The increase in the price of the components required by Bitmain comes amid the international shortage of chips for electronic equipment.

The Chinese company manufacturer of mining devices, Bitmain, highlighted that one of its suppliers increased the price of the components for its equipment, which raises doubts about a possible increase in the cost of such hardware.

This news arrived from the Bitmain team in a publication through their Official Blog. They clarified that the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is increasing the costs of a component called “Wafer”, a measure that takes effect in the middle of the great international shortage of chips for high-end equipment.

In this regard, Bitmain members highlighted that this situation affects the new mining devices, especially the AntMiner S19j Pro brand, whose availability is impossible until the first half of 2022. This new mining hardware began to appear in the market in pre-sale in the middle of August.

An Unexpected Increase in the Price of Components

Regarding the price of the components, the company clarified that the TSMC company sent a statement yesterday in which it reported that the Wafers necessary for the manufacture of the mining device would increase its costs by 20%

Wafers are discs made of silicon used in the creation of integrated circuits, which are vital components for various electronic devices. In this case, they are elementary pieces to guarantee the operability of the Bitcoin mining equipment.

However, given the global shortage of chips, TSMC held an internal meeting last week in which they discussed the increase in the price of Wafers for the first time in the last ten years, precisely due to the high demand for these components amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In the end, a resolution came to terms to increase the value of these components, a measure that would face effectiveness in early 2022.

In the statement sent by TSMC to Bitmain, the manufacturing company indicated that the increase in the cost of Wafers would take effect immediately, which advances the plans the company proposed due to increasing demand for said parts.

Possible Increase in Bitmain Miner Prices

Bitmain informed its users and followers about this situation, but the company has not yet clarified if it would increase the cost of mining devices in the short term.

In this regard, Bitmain assured that they would do everything at hand to constantly increase the production capacity of AntMiner devices, especially in the context of the high demand they have registered in just a few days.

The demand got already covered until mid-2022, but the Wafers supplier will create a new increase in the cost of the mining devices.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Although VanEck and ProShares have not yet shared the reasons behind this decision, analysts hypothesize that the SEC spoke with their representatives and was not very optimistic about an ETF based on Ethereum.

Investment asset management companies VanEck and ProShares petitioned the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to withdraw the applications to achieve the release of an Ethereum-based ETF filed this week.

This decision came from the companies as a statement. In the filings filed with the SEC, they reported that there are reconsiderations about the proposed termination since they had contemplated investing in Ethereum futures contracts, as well as in the media.

In this regard, representatives of VanEck and ProShares reported that they chose not to proceed with the registrations of their respective Ethereum-based ETFs. They did not offer further details that could have motivated this decision.

Bad Prospects for the Application

Due to the absence of an official explanation, many analysts and enthusiasts revealed theories suggesting that the companies reconsidered the decision, estimating that it would not receive approval from the regulatory entity, is gaining ground.

The assumption is that the firms have had discussions with the SEC, and the regulator has notified them that these ETFs could receive approval anytime soon. This decision has not affected any of the filings for Bitcoin-based ETFs. So there is still the possibility that some of these products would be approved shortly.

The CEO of Bitwise Asset Management, Matt Hougan, supported Roy’s statements and sympathized with the theory about the SEC  approving an ETF based on the digital currency. The market would turn to be more open and see these proposals with different perspectives.

Both Roy and analysts suggest that the regulator has not yet clarified its position regarding Ethereum, given that the discussion is still raging about whether BTC should appear as a security, and whether its market conditions are safe enough to support these kinds of financial products.

The Race for the First Bitcoin ETF

As VanEck and ProShares reconsider their stance on an Ethereum-based ETF, the race for the world’s first-ever Bitcoin-based exchange-traded fund keeps going on. Analysts and enthusiasts are showing less and less optimism. This pessimism would materialize in the future.

The SEC postponed the verdict on the VanEck and WisdomTree applications, which for many users is a poor prognosis about the final result since they anticipate that the regulatory entity is only delaying the moment to apply a possible rejection. According to the Commission, concerns about volatility and possible manipulation of the digital currency market are still a struggle.

Meanwhile, entities like Galaxy Digital, GlobalX, Fidelity, and Ark Investment are waiting for the first verdict from the SEC. Grayscale might also join this race at some point, as it is getting a task force ready to analyze the pertinent considerations and submit its respective application.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Whales may have stopped buying Bitcoin after its price reached resistance at USD 50,500, waiting for a correction to buy cheaply. After acquiring approximately USD 10 billion, the presence of whales on the market declined to February levels.

The increasing purchase of cryptocurrencies by the whales that woke up at the end of June may have driven Bitcoin back to USD 50,500. That is evident in the substantial rise in the price and the order books of exchanges at the moment.

Data from blockchain analysis company Chainalysis suggests that Bitcoin purchases may have stopped after its price reached USD 50,500. The accounts that have more than USD 50 million worth of cryptocurrencies have continued to grow. In addition to that, they keep buying, further increasing their capital.

However, Philip Gradwell, chief economist at Chainalysis, notes that Bitcoin whales have stopped buying by the end of August. That happened when the price of Bitcoin hit resistance at USD 50,500. They may be waiting for a correction to buy the cryptocurrency cheaply.

The Effect of the Activity of the Whales on the Prices of Bitcoin

In 2021, the effect of the whales on the prices of Bitcoin has become increasingly apparent. In that regard, reports from Chainalysis show that they had started increasing BTC purchases by the end of June. Those buyers were investors who had more than USD  50 million in their wallets.

Charts indicate that the value of the cryptocurrency started to recover after hitting a low of USD 28,805 in June. However, Philip Gradwell said that that force has slowed by the end of August.

The executive added that this momentum is similar to the one that occurred at the beginning of the year and that it stopped only one month later. Taking those factors into account, he concluded that prices go up for at least twenty-eight days when Bitcoin whales start buying. After that, prices start to fall as they must make a profit, a moment at which sales begin.

In this cycle, this is easy to interpret, only the cleverest investors benefit from those moves. According to the firm, the whales recently made their last purchases, acquiring about USD 10 billion. Since August 22^nd, the presence of the whales on the market has decreased to the levels it had in February.

Bitcoin Whales Contribute to the Recovery of Market Capitalization

Bitcoin whales have returned value to the cryptocurrency market in general, allowing it to reach a capitalization close to that in April. In July, the capitalization dropped sharply from USD 2.2 trillion to USD 1.1 trillion.

However, the cryptocurrency market again had a global market capitalization close to USD 2.2 trillion since August 19^th.

Bitcoin is trading at around USD 48,685 and has accumulated gains of 1% in the last 24 hours. Its market capitalization is more than USD 915 billion; almost double that of the cryptocurrency market as a whole, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar