United States President Joe Bidens executive order on digital assets has kickstarted an interagency mission to support financial innovation while protecting American consumers and interests. While many industry leaders welcome the constructive tone, some critics hope for a crackdown. We dont blame them.

Many cryptocurrency projects operate behind thin veils of decentralization. In public, theyre sold on the premise that they distribute power. Behind the curtains, leaders pull the strings. In the recent case of Wonderland, a serial scammer and felon directed a $1 billion treasury.

Many projects secretly pay influencers to shill their tokens. The price pumps. Insiders dump. Naive investors lose money. Sometimes, the shillers are celebrities. And, sometimes, those celebrities leak the surprisingly low cost of their integrity.

Related: Year of sponsorships: Celebrities who embraced crypto in 2021

Hundreds of projects suffer technical vulnerabilities. Seemingly every week, hackers exploit hidden software bugs. The third-largest ever occurred in early February, with $326 million gone. And then in late March, another $600 million poof.

Many cryptocurrencies are blatant scams some, proudly pyramid-shaped. Market participants treat these as facts of life, with oft-used terms for exit scams (rug pulls) and pyramid-shaped projects (Ponzis).

To most, cryptocurrencies look the same, like tomatoes pasted in Aisle 9 only tasteless, useless, and more numerous. The cynical see the menu of cryptocurrencies as a proxy most-wanted list. Neither group is entirely wrong.

Yet one item on the menu stands apart. It is arguably one of the more important technological advances since the internet, itself. Buy it or not, we dont care. But we three professors do care to bring one simple message: Bitcoin (BTC) is special. It deserves study and discussion.

Bitcoin is genuinely decentralized. Tens of thousands run nodes all around the world. Operating a node is easy; you could do so within the hour with an internet-connected computer and a few hundred gigabytes of storage. In 2017, these nodes vetoed a controversial change to Bitcoin that would have upped the networks centralization by making it harder for ordinary people to run a node. In doing so, they trumped a majority of Bitcoin miners, exchanges and other powerful legacy players.

Bitcoins decentralization makes it fair. No foundation enjoys a trademark or governs its monetary policy. This contrasts not only with more centralized cryptocurrencies but with the Federal Reserve, itself. In the past year, three Federal Reserve officials have resigned after a series of, lets say, well-timed trades. Bitcoin has never had any officials resign in disgrace it has no such officials. The network automates these jobs away.

Bitcoins decentralization also makes it secure. Most money is digital and sits under the thumb of third parties like banks and payment processors. But innocent Russian and Canadian citizens remind us that third parties can freeze and seize those balances, especially when subject to state pressure. Reliance on third parties jeopardizes funds. Bitcoin participants can hold their own private keys and thereby save and send value without third parties. Bitcoin is in a different league than other cryptocurrencies. In the digital age, Bitcoins unparalleled level of decentralization makes it the safe haven from state and corporate overreach.

Related: The meaningful shift from Bitcoin maximalism to Bitcoin realism

And unlike most other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin never had a private token sale to venture capitalists or an initial coin offering to enrich insiders. Bitcoin is the most widely distributed digital asset. In an important sense, it has no insiders only early adopters.

The main early adopter, Satoshi Nakamoto, mined about a million Bitcoin (5% of the maximum supply). Satoshis holdings are fully visible, and Satoshi never spent a single dime. With most other cryptocurrencies, the rich get richer, sometimes in hidden ways, and have more say over the network. Not so with Bitcoin.

Whereas some projects move fast and break things, Bitcoin moves slowly but surely. Bugs are rare. Granted, this conservative approach has tradeoffs. Upgrades are as rare as bugs. And Bitcoin lacks the flexibility of other platforms. But in exchange, countries and corporations feel secure with Bitcoin on their balance sheets.

You may have heard of hacks and stolen Bitcoin. These cases dont involve weaknesses in Bitcoin, itself. They illustrate instead the pitfalls of insecure key storage or relying on third-party custodians.

Related: Satoshi may have needed an alias, but can we say the same?

Finally, Bitcoin is no scam. It can certainly be used for scams much like the U.S. dollar, or other digital assets. But the Bitcoin network offers final settlement of its native asset, much like the Federal Reserve System offers final settlement of the U.S. dollar. People do speculate wildly on the Bitcoin price. Such is the way for early stages of innovation. And people worldwide need it even as privileged Westerners speculate.

Bitcoins design involves tradeoffs, to be sure. Its public ledger makes privacy difficult, though not impossible. It requires energy for its security. And its fixed supply engenders price volatility. But for all that, Bitcoin has become something remarkable: a neutral monetary system beyond the control of autocrats. Ideologues will balk as they seek that perfect but perfectly elusive monetary system. Wise and pragmatic policymakers, by contrast, will instead seek to use Bitcoin to improve the world.

