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Survey Shows bitcoin mining has gained credibility

By
Christian Allen Tandoc
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According to Michael Saylor, Founder and CEO of MicroStrategy, the company observed a trend flow with excellent improvements to Bitcoin mining energy sustainability and efficiency during the fourth quarter.

The global Bitcoin mining sector driven by renewable energy increased by 1% to 58.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) has released its findings

The BMC published the results of its Q4 (Fourth Quarter) survey on Tuesday, January 18, 2022. The survey placed a premium on technological efficiency, electricity usage, and a sustainable power mix.

Group of US lawmakers want answers about crypto mining's energy consumption, environmental impact | ZDNet

The Bitcoin Mining Council, founded in May of this year, is a voluntary, global forum of Bitcoin mining companies such as BitFury, BitDigital, BitFarms, Atlas Mining, and others.

The survey compiled data on sustainable energy from miners, who account for more than 46 percent of the Bitcoin network as a whole. According to the survey, BMC members are reducing their reliance on electricity, with 66.1 percent of their energy coming from renewable sources.

The data was used to calculate that the global Bitcoin mining sector’s sustainable energy mix was 58.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Compared to the Q3 evaluation numbers, this resulted in a 1% increase. Furthermore, the sector estimated that technological efficiency grew by more than 9%, reaching around 19.3 petahash/MW.

In addition, Michael Saylor, CEO and Founder of MicroStrategy and a well-known member of the Bitcoin Mining Community, commented on the analysis that looked at the fourth quarter of 2021. He claimed that the Bitcoin mining community had witnessed significant energy efficiency and sustainability gains.

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This was caused by breakthroughs in semiconductor technology, the Chinese crackdown, the expansion of Bitcoin mining in North America, and the global trend towards sustainable energy and creative mining methods.

The Environmental Impacts of Bitcoin Mining Have Also Been Examined

The environmental impacts of Bitcoin mining have been vigorously debated for some time, and the United States Congress is planning to thoroughly examine the energy effects of PoW (Proof of Work) blockchains.

The country’s House Committee on Energy and Commerce has informed a key witness that he will testify on the effects of cryptocurrency mining on energy and the environment at a court hearing on January 20, 2022.

Brian Brooks, the CEO of BitFury, Professor Ari Juels, a Cornell Technology Professor, and John Belizaire, the CEO of Soluna Computing, are key witnesses.

Bitcoin Miners Seeking Renewable Energy Sources

BTC miners are looking for more sustainable energy sources as demand from governments, shareholders, and the general public grows. Furthermore, crypto investors such as Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary and Mr. Wonderful have stated that they intend to purchase stakes in crypto mining firms that use sustainable energy.

Nuclear energy is one of the exploitable energy sources. Griid Harry Sudock addressed the issue in the early weeks of November last year at the BTC and Beyond Virtual Conference.

In his argument, he stated that nuclear energy could provide an opportunity to bring in massive volumes of pure, carbon-free electricity.

OpenSea Removes NFT Minting Restrictions

By
Christian Allen Tandoc
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OpenSea has overturned its controversial decision to impose a cap on the number of NFTs that inventors are permitted to mint.

Limits were imposed without prior warning

OpenSea issued a surprise announcement yesterday through Twitter, announcing that NFT minting through the platform’s collection storefront contract would be limited to 5 collections, each comprising up to 50 items. However, after receiving tremendously negative community comments, the NFT marketplace has opted to remove the limits again, and this time not even 24 hours later.

OpenSea apologized for the incident and noted that the limits were put in place to avoid abuse, noting that more than 80% of the NFTs issued through the storefront contract were “plagiarised works, bogus collections, and spam”:

We didn’t make this decision lightly. We made the change to address feedback we were receiving from our entire community. However, we should have previewed this with you before rolling it out.

In addition, the platform stated plans to adopt more methods to combat bad players. OpenSea agreed to notify creators of any subsequent changes and solicit feedback on these implementation milestones.

The benefits and drawbacks of minting limitations

The promise of digital art NFTs is that their worth stems from their scarcity. However, with OpenSea’s connection with Polygon and free minting capabilities, NFTs are becoming mass-produced commodities. Aside from several bogus collections, there exist a plethora of genuine NFT collections with minimal artistic value.

