all of the impediments to those network effects are taken out of the way.

Now, we may have a little bit of a sell-the-news effect, after the initial kind of rush to stake happens with the upgrade in June or July, whenever it happens, meaning the upgrade to proof of stake. So we may see a kind of a sell-the-news pullback, but yeah, I think youre talking about, you know, potentially $30,000-$40,000 Ethereum. Its deflationary. The use cases are through the roof. Its just all the stars are lining up for Ethereum in my opinion right now.

The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.

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Abra CEO Explains Why He Thinks Bitcoin Is Going to $250,000 and Ethereum to $40,000 - CryptoGlobe

Bitcoin’s Hashrate Jumps 15% Higher in 10 Days, Mining Difficulty Expected to Rise Mining Bitcoin News – Bitcoin News

After bitcoin miners caught a break ten days ago when the difficulty dropped 1.49% lower, the networks hashrate increased more than 15% since then. Currently, the processing power has been coasting along above the 200 exahash per second (EH/s) zone but another difficulty increase is expected to occur in less than four days.

Bitcoins hashrate slipped two weeks ago on February 27, 2022, to 169 EH/s after touching an all-time high (249 EH/s) on February 15. Following the drop in processing power, bitcoin miners caught a break when the difficulty decreased for the first time in months.

On March 3, the difficulty dropped 1.49% lower after six consecutive difficulty increases prior. Currently, Bitcoins mining difficulty is 27.55 trillion and following the last adjustment, processing power has improved.

Bitcoins hashrate increased over 15% since the difficulty change and 29% since the hashrate hit 169 EH/s two weeks ago. Currently, the networks processing power is roughly 218.11 EH/s and over the last ten days its managed to stay above the 200 EH/s range.

However, the next epoch mining difficulty adjustment is slated to happen in less than four days and its expected to rise 1.03%. If the rise above 1% is takes place, the mining difficulty will change from 27.55 trillion to 27.83 trillion.

Three day hashrate distribution statistics show that Foundry USA has been the top miner over the last 72 hours. The American mining operation has 42.42 EH/s dedicated to the Bitcoin blockchain which equates to 21.19 % of todays hashrate.

The second-largest miner in terms of hashrate over the last three days is F2pool with 30.93 EH/s of processing power which represents 15.45% of the global hashrate. At the time of writing, there are 11 known mining pools dedicating SHA256 hashrate toward the BTC chain.

Theres 1.33 EH/s or 0.66% of the global hashrate operated by unknown or stealth miners. While the Bitcoin network is once again coasting along at near-record highs, a few other networks have been recorded record highs as well.

Monero is coasting along at near all-time highs (ATH) at 2.92 gigahash per second (GH/s) and Ethereum is around 1.04 petahash per second (PH/s). Like Bitcoin, both networks are just below the hashrate ATHs.

What do you think about the Bitcoin networks hashrate increase over the last 10 days and the upcoming difficulty increase? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Jamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Bitcoin's Hashrate Jumps 15% Higher in 10 Days, Mining Difficulty Expected to Rise Mining Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News