In another recalculation, the bitcoin difficulty index rose nearly 7%, setting a new all-time high at 72.01 T.

Bitcoin mining difficulty hit an all-time record this past weekend. The figure rose 6.98% to 72.01 T, according to BTC.com. The previous high was recorded on November 26, 2023, when the difficulty reached 67.96 T.

The complexity of mining determines the amount of computing power required to find a new block in the bitcoin blockchain. How many times, on average, miners must calculate the value of a hash function to find a cryptocurrency block. With the current increase, the target difficulty value is set at 72.01 T (1 T = 1 trillion).

The average bitcoin hashrate (the total processing power of the hardware mining the cryptocurrency) at the current difficulty is expected to be 515.36 EH/s, which is also the maximum value. The previous maximum average hashrate was recorded at 486.35 EH/s on Nov. 26.

The first cryptocurrency’s mining difficulty is forecast to increase by another 1.6% to 73.16T on January 5.

The complexity of mining is increasing amid the rise in the price of bitcoin. The BTC exchange rate as of December 26 is hovering around $42.1k+, according to CoinMarketCap. Over the past month, the asset has risen in price by 14.5% and updated the highs since April 2022.

Our experts note that in mid-October, bitcoin began to grow rapidly amid news about the possible approval of a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) for bitcoin by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In less than a month, the BTC exchange rate has grown by almost $10 thousand.

At the moment, several large investment companies are waiting for approval of their own ETFs on bitcoin by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The launch of such ETFs is considered in the crypto community as a catalyst for a new bull cycle in the market.

Tether has invested in building a Bitcoin mining platform in El Salvador

Tether has participated in the first round of $1 billion in financing to build a Bitcoin farm in El Salvador. The company announced that it would provide capital and “bring its expertise in energy, equipment and communications”. Especially for the construction of Volcano Energy, a 241MW renewable energy generation park, the world’s largest site.

The site selected for construction will house photovoltaic cells to generate 169MW of solar power. And wind power generation equipment for 72 MW. This will enable the placement of mining equipment with computing power in excess of 1.3 EH/s, it said.

The total global hash rate on the bitcoin network on June 5 hovered around 361 EH/s, according to Minerstat.

The Tether says that by investing in green energy around the world. With this, it aims to become one of the leading providers and investors in the global renewable energy and mining infrastructure.

Our experts note that the company previously reported net income of $1.5 billion for the first quarter of the year, and announced its decision to spend up to 15% of realized operating profits on Bitcoin purchases.

At the end of May, Tether also announced that it was investing in renewable energy generation and the launch of bitcoin mining in Uruguay using that energy.

The farm in El Salvador, Tether claims, will be the largest in the world. In early May, one of the largest US miners, Marathon Digital, and developer Zero Two announced the creation of two Bitcoin mining platforms in Abu Dhabi, UAE, under equipment with a total capacity of 250 MW

Tether chose Uruguay to mining cryptocurrency. Review by Crypto Upvotes experts

Tether has decided to get into Bitcoin mining and announced. It is investing in green power generation and launching bitcoin mining in Uruguay. As part of the project, the issuer of the leading stabelcoin USDT is partnering with a local licensed company.

Tether has thus expanded its scope to include energy and mining. The report states that the company’s goal is. It is to become a global technology leader and this investment demonstrates Tether’s “commitment to innovation in energy and the future of cryptocurrency.”

The Tether noted that it chose Uruguay, which is rich in natural resources. Because the country offers ideal conditions for renewable energy production. These are the creation of wind farms, solar parks and hydropower projects. 94% of the country’s electricity production comes from renewable energy sources. And that makes it a world leader in this area.

Our experts note that the USDT token issued by Tether has remained the largest stablecoin by market capitalization for many years. And third among all cryptocurrencies after Bitcoin and Ethereum.