On the other hand, overly stringent minting limits impede the ability of true NFT artists to promote their work while being ineffective against bad actors. Scammers and forgers can get around the limits by utilizing numerous addresses. As a result, legitimate creators are likely to suffer the most from minting limits.

Following the market crash, 30000 Bitcoin holders lose their millionaire status

By
Christian Allen Tandoc
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0
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Thousands of new bitcoin billionaires were added this year as a result of the digital asset’s numerous rallies. At its height, it only took 14.5 bitcoins for a holder to become a BTC millionaire, which was substantially lower than in the previous. As a result, the number of bitcoin millionaires increased rapidly, and tens of thousands of new millionaires were added to the list.

However, as a result of the current price drop, many bitcoin millionaires have lost their millionaire status. Given that the digital asset has lost about half of its all-time high value, the number of millionaires has shrunk dramatically in a relatively short period of time.

When bitcoin reached its all-time high of $69,000, the number of bitcoin billionaires skyrocketed. Given the minimal amount of coins required to achieve millionaire status, there were over 108,000 BTC millionaires for the first time. For a time, everything was well, and these 108,886 addresses retained their millionaire status. That is, until the market crisis in December 2021, which lasted well into January of the following year.

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The price of BTC will plummet during the next two months, and as a result, these bitcoin billionaires will suffer immensely. This was precisely the case, as almost 30,000 BTC became non-millionaires in two months. At the time of writing, the number of BTC addresses holding at least a million dollars in bitcoin had dropped to 80,409.

The crash also impacted Bitcoin whales with greater sums. These whales, worth more than $10 million at the time of their peak, were reduced by 40%. Today, the figure has dropped from a high of 10,587 to 6,960.

With any market crisis, people will always rush to sell their holdings for fear of a further decline. This has happened with bitcoin. Liquidations did not help matters either, with nearly $1 billion in liquidations documented in the aftermath of the market fall. Nonetheless, some people keep their bitcoins through thick and thin, bear or bull markets.

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BTC still has one of the highest holding rates in the cryptocurrency world. Moreover, half (59%) of all BTC holders have held their coins for more than a year, which is a fairly amazing number given that the digital currency has reached multiple all-time highs in the last year.

Holder attitude is overwhelmingly bullish, and accumulation patterns, particularly among whales, have recently increased. Whales control 10% of the total supply of bitcoin in circulation. This figure is always rising as new significant firms enter the market in an attempt to gain a higher market share than their competitors.

How to Save Money When Inflation is Rising & the Dollar is Declining!

By
PVP Team
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Inflation is the process of prices increasing over time. When inflation occurs, the purchasing power of your money decreases.

Inflation can be caused by a decrease in the supply of goods and services, an increase in demand for goods and services, or a combination of both.

How Inflation Works and What You Need to Know

Inflation is a condition in which the price level increases over time. The rate of inflation is the percentage by which the price level has increased.

Inflation can be caused by a variety of factors, including an increase in money supply, an increase in aggregate demand, or a decrease in aggregate supply. The effects of inflation are often felt most strongly by those on fixed incomes, such as retirees living on pensions.

The following are some of the effects that inflation has on society:

– Inflation makes it more difficult to save up for large purchases

– It makes it harder for companies to predict future costs

– It reduces incentives to invest

– It increases unemployment

The Dangers of Deflation vs. Inflation and How It Affects Your Savings

Inflation is a rise in the general level of prices, meaning that the same amount of money will buy less. Deflation is a fall in the general level of prices, meaning that the same amount of money will buy more.

The difference between deflation and inflation is that deflation is a fall in prices whereas inflation is an increase in prices. Inflation means that your savings will be worth less because your money will be worth less due to the increase in wages and living costs. Deflation means that your savings will be worth more because you can buy more with your saved-up cash.

How does deflation affect savings? Deflation decreases the value of savings in time, meaning that if you save $100 today, it will be worth less in the future because the price of goods is lower.

