BT Daily News: Bitcoin breaks free: Will recent spike leave bear market behind, and more
1. Bitcoin breaks free: Will recent spike leave bear market behind
Exchanging hands at $27,524 per coin at press time, Bitcoin [BTC] ended last week’s trading session with an impressive 35.8% increase in value, causing it to rally out of the deep bear market territory, Glassnode found in a new report.An assessment of the king coin’s on-chain performance by the data provider revealed that the price uptick since 14 March has resulted in BTC transitioning from a deep bear market to a structure similar to past early bull markets.
Numbers don’t lie
Glassnode found that the last week was marked by increased demand for BTC as network activity increased. The report stated:
Glassnode assessed BTC’s Transaction Count and found that the coin’s monthly average transactions count grew to its highest level since April 2021, with a monthly average of 309,500 transactions per day. This represented a positive sign for the BTC market as fewer than 12.2% of all days have seen more transaction activity.
Bitcoin: What user adoption suggests
Another indication of BTC’s gradual exit from the bear territory was the jump in the number of new demand for the leading coin observed last week. Per Glassnode, the count of BTC’s unique new reached 122,000, with only 10.2% of days seeing higher new user adoption rates.
The surge in new user adoption on BTC’s network resulted in network congestion, which caused transaction fees to rise.
Miners benefited from the increased demand for blockspace, as total miner revenue increased to $22.6 million per day. According to the report, this represented the “highest level since June 2022, breaking convincingly above the yearly average.”
Further, Glassnode assessed BTC’s Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) metric. This tool is used to assess the relationship between a cryptocurrency’s current market value and its realized value. The on-chain data provider found that BTC’s MVRV Momentum Oscillator had flipped to positive in the last week, and this meant:
“That a large proportion of the coin supply was acquired below the current price, and is now back in profit. Similar to the metrics above, past instances of positive flips tend to also correlate with upticks in network adoption and on-chain activity.”
2. Anggota Parlemen Texas Ajukan RUU Mining Bitcoin yang Kontroversial, Apa Isinya?
Cody Harris , a Texas lawmaker , recently submitted a Bitcoin (BTC) mining bill that recognizes the right to mine ( mining ) in the state. In fact, BTC mining activity itself is a controversial subject in Texas.A Texas lawmaker has tabled a controversial Bitcoin mining bill. The bill essentially recognizes the right to mine BTC.
Cody Harris, a member of the Texas House of Representatives, asked his lawmakers to “express support for protecting individuals who program or develop the Bitcoin network.”
Meanwhile, Texas itself is a state that is popular for crypto mining activities . After China banned crypto mining , global mining activity began to shift to the United States, and this event was also mentioned in the bill.
Regarding the right to own and use Bitcoin, the bill states:
“Individuals mining Bitcoins in Texas will never be deterred by any laws or resolutions restricting the practice of securing the Bitcoin network for the security of [the virtual currency]. Everyone in the wider community who chooses to own Bitcoin as a way of storing their wealth and transact [in] peer-to-peer with other law-abiding Texans will always feel free and secure in their possession and use of Bitcoin.”
This bill seems to focus more on strengthening sentiment about the biggest cryptocurrencies and mining , rather than making major changes to existing rules and regulations. However, this bill must first be passed by the House of Representatives, then the Senate, and finally, the Governor's office.
Texas Share in the Bitcoin Mining Industry in the US
Texas is one of the biggest players in the Bitcoin mining industry . The state is noted to have contributed as much as 11.2% of the total Bitcoin hash rate . Meanwhile, as a whole, the United States contributes about 37% of the total Bitcoin hash rate in the global arena.
Worryingly though, the growth of crypto mining in Texas has also led to rising electricity bills. Undoubtedly, this problem then attracted the attention of policy makers. When bad weather conditions caused a power outage, the Bitcoin hash rate even dropped by 35% as miners in the state were forced to turn off their mining devices .
Texas Crypto Initiative Triggers Concerns
Bitcoin mining in Texas itself has been a controversial activity, mainly due to power grid failures. In addition, the resulting heat wave has also burdened the electricity network in the region. Thus, this condition forced miners to voluntarily stop their mining operations .
What's more, the situation has been exacerbated by the emergence of public protests against Bitcoin mining activities in the state. One of the mining sites owned by Riot Blockchain in Navarro County was even the target of protests. Where the protesters expressed their concern over the increasing consumption of resources.
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3. States debate whether to restrict—or invite—crypto mining
Cryptocurrency mining is coming under fire as some officials raise concerns over its effect on climate goals. But others argue cryptocurrency's potential for economic development should not be overlooked.As cryptocurrency mining draws increased scrutiny on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., some state legislatures are considering proposals to restrict the industry over growing concerns about its energy use. Other states, though, are advancing bills to protect cryptocurrency miners from such crackdowns, citing the economic potential of hosting mining operations.
Last year, New York became the first state to limit cryptocurrency mining based on energy usage. Lawmakers passed a two-year moratorium on new mining operations that use electricity directly supplied from fossil fuel plants. The bill was drafted in response to mining companies that repurposed aging coal and gas plants to power their operations.
“Can we reach our climate goals while adding cryptocurrency mining onto our grid?” asked Assemblymember Anna Kelles, a Democrat who sponsored the bill. “That's an important question.”
The measure also ordered a study, conducted by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, to look into the industry’s environmental impacts. Kelles said it will examine air and water pollution, as well as the potential for cryptocurrency mining to divert renewable energy resources from existing demands and increase the strain on the state’s transmission infrastructure. The study could guide future legislation and regulation, she said.
Now, some lawmakers in Washington and Oregon want to extend emissions and clean energy standards to cryptocurrency mining operations that are currently exempt.
Cryptocurrency mining is the process by which bitcoin and other types of digital money verify transactions and generate new coins. “Miners” operate the computers that contribute processing power to a decentralized network that verifies virtual ledgers by solving complex equations generated by the currency’s protocol. The miners who are first to process those equations are rewarded with newly minted coins, or cryptocurrency.
Mining operations require powerful computers, often in specialized facilities that use large amounts of electricity. Last year, the Biden administration published a fact sheet estimating that cryptocurrency consumes 0.9% to 1.7% of the nation’s electricity usage. The industry’s rapid growth, the White House said, “could potentially hinder broader efforts to achieve U.S. climate commitments to reach net-zero carbon pollution.”
But lawmakers in many states see the industry’s growth as a good thing.