BT Daily News: Bitcoin Mysterious Miner Posts Oldest Signature: Is it Satoshi?
1. Bitcoin Mysterious Miner Posts Oldest Signature: Is it Satoshi?
Recently, a member of one of the oldest Bitcoin (BTC) forums, bitcointalk.org, sought to find the oldest or first miner. To everyone’s surprise, an anonymous member posted a signature that dated back to January 2009, a week after BTC was launched.Furthermore, the signature was posted by a new account under the name “OneSignature.” OneSignature’s account history revealed no other participation on the forum, bolstering the theory that it was created to reveal the earliest signed message. The user’s Twitter account also dated back to 2009. However, the account’s tweets are protected. Moreover, the display picture reads “Don’t Trust Anyone,” following Bitcoin’s trustless characteristic.
Many were quick to speculate if the signature belonged to Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto. The pseudonymous creator/creators have never revealed his, her, or their identity. Nonetheless, the fact that the oldest signature was posted indicates that the people involved with BTC from its genesis days, still keep an eye on the forums.
2. Crypto miners in Russia capitalize on the bear market by hoarding ASIC devices
Russia’s reported surge in demand for cryptocurrency mining hardware comes amid tough times for the mining industry, with total BitcoinBTC mining revenue hitting two-year lows in late November. A number of mining firms — including Argo Blockchain and Core Scientific — have even questioned whether they would be able to continue operations due to massive losses driven by the current bear market in crypto.
Miners in Russia have likely been increasingly hoarding crypto ASICs due to reduced prices of mining devices as well as low-cost energy.
51ASIC co-founder Mikhail Brezhnev reportedly said that Bitcoin mining in Russia can still be profitable despite a massive drop in BTC price this year. According to the executive, the cost of mining 1 BTC at the electricity cost of $0,07 per 1 kilowatt-hour with the most up-to-date equipment can generate roughly $11,000. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $16,975, down about 70% over the past year, according to data from CoinGecko.
3. East African Bitcoin Miner Gridless Raises $2M Seed Round
Gridless brings “a socially and environmentally conscious approach to bitcoin mining, one that provides tangible benefits by way of access to electricity for communities in rural parts of East Africa,” says Alyse Killeen, Managing Partner at Stillmark, a venture capital firm.Thomas Templeton, Bitcoin Mining and Wallet Lead at Block, added: “Gridless represents a close strategic alignment with our vision of ensuring the bitcoin network increasingly leverages clean energy, in combination with bitcoin computational centers around the world.”
The funding comes as Africa experiences a grassroots crypto movement, propelling the world's highest proportion of retail payments of less than $1,000 and leading to far more peer-to-peer transactions proportionally than all other regions globally. Bitcoin miners have been struggling to survive amid this year’s grueling market conditions, which have seen bitcoin prices fall and energy costs surge, reducing profit margins.
However, in recent months, mining companies that have access to low cost energy and more innovative business models have succeeded in raising capital.
Most recently, a new solar-powered bitcoin miner, Aspen Creek Digital Corp. (ACDC), raised $8 million in Series A funding and Vespene Energy, a company that converts methane gas released from landfills into power for bitcoin mining, closed a $4.3 million funding round.
4. Bank of America Says Regulation Is Key for Mainstream Adoption of Crypto
The bankruptcy of FTX and its affiliated trading firm, Alameda Research, is a major blow to the cryptocurrency industry’s credibility, but there are silver linings, Bank of America (BAC) said in a research report Friday.“An increased urgency for regulation may enable greater institutional engagement, and a shift in focus (and capital) from speculative trading to projects with real-world functionality and companies with roadmaps to profitability may accelerate industry maturity,” analysts Alkesh Shah and Andrew Moss wrote.
Regulatory frameworks for the crypto industry are critical for mainstream adoption, the report said, and a coordinated global effort is required to discourage regulatory arbitrage and to safeguard consumers and investors.
FTX’s collapse has refocused attention on the need for regulation that “creates a transparent legal framework for digital assets; fosters technological innovation; provides consumer and investor protections; and mitigates financial stability risks,” the note said.
5. Elon Musk Alleges Sam Fried Donated Over $1 Billion To Democrats
Elon Musk has alleged that Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, paid over $1 billion to the Democratic Party in donations.Elon Musk said this in response to a query by a person on Twitter who said that Sam Bankman-Fried got off the hook by donating huge sums of money to political campaigns of the ruling party.
Bankman-Fried funnelled funds which were backing their platform’s native token FTT, to Alameda Research, the sister firm of the crypto exchange. FTX had to file for bankruptcy due to lack of funds, as the funds were used for trading.