Tag: crypto mining

Crypto’s Peer-to-Peer Exchanges Lose Ground in a Shrunken Market
Technology

Crypto’s Peer-to-Peer Exchanges Lose Ground in a Shrunken Market

[ad_1] Crypto exchanges that connect buyers and sellers directly without Wall Street-style middlemen are under pressure to improve their services amid a decline in market share.These so-called decentralized platforms facilitate trading via algorithmic, blockchain-based software known as smart contracts, with users retaining custody of tokens rather than handing them to an intermediary institution. Crypto diehards predicted a golden period for peer-to-peer trading venues such as Uniswap and dYdX after last November's collapse of the FTX exchange, which undermined trust in centralized platforms that take control of tokens. But that hasn't panned out: monthly spot trading volumes on decentralized exchanges slid 76% to $21 billion by June this year versus January 2022, more than the 69% dro...
Cryptoverse: Hooked on growth, bitcoin investors turn to smart tokens
Technology

Cryptoverse: Hooked on growth, bitcoin investors turn to smart tokens

[ad_1] For investors living on the digital edge, bitcoin is starting to look a little old-fashioned.Hooked on high growth, some are turning away from the original cryptocurrency - designed as an alternative to regular cash - in favor of its descendants created as native tokens of blockchain platforms that host smart contracts and apps. MarketVector's Smart Contract Leaders Index, which tracks major tokens of this kind - including ether, dot and solana - is up 36% in 2023, outpacing even bitcoin's 33% rise. Solana's token is up 76% this year. Bundeep Rangar, CEO of crypto-focused investor Fineqia, said he expected the biggest crypto returns to come from smart contract tokens on platforms that support decentralized finance (DeFi) apps."Those are ones that you will find capital appreciati...
Bitcoin Rally Is Much-Needed Lifeline for Troubled Miners After Grim Quarter
Technology

Bitcoin Rally Is Much-Needed Lifeline for Troubled Miners After Grim Quarter

[ad_1] Bitcoin's new year rally is resuscitating many crypto-mining companies seeking to escape from near financial ruin after one of the most devastating quarters ever for the nascent industry. Whether they succeed in making a comeback remains in question.High electricity costs, a plunge in digital assets prices and persistent network competition in the fourth quarter slashed mining profit margins and made it difficult for miners to stay afloat. Core Scientific Inc., the largest public Bitcoin mining company by computing power, went bankrupt and multiple major miners warned of liquidity crunches. While struggling miners have garnered some relief from Bitcoin's 40% rebound this year, they are still under financial pressure. The rise in Bitcoin has made it easier for miners to raise cap...
Crypto Mining Stocks Eye Best Month in a Year Atop Bitcoin Jump
Technology

Crypto Mining Stocks Eye Best Month in a Year Atop Bitcoin Jump

[ad_1] A Bitcoin rebound has put crypto mining stocks on course for their best monthly performance in at least a year, providing some respite from the debt and energy-price worries that pummeled the shares in 2022. A Bitcoin rebound has put crypto mining stocks on course for their best monthly performance in at least a year, providing some respite from the debt and energy-price worries that pummeled the shares in 2022. The 20-member MVIS Global Digital Assets Mining Index is up 64% so far in January, outstripping Bitcoin's 28% advance. That's the gauge's best month since its inception at the end of 2021 and contrasts with last year's 88% drop. The Luxor Hashprice Index — which seeks to measure how much a miner can expect to earn from the computing power used for the Bitcoin netwo...
Texas’s Crypto Mining Boom Is Starting to Look More Like a Bust
Technology

Texas’s Crypto Mining Boom Is Starting to Look More Like a Bust

[ad_1] In an effort to become a haven for crypto mining, Texas has aggressively lured miners with cheap power and favorable regulations. The digital gold rush in Texas is losing its luster as Bitcoin miners grapple with financial woes, leaving behind what some fear will be a wasteland of unfinished sites and abandoned equipment. In an effort to become a haven for crypto mining, Texas has aggressively lured miners with cheap power and favorable regulations, prompting many to take out billions in loans to buy pricey machines and build out infrastructure. However, soaring energy costs, a sharp decline in Bitcoin prices and more competition have compressed profit margins and made it difficult for miners to repay debt. Some are on the verge of bankruptcy. “There are just tons of as...
Bitcoin Miner Iris Flags Risk of Default on $103 Million of Debt
Technology

Bitcoin Miner Iris Flags Risk of Default on $103 Million of Debt

[ad_1] Iris Energy Ltd. is the latest Bitcoin miner to grapple with debt trouble because of the sharp market downturn for digital assets. Iris Energy Ltd. is the latest Bitcoin miner to grapple with debt trouble because of the sharp market downturn for digital assets. The Sydney-based green crypto miner, which listed in the US last year, said in a statement on Wednesday that some of its mining equipment isn't making enough cash to cover related debt-financing obligations. The firm said $103 million of debt is secured against the rigs via a couple of wholly-owned special purpose vehicles. It doesn't plan to provide further financial support for the vehicles absent a refinancing agreement. That means a default on the loans looms on Nov. 8 when a scheduled principal payment is lik...
Bitcoin Cowboys Are the Ultimate Stress Test for Texas’ Power Grid
Technology

Bitcoin Cowboys Are the Ultimate Stress Test for Texas’ Power Grid

[ad_1] As crypto miners flock to the state, they’re piling massive extra electricity demand on an already shaky power system. One scorching hot afternoon, Justin Ballard drives a Nissan Frontier pickup across a stretch of West Texas oil country. For years, Ballard worked these mesquite-covered expanses like any good oil landman, trying to persuade people to let the drill rigs come in and do their work. But he left that search early last year. Now he's scouring the same barren landscapes for a different sort of fuel: natural gas that's being burned off and wasted. This lost gas can be harnessed to power huge arrays of computers that create, or mine, Bitcoin and validate transactions on its ledger, the blockchain. “It's all about stranded energy—searching for it, finding it, mining ...
Bitcoin Mining Surges to a Record as Merge Opens Up Capacity
Technology

Bitcoin Mining Surges to a Record as Merge Opens Up Capacity

[ad_1] The amount of computing power dedicated to Bitcoin mining surged to a record. The amount of computing power dedicated to Bitcoin mining surged to a record as more companies made use of the energy and data center space freed up after the upgrade of the Ethereum network, likely further compressing profit margins. Mining difficulty, a measure of Bitcoin miners' computing power for the blockchain, has jumped by 13.6% in the two-weeks ended Monday. That was also the largest bi-weekly adjustment since last May. The increase is in part thanks to the decline of Ether mining, analysts said. Known as the Merge, Ethereum's technical upgrade has replaced as many as one million powerful computers with Ether holders to validate transaction data encrypted by the network and reduce its ca...