There is an Accelerated Decentralization of Bitcoin Mining

The massive disconnections and the sharp fall of the Bitcoin hash rate in China relieved miners abroad. The new strength of the business makes centralized entities who seek to combat it face many more challenges.

BTC mining has remained on the path of decentralization, which started earlier this year. Although there were initially many fears and insecurities, that process has become one of the best things for the business.

Many people were alarmed when the Chinese authorities abruptly banned the mining business in the leading provinces. The Asian country housed around 65% of the global hash rate of the first cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The elimination of that amount of computational power would bring many adverse and dangerous implications.

However, the massive disconnections and the sharp drop in the Bitcoin hash rate provided relief for miners outside China. As the fall of computational power caused the proportional decrease in difficulty, mining became more profitable. For that reason, many miners around the world took advantage of that opportunity to start doing so.

The Process of Decentralization of BTC Mining Continues

Bitcoin miners from all over the world took advantage of the activity being easier to start or boost their farms. Consequently, the hash rate on the network began to recover in an accelerated manner until reaching its all-time highs in a few months.

The recovery of the Bitcoin hash rate places the business at a higher level thanks to its decentralization. Therefore, the computational power is the same as before, but it does not concentrate in one place.

In that regard, the United States has become the epicenter of cryptocurrency mining, with approximately 35% of the net hash. Other countries in Asia, Latin America, and even Africa have begun to earn greater prominence. By further spreading throughout the world, the business is more robust under attacks by hackers against the network and the actions taken by controlling governments.

Given the new strength of the cryptocurrency mining business, BTC has become more relevant to world citizens. The centralized entities that seek to combat it must face many more challenges than before the decentralizing process started.

North America is Leading the Bitcoin Mining Business

According to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, North America is the area that concentrates the highest computational power of the business. The United States and Canada represent 44.95% of the global hash rate, preceding Russia and Kazakhstan, which have 29.33% of it.

Of course, those numbers could vary since there is no official data on BTC mining in China. Although the government strictly prohibited the business, thousands of machines seem to be operating clandestinely.

Regardless of that, Bitcoin mining continues its process of decentralization worldwide. Some analysts fear that the United States may concentrate a level of hash rate like China before prohibition in the medium term. Although transparency in the North American country is higher than in China, the centralization of the business would never be positive.

By Alexander Salazar

Billionaires Like Barry Sternlicht Prefer Ether to Bitcoin

The CEO said that the pioneering cryptocurrency is only a store of value and confessed that he views Ether as a programmable Bitcoin. BTC, gaming coins, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) dominated the crypto market in the third quarter, according to CoinGecko.

Barry Sternlicht, the co-founder of Starwood Capital Group, recently said that gold has no value. Furthermore, he revealed that he is betting on Bitcoin (BTC) as Western governments are printing money in an unlimited way. However, he considers Ether (ETH) to have preferable features to those of the pioneering cryptocurrency.

Sternlicht has a net worth of around USD 4.4 billion, besides investments in the real estate market.

The executive believes that neither gold nor silver has value, for which he is a follower of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Although Sternlicht supports the first crypto asset on the market, he praises the traits of Ether.

The CEO of Starwood Capital Group described Bitcoin as an insanely volatile cryptocurrency with no other purpose than being a store of value. He confessed that he owns some Ether, which he sees as a programmable Bitcoin, and said that many other currencies use that system.

The Price of Ether Reaches USD 3,800

Ether is trading at around USD 4,069 and has accumulated a 13% profit in the past seven days, according to CoinGecko.

Ether bulls are poised for a USD 53 million profit on the expiration of weekly options.

The Cryptocurrency Market Recovered Significantly in the Third Quarter

Bitcoin (BTC), gaming coins, and non-fungible tokens (NFT) dominated the crypto market in the third quarter, according to a report from CoinGecko.

Tokens from games like Axie Infinity (AXS), Illuvium (ILV), and Gala (GALA), as well as the NFT space in general, posted massive gains. AXS precisely posted nearly 1,000% quarter-on-quarter gains with its performance this year, exceeding 13,700%.

Concerning the trading volume of NFTs, OpenSea continued to dominate that segment of the market. Along with Rarible, it registered a total trade of around USD 6.8 billion in the third quarter, according to the CoinGecko report.

After Raising USD 12 Million, Aurora Scales the Ethereum Ecosystem

Aurora, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) designed to scale decentralized applications (dApp), has announced a USD 12 million seed funding round.

Pantera Capital and Electric Capital were among more than 100 venture capital investors that participated in the round.

An official statement revealed that Aurora would use the funds to expand cross-network capabilities. Additionally, the money will help hire specialized developers to support the scaling growth of Ethereum.

Altcoins that Could Follow in the Footsteps of Bitcoin and Ether

Raoul Pal recently predicted which cryptocurrencies could grow almost as exponentially as Bitcoin and Ether. The former executive at investment bank Goldman Sachs and current CEO of Real Vision mentioned four altcoins that could do it.

