A report from the RMIT University of Melbourne and The Busking Project reveals that Paypal and Bitcoin are means of payment used by musicians who work on the streets.

Crypto adoption flourishes in sectors far removed from technology. In this case, an investigation by economists at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, found that more and more buskers are incorporating Bitcoin as a form of payment for the donations they give them on the street. In addition to crypto, Paypal is also a trending app.

According to data from researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne and data collected from The Busking Project, digital payment methods are now ranking as the first way for street performers to get paid. According to the study’s statistics, the research followed payments from 3,500 buskers from at least 121 countries.

Street performers who receive payments through digital channels enjoy the benefits of different methods for quite some time. A host of stories and forum posts had shown that some performers have been receiving bitcoin payments for the past ten years.

Dr. Meg Elkins, Senior Lecturer in RMIT’s School of Economics, Finance, and marketing, led the study. Elkins explained in detail that the report’s findings show that street performers have more entrepreneurial skills than ever. Buskers performing their art in public for coins is an ancient activity, but they have to move online as our society becomes increasingly cashless.

The economist believes that digital payments and QR codes are the best way for independent artists to get paid. The university study found that passersby often donated more when paying through digital platforms such as apps, QR codes, PayPal, and even Bitcoin, compared to the traditional currency payment method.

Elkins said that soon, we might see QR codes playing a vital role in street performances, which would make it easier for performers to receive their payments.

New Payment Methods due to The Pandemic

The location of the artist and his profile on social networks also influenced the receipt of a donation. Artists who joined The Busking Project platform after the World Health Organization (WHO) announcement that COVID-19 was a pandemic in March 2020 achieved more digital contributions, ranging from the US $ 1. and more than the US $ 500, with an average of a little more than the US $ 14.

People desire to spend less cash in times of pandemic since the use of coins and bills that go through hand-to-hand transactions is the usual way of transmission.

The RMIT study also showed that circus acts obtained more prominent donations, but the probability of musicians receiving such a donation is the highest.  However, musicians also get smaller payments than circus performers.

Digital Payments are Easier

Project Busking is an app that street performers and fans use to connect with the crypto-world. It is vital to consider that it is, according to the website, a massive community of street artists in the world, which promotes the work of these musicians and makes complaints about the mistreatment of their right to work. It gathers in one platform more than 9,000 artists, according to its statistics.

The platform allows tipping from bank transfers in a few different fiat currencies. However, some of The Busking Project blog posts also highlight the use of Bitcoin for payments.

By: Jenson Nuñez

According to the S2F model, the price of BTC should be around USD 88,531, but PlanB predicted it could be much higher.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) still struggles around the USD 30,000 mark, so the stock-to-flow (S2F) model is now the furthest from its estimates. More than two years ago, Twitter user and anonymous Dutch investor, PlanB, popularized the model.

People consider the S2F model is one of the chief quantitative valuations for the first existing scarce digital currency. According to the model, the scarcity of certain materials or assets is what drives their prices higher.

The S2F model seeks to value Bitcoin the same way as scarce commodities like gold and silver. Its essence is that assets like Bitcoin, gold and silver only have a limited supply flow in a given period. In contrast, there is a greater supply flow of raw materials such as oil, copper and steel, which is theoretically unlimited.

Bitcoin has a maximum supply of 21 million tokens, and its mining process requires a lot of time and energy.  Therefore, only a certain number of new coins can come into circulation in a given period. Even though the cryptocurrency had fit perfectly into this model, KuCoin Global CEO Jhonny Lyu said that the situation has changed.

Negative Deviation from the S2F Model Is the Highest in the History of Bitcoin

The S2F model indicates that the price of BTC should be around USD 88,531, almost three times its previous price. In early 2021, PlanB suggested that Bitcoin could reach between USD 135,000 and USD 450,000 before December. Besides, the model predicts that Bitcoin would reach the long-awaited USD-1-million mark within four more years.

A survey that PlanB recently conducted on Twitter revealed that 41% of respondents thought the price would remain below USD 100,000 this year. In March, when Bitcoin was trading at USD 55,000, 16% of them believed the same. PlanB said that Bitcoin prices deviating from the S2F model make even him uneasy.

Lex Moskovski, the CIO of Moskovski Capital, noted that the negative deviation from S2F had been the highest in the history of Bitcoin. He said that those believing in the model could buy Bitcoin since this price drop would be unexpected.

Dynamics of the Demand for and Adoption of Bitcoin Changes for Various Reasons

Since March 2019, institutional and retail adoption rates in the market for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have increased dramatically. The COVID-19 pandemic has also affected this demand and adoption dynamics since it has led to the massive inflation of the supply of US dollars.

Elon Musk and the popularity of non-fungible tokens (NTFs) have contributed to the awareness of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

Lyu said that emerging projects and altcoins would distract investors’ attention and diversify their investment portfolios. The dominance of Bitcoin has fallen from more than 60% to 46.3%, which means a growing altcoin sector.

As an example of the shifting demand and adoption of Bitcoin since the inception of the S2F model, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Fund (GBTC) recently suffered from several stock breakouts. This expiration increased the downward pressure on Bitcoin, causing it to drop to around USD 30,500 from nearly USD 32,200.

By Alexander Salazar

With the new equipment, Greenidge expects to set an expansion on its hash rate by 800 pentahashes. Mining pool and advisory company Foundry will bring the set later this year.

