Grayscale Investments announced on Oct. 6 the formation of Grayscale Digital Infrastructure Opportunities LLC ("GDIO"), a co-investment opportunity focused on Bitcoin mining hardware. By leveraging its affiliated staking infrastructure firm, Foundry, the company plans to acquire mining equipment at reduced prices during the crypto winter. The company said the new entity will be available to individuals and institutional accredited investors at a minimum investment of $25.000. The funding is expected to be completed before the end of this year and will offer liquidity similar to private equity or infrastructure assets that have a three-to-five-year investment horizon, as Bloombergreports. Investors who …

Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, the finance minister of Norway, has suggested the government abolish a scheme which allows crypto data centers to pay a reduced rate on electricity. In an Oct. 6 announcement, the government of Norway proposed that data centers operating in the country be subject to the same electricity tax rates as other industries, representing a potential change in policy for Bitcoin (BTC) miners. According to the government, the reduced rate should be phased out as the demand for electricity was rising in certain areas. “We are in a completely different situation in the power market now than when …

It’s another win for Bitcoin miners and the environment. A Dutch Bitcoiner has installed a Bitcoin (BTC) miner in a warehouse to replace the heating system powered by natural gas. Why? Because it’s cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and uses solar power. Our latest installation heats a warehouse with electricity instead of natural gas. We’ve installed manual valves to guide airflow. The sound has been attenuated under 40db with a large damper. The people that work in the warehouse enjoy the warm temperature and low sound. pic.twitter.com/fcdEUlqiuN — Bitcoin Brabant (@BitcoinBrabant) October 5, 2022 Bert de Groot is the founder of …

The Bitcoin hash rate hit a new all-time high above 245 EH/s on Oct. 3, but at the same time, BTC miner profitability is near the lowest levels on record. With prices in the low $20,000 range and the estimated network wide cost of production at $12,140, glassnode analysis suggests “that miners are somewhat on the cusp of acute income distress.” Generally, difficulty, a measure of how “difficult” it is to mine a block, is a component of determining the production cost of mining Bitcoin. Higher difficulty means additional computing power is required to mine a new block. Utilizing a …

Bitcoin miners can’t stop, won’t stop. The Bitcoin (BTC) hash rate continues to surge to new all-time highs, despite a heavy price drawdown. The Bitcoin mining hash rate peaked at 258 exahashes per second (EH/s) on Oct. 4, according to Braiins Insights, a mining data tools and metrics company. Although the Bitcoin price is down 58% year-to-date against the dollar, the mining hash rate is up 43%. Bitcoin Gandalf from the marketing team at Braiins told Cointelegraph that "The hash rate hitting another all-time high shows that miners are bullish about the future prospects of Bitcoin.” Nonetheless, the current macroeconomic …

Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week in a precarious place as global macro instability dictates the mood. After sealing a weekly close just inches above $19,000, the largest cryptocurrency still lacks direction as nerves heighten over the resilience of the global financial system. Last week proved a testing time for risk asset investors, with gloomy economic data flowing from the United States and, moreover, Europe. The Eurozone thus provides the backdrop to the latest concerns of market participants, who are watching as the financial buoyancy of major banks is called into question. With the war in Ukraine only escalating and …

Bitcoin (BTC) miners remain under stress at current price levels as data shows large outflows from miner wallets returning. As per on-chain analytics firm Glassnode, monthly miner sales totaled up to around 8,000 BTC in September. Bitcoin miners see heavy sales In contrast to the June lows, when BTC/USD hit its current multi-year floor of $17,600, miners are currently selling considerable amounts of BTC. According to Glassnode, which tracks the 30-day change in miner balances, at the start of the month, miners were down a maximum 8,650 BTC over the month prior. While this subsequently reduced, taking into account changes …

The Bitcoin (BTC) bashing has continued unabated even in the depths of a bear market with more research questioning its energy usage and impact on the environment. The latest paper by researchers at the department of economics at the University of New Mexico, published on Sept. 29, alleges that from a climate-damage perspective, Bitcoin operates more like “digital crude” than “digital gold.” The research attempts to estimate the energy-related climate damage caused by proof-of-work Bitcoin mining and make comparisons to other industries. It alleges that between 2016 and 2021, on average each $1 in BTC market value created was responsible …

The electricity mix of Bitcoin (BTC) has drastically changed over the past few years, with nuclear energy and natural gas becoming the fastest growing energy sources powering Bitcoin mining, according to new data. The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) on Tuesday released a major update to its Bitcoin mining-dedicated data source, the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI). According to the data from Cambridge, fossil fuels like coal and natural gas made up almost two-thirds of Bitcoin’s total electricity mix as of January 2022, accounting for more than 62%. As such, the share of sustainable energy sources in the …

While Ethereum (ETH) fans are enthusiastic about the successful Merge, Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten believes the upgrade will lead Ethereum into a “slow slide to irrelevance and eventual death.” According to Klippsten, the Ethereum community picked the wrong moment for detaching the protocol from its reliance on energy. As many parts of the world are experiencing severe energy shortages, he believed the environmental narrative is taking the back seat. In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Klippsten said “I think the world is just waking up to reality and Ethereum just went way off into Fantasyland at the exact wrong …

Australia-based crypto mining firm Iris Energy has signed a deal with B. Riley giving the capital market company the option to purchase up to 25 million of its shares. According to a Friday filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Iris Energy inked an agreement with B. Riley Principal Capital II related to the “potential offer and sale” of up to 25 million of the Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm’s ordinary shares, worth $100 million. The filing states B. Riley has a 24-month timeframe to complete the purchase starting “as soon as practicable” after the effective date of the …

Bitcoin (BTC) mining hosting firm Compute North has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, amid growing pressure on the firm due to the effects of crypto winter and rising energy costs. The firm’s CEO Dave Perrill has also stepped down but will remain on the board. The company submitted a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on Sept. 22, which is now pending before Judge David Jones. Under a Chapter 11 filing, the firm is still able to keep its operations going as it works out a plan to repay creditors. The …