Pal believes that Solana (SOL), Terra (LUNA), Avalanche (AVAX), and Polkadot (DOT) could continue to become the following industry leaders. Those cryptocurrencies are platforms for building smart contracts, decentralized finance (DeFi), dApps, NFT, CBDC, and other blockchain apps.

By Alexander Salazar

No One Knows Where the Price of Monero Is Heading Next

Despite the optimism generated by Bitcoin in the cryptocurrency market, the bullish tide has not yet benefited the price of Monero. If the bullish cycle under development looks a bit like the first one, XMR could head to a new high a long way from the current one.

Monero (XMR) is a cryptocurrency that has maintained its leading position in the market for several years. The analysis and forecast of its price will help determine where it is heading next.

XMR is trading at around USD 269.06 and has accumulated a 4.85% gain in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGacko. Its market capitalization is USD 4.83 billion, which places it in the 40th position of the ranking of the cryptocurrency market.

Many people believe that it is possible to hide the identity of those conducting transactions on the Bitcoin network. However, it is generally easy to trace operations back to the source, as the ledger is completely transparent.

For its part, the design of Monero seeks to hide the senders and recipients of transactions. The development team of that network claims that its priority is to maximize privacy and security.

In addition to allowing anonymous transactions, the cryptocurrency of the Monero network is quite scarce. That makes it a great asset to store value in the long term if demand continues to increase.

Analysis and Forecast of the Price of Monero

The price of Bitcoin is generating great optimism in the cryptocurrency market thanks to its new all-time high. However, the bullish tide has not yet benefitted the price of Monero much.

The weekly XMR/USDT chart indicates that the crypto asset has had low volatility in the past three weeks. However, the price of Monero has kept the bullish direction unchanged. Furthermore, a medium-term momentum, which is just beginning, may be in progress.

After the constant rejection of low prices, it is evident that buyers are the dominant force. The value of Monero must break through the resistance at USD 315 to confirm that new momentum is in progress. The next target for XMR on that move to the upside is at USD 469.50.

The price of Monero must lose support at USD 234.55 before investors think of selling their holdings in the short term. That scenario is still unlikely, but it could cause the bulls to return if it were to occur.

An All-Time High Is Approaching

The analysis of the monthly Monero chart indicates a behavior that gives a very optimistic forecast.

The cryptocurrency accumulated a return on investment (ROI) of over 10,000% between 2014 and 2017.

After reaching an all-time high of USD 469.50, its price began a major correction along with the overall cryptocurrency market. That corrective process bottomed out near support around USD 37.

The new bullish cycle under development looks a bit like the first one, so XMR could be heading to a new high a long way from the current one.

Of course, that will not happen overnight, and several corrections may occur along the way. Regardless of that, as the bull cycle unfolds, investors should follow the trend.

By Alexander Salazar

Chivo Wallet Deactivated Option to Display Bitcoin Price Due to Trading Fraud

The option will be disabled “temporarily,” but it is unclear when it will return. Network users criticized the Chivo Wallet measure and explained there are struggles when paying in stores.

The team behind the wallet of the government of El Salvador, Chivo, reported this week that it disabled the option to see the price of bitcoin (BTC) frozen for a minute, as many users used it to apply a type of fraud related to scalping (short-term trading).

This situation appeared in a report the company highlighted through a brief Twitter thread, in which it mentioned that users took advantage of the freezing of the exchange rate for one minute.

 During that time, they got to compare the price with other exchanges and see if the cost of BTC fell or if it climbed a new high peak.

Therefore, now users are going to limit the visibility of the frozen rate. They then move to instant convertibility (and no longer frozen) 

These users can achieve the desired rate, but with the rate updated instantly.

Chivo clarified that while this change happens, the option to see the rate at the time of conversion “would remain disabled, but all other functions will operate.

Users Manifested their Concern on the Matter

In the same social network, you can see a diverse pool of opinions coming from the users of Chivo Wallet. Chivo got described as an application that had caused several struggles to Salvadorans, ranging from system failures to identity theft.

One of the users, Odir Pineda, criticized the application’s measure, recalling that most exchanges use frozen rates to operate.

And there was a constant comment highlighting that the application begins to fail once bitcoin is on the rise, like this week, which once again, the cryptocurrency surpassed USD 60,000 and seems headed for a new all-time high.

Pineda insisted that Chivo does not even disguise the blockade. Just when the currency is going up, no one can put their money to win.

The Sale of Bitcoin

Due to the measure of the state company, there would be a negative or positive effect on the sale of Bitcoin since the wallet does not bring metrics or graphs. In that sense, neither on its social networks nor on its official website shows the price of the cryptocurrency.

The latest update on Chivo Wallet’s performance got offered by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on September 27.

Via Twitter, the leader showed the application dashboard, where he counted the number of registered users at more than 2.2 million, with more than 65,437 transactions per second that are being processed by the system, as explained by President Bukele himself.

The president invited users to remember that a single transaction takes several seconds. The leader warned users to not try to calculate the total daily transactions with this method.