First, we must not assume that cryptocurrencies share more in common than they, in fact, do. Bitcoin leads them all precisely because no one leads it. The policy must begin here from a place of understanding not of cryptocurrency, in general, but of Bitcoin, in particular. As President Bidens executive order conveys, digital assets are here to stay. The general category isnt going anywhere precisely because Bitcoin, itself, isnt going anywhere. We owe it special attention. Not Bitcoin only, but Bitcoin first.

Second, Bitcoin is credibly neutral since the network remains leaderless. Consequently, the U.S. can use and support Bitcoin without picking winners and losers. Bitcoin has, in fact, already won as a globally neutral monetary network. Nurturing the Bitcoin network, using Bitcoin as a reserve asset, or making payments over Bitcoin would be analogous to deploying gold within the monetary system only digital, more portable, more divisible, and easier to audit and verify.

We commend President Biden for recognizing that digital assets deserve attention. Well need all hands on deck from computer scientists, economists, philosophers, lawyers, political scientists, and more to spur innovation and nurture whats already here.

This article was co-authored by Andrew M. Bailey, Bradley Rettler and Craig Warmke.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Andrew M. Bailey, Bradley Rettler and Craig Warmke are fellows with the Bitcoin Policy Institute and the Resistance Money Bitcoin research collective and teach, respectively, at Yale-NUS College, the University of Wyoming and Northern Illinois University. Warmke is also a writer for Atomic.Finance.

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Bitcoin stands apart from other crypto, and what that means for US public policy - Cointelegraph

The below is a full, free article from a recent edition of Bitcoin Magazine Pro, Bitcoin Magazine's premium markets newsletter. To be among the first to receive these insights and other on-chain bitcoin market analysis straight to your inbox, subscribe now.

The purpose of this release in specific will be twofold; the first will be to update readers on the latest updates for publicly-traded miner hash rate, production, and bitcoin holdings. The second will be to present a framework for how to approach investing in bitcoin miners, with a focus on the publicly-traded sector in particular.

With the end of the month near, we will have another round of public miner production updates for all of May 2022 in a couple weeks. With the latest monthly production releases, April 2022 was yet another month of growing hash rate and held bitcoin, despite a slightly lower production month. The group of public miners were tracking below now make up roughly 18% of total network hash rate using their April numbers of 37.91 EH/s and the latest decline in total network hashrate to 209.91 EH/s.

Bitcoin holdings across miners are now up to 46,132 bitcoin worth over $1.3 billion at a $29,000 price. Thats roughly a 7% monthly increase when including miners with reported data for both March and April. All of this data is pre bitcoins market fall from $40,000 so the next month of data updates will be key to see if top public miners are scaling down their bitcoin holdings or hash rate in response.

Hash rate of public mining companies

Hash rate of public mining companies March 2021 to April 2022

Bitcoin holdings of public mining companies

Monthly bitcoin production of public mining companies

Investing in publicly-traded bitcoin miners carries risks that buying bitcoin itself does not, due to the operational risk as well as the reality that public equities trade at multiples of future expected earnings. During environments where treasury yields rise significantly, this causes earnings multiples to fall, which is why equities as a whole have performed poorly over the course of 2022.

However, the dynamics involved with evaluating publicly-traded bitcoin miners is a bit different. Unlike other commodity producers, bitcoin miners often attempt to retain as much bitcoin on their balance sheet as possible. Relatedly, the future supply issuance of bitcoin is known into the future with near 100% certainty.

With this information, if an investor values these equites in bitcoin terms, significant outperformance against bitcoin itself is achievable if investors allocate during the correct time during the market cycle using a data-driven approach.

An extremely simple framework for investors is:

Hash price bull market = Bitcoin miners outperform bitcoin

Hash price bear market = Bitcoin miners underperform bitcoin

Hash price divides miner revenue by hash rate (daily miner revenue per 1 TH/s, as first coined by the team at Luxor).

While there are certainly other variables involved in valuing these companies, including the operational risks and the competence of the management team to just name a couple, this is a simple framework for investors to internalize and utilize going forward.

To start, lets display hash rate since the start of 2020, which hash price is partially derived from.

Average bitcoin hash rate

Below is the hash price (daily miner revenue per TH/s) in both USD and BTC.

Hash price in USD and BTC terms

Currently, hash price is $0.118, which is above the 2020 low of $0.074 but falling rapidly as hash rate (and subsequently miner difficulty) continue to increase as price falls/consolidates.

Lets take a look at the latest hash price bull and bear cycles and how the publicly-traded miners performed benchmarked not against dollars, but instead bitcoin (as this should be the entire purpose of investing in a mining operation).

Below is the hash price from its 2020 low to its 2021 high and the performance of a few publicly-traded miners ($MARA, $RIOT, $HUT) benchmarked to bitcoin. During the hash price bull market (where price rises faster than hash rate), these three names outperformed bitcoin by 318%, 207%, and 62% respectively.

Bitcoin hash price and public mining stocks priced in bitcoin

Following the hash price top in October at $0.4222 dating all the way to today where hash price is $0.1182, these same names have returned the following against bitcoin:

Hash price and public mining company stocks priced in bitcoin

While bitcoin itself has obviously drawn down significantly since its highs made in the fall of 2021 (down 57%), these publicly-traded miners have declined in value by significantly more with most down over 70%.

Public miner stocks percent drawdown from all-time high

Bitcoin public miner market capitalization

Bitcoin public miner stocks priced in bitcoin

The point of this article is to dissect the cyclicality of the mining industry, and how to think of these securities when navigating the bitcoin market cycle.

Another important fact of the bitcoin market is that hash rate has continued to rise in an exponential manner over the course of its history, which in turn means hash price is in a secular downtrend in both USD and BTC terms.

To circle back to a point made earlier, the entire purpose of investing into a mining operation should be to get a return on investment in bitcoin terms. If you cannot achieve a positive ROI in BTC terms, it was likely not a good investment in the first place.

Thus, because of the diminishing block reward and rising hash rate, hash price in BTC terms is falling in lockstep in programmatic fashion with each subsequent positive difficulty adjustment and halving event.

Bitcoin hash price

In simple terms, this means that it is becoming increasingly more challenging to produce a marginal unit of bitcoin with a unit of hash, which is also why nailing the timing of investing in publicly-traded miners as well as the ASIC rigs themselves can be so lucrative.

While nothing is ever certain, using a data-driven approach, it is possible to achieve significant return on investment in bitcoin terms with bitcoin miners, in both the public and private sectors.

While achieving advantageous levels of relative performance requires a fair share of analysis (and luck) regarding both the bitcoin hash rate, the bitcoin price action, and increasingly the macroeconomic backdrop, we expect the opportunity to once again arise for mining investors to outperform in the not-so-distant future.

While that day may not be here today, our mission is to put forward transparent analysis around the bitcoin ecosystem, with an aim to help individuals and institutions alike make informed decisions regarding their savings/investments.

If you enjoyed the content/analysis in todays free issue, make sure to give this post a like, share with a friend, and consider subscribing to our paid research tier

The Bitcoin Magazine Pro Team

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The Performance Cycle Of Public Bitcoin Miners - Bitcoin Magazine

The Giving Block, a bitcoin and cryptocurrency fundraising platform for nonprofits, announced the Miami Impact Index Fund, allows donors to provide funds to all participating Miami area nonprofits with a single donation, according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine.

When donors provide donations to the fund, each participating nonprofit will receive an equal share of the donation. Donations will also be doubled due to The Giving Block partnering with Shift4, a payment processor, in a program called Caring With Crypto.

The partnership between the two companies will see Shift4 CEO Jared Isaacman personally match any donation up to the first $10 million donated to the program. This effectively doubles any donation made to all of the causes in a single transaction.

The release explains that it is more common for high net-worth individuals to donate property than it is to donate cash, as donating cryptocurrency like bitcoin directly to a 501c3 nonprofit is more tax efficient than a standard cash donation since the IRS classifies cryptocurrency as property.

When a donor donates bitcoin to one of the previously mentioned nonprofits, they receive a tax deduction equal to the fair market value of the bitcoin and they avoid paying the capital gains tax normally incurred by selling bitcoin, meaning that donors would have less access to donatable cash after paying the taxes to receive cash for selling the bitcoin. In short, donors can give more and deduct more from their taxes, which sometimes makes up to a 30% difference, according to the release.

Participants of the fund include but are not limited to: Nicklaus Childrens Health System, NU Deco Ensemble Inc., Third Wave Volunteers Inc, Chapman Partnership, Jackson Health Foundation, Legal Services of Greater Miami, and United Way Miami.

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The Giving Block Launches First-Ever Bitcoin, Crypto Donations Fund For Miami Nonprofits - Bitcoin Magazine

This millennial invested in Bitcoin and isn't deterred by the recent crash. (PHOTO: Getty Creative)

By Lyn Chan

SINGAPORE After peaking near US$69,000 last November, Bitcoin has been on a wild ride and its now hovering around the US$30,000 mark. And lets look at the performance of other cryptocurrencies there was the stablecoin disaster and Lunas stunning crash.

For casual observers, disentangling the hype and shaking off the niggling doubt about cryptos asset class viability from any genuine potential is tough.

