The cryptocurrency market entered a sell-off phase in the first week of June, seeing a market-wide route with the majority of cryptocurrencies falling to a 4-year low. The deteriorating market conditions have also affected Bitcoin (BTC) mining profitability adversely, forcing miners to liquidate their BTC holdings. New data from Arcane research shows that public Bitcoin mining firms sold 100% of their BTC production in May compared to the usual 20-40% earlier. In the first four months of 2022, public BTC mining firms sold 30% of their mined production, which increased 3X folds in May and is expected to rise even …
Canadian crypto mining firm Bitfarms sold roughly $62 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) in June, using the proceeds from the sale to reduce its debt. In a Tuesday announcement, Bitfarms said it had sold 3,000 Bitcoin in the last seven days, roughly 47% of the crypto mining firm’s roughly 6,349 BTC holdings. According to the company, it will use the funds from the BTC sales — $62 million — to “rebalance its indebtedness by reducing its BTC-backed credit facility with Galaxy Digital.” The sold crypto seemingly included 1,500 BTC Bitfarms used to reduce its credit facility from $100 million to …
According to local news outlet Arz Digital, the day prior, Rajabi Mashhadi, a spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Energy, said that the entity would be cutting the power supply to all of the country's licensed crypto mining firms by the beginning of July. Citing an anticipated electricity deficit from the peak-summer season, Mashhadi stated, "There are currently 118 authorized [digital currency] extraction centers in the country, which must cut off their electricity supply from the national grid from the beginning of July." "Last week, the country's electricity consumption recorded an all-time high of 62,500 megawatts (MW) during peak consumption, which …
Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week still battling for $20,000 support as the market takes in a week of severe losses. What felt all but impossible just weeks ago is now a reality as $20,000 — the all-time high from 2017 to 2020 — returns to give investors a grim sense of deja vu. Bitcoin dipped as low as $17,600 over the weekend, and tensions are running high ahead of the June 20 Wall Street open. While BTC price losses have statistically been here before — and even lower — concerns are mounting for network stability at current levels, with …
Despite data showing that the Bitcoin (BTC) price may have fallen to the point of being unprofitable for the average miner, Marathon Digital Holdings says it will continue working to accumulate the leading crypto asset. Charlie Schumacher, vice president of corporate communications at Marathon Digital, told Cointelegraph on Wednesday that while the company “isn’t immune to the macro environment,” it is “fairly well insulated and well-positioned” to weather the current downturn, due to the low cost of operations and fixed pricing for power “For reference, in Q1 2022, our cost to produce a Bitcoin was approximately $6,200. We also have …
The crypto winter is here. It’s a trying time as prices grind down, but it’s the best moment to build and learn. For some Bitcoiners, the bear market is a time to plant trees or create memes. For those with kids, it’s a welcome recess used to broaden the minds’ of Bitcoin (BTC) minors. Cointelegraph spoke to the creators of popular Bitcoin-related games and educational tools to understand why teaching kids about sound money is critical, and some of the best ways of doing so. SHAmory, a portmanteau of SHA-256 (the cryptographic function that hashes inputs in Bitcoin) and memory, …
A group of 14 United States senators and House representatives have signed a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency extolling what they believe are the benefits of crypto mining. In a Thursday letter, many U.S. lawmakers including pro-Bitcoin Senator Cynthia Lummis and Representative Tom Emmer addressed EPA administrator Michael Regan, requesting the government agency analyze the potential impact of crypto mining in an effort to balance innovation with environmental concerns. The group of 14 senators and representatives claimed mining could have a “substantial stabilizing effect on energy grids” and cited examples of mining operations using flared gas and renewable energy …
The Russian government continues to establish links with major players in the cryptocurrency mining industry despite staying skeptical about legalizing cryptocurrency trading and payments. Russia’s state-owned gas giant Gazprom Neft has entered into a partnership with BitRiver, the largest crypto-mining colocation services supplier in Russia providing hosting services for major crypto mining operations. Gazprom will provide BitRiver's partner data centers with electricity generated from the associated petroleum gas, the companies officially announced on June 16. As part of the collaboration, BitRiver will be developing a digital infrastructure based on the oil fields that Gazprom provides crypto mining services from the …
In the summer of 2021, the Chinese government banned Bitcoin (BTC) mining and cited the typical concerns of harmful environmental effects and money laundering. Now, the Chinese government is working toward establishing its own digital yuan currency. This raises the question as to whether the original reasoning was merely a Trojan horse. This ban could easily have been a huge blow to Bitcoin’s momentum. After all, close to 75% of all Bitcoin mining had been conducted in China by late 2019, according to Cambridge Alternative Finance Benchmarks. If the network teetered under the weight of China’s nationwide ban, other governments …
In addition to its swift advances toward regulating crypto mining, Kazakhstan will launch a pilot project for crypto exchanges in the special economic zone of the Astana International Finance Centre. The Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry of the Kazakhstan Republic announced on Thursday a pilot project of cooperation between the crypto exchanges and some of the local banks. The working group formulated the guidelines for that cooperation, consisting of the representatives of the Ministry of Digital Development, the National Bank, the Financial Monitoring Agency, the Association of Financiers, Astana International Finance Centre and the finance and crypto …
Bitcoin (BTC) near $20,000 is worrying the market, but after narrowly avoiding breaking support, is the worst really over? According to multiple on-chain indicators, it seems that max pain has yet to arrive this cycle. The stakes are high for many hodlers this week — almost 50% of the supply is being held at a loss and miners are upping their shipments of BTC to exchanges. Even some of Bitcoin’s biggest investors, notably MicroStrategy, are having to defend their conviction on BTC as price action tumbles. With targets ranging as low as $11,000, Cointelegraph takes a look at how much …
“I like to call myself a future, or aspiring, cult leader,” Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer of CoinShares — a publicly listed investment firm managing around $5 billion in assets — told Cointelegraph. Demirors, who first entered the Bitcoin (BTC) space in late 2012, further mentioned that it has been “fun to see how big the crypto sector has become,” noting that people from all walks of life are now interested in the cryptocurrency space. As such, Demirors explained that “crypto cults” are bringing people together in a positive manner, especially since it gives people a sense of purpose and …