By: Jenson Nuñez

According to Central Bank, Brazilians Have Purchased More than $ 4 Billion in Cryptocurrencies this Year

The Central Bank of Brazil reports that each month Brazilians have acquired over USD 350 million in cryptocurrencies.

According to figures from the Central Bank of BrazilBrazilians received more than $ 4.2 billion in cryptocurrencies ($ 23.3 billion Brazilian reais) so far in 2021.

The trade asset balance report shows that Brazilians have acquired more than USD 350 million worth of cryptocurrencies since January. However, according to some central bank analysts, there is a potential to reach a double in value this year.

The Central Bank of Brazil revealed a report showing the crypto acquisition by Brazilians. The report presents that the peak of the wave of purchases of cryptocurrencies happened in May when the figure reached USD 756 million.

Since then, the number of purchases has decayed, reaching nearly $ 500 million last August. The September numbers are unavailable, so it is impossible to know if the downtrend is still happening.

Brazilians Get More Attracted to Cryptocurrencies

Brazilians got attracted to cryptocurrencies from the very beginning. According to Bruno Serra, director of monetary policy at the Central Bank of Brazil, this interest would not vanish so soon.

Serra highlighted that investments in cryptocurrencies by Brazilians abroad could triple the amount invested in US stocks. However, Brazil is currently unable to mine digital currencies.

According to the same report, cryptocurrency drainages only reached $ 15 million, less than one percent of what entered the nation. There is a possibility that this number of entries will approach more than USD 8 billion this year, Serra concluded.

The Central Bank is Aware of the Situation

Bitcoin.com explains that the Central Bank of Brazil recorded cryptocurrencies as goods, so the crypto entering and exiting from the country must get recorded through statistics. The bank estimates these figures based on exchange contracts. These are legal tools that record negotiations between buyers and sellers, as noted by the bank.

But these instruments only record purchases and sales of cryptocurrencies that take effect between residents and non-residents. The actual figures could be considerably higher than those other figures reported, according to the report.

According to many users, Brazil seems to be paving the way in favor of digital currencies. Brazil’s federal deputy, Aureo Ribeiro, pointed out in an interview with Radio Cámara in early October that Brazilians will soon have the possibility to purchase new houses, cars, and even a McDonald’s hamburger with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, following the approval of his law, which will happen soon.

The interview took place after the approval of the final report by Deputy Expedito Netto on Bill 2.303 / 15, which brings a healthy regulation of digital currencies.

By: Jenson Nuñez

The New Epicenter of Bitcoin Mining Is in the United States

The United States has a computing power above 30%, while the number of mining farms in other countries increases. The Chinese government strictly prohibited such activity, but some officials have used state resources to mine digital currencies.

The migration of Chinese Bitcoin miners to the United States has made the hash rate of the North American country already exceed that of China. With 30% of the global computing power, the North American country becomes the epicenter of mining, opening the gap between the two countries.

The ban on mining in China negatively impacted the hash rate of the Bitcoin network, which is spreading abroad. Many of the miners that the Chinese government displaced migrated to various countries such as the United States.

The leading western country concentrates 30% of the hash rate, that is, ⅓ of all the computing power in the world. The new map update from the Center for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge confirmed that fact.

Earlier this year, the United States housed about 8% of the global Bitcoin hash rate, which rose significantly to 17% in May. In July, the computing power in the North American country was already above 30%. Meanwhile, the number of mining farms in other countries such as South America and Canada is increasing.

Some Chinese Government Officials Mined Bitcoin with State Resources

The government of the People’s Republic of China strongly prohibited Bitcoin mining in its territory. However, some centers of resistance remain even within the offices of the State. Some officials dared to use national resources to mine Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

However, nothing remains hidden between heaven and earth in China, at least for long. In the coastal province of Zhejiang, the authorities recently announced the launch of an investigation related to Bitcoin mining. They seek to find those responsible for using resources from the State and the Communist Party to do that illegal activity.

The authorities have revealed that around 4,700 IP addresses are on the list of suspected cryptocurrency miners in that province. More than 70 government entities could be using state resources to conduct that illegal business. The regulatory authorities have visited and sanctioned around 20 institutions and have seized the mined assets.

Canadian Authorities Consider Using Bitcoin Mining to Provide Heating

The authorities in the Canadian city of North Vancouver plan to use Bitcoin mining as a heating source. The mining machines would generate heat that could heat more than 100 residential and commercial buildings in that region of 155,000 inhabitants.

Mining company MintGreen, alongside electricity company Lonsdale Energy Corporation, would put the project into operation in 2022. The former considers that the digital boilers can send 96% of their heating to residential and commercial centers.

In the same way, they highlight that that action would help prevent around 20,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases from going into the atmosphere. In that way, the healthy use of Bitcoin mining in Vancouver serves as an example of coexistence between companies dedicated to that business and the population.

Bitcoin is trading at around USD 66,318 after reaching a new all-time high of nearly USD 67,000, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar