BT Daily News: Mining Bitcoin at home — Is it time to start? And more
1. Mining Bitcoin at home — Is it time to start?
Doing anything from your house, whether it’s working from home or mining cryptocurrencies, comes with its own set of challenges, especially when you’re first starting out. We find out what some of those challenges are and how to overcome them. This is especially useful for anyone looking to set up their own mining rig at home. We discuss the five major things you need to realize before you start out and be ready for from day 1.
Mining Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency is not as clear-cut as it once might have been. Electricity costs are constantly going up, and with the recent continuous downtrend in the price of Bitcoin, one really has to weigh the cost versus the profitability of mining. We ask Kramer what investors or anyone looking to get into crypto mining should do and what is the best way to calculate your costs and profit margins. Should you just have faith that the price of Bitcoin will eventually go up, or maybe there is a way to get exposure to mining without having to run the rigs yourself?
Ever wondered what cloud mining is or how it works? Is it a new form of mining cryptocurrencies, or could it be a new form of scam? The crypto market can be a dangerous place to operate if you don’t have a well-rounded understanding of the space and how to approach something new in the industry, so make sure you tune in to learn about the ins and outs of cloud mining so you’re well-informed.
2. Iris Energy increases operating capacity at Bitcoin mining facility by more than 30%
Iris Energy Limited, a sustainable Bitcoin miner, said it has increased the operating capacity of its Mackenzie, British Columbia facility by more than 30% to 1.5 EH/s.In a monthly update shared with investors, the company said that during December the company transported S19j Pro miners from Texas, US, to Mackenzie for installation.
Iris said it has installed approximately 0.4 EH/s of the miners as of January 8, and the group has a total miner capacity of 2.0 EH/s installed, in-transit, or pending deployment.
Iris also reiterated that its 160MW of data center capacity in British Columbia was not affected by the province’s recent decision to suspend new and early-stage connection requests for cryptocurrency mining.
The company said it achieved an operating hashrate of 1,086 PH/s in December, down 25% from November.
It achieved monthly operating revenue of US$2.1 million, down 27% from the previous month, having mined 123 Bitcoin in December, a 19% decline from November.
3. You Want The Next Big Trend? It’s Artificial Intelligence In Crypto
AI is taking over. Language bots like ChatGPT and AI image generators like Midjourney and Dall-E have shown the world what artificial intelligence is capable of. Tech companies are already scrambling to integrate it into their models. Within weeks of its launch, Microsoft is allegedly close to finalizing a $10bn deal with the creators.Crypto has become a serious player in the world economy, despite its ups and downs. Some investors are pouring their entire portfolios into Bitcoin and Ethereum. Many are confident the crypto market will bounce back stronger than ever.
But AI and crypto, together? There’s an untapped potential we’re only just beginning to see put to use. It could transform both industries.
The problem with crypto investing
Cryptocurrency doesn’t work like a traditional financial system. Crypto is volatile and prone to wild swings. We’ve seen more than one coin fold under the pressure of the economic downturn.Many lament the lack of regulation, but crypto was born out of the 2008 recession’s greed and a desire to move away from the big banks. The problem? Fraud is rampant, crypto hackers are rife, and there’s no redress. Nearly $2bn of crypto was stolen by August last year. Many would never see that money returned.
All in all, crypto is developing an image problem when it comes to investors losing their money. AI could be the answer it’s looking for to tighten compliance without full regulation.
Why crypto and AI work so well together
AI’s strength lies in pattern recognition. Crypto’s ethos around decentralizing money is admirable, but currently flawed in execution. Here’s why we could see the beginning of a beautiful friendship forming.Sentiment analysis
AI-powered natural language processing could recommend which crypto is best to buy (and with Q.ai, in some ways it already does). If it’s fed the right streams of data, like Twitter posts and news articles, the AI program would quickly get a sense of public sentiment towards certain currencies.
NLP could also help with price predictions, identifying any risks with a cryptocurrency, or trying to guess future growth based on the number of people talking about it. It’s a nifty AI tool that could soon dominate the crypto market.
Decentralized autonomous agents
If you know anything about Web3, then you’ve heard of DAOs. But you may not have heard about their cousin, DAAs. These agents are coded programs designed to make decisions.
How do these work in crypto? The DAA becomes a powerful AI-powered fund manager. There’s no human error or bias to worry about. You can sit back and relax while AI looks after your crypto portfolio.
Customer experience
We could see AI used to bring crypto into the mainstream once and for all. One of the main gateways stopping crypto right now is the technical language and understanding needed to make a transaction.
AI could create personalized advice tailored to risk tolerance, tailor marketing and comms around a user’s browsing habits, or provide curated lists of educational resources on crypto.
With the barrier to entry gone, it could only be a matter of time before crypto becomes as normalized as Visa or Mastercard.
Compliance and security
If financial institutions can pick up AI quickly enough, they too could harness its power to protect the banks. Compliance and anti-money laundering schemes would be easier to implement with AI monitoring signs of financial crime.
Real-time transaction systems monitored by AI could flag anything untoward, giving crypto an extra layer of security the banks are so often complaining is missing.