With the increase of global competition, there has been a decrease in demand for goods. That means that prices are lower than they otherwise would have been. Goods are worth less in the future because they are cheaper today.

4 Ways to Win the Battle Against Rising Prices in a Growing Economy

The economy is on the rise, and many people are feeling the pressure of rising prices. Here are 4 ways to save money when prices are going up.

  1. Shop smarter against rising prices by checking out cheaper alternatives in your grocery store. Compare unit prices and buy in bulk if possible to get the best deal. Use the information provided by Food Lion https://frequent-ads.com/food-lion.With the economy still recovering and inflation rates at their highest in years, many people are struggling to keep up with rising food and gas prices. One way to save money on groceries without compromising your nutrition is to shop smarter by checking out cheaper alternatives. This often involves purchasing items that are on sale, buying in bulk when possible, and checking unit prices of products to make sure you’re getting the best deal.
  1. Save money when you have a lower income by taking advantage of coupons and discounts for food, clothing, and other things that you need for your household budget.It is always a good idea to be on the lookout for coupons and discounts that can save you money. This article from Coupon Sherpa shares some great information on how to start saving now. There are many ways to save money, you just need to know where to look.
  1. Use price matching apps to find discounted items at nearby stores to get the best deals without having to leave home or workPrice matching is a great way to find deals on products you want without having to leave home or work – without the hassle. All you need is a smartphone and the price match app of your choosing.
  1. Buy in-season produce that will be cheaper than out-of-season produce. It makes sense to buy winter clothes in the summer and summer clothes in the winter. This way you can save a lot of money. It’s also worth buying Christmas presents on sale, even a few months in advance.

Goldman Sachs Predicts the Metaverse to Be an $8 Trillion Investment Opportunity

By
Aletheia
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0
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According to Goldman Sachs’ prediction, the metaverse is potentially an $8 trillion opportunity. Eric Sheridan, an analyst of Goldman Sachs, explains the prediction during a recent episode of “Exchanges at Goldman Sachs” entitled “Understanding the metaverse and web 3.0.” Someone asked Sheridan about the possible growth and evolution of the metaverse, particularly how big of an opportunity it could pose.

In response, the analyst replied, saying that they believe the opportunity could go as high as $8 trillion “on the revenue and monetization side.”

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Goldman Sachs isn’t the only company to predict the metaverse’s potential opportunity. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs’ rival investment bank, also made a similar estimation in November 2021, saying that the metaverse could potentially offer an $8 trillion market opportunity.

Haim Israel, the strategist for Bank of America, said in December 2021 that the metaverse is an incredible opportunity wherein crypto assets could be used as currencies. On the other hand, Cathie Wood, the CEO of Ark Investment Management, predicts that the metaverse could be a multitrillion-dollar market. Meanwhile, Grayscale Investments predicts that it could be $1 trillion.

Protecting Your Businesses With Risk Management Tools by Covery

By
PVP Team
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0
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When a person starts doing business online, it is very important to assess the possible risks from business activities. These can be financial risks, social, personal, etc. Online business includes its own specific risks, the set of which is constantly expanding. Because of the importance, financial danger, and constant increase of such risks, multiple professional teams have emerged that work on fraud reduction. Such professionals develop various risk management tools that could be useful for companies of different kinds.

Risk Management Tools For Low- and High-Risk Businesses

Covery is a well-established online platform working in the anti-fraud field. It

  • develops risk management tools based on top technologies and machine learning
  • works with low- and high-risk businesses protecting them from all kinds of fraud
  • constantly improves its risk management software tools on the basis of 5 billion user actions analyzed.

Risk management software tools developed by Covery allow analyzing, evaluating, and controlling risks of businesses. Companies from Europe, the USA, and other countries of the world highly benefit from risk management tools provided by Covery.  Fraud tools are highly demanded by specialists of all kinds, such as risk analysts, AML professionals, etc.

