BitDigest May 4 · Issue #650
- Bitcoin dominance jumps to recent highs as crypto market slides over weekend
- Iran grants license to Turkish company to mine crypto
- Senate investigating blockchain voting for times of crisis
BTC Hashrate Nearing All-Time-Highs
Bitcoin’s (BTC) hashrate is near all-time-highs ahead of the halving. (I warned you, you will hear a lot about this event this week). As of this morning, BTC’s hashrate is up 8.3% to 132.55 Ehash/s (this equates to 132 quintillion or “132,000,000,000,000,000,000” attempts to solve for a block per second. The increase makes sense as bitcoin mining rigs – even of the older generations – are believed to be profitable above the $8,000 pricing level.
I expect hashrates to continue to increase this week. The real key to watch will be the effect if bitcoin pricing begins to weaken following the event. Don’t forget, following the halving, miners only receive one-half or 6.25 BTC for each new block.
There Will Never Be 21 Million Bitcoin
I have addressed this issue before, but Binance posted a blog explaining the story behind bitcoin’s (BTC) fabled fixed supply of 21 million. In short, it’s a rounding error (probably the new math we have to teach our kids) but in reality there will only ever be 20,999,999.9796 BTC. Read the blog for a more detailed explanation.
Axe Likes Crypto
Billions is back. The fifth season of the Showtime series about fictitious hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod (“Axe) premiered last night and like in previous episodes, cryptocurrencies played a prominent role in the story line. In this episode, NY District Attorney Chuck Rhoades shuts down an illegal bitcoin mining operation in which “Axe” is a prominent investor. During his interrogation with the mining operators, Rhoades showed a bar chart depicting what “last years usage at the warehouse” was, the estimated usage, and what the actual usage was.
Watching this quickly reminded me that cryptocurrencies and their related operations still have a negative connotation associated with them in the mainstream media. My second takeaway was a repeated misconception of cryptocurrencies that I believe was represented by this scene. Just like the false belief that bitcoin is not anonymous – anyone can track a transaction, the idea of stealing energy to run a mining operation will get you caught – the utility tracks the significant spikes in usage and you will be shut down.