Financial services company Fidelity Investments’ U.K. arm reported that over the last 12 months customers were most interested in trading shares of crypto mining firm Argo Blockchain. In a Thursday report, Fidelity said Argo Blockchain ranked third among the top five stocks most actively traded by its customers in 2021 — the others were Rolls-Royce, British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines, oil giant BP, and Lloyds Banking Group. Argo, which Fidelity described as a “trending” stock, also ranked third among stocks traded by Self-Invested Personal Pension, or SIPP, investors. However, the financial services company hinted that Argo may not make …

Bitcoin (BTC) is about to hit a new all-time high in one essential area — and major mining pools have likely already clinched the title. Data from monitoring resource MiningPoolStats shows that as of Dec. 20, Bitcoin network hash rate is practically at its highest ever. Hash rate vanquishes specter of China Despite the price comedown from $69,000, hash rate is steaming higher, and the chunk of computing power from known pools is now at a historic peak. Hash rate refers to the computing power dedicated to mining, and while impossible to measure exactly, estimates agree that Bitcoin is more …

On Dec. 17, 2021, the Senate of Paraguay approved a cryptocurrency bill introduced in July. The provisions, which define several key terms including virtual assets and call for licenses to mine cryptocurrencies, will now be sent to the Deputy Chamber for further deliberation. Senator Fernando Silva Facetti, the bill's sponsor, revealed that it's passed in the Paraguayan Senate after a contentious debate. According to the senator, the law also aims to foster the growth of crypto mining activities by using the surplus electricity generated in the country. (1/3) Today, after an intense debate, the Senate @SenadoresPy approved todaya New Law …

Publicly traded crypto mining firm Hive Blockchain is expecting to produce 6,900 Ether (ETH) and 670 Bitcoin (BTC) for the fiscal quarter ending on Dec. 31, marking a respective drop and increase over that of the previous quarter. In a Wednesday notice to shareholders, Hive said it had mined 6,280 Ether from Oct. 1 to Dec. 21, and was on track to mine more than 65 ETH daily for the remainder of 2021. This projected total — 6,900 ETH — would represent a decrease of more than 20% from the 8,688 ETH the company mined from July 1 to Sept. …

Billion-dollar companies across the globe are betting big on Bitcoin (BTC). Recent analysis from European investment manager Nickel Digital Asset Management found that 20 publically listed companies with a market capitalization of over $1 trillion have about $9.6 billion invested in BTC. Individual investors are also taking an increasing interest in the asset. The “Third Annual Bitcoin Investor Study” from Grayscale Research found that demand for Bitcoin has risen tremendously. According to the study, 55% of current Bitcoin investors began buying the asset over just the last 12 months. Grayscale’s report also notes that the market for those interested in …

Total circulating Bitcoin (BTC) hit a significant milestone on Monday morning, one and a half years after the last Bitcoin halving, as 90% of the maximum total supply has been mined. Current data from Blockchain.com shows Bitcoin in circulation hit 18.899 million as of Dec. 13, meaning only 10% of the total supply is left to mine. While the first 90% of BTC took about 12 years to mine, the rest will take a little longer. Bitcoin has a hard cap of 21 million coins set by its anonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto. This limitation is written in Bitcoin's source code …

Bitcoin (BTC) is often used to criticize all blockchain-based projects. This is understandable since Bitcoin was the first project to use a blockchain, is arguably the most recognizable and is the largest cryptocurrency by market cap. In the first half of this article, I will use Bitcoin as a proxy for all blockchain-based projects because most people associate blockchain with Bitcoin. Anything environmentally positive that can be said about Bitcoin will be doubly true for the vast majority of newer blockchain-based projects since Bitcoin uses the oldest version of blockchain technology. Blockchain energy consumption Bitcoin has been attacked for high …

A new proposal in the Brazilian Congress calls for a tax exemption on both the importation of crypto mining rigs and on any mining conducted using renewable energy sources. A Dec. 4 report from Brazilian media outlet Seudinheiro explains that a series of new proposals from Brazilian lawmakers could reduce the criticism crypto gets in South America’s largest country. Congress also heard a proposal to have cryptocurrency be regarded as a currency as opposed to a commodity. If this proposal passes, crypto exchanges will be able to provide financial services and issue loans to Brazilian residents. Senator Irajá Silvestre Filho …

Executive Chairman and Co-founder of Ripple Chris Larsen has unveiled his plan for Bitcoin miners to move away from Proof of Work (PoW), saying they should view it as “a net positive for their longevity.” He argues it could provide a major boost to the share prices of listed mining firms “as any new code proposal would almost certainly have to include lucrative incentives to gain their support.” PoW is the consensus algorithm that secures Bitcoin (BTC) transactions on the blockchain. While the Bitcoin network is the most secure and reliable, the amount of energy BTC mining requires causes endless …

The global hash rate of the Bitcoin network has returned to all-time high (ATH) levels just six months after it saw a major crash during the aftermath of the Chinese government’s mining ban. The global hash rate of the Bitcoin network tanked as low as 84 EH/s at the start of June following the Chinese government’s crackdown on the crypto mining sector. According to Blockchain.com, the global hash rate has increased by 108% since June, with the Bitcoin network performing at a rolling seven-day average of 175 exahashes per second (EH/s) as of Dec. 8. The figure is roughly 3% …

National Iceland electrical company Landsvirkjun has cut the amount of power it will provide for some industries, including aluminium smelters and Bitcoin miners. A representative from the island’s power utility reported it has been forced to reduce energy allocations to southwestern Bitcoin miners and various industrial facilities due to a series of issues including a problem at a power station, low hydro-reservoir levels and accessing energy from an external supplier. Mining operations have long been attracted to the country due to its abundance of geothermal energy which is harvested to create a cheap and plentiful supply of renewable energy. But …

The Australian government is seriously consider the rollout of central bank digital currency (CBDC) and has backed numerous forward-looking regulatory crypto-proposals as part of a new “payments and crypto reform plan.” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the reforms "will firmly place Australia among a handful of lead countries in the world." The reform plan is said to be the biggest shake-up of the Australian payments system since the 1990s, with part of the crypto-related groundwork set by the innovative proposals put forward by an Australian Senate Committee in September. According to the Australian Financial Review, the government is in favor of …