Bitcoin mining-focused finance and advisory firm Foundry Digital LLC recently revealed a partnership with mining and power generator Greenidge; This alliance would allow the sale of 2,300 Whatsminer M30S machines and financing for the purchase of 6,000 Antminer S19 miners.

Jeffrey Kirt said in a statement on July 14 said that Foundry had been a long-time Greenidge hosting customer, and this partnership is taking more grounds due to the existing relationship and because of their business growth outside of New York.

The Bitcoin mining company intends to increase its hash rate with the new equipment. According to the statement, the alliance with Foundry, which is also a mining pool, means that Greenidge could reach an increase of approximately 800 penta hashes per second (PH / s) of computing power.

The publication adds that even though 2,300 units of Whatsminer M30S were already operating at Greenidge’s Bitcoin mining facility in New York, Foundry formalized the sale of 1,800 of these units. The remaining units will arrive in the fourth quarter of the year, they say.

Regarding the financing of the Antminer S19 machines, there are  5,000 already active and functioning; the rest will meet their delivery during the third quarter of 2021.

Mining companies such as Blockcap, Hut 8, Bitfarms, Hive, BitDeer, and Bit Digital play a role in the Foundry Digital group, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group that offers treasury management, loans with guarantee in bitcoin and generates yield in BTC trends. This set of services intends to foster the hodl mentality among interested bitcoin miners.

For his part, Greenidge has said he is trying to lessen the environmental impact of mining Bitcoin, using “low-carbon energy sources” and carbon offsets. “The company has pioneered the integration of a carbon-neutral cryptocurrency mining and clean power plant operation in North America,” Foundry CEO Mike Colyer said recently.

Greenidge’s Carbon Footprint

Last May, Greenidge revealed that it would compensate 100% for CO2 emissions resulting from Bitcoin mining. However, just a few days ago, they faced accusations from the inhabitants of upstate New York. The citizens alleged that their bitcoin mining activities had turned a 12,000-year-old glacial lake into a “hot tub.”

Greenidge denied the allegations. According to a statement “the data taken from March 1 to April 17 of this year”, the lake’s temperature is 9.7ºC, which covers only a 3.7ºC increase since the beginning of mining in the area 18 months ago.

The letter highlighted that Greenidge complies with all the requirements regarding water and air, alleging that the accusations of the inhabitants are false.

This debate around Bitcoin mining has recovered strength after statements by Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk, who accused cryptocurrency mining companies of not adopting green measures to reduce the carbon footprint coming from Bitcoin mining.

By: Jenson Nuñez

The Chinese authorities have banned cryptocurrency mining in at least eight provinces. Chinese Bitcoin mining companies have relocated to the United States and Canada.

Since May 2021, Chinese Bitcoin mining companies have fled to other countries and regions worldwide due to the government’s ban.

This migration process has been moving mining operations to other jurisdictions such as the United States, Canada, and Kazakhstan. That seems to be reflecting positively on the hash rate of Bitcoin miners.

The hash rate has been falling sharply in the last quarter but has resumed bullish momentum, returning to June levels. The hash rate of Bitcoin fell from 148 terahashes per second (TH/s) to 58 TH/s, its lowest point of the year.

The hash rate measure seems to have stabilized, going from 82 TH/s on July 4th to 121 TH/s on July 13th.

More recently, the total hash rate of the Bitcoin network was 115.5 TH/s. Bitinfocharts data indicates that this hash rate was 105.2 TH/s, increasing by 9.41% in 24 hours.

More miners have reconnected to the network in July, contributing their quota to the total hash rate of the Bitcoin network.

The Bitcoin hash rate is the measure of the processing power on a blockchain network. That is the number of hashing operations that miners must perform during a given period to mine a block with transactions.

When a network like Bitcoin reaches a hash rate of 5 TH/s, it can perform up to 5 trillion operations per second. The hash rate expresses the sum of the processing power of each miner connected to the network.

Electricity Consumption of Bitcoin Mining and Hash Rate Fall in China

The migration of miners has caused a decrease in electricity consumption by mining and the hash rate in China. The Cambridge Center for the Financial Alternative (CCAF) conducted a study describing the current situation of Bitcoin mining.

The research indicates that Kazakhstan is now the third country globally where Bitcoin miners consume the most electricity. They have not missed the opportunity to raise the price of the service due to increased demand.

Bitcoin mining consumes a daily average of 8 gigawatts per hour worldwide. If that consumption were stable, it would average 70 terawatts (TW) per year. According to CCAF, the electricity consumption of that activity is above that of Austria (66.8 TW) and Colombia (70.2 TW), among other countries.

China went from consuming an average of 75% in 2019 to 48% in April 2021, losing space compared to other countries.

Electricity consumption is directly related to the hash rate of the miners in that country. For that reason, China is increasingly losing ground in Bitcoin mining.

According to CCAF researchers, some miners still operate in China clandestinely, supplied by private power plants. That makes it difficult to get accurate numbers on the electricity consumption of miners. However, the estimated decrease in this factor is evident in the abovementioned period.

Despite this, it is becoming increasingly apparent that China is closing its doors to Bitcoin miners. The ban in at least eight provinces has made them emigrate to other countries to settle.

By Alexander Salazar