DeFI News by Thebittimes.Com

As protests in Venezuela (often met with brutal force by the authorities) continue over the re-election of President Nicolás Maduro and his policies, opposition leader María Corina Machado has envisioned Bitcoin (BTC) as a national reserve asset in a future democratic Venezuela. Specifically, Machado was discussing what she called the “violations of financial rights” by Maduro and the former president Hugo Chávez, “a tragedy unfolding over the last two decades,” with Alex Gladstein, the Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), in an interview streamed on September 5. Economy in Venezuela under Chávez and Maduro According to her, the “Venezuelan Bolivar, once stable at three to four units per U.S. dollar, has lost 14 zeros under Chávez and Maduro, turning a functional economy into a catastrophic financial crisis, (…) inflation reached an unimaginable 1.7 million percent, with prices doubling every four days” in 2018.” ...

OKX Exchange discontinues Mining Pool services, citing business adjustments. New-user registrations are halted immediately; existing users are allowed until Feb 25. Complete cessation of mining pool-related services scheduled for Feb 26. In a recent announcement, OKX, a major cryptocurrency exchange, has disclosed plans to cease its Mining Pool and related service s. This decision, attributed to business adjustments, is set to impact users starting January 26, 2024. The discontinuation schedule, outlined by OKX, indicates a phased approach with new-user registrations ceasing immediately and existing users having until February 25, 2024, to utilize the service before a complete halt on February 26, 2024. OKX business adjustments While revealing its intention to discontinue the mining pool service s, OKX cited business adjustments as the driving force behind the decision. Effective immediately, new-user registrations for mining services are no longer bei...

Phoenix Group, a major bitcoin mining service provider based in Abu Dhabi, recently announced the successful completion of its Initial Public Offering (IPO), securing a substantial $370 million in capital.  In a statement released this week, Phoenix Group revealed the IPO, initiated on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), witnessed an overwhelming response, with subscriptions exceeding the initial offering price 33 times over. Notably, the enthusiasm among retail investors was particularly striking, with subscriptions surpassing expectations by 180 times. You might also like: WSJ: Changpeng Zhao to step down, plead guilty as part of Binance-DoJ settlemen Phoenix Group IPO details The public offering, which commenced on Nov. 16 and concluded on Nov. 18, involved the sale of 907 million shares. This represented 17.64% of the company’s stakes, with the aim of raising 1.3 billion UAE dirhams, approximately $370 million. The shares are scheduled to start trading ...

Bitcoin miners recorded their annual all-time high, earning over $44 million in block rewards and transaction fees. Miners’ income primarily comes from rewards for confirming BTC transactions and creating new blocks using high-tech computer equipment known as mining rigs. Source: blockchain.com Miners currently receive 6.25 BTC for each successful block creation in addition to the transaction fee. According to data from blockchain.com, on Nov. 12, miners earned $44 million. Between April 2022 and November 2023, several factors contributed to the decline in revenue for Bitcoin miners worldwide. These include a prolonged bear market, negative investor sentiment regarding fraud and ecosystem collapse, and unfriendly regulations that prevent investors from freely transacting in Bitcoin. You might also like: Bitcoin millionaire wallets triple in 2023 Bitcoin mining difficulty also increased Meanwhile, Bitcoin mining difficulty increased by 3.55%, setting the AT...

Bit Digital is extending its crypto mining operations into the AI sector, signing a pivotal GPU rental contract and investing $35 million in high-performance computing hardware. New York-based digital asset and cloud computing firm Bit Digital is diversifying its portfolio by launching a new business vertical called Bit Digital AI. This move marks a concerted effort by the company to diversify its traditional crypto mining operations. To kickstart its AI venture, Bit Digital inked a binding term sheet with a well-capitalized customer in the AI sector. As per the agreement, the company will provide rental services of between 1,024 and 4,096 GPUs to support the customer’s GPU-accelerated workloads.  BREAKING NEWS:$BTBT is thrilled to announce the launch of our new business line, Bit Digital AI! Bit Digital AI will provide specialized infrastructure services to support generative AI workstreams. "We believe this new venture is a good complement to our core #Bitcoin… p...

This week, The Market Report discusses Bitcoin’s recent dip below $25,000 and what it means for the near future. Was it a discount or a disaster? In the latest episode of The Market Report , Cointelegraph analyst Marcel Pechman delves into Bitcoin’s (BTC) latest bounce at $25,000, which some analysts and influencers argue represents a short-term buying opportunity. Pechman explains that Bitcoin’s inverse correlation with the U.S. Dollar Index has only held for 40% of the previous 20 months, meaning it is likely not a good metric to anticipate price movements. The show then shifts focus to a recent Glassnode report revealing that the amount of BTC changing hands is at its lowest since October 2020, citing investors’ “apathy” and “exhaustion.” Pechman argues that bulls got tired after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s relentless action to pursue Coinbase and Binance. Ultimately, Pechman disagrees that Bitcoin’s recent movement to $25,000 presents an opportunity for...