Some, like Michelle who declined to give her full name for publication are curious. In January 2022, she leapt into the volatile crypto market. Her Bitcoin and Ether holdings also happen to be her first ever investments.

This is the only investment that I have studied and am quite familiar with. I think that you should understand what goes on behind the investment that you are making. Also, I like the fact that I can buy as little or as much Bitcoin as I want, she said.

Bitcoins recent meltdown did shake Michelle a little but shes holding firm to her Bitcoin and Ether investments. The 32-year-old, who runs an edtech business, will be watching the current crypto market movement, hawk-eyed, over the next few days or weeks for further downward trend. She has so far invested S$2,400 in Bitcoin and S$500 in Ether.

However, if Bitcoin drops to below US$25,000, she will stay away for a while.

The fledging crypto investor talks about her attraction to crypto in a recent interview with Yahoo Finance Singapore.

What attracts you to crypto?

In the few months leading up to me first buying Bitcoin, whenever somebody mentioned cryptocurrency, Web3, Bitcoin or metaverse, I would dismiss it, thinking I dont understand these things, its just a fad, it will pass, or it's too complicated.

The turning point for me came when I suddenly realised that my mentality was similar to my parents generation, or earlier, when the internet age started to grow. We see some people getting left behind because they just didnt want to learn about new technologies or thought they were irrelevant. I didnt want to be that person that got left behind.

Story continues

During the same period, I saw the trend of both local and international talent moving from big tech to Web3 and cryptocurrency start-ups. Big tech usually hires the brightest and the smartest, so if those talents are placing their bets on Web3 and crypto, there must be something there.

I also saw Facebook making the name change to Meta, which is a huge bet on Web3 as well. Facebook has the best and brightest of the industry doing the research on what the next wave of technology would be. If they are willing to change their name and strategy, then thats a pretty good indication of where technology is headed as well.

Those factors gave me the confidence to get into crypto at the beginning.

Going into Bitcoin, many people have warned me that its volatile and unpredictable. But after researching, I decided to buy in because I believe in it and not because I want to make a quick profit. It has just been a few months in for me now, but I want to be in it for the next five, 10, 20 years.

How did you start investing in crypto?

At the start of 2022, Bitcoin was crashing in the news. I was curious and checked it out. At that point, it was around US$42,000, down from US$67,000 at the highest point towards the end of last year.

I was intrigued because if it could reach US$67,000, then US$42,000 sounded like a good price.

I read up to see if it was worth buying some Bitcoin. I learnt that you dont need to buy a whole Bitcoin, and you can buy as little or as much as you want, so I just threw in a few hundred dollars out of curiosity. Having a little skin in the game prompted me to do even more research to understand how it works.

What kind of due diligence have you done?

After I threw the first few hundred dollars into Bitcoin, I started to get really interested in it.

The first category of research I did was around the basics of buying and selling, like how to read charts, and how to identify patterns in the charts. I wanted to know when would be a good time to buy and to sell. After a while, I realised that I dont want to become a trader and that I want to be in it for the long haul because I believe in the long-term value of Bitcoin. So, I just learnt the basics of how to read charts, and that was enough.

Then, I went into a period of trying to get a handle on knowing what Bitcoin would do next, so that I could plan what to do. I watched many YouTube videos, and eventually learnt how to differentiate between those who are merely posting clickbait content and those who really have good technical analyses. At the end of the day, I realised that no one really knows what Bitcoin will do next, and I just have to act based on all the information that I have at that point in time.

The last type of research I did was on Bitcoin itself as a project and how it works. The technology of Bitcoin just amazes me, and this is what keeps me on Bitcoin, even with its ups and downs. I love that it challenges the current monetary system. The blockchain technology behind it is amazing as well. Its also interesting that there are charts that parallel the growth and adoption rate of Bitcoin to the early years of the internet and Amazon.

I saw a YouTube video of Bill Gates trying to explain what the Internet is to David Letterman in 1995. The interview took place only 27 years ago, and look where the internet is now. The way that Bill Gates explains about the internet is strikingly similar to the way people attempt to explain about Bitcoin today.

To keep myself updated with crypto happenings, I check the Bitcoin Reddit forum quite often, and I follow a few Bitcoin analysts on Twitter. I also check Coindesk, which is a publication for Bitcoin news. If any of those sources mention an interesting podcast or YouTube video, Ill check those out, too.

I might not be super familiar with the intricacies of the crypto market, but I am so excited about the possibilities that Bitcoin can bring.

As with all other investments, definitely invest money that you are willing to spare and/or willing to lose. Its just not wise to put all of your life savings into investments no matter how much you believe in it.