Anti-Fraud Products by Covery

Among risk management tools offered by Covery there are the following:

  • enterprise risk management tools: Trustchain, VMPI Chargeback Prevention
  • transaction monitoring tools: Device Fingerprinting, KYC Automation

These products have helped to prevent 500+ million risky actions since 2016, and assist your company in combating fraud on all stages of your particular field of business. It allows you to:

  • Identify and compare risks.
  • Classify individual risks. For example, Trustchain detects and isolates bots and scammers thanks to reputation records of user identifiers. It provides automatic risk assessment based on information collected regarding the frequency and impact of occurring events.
  • Evaluate and prioritize the collected risks. In particular, In-Depth Analysis is aimed at assessing the risks on each step of the sales routine. Thanks to it, customers efficiently increase fraud declines and essentially save their resources.
  • Choose risk management tools and strategies. For example, VMPI Chargeback Prevention decreases the number of disputes and chargebacks, eliminates fraud, and secures a positive customer experience.
  • Initiate activities to counter the identified risks
  • Monitor, collect reports, and document all risk cases

Risk management software tools are essential instruments for protecting businesses online. Not only do your financial assets depend on your choice of appropriate software but also the financial security of your clients does. A fraud-proof business has a good reputation. With Covery your reputation will be impeccable!

Sony Playstation Creator Ken Kutaragi Criticizes the Concept of the Metaverse

By
Aletheia
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0
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Sony Playstation co-inventor Ken Kutaragi recently criticized the idea of the metaverse, which is a new technology that countless companies are currently striving to push. During an interview with Bloomberg, Kutaragi expressed his opinion regarding the metaverse:

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If you’re up-to-date with the goings-on in the crypto and metaverse space, you’re probably aware that Meta (formerly known as Facebook) is pushing for the metaverse too. The company rebranded a few months ago to try and expand its horizons outside of social media, which is why the tech giant has been working hard in developing equipment that interested people can use for complete immersion within the metaverse. For instance, Meta is working on a new VR headset and haptic gloves for total immersion.

Kutaragi Has a Hybrid Concept of the Metaverse in Mind

For Kutaragi, applying Augmented Reality techniques is the way to go for a more immersive experience, especially since it blends the real world with virtual reality assets. This concept is essentially a hybrid version of the metaverse we know today, which is all about incorporating holograms and the like to the real world we live in. Ascent is currently working on this kind of technology, a company that Kutaragi is the CEO of.

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However, it would be nearly impossible to integrate this kind of hybrid technology without the need for equipment or gear that users put on. Notably, Kutaragi isn’t a big fan of such gear, including the use of headsets.

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The inventor isn’t the only one to criticize the metaverse, though. Even Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently had critical views of the metaverse’s current state. To Musk, the term is merely only a buzzword, but he acknowledges that he’s excited about what new ideas other companies can bring to the table in the future.

MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Buying Spree Not Yet Over

By
Aletheia
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0
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It appears that MicroStrategy has no plans to stop buying Bitcoin anytime soon, even though it already has significant holdings of the crypto asset. MicroStrategy CFO Phong Le recently revealed the firm’s current strategy, which involves continuously investing in BTC. The firm doesn’t seem bothered by the crypto asset’s consistent downtrend in value lately, and it doesn’t come as a surprise seeing as MicroStrategy’s previous investment ventures remain in profit.

MicroStrategy’s Strategy

When the firm initially started buying BTC, its strategy involved purchasing bitcoin and holding it, inputting the data on its balance sheet. According to the firm’s CEO Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy never planned on selling its assets in the short term. The firm quickly had the most extensive Bitcoin holdings among any publicly-listed company.

Now, Le repeats what Saylor said in the past: MicroStrategy still doesn’t plan on selling its Bitcoin. The firm plans on earning profit in other ways, and they want it to involve buying more BTC. According to Le:

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For now, MicroStrategy holds about 124,391 BTC. This information was revealed to the public during the firm’s end-of-the-year filings with the SEC. There was even a point when the firm’s ROI for its Bitcoin purchases reached nearly 100%. Despite the recent BTC downtrend, MicroStrategy still has nearly $1 billion in profit thanks to its BTC investments.

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The Firm Will Keep Buying BTC

Among other things, the firm’s CFO also revealed their Bitcoin buying strategy going forward. Naturally, they will keep purchasing BTC, though the question remains whether the firm will buy as much Bitcoin as it had back in 2021. MicroStrategy will keep holding its BTC purchases, though, like always.