Iris Energy invests $10 million in 248 Nvidia H100 GPUs to expand into generative AI alongside its existing focus on Bitcoin (BTC) mining. The company expects the 248 GPUs to be delivered in the coming months and aims to utilize them in cloud computing opportunities. Daniel Roberts, co-founder and co-CEO of Iris Energy, stated that the company aims to use its existing data centers to meet the burgeoning demand for generative AI computing. “We believe demand for sustainable computing is unlikely to go away, and feel we are uniquely positioned to capture ongoing growth in the broader industry; whether that be ASICs for Bitcoin mining, or GPUs for generative AI and beyond.” Daniel Roberts, co-founder and co-CEO of Iris Energy Iris Energy operates in areas abundant in renewable energy resources like wind, solar, and hydro. The company has strategically located its modular data centers close to these inexpensive, surplus renewable energy sources, which it uses for Bitcoin ...

1,005 BTC valued at $29 million have been moved from an old Bitcoin wallet after 13 years, drawing parallels to recent dormant BTC movements. A Bitcoin (BTC) wallet containing 1,005 BTC mined in 2010 has reawakened, with an anonymous user moving the long dormant coins to new addresses in a number of different transactions. Speaking exclusively to Cointelegraph, blockchain researcher, developer and cryptocurrency trader Kirill Kretov weighed in on the event after initially flagging the movement of the BTC which was mined just a year after Bitcoin’s inception. Cointelegraph independently verified the details of the wallet using blockchain data from Blockchair. According to the wallet statement, the 1,005 BTC was valued at just $328 when it was received on 2010. The coins are valued at over $29 million at the time of publication.  The wider cryptocurrency community also took note of the BTC awakening, with some questioning whether Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto was mov...

Analysts are speculating that the Bitcoin hash rate has seen a big spike recently as miners come back online to reap the rewards of the BTC price hike. Bitcoin's (BTC) hash rate spiked to all-time highs of 398 exahash on March 23, and analysts have been speculating miners are starting to turn their rigs back on as the Bitcoin price rises. According to data aggregator YCharts the Bitcoin network hash rate has dropped to 344.63 as of March 27, an increase from 335.32 on March 26 but it is still up from 178.77 one year ago. In a March 26 post, Sam Wouters, a research analyst at Bitcoin (BTC) financial service provider River Financial, speculated the spike in hash rate is connected to unused mining inventory coming online, new facilities going live, and entrepreneurs finding cheap sources of mining. Bitcoin's hashrate touched 400 Exahash. At the current growth rate in 2023, we'd reach a Zettahash by the end of 2025. I'm getting questions and concerns from people. Where i...

It is understood that BlockFi wants to get bids in quickly as possible to make the most of the current market conditions. Bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi has been granted court approval to sell off its crypto mining equipment as part of ongoing efforts to  repay its creditors. A court document filed on Jan. 30 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey stated that the approval for BlockFi to sell its assets was on the grounds that it was “fair, reasonable and appropriate under the circumstances.” The court acknowledged the sale of the assets is “designed” to maximize the recovery and “realizable value” of the company. With the court giving BlockFi the green light, more bids are now expected to roll in for the crypto lender's crypto mining assets. The document stated “all qualified bids” must be sent to the parties specified in the bidding procedures by the Feb. 20 deadline. The bids must be filed with the court by Mar. 2 and the creditor's representat...

The lawsuit escalates a months-long dispute between the crypto miner and one of its energy suppliers in Canada. Canada-based Bitcoin (BTC) miner Hut 8 Mining Corporation has ramped up its ongoing fight with its power supplier for one of its mining sites, filing a lawsuit in a Canadian court. Hut 8 said on Jan. 26 it filed a Statement of Claim in the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario against Validus Power, an energy supplier for a Hut 8 mining facility in North Bay, Ontario. The firms have been in an ongoing dispute since early November 2022 due to what Hut 8 alleges is a failure by Validus to “meet its contractual obligations” for the power purchase agreement (PPA). In its new lawsuit, Hut 8 is seeking “monetary damages incurred as a result of the dispute” and enforcement of certain provisions as per the agreement signed by the two companies. Hut 8 and Validus started working together in late 2021 with Validus initially providing 35 megawatts (MW) of power to North Bay, but was sl...