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore

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This millennial invested in Bitcoin and isn't deterred by the recent crash - Yahoo News

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

Bitcoin had a very bad day a few weeks ago, its price crashing along with those of other cryptocurrencies, adding a dollop of misery for those who put money into the asset class without snatching it right back out. The crypto market is notoriously volatile, and the trouble this time was the collapse of part of it known as stablecoins. Go figure.

We refer to the recent misery as an added "dollop" because things did, well, stabilize for crypto, which trades around the clock. Even so, the most prominent cryptocurrencies of which bitcoin is the mostest are down by half since November.

So, that'd be a terrible thing to let people muck around with in their retirement accounts, right?

The U.S. Department of Labor thinks so, issuing guidance in March with concerns about the "reliability and accuracy of cryptocurrency valuations" and reminding fiduciaries about their "obligation to ensure the prudence of the options on an ongoing basis." The department isn't necessarily driving a "never crypto" bandwagon, but it's eyeing the reins.

More pointedly, the famed investor Warren Buffett once called cryptocurrency "rat poison squared." More pointedly still, his famed compatriot Charlie Munger recently said bitcoin is "like a venereal disease or something."

And yet.

In April, Fidelity the mostest among the hosts of retirement accounts announced a plan that would put bitcoin on the menu of investment options for 401(k)s. But just bitcoin for now, not the multitude of other cryptocurrencies, and only at levels of no more than 20% of an account, and only for those investors whose employers agree to it.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, despite any purported resemblance of cryptocurrencies to rodenticides or worse. Even Buffett's and Munger's firm, Berkshire Hathaway, has invested in a bank that focuses on crypto.

Consider this: If you're a buy-and-hold investor of the broad market, which is basically what is recommended for most people for most of their working years, you're also down over the last few months about 20%, as it happens. History suggests that your account will bounce back, but history makes no guarantees about how fast.

Set aside the promises of astronomical long-term gains supporters say are inevitable because of the way some cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, are designed. While crypto at present can only be described as speculative, there may come a day when it is a reliable alternative to asset classes influenced by central banks. As a nonphysical form of money created using encrypted data (thus the name), the movement of which is managed by decentralized computer networks, not by governments, it could offer investors a way to diversify and potentially steady their accounts.

The Star Tribune Editorial Board wrote last year about signs that crypto was beginning to gain serious traction. The Fidelity plans confirm that. We also wrote that there is room to let the crypto market shake out before deciding how best to regulate it. But that permissiveness can't last forever.

Indeed, there are reasonable questions about Fidelity's plans, and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota is among those raising them. Along with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Smith wrote a letter to Fidelity asking why the company ignored the Labor Department's guidance; how it plans to deal with various crypto risks, including theft, fraud and the reliability of record-keeping, in addition to volatility; what fees it may charge, and whether it has a conflict of interest as a bitcoin miner. A response is pending.

"My job is not to tell people what to invest in," Smith told an editorial writer. "My job is to make sure that they have accurate and fair information."

That sounds right to us.

In any case, having a bitcoin option in retirement accounts doesn't mean investors have to choose it. They certainly shouldn't if they don't understand it, and even those who think they grasp the concept would be wise to limit their risk to less of their account value than Fidelity would allow. One recommendation we read recently was 1%.

In other words, handle it with care, as with any potential poison.

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Your 401(k) and the bitcoin boogie - Star Tribune