The firm has been solely focusing on its crypto-related activities rather than being an enterprise software vendor in recent times. According to recent data, MicroStrategy has been recording continuous losses even though it has been profiting a lot from its crypto investments.

For instance, between 2020 and 2021, MicroStrategy’s core business recorded a whopping loss of $14.2 million. However, this figure grew even more in its end-of-the-quarter report, revealing that the company recorded a loss of up to $36.1 million.

Bithumb Stops Accepting Withdrawals for Unverified Wallet Addresses

By
Aletheia
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0
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According to a recent announcement, South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb will no longer allow unverified wallets to make withdrawals. This is due to the ‘Travel Rule’ that the South Korean government recently implemented on the various crypto exchanges in the country. The official announcement occurred on January 24 in a blog post.

Starting Thursday, January 27, the crypto exchange has stopped allowing customers to register an account or withdraw their funds using wallets similar to MetaMask because they’re anonymous. According to CoinDesk Korea, anonymous wallets aren’t associated with a number, name, or registered email.

Due to the Financial Action Task Force’s new regulation, exchanges are now required to submit a document showcasing their transactions when they surpass a specified threshold. Bithumb initially said last week that users with anonymous wallets would need to undergo a face-to-face interview before successfully registering an account on the exchange. However, the platform changed its mind after receiving pressure from government officials.

Bithumb and Coinone are the first two crypto exchanges to gather users’ personal information. Other companies operating in the state still have until March 25, 2022, to start implementing the new policy. Now that financial institutions are involved in this new rule, they’re tasked to keep track of the various users making crypto transactions.

The South Korean government hopes that this decision will significantly decrease the chances of illegal activity since only legitimate users and companies would be left using the exchange.

Crypto-Related Money Laundering Jumped by 30% In 2021

By
Aletheia
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0
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mohamed_hassan (CC0), Pixabay

Unfortunately, cryptocurrencies are no longer used for only investing and e-commerce. For the past year, malicious individuals and fraudsters have been using crypto for their criminal activities, finding shelter from the ease of access and anonymity that cryptocurrency provides. Unsurprisingly, cybercrimes have also increased just as fast within the crypto space.

On January 26, 2022, Chainalysis issued a report revealing that cybercriminals are finding more and more ways to earn money at a drastically fast pace. In 2021 alone, the laundered cryptocurrency reached approximately $8.6 billion, which shows a 30% increase from 2020. Crypto exchanges were primarily the targets of cybercriminals, who laundered over $33 billion worth of crypto since 2017.

Chainalysis notes that it’s not surprising how money laundering has been an unfortunate trend as of late, especially since legitimate and illicit companies have been rapidly on the rise. In the case of digital assets like crypto, money laundering involves illegally obtaining the funds, changing the origin, and then transferring them to legit financial firms so the criminals can cash out physical money.

According to the research, almost 17% out of 8.6 billion laundered funds were transferred to DeFi apps. In contrast, malicious groups only moved 2% of laundered funds to decentralized business models. The report also reveals that mixers, mining pools, and high-risk exchanges have been seeing a drastic increase in the number of funds sent in by illicit wallet addresses.

Mixers are handy to malicious groups, as they combine legal and illegal crypto funds to cover up the trail. In other words, it will be difficult for people to trace where the assets were from originally.

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mohamed_hassan (CC0), Pixabay

2021 Had $8.6 Billion Laundered Crypto

It’s worth noting that cybercriminals transferred over half of the stolen funds (as much as $750 million) to DeFi apps. Chainalysis points out that $8.6 billion of laundered money from last year shows that crimes like ransomware attacks occur in the crypto space and not with paper currency.

One common way criminals profit is by taking paper currency and converting them into crypto. From there, they can launder the funds via different possible transactions.

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Due to the drastic increase in crypto-related crimes, the South Korean government recently imposed the Travel Rule on cryptocurrency exchanges. In this new rule, crypto users must partner with their local banks to allow the government to spot money launders and fraud easily.

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