The Bitcoin mining community took up massive loans during the 2021 bull market, negatively impacting their bottom lines during a subsequent bear market. The recent Bankruptcy filing of Bitcoin (BTC) miner Core Scientific despite a $72M relief offer from creditors raised questions about the overall health of the Bitcoin Mining community amid a prolonged bear market. Turns out, the public Bitcoin miners owe more than $4 billion in liabilities and require an immediate restructuring to get out of the unsustainably high debt levels. The Bitcoin mining community took up massive loans during the 2021 bull market, negatively impacting their bottom lines during a subsequent bear market. Bitcoin mining data analytics by Hashrate Index show that just the top 10 Bitcoin mining debtors cumulatively owe over $2.6 billion. Public Bitcoin mining companies with highest debt. Source: Hashrate Index Core Scientific, the biggest debtor among the lot — with $1.3 billion in liabilities on its balance sheet...

Miners are in deep trouble due to increased hash rate and energy costs, but pro traders slightly added to their longs despite the recent BTC pullback. Bitcoin (BTC) price lost 11.3% between Dec. 14 and Dec. 18 after briefly testing the $18,300 resistance. The move followed a 7-day correction of 8% in the S&P500 futures after the U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell issued hawkish statements after raising the interest rate on Dec. 14. Bitcoin price retreats to channel support Macroeconomic trends have been the main driver of recent movements. For instance, the latest bounce from the 5-week-long ascending channel support at $16,400 has been attributed to the Central Bank of Japan's efforts to contain inflation. Bitcoin 12-hour price index, USD. Source: TradingView The Bank of Japan increased the limit on government bond yields on Dec. 20, which are now trading at levels unseen since 2015. However, not everything has been positive for Bitcoin as miners have struggled with the...

Bitfarms has an initial period of 180 calendar days to have its shares trading above $1 for at least 10 days before June 12, 2023. The Canadian Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Bitfarms is facing compliance challenges over its listing on Nasdaq due to the ongoing cryptocurrency winter. Bitfarms received a warning notification from Nasdaq on Dec. 13 because the company’s share price has stayed below $1 for 30 consecutive working days. Announcing the news on Dec. 14, Bitfarms said that it has an initial period of 180 calendar days to regain compliance with the requirements from Nasdaq. In order to regain compliance, Bitfarms’ shares should close at $1 per share for a minimum period of 10 consecutive days at any time before June 12, 2023. In such an event the Nasdaq staff will provide a written notification to Bitfarms that it has achieved compliance, the announcement notes. The 180-day period is not the final limit, however. Bitfarms noted that it will have a chance to extend the compliance pe...

Texas combines plentiful and relatively low-energy prices with free enterprise, according to the lawmaker. United States Senator Ted Cruz wants to make the American state of Texas an oasis for Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies. Speaking at the Texas Blockchain Summit 2022 in late November, the politician empathized how the crypto industry can be strategic for the U.S. energy supply and technological development.  Cruz argued that Bitcoin Mining could be used to monetize energy created from oil and gas extraction, rather than burning it. In addition, he emphasized how Mining activity can be used as an energy storage and supply alternative: "The beauty of it [Bitcoin mining] is when you've got substantial investment, as we do in Texas and Bitcoin mining, when you have an extreme weather event, either extreme heat, which is frequent in the state of Texas or extreme cold, which sometimes happens here, Bitcoin mining can be shut off in a fraction of a second. Making that electri...

Answering the question 'Who has/had the oldest mined Bitcoin?' an anonymous member shared a signature dating back to January 2009, just a week after Bitcoin came into existence. Online forums are integral to the Bitcoin origin story, where Satoshi Nakamoto and early contributors collaborated to discuss and create a disruptive financial system from scratch. One of the oldest Bitcoin forums — bitcointalk.org — still preserves historical discussions around creating the Bitcoin (BTC) logo and the payment system. A curious member of the bitcointalk.org forum recently sought to identify Bitcoin miners from the early days. To their surprise, an anonymous member shared a signature dating back to January 2009, just a week after Bitcoin came into existence. The oldest known Bitcoin signature shared by OneSignature. Source: bitcointalk.org “Maybe OP is inviting Satoshi?” questioned another member after confirming the legitimacy of “the oldest signature” found to date. Adding to the myste...

Marathon has outlined that at this stage its operations hosted by Compute North will continue to operate as usual, and highlighted an improved BTC mining production in Q3. Source: https://thebittimes.com/marathon-reports-80m-exposure-to-bankrupt-mining-firm-tbt25725.html?utm_source=blogger_source&utm_medium=blogger_medium&utm_campaign=blogger_cam Category: Bitcoin News Post by: TheBitTimes.com