Country

United States of AmericaUS Virgin IslandsUnited States Minor Outlying IslandsCanadaMexico, United Mexican StatesBahamas, Commonwealth of theCuba, Republic ofDominican RepublicHaiti, Republic ofJamaicaAfghanistanAlbania, People's Socialist Republic ofAlgeria, People's Democratic Republic ofAmerican SamoaAndorra, Principality ofAngola, Republic ofAnguillaAntarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S)Antigua and BarbudaArgentina, Argentine RepublicArmeniaArubaAustralia, Commonwealth ofAustria, Republic ofAzerbaijan, Republic ofBahrain, Kingdom ofBangladesh, People's Republic ofBarbadosBelarusBelgium, Kingdom ofBelizeBenin, People's Republic ofBermudaBhutan, Kingdom ofBolivia, Republic ofBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswana, Republic ofBouvet Island (Bouvetoya)Brazil, Federative Republic ofBritish Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago)British Virgin IslandsBrunei DarussalamBulgaria, People's Republic ofBurkina FasoBurundi, Republic ofCambodia, Kingdom ofCameroon, United Republic ofCape Verde, Republic ofCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChad, Republic ofChile, Republic ofChina, People's Republic ofChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombia, Republic ofComoros, Union of theCongo, Democratic Republic ofCongo, People's Republic ofCook IslandsCosta Rica, Republic ofCote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of theCyprus, Republic ofCzech RepublicDenmark, Kingdom ofDjibouti, Republic ofDominica, Commonwealth ofEcuador, Republic ofEgypt, Arab Republic ofEl Salvador, Republic ofEquatorial Guinea, Republic ofEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFaeroe IslandsFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Fiji, Republic of the Fiji IslandsFinland, Republic ofFrance, French RepublicFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabon, Gabonese RepublicGambia, Republic of theGeorgiaGermanyGhana, Republic ofGibraltarGreece, Hellenic RepublicGreenlandGrenadaGuadaloupeGuamGuatemala, Republic ofGuinea, RevolutionaryPeople's Rep'c ofGuinea-Bissau, Republic ofGuyana, Republic ofHeard and McDonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)Honduras, Republic ofHong Kong, Special Administrative Region of ChinaHrvatska (Croatia)Hungary, Hungarian People's RepublicIceland, Republic ofIndia, Republic ofIndonesia, Republic ofIran, Islamic Republic ofIraq, Republic ofIrelandIsrael, State ofItaly, Italian RepublicJapanJordan, Hashemite Kingdom ofKazakhstan, Republic ofKenya, Republic ofKiribati, Republic ofKorea, Democratic People's Republic ofKorea, Republic ofKuwait, State ofKyrgyz RepublicLao People's Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanon, Lebanese RepublicLesotho, Kingdom ofLiberia, Republic ofLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtenstein, Principality ofLithuaniaLuxembourg, Grand Duchy ofMacao, Special Administrative Region of ChinaMacedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascar, Republic ofMalawi, Republic ofMalaysiaMaldives, Republic ofMali, Republic ofMalta, Republic ofMarshall IslandsMartiniqueMauritania, Islamic Republic ofMauritiusMayotteMicronesia, Federated States ofMoldova, Republic ofMonaco, Principality ofMongolia, Mongolian People's RepublicMontserratMorocco, Kingdom ofMozambique, People's Republic ofMyanmarNamibiaNauru, Republic ofNepal, Kingdom ofNetherlands AntillesNetherlands, Kingdom of theNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaragua, Republic ofNiger, Republic of theNigeria, Federal Republic ofNiue, Republic ofNorfolk IslandNorthern Mariana IslandsNorway, Kingdom ofOman, Sultanate ofPakistan, Islamic Republic ofPalauPalestinian Territory, OccupiedPanama, Republic ofPapua New GuineaParaguay, Republic ofPeru, Republic ofPhilippines, Republic of thePitcairn IslandPoland, Polish People's RepublicPortugal, Portuguese RepublicPuerto RicoQatar, State ofReunionRomania, Socialist Republic ofRussian FederationRwanda, Rwandese RepublicSamoa, Independent State ofSan Marino, Republic ofSao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic ofSaudi Arabia, Kingdom ofSenegal, Republic ofSerbia and MontenegroSeychelles, Republic ofSierra Leone, Republic ofSingapore, Republic ofSlovakia (Slovak Republic)SloveniaSolomon IslandsSomalia, Somali RepublicSouth Africa, Republic ofSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSpain, Spanish StateSri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic ofSt. HelenaSt. Kitts and NevisSt. LuciaSt. Pierre and MiquelonSt. Vincent and the GrenadinesSudan, Democratic Republic of theSuriname, Republic ofSvalbard & Jan Mayen IslandsSwaziland, Kingdom ofSweden, Kingdom ofSwitzerland, Swiss ConfederationSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwan, Province of ChinaTajikistanTanzania, United Republic ofThailand, Kingdom ofTimor-Leste, Democratic Republic ofTogo, Togolese RepublicTokelau (Tokelau Islands)Tonga, Kingdom ofTrinidad and Tobago, Republic ofTunisia, Republic ofTurkey, Republic ofTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUganda, Republic ofUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited Kingdom of Great Britain & N. IrelandUruguay, Eastern Republic ofUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofViet Nam, Socialist Republic ofWallis and Futuna IslandsWestern SaharaYemenZambia, Republic ofZimbabwe

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SEVA announces bitcoin mining partnership to help advance the development of SunPark - WV News

For Thailands market authorities, the rout in Bitcoin has been one of the few tools to cool down the once-unstoppable Jasmine Technology Solution Pcl.

For Thailands market authorities, the rout in Bitcoin has been one of the few tools to cool down the once-unstoppable Jasmine Technology Solution Pcl.

The telecom-turned-crypto company has lost more than a third of its value in the past month, cutting its market capitalization to 260 billion baht ($7.6 billion). That tumble also pared the wealth of its seven biggest individual shareholders, who had enjoyed earlier gains after the firm unveiled a plan in July to expand into Bitcoin mining.

The only frenzy has been from the companys claim to be the pioneer of the Bitcoin-mining business in the country and region, said Jitra Amornthum, an analyst at Finansia Syrus Securities Pcl. That appeal has evaporated with the slide in Bitcoin.

