BT Daily News: Satoshi’s other big legacy: Bitcoin is propelling a green energy revolution
1. Satoshi’s other big legacy: Bitcoin is propelling a green energy revolution
The Bitcoin white paper, published 14 years ago this day, launched an industry that is now subsidizing clean energy and turning waste into digital gold, writes Will Szamosszegi of Sazmining.With respect to Bitcoin’s vast energy consumption: Yes, it is true that Bitcoin consumes large amounts of energy. But so does just about everything — in fact, Christmas lights consume more energy than the Bitcoin network, and yet no one calls for holiday celebrations to be banned. The truth is that the most portable money ever invented that any person on the planet can use is worth the energy cost. If that were not the case, then people around the globe, particularly those impacted by poor fiat economies, would not be flocking to Bitcoin in the first place. Moreover, Bitcoin saves more energy than the current fiat system: the latter is the driving force behind the boom-and-bust cycle, which results in entrepreneurs wastefully investing resources (including energy) in companies and projects that are doomed to fail.
With respect to Bitcoin’s short-term decline in renewable energy consumption: the Bitcoin network is still one of the greenest sectors in the global economy. Moreover, there are bound to be short-term fluctuations in Bitcoin’s renewable energy mix over time. Far more important are the fundamental reasons why Bitcoin is able to subsidize green energy and scalably curbs waste emissions, which remain theoretically sound and are proven out in practice every day.
The ideas in Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper should be enough to earn Bitcoin a spot in our pantheon of the greatest innovations in human history. After all, we have never had a global, permissionless monetary asset that cannot be inflated. But in addition to a revolution in humanity’s relationship with money, Nakamoto’s innovation has ushered in a second revolution that the original paper did not mention. Bitcoin mining subsidizes renewable energy projects, brings online stranded energy sources far from civilization, and turns what would have been toxic and climate change-inducing waste into digital gold.
2. Ether Sees Biggest Weekly Gain in 3 Months, ETH-BTC Rally to Continue
Smart contract platform Ethereum's recent technological overhaul is beginning to have an intended bullish effect on its native token ether's (ETH) price.ETH rose over 16% in the seven days to Oct. 30, its best weekly percentage price gain since mid-July, overshadowing bitcoin's (BTC) 5% rise, CoinDesk data show.
"Both major coins are [finally] have their moment, but since people are still adjusting to ether's recent tokenomics changes, momentum is still stronger there for now," Jordi Alexander, chief investment officer at proprietary trading firm Seleni Capital said.
On Sept. 15, Ethereum transitioned to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism from a proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism, replacing miners with validators, who explicitly lock capital in the form of ETH on the platform as entities responsible for confirming transactions.
Since the switch, Ether's supply has increased by 1,300 tokens. The net-supply increase would have been more than 481,000 had the blockchain continued to use the PoW mechanism.
3. Bitcoin’s trading has become ‘boring’ — but that’s not necessarily a bad thing
Bitcoin’s lack of volatility lately isn’t a bad thing and could actually point to signs of a “bottoming out” in prices, analysts and investors told CNBC.Digital currencies have fallen sharply since a scorching run in 2021 which saw bitcoin climb as high as $68,990. But for the past few months, bitcoin’s price has bounced stubbornly around $20,000 in a sign that volatility in the market has settled.
Last week, the cryptocurrency’s 20-day rolling volatility fell below that of the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes for the first time since 2020, according to data from crypto research firm Kaiko.
Stocks and cryptocurrencies are both down sharply this year as interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve and a strengthening dollar weighed on the sector.
Bitcoin’s correlation with stocks has increased over time as more institutional investors have invested in crypto.
4. New Mining Bill Permitting Cross-Border Crypto Payments Filed in Russian Parliament
Russian lawmakers will review a new legislative proposal for the legalization of cryptocurrency mining, which has seen significant growth over the past few years. Announcing the filing of the bill on Sputnik radio, the Chair of the parliamentary Financial Market Committee Anatoly Aksakov pointed out that the document authorizes the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment outside the country.“We have introduced a bill that legalizes mining, that is the issuance and circulation of cryptocurrencies. But cryptocurrencies can only be employed as a means of payment outside of our country, in foreign jurisdictions,” Aksakov explained, also quoted by RBC Crypto. In experimental mode, the digital assets may also be used to pay for parallel imports, the deputy added and emphasized:
This is a step that speaks of a new direction in the development of financial markets in our country.
Gorelkin added that the federal law “On Mining in the Russian Federation” does not threaten the status of the Russian ruble as the only legal tender and creates the basis for the development of the country’s own crypto infrastructure. After months of deliberation, Russian lawmakers are also expected to review a bill “On Digital Currency” designed to more comprehensively regulate Russia’s crypto market than the current law “On Digital Financial Assets.”
5. Vetrax Miner Introduces An Efficient Crypto Miner for Anyone Who is Looking to Get Started in Mining
Vertrax Miner has introduced a cryptocurrency mining product with the same namesake designed to help people mine a certain amount of cryptocurrencies daily, no matter what crypto they want. The product uses as minimum power as possible and has an easy-to-use interface. With the current high energy prices, this helps give it an edge over other crypto miners. On top of this, it is also compatible with most operating systems. Moreover, this product is to be utilized as a u-b miner, which means the mining product has the same shape and size but different components.The company created an efficient crypto miner for anyone looking to get started in Mining without breaking the bank. It's designed to be as flexible as an affordable tool to learn much about crypto mining and its hardware.
A spokesperson for the company said, "VertraxMiner is one of the most efficient crypto miners on the market today. We spent over a year perfecting the VertraxMiner. With countless hours of hard work, sweat and dedication, we believe this miner easily performs any possible miner out there. While GPU miners are made for gaming, we created a miner for mining and not gaming!"
The product is ideal for people seeking a passive income to help them achieve the financial freedom they want. It's also perfect for people looking to diversify their crypto portfolio. A lot of the time, crypto miners only mine one type of coin. With the Vertex Miner, they can mine as many different kinds of coins as they want. This helps to reduce volatility risks.