The Securities & Exchange Commission in February urged Jasmine Technologys shareholders to make a careful study and decision of an independent financial advisers call to reject the companys mining plan. The investment was ultimately approved in spite of the recommendation.

Recent downturns in crypto exchanges and currencies including Bitcoin highlight the vulnerability of new fortunes, such as those of Jasmine Technologys front-runners. The company, based just outside Bangkok, rode the digital-asset wave to become the 10th most-valuable company on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, prompting the bourse to halt trading in the stock for a day in April, citing a rally without fundamentals.

The stock has also been hit by concerns about the regulatory environment, with Thailand banning the use of crypto for payments in March.

The biggest paper loss has been to the fortune of Pete Bodharamik, who controls the parent company, broadband-network provider Jasmine International Pcl, founded by his father. Pete holds no official role in either, as he was forced to resign in 2019 after being found to have traded shares of the company, then known as Jasmine Telecom Systems, using non-public information.

His stake has dropped below $1 billion since reaching a peak on April 22. Pete, 49, said he is unfazed by the drop.

JTSs target is to become the largest Bitcoin mining company in Southeast Asia, he said in an email. He said cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are key to fintech and the metaverse.

Another six shareholders have seen the value of their stock drop by about $1.3 billion in the same period.

The firm, whose net income more than doubled in the first quarter, said in its quarterly report that it aims to boost the proportion of revenue it makes from mining to 80% by late this year from less than 1% in 2021. Crypto-related activities accounted for about 5% of revenue in the first quarter.

Jasime Technology remains under scrutiny. The stock was suspended again on Friday, the second suspension in a week, with the SET citing abnormality in its trading.

The paper losses of Jasmine Technologys top shareholders pale in comparison to hits taken by some digital-asset entrepreneurs elsewhere.

Coinbase Global Inc. founder Brian Armstrong has seen his fortune plummet more than $11 billion to $2.2 billion in six months. Michael Novogratz, CEO of crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital, also lost $6 billion in his fortune.

Originally posted here:
Bitcoin price slump erodes fortunes of would-be miners in Thailand - HT Tech

Bitcoin (BTC) struggled to recover its latest losses on May 21 after Wall Street trading provided zero respite.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingViewshowed BTC/USD trading dipping below $28,700 into the weekend, subsequently adding around $500.

Down 4.7% from the previous days $30,700 highs, the pair looked firmly rangebound at the time of writing after United States stocks indexes saw a volatile final trading day of the week.

The S&P 500, managing to reverse after initially falling at the open, nonetheless confirmed bear market tendencies, trading at 20% below its highs from last year.

Another wacky day in the stock market. Dow Jones -500 early in the day, then recovers it all and closes +8, popular Twitter account Blockchain Backers commented about broader U.S. market performance:

As Cointelegraph previouslyreported, various sources had called for Bitcoin to fall once again in a manner similar to last weeks capitulation event.

Continuing the conservative macro outlook, fellow Twitter commentator PlanC argued that external shifts could still bring Bitcoin down significantly from current levels.

If the Crypto market was in a bubble I would say 25k to 27.5k is the Bitcoin bottom, but there is a decent probability that macro factors drag us down to 22-24k. Significant black swan, 15-20k becomes a possibility, part of a tweet on the day read.

Beyond stocks, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) was consolidating after a strong retracement from twenty-year highs.

With ten days left until the end of the month, BTC/USD risked May 2022 being the worst in terms of returns in its history.

Related:Bitcoin must defend these price levels to avoid 'much deeper' fall: Analysis

Data from on-chain analytics resource Coinglass showed month-to-date returns currently totaling -22% for Bitcoin, the largest retreat of any year except 2021s -35%.

2022, the collective figures confirmed, was also the worst-performing first five months of the year for Bitcoin since 2018.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Originally posted here:
Bitcoin ends week on the edge as S&P 500 officially enters bear market - Cointelegraph

What happened: A Bitcoin BTC/USD whale just sent $45,870,395 worth of Bitcoin off Coinbase.

The BTC address associated with this transaction has been identified as: 3PQ4M1vitNx3vh9pDFEWjoqwQKLaHQB7xn.

Why it matters: Bitcoin "Whales" (investors who own $10 million or more in BTC) typically send cryptocurrency from exchanges when planning to hold their investments for an extended period of time. Storing large amounts of money on an exchange presents an additional risk of theft, as exchange wallets are the most sought-after target for cryptocurrency hackers.

The best way to secure Bitcoin is through holding it on a hardware wallet, which can't be done through holding digital assets on an exchange. Hardware wallets store one's private keys in an offline device, making it impossible for funds to be hacked via the internet.

According to Glassnode, only 13.23% of the total supply remains liquid across all centralized exchanges.

The removal of BTC from an exchange reduces potential sell side pressure, allowing the price of Bitcoin to increase more easily.

See Also: Best Crypto Apps 2021 and Best Crypto Portfolio Trackers

Price Action: Bitcoin is down -3% in the past 24 hours.

See Also: How To Buy Bitcoin

Public Blockchain data sourced from Whale Alerts Twitter.

This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and reviewed by an editor.

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Anonymous Bitcoin Whale Just Moved $45M Worth Of BTC Off Coinbase - Benzinga - Benzinga

Two significant events dominated news channels over the last week. One was the confirmation, along with the pictures, of the existence of a supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, in the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way.

The second story was a similar black hole: a crypto black hole in the center of the cryptocurrency universe.

A massive fall in the price of Bitcoin below $30,000, down about 60% from its high of November of last year and the stablecoin Luna losing more than 98% of value, shook the foundations of the crypto investment universe.

This is not the first time that a bubble fueled by the speculative desire of making quick money riding on often less understood technology unraveled.

One of the first technology-led bubbles, the railway mania in Great Britain in the 1840s, was driven by over-optimistic speculation and fatal assumptions about technology-centric value creation. Those lessons have long been forgotten.

More recently, we have fading memories of the dot.com boom and subsequent bust that led to around 75% drop in NASDAQ in 2000 and wiped out over $1.7 trillion in value.

There might be some important cues with these past bubbles and the current crypto fluctuation.

People tend to make two assumptions about digital businesses including cryptocurrencies. The first assumption is that virtual assets have unlimited supply, and this is correct.

However, the second assumption, that these assets become unconditionally valuable, is incorrect. The missing link is the economic law that demand is driven by value creation, and prices of assets such as crypto assets can be sustained only by a tug-of-war between value-driven demand and scarce supplies.

Therein lies the rub: sustainable economic value of new technology is only possible when all the foundational pillars are built. Participants in the new business ecosystems, whether they are individuals or companies, can operate only when trust, safety, and value are all present. Just one or two is not enough.

To prevent the fall into the trap of unlimited supply of an asset, the creators of Bitcoin limited the supply to 21 million coins. However, any asset must have either intrinsic economic value or represent assets that have economic value. The cryptocurrency phenomenon is based on repudiating the connection between the price of the cryptocurrency with the value of the underlying asset, if any.

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The disconnect between price and value is a hallmark of all financial bubbles. The prices of new technology-based products and services are driven by greed, fear and (oftentimes) a lack of understanding of the real-world application layer. And the value of these products and services is driven only by the real-world applications.

Just like the crypto phenomenon, the dot-com bubble was driven by missing out the business layer of ecommerce.

For all things financial, the deep foundations of trust, safety, and real economic value are required. The price of Bitcoin (or any cryptocurrency for that matter) could go up to Pluto, but without an underlying economic value, it may very well go down to zero.

The dot-com businesses, mortgage-backed securities, and cryptocurrencies are all attempts to create economic value by creating new business models that resolve some of the existing frictions.

The speculators who drove the dot-com bubble provided much needed capital for risky innovation. After the dust from the dot-com crash settled, the companies that thrived from the dot-com revolution were the ones that provided real services and products. The speculators paved the way for the value-generators.

Today, the cryptocurrency universe is predominantly driven by speculators. They are, perhaps unknowingly, the angel investors in new crypto business models providing liquidity for crypto innovation. They are paving the way for new protocols (multi-signature, for example), new ecosystems (such as NFT marketplaces), new techniques (zero-knowledge proofs), and new payment networks.

The value-generators in the crypto markets are watching, experimenting, and doubling down to capture the value of blockchain-based technologies and business models. The recent shake down of the cryptocurrency markets is really a shake-up of the speculative risk-takers and a reckoning of the gamblers.

The value-generators are working behind the scenes and often away from the limelight, building products and services on top of security tokens, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and stable coins. Crypto speculators are the true angel investors taking huge risk to create the internet of value transfer on top of the existing internet of information transfer.

The physicists assure us that Sagittarius A* is highly unlikely to swallow up the rest of our galaxy.

Let us remain hopeful that the pure speculation-fueled crypto black hole at the center of the cryptocurrency universe will not devour the universe of the economic value-generators of crypto.

Shivendu Shivendu is a University of South Florida Muma College of Business associate professor who teaches courses related to fintech, the economics of information systems, blockchain technology and IT strategy. Kiran Garimella is also an associate professor in USFs business school, an academic scholar who also has many years corporate experience related to artificial intelligence, blockchain, and information systems.

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What the heck is going on with Bitcoin? | Column - Tampa Bay Times