A solo-mode miner was able to mine a block of Bitcoin on equipment with a processing power of 750 TH/s

On May 23, a single miner with a processing power of 750 TH/s. He successfully mined a block of Bitcoin numbered 790,958. This was reported by the administrator of Skrool pool Kon Kolivas.

The miner received a reward for the found block in the amount of 6.25 BTC (about $170,000 at the rate of $27,300).

Total hashing speed in the Bitcoin network on May 23 was 367.07 EH/s. 1 EH/s equals 1 million TH/s. Having a processing power of only 750 TH/s. This lucky miner had only 1 chance out of 489 thousand to successfully find a block.

Lucky miner – a member of the pool for solo-mining Skrool. And he will pay 2% commission (0.125 BTC, or about $3.4k). But in addition to the fee for mining the block, he receives a fee for the transaction. Which in this block was 0.249 BTC ($6.7 thousand).

With the current difficulty of mining with that kind of processing power, a miner can mine a block once every nine years on average. Meanwhile, the difficulty of mining the first cryptocurrency is growing. Since the beginning of the year, it has increased by 40%, and on May 18, the figure renewed its historical high.

Our experts note that in January 2022, a single miner with computing power of 126 TH/s mined a block of Bitcoin and received a reward of 6.25 BTC. And that was approximately $270,000 at the rate of $42,800. His odds were equal to one in 1.36 million

Mining company Marathon Digital itself has pledged up to $500,000 to develop the Bitcoin Core group by the end of 2023

Marathon Digital Holdings announced a partnership with Brink to raise up to $1 million to support Bitcoin developers Bitcoin Core. Marathon has promised to contribute up to $500,000 by the end of 2023.

Bitcoin Core is a client (software) for the Bitcoin network operated by an independent group of developers. They maintain the blockchain. And also write updates and make decisions on improvements to the first cryptocurrency network. They also maintain the main repository of the protocol on GitHub.

Brink, a non-profit company, is dedicated to supporting the Bitcoin developer community through scholarship and grant programs. The firm was founded in 2020 with funding from John Pfeffer and Vences Casares. The company’s website states that it is 100% funded by donations from individuals. As well as organizations that want to support the Bitcoin network and protocol.

Marathon and Brink have set a goal of raising up to $1 million for Bitcoin Core developers. They announced the fundraiser at the Bitcoin 2023 conference, taking place May 18-21 in Miami, USA. Marathon has pledged to double all contributions from other participants up to $500k by the end of the year, so if the amount of donations from third parties reaches $500k. Then Marathon Digital will also contribute $500k and the $1 million plan will be met.

Our experts note that Marathon Digital is one of the largest Bitcoin miners. The public U.S. company has tens of thousands of cryptocurrency mining devices in data centers in North Dakota, Ohio and Texas. At the end of the first quarter of 2023, Marathon had $1.3 billion in assets, and about $715 million of that was in hardware and $189 million in digital assets.

This new product from the MicroBT WhatsMiner line of machines can deliver hashing speeds of up to 320 TH/s. At the same time, it outperforms similar devices from competitor Bitmain

Chinese mining equipment manufacturer MicroBT unveiled three new mining devices at the Bitcoin2023 conference in Miami. And one of which was the most powerful one currently available on the market.

WhatsMiner M53S ++, has a computing power of up to 320 TH/s with an efficiency of 22 J/TH. This device is more powerful, but more power-consuming. Compared to competitor Bitmain’s counterpart, the Antminer S19 XP Hydro, which produces speeds up to 257 TH/s and has an efficiency of 20.8 J/TH. MicroBT founder and CEO Zuoxing Yan said this.

Our experts point out that the efficiency of WhatsMiner equipment is measured in joules per terahesh (J/TH) – the amount of energy expended to generate one terahesh of hashrate. If the efficiency of the WhatsMiner M53S++ is about 22 J/TH. That means that this device uses about 22 J of energy to generate one hashrate terrahesh.

It takes 7,040 J to generate 320 terrahes per second.
In an hour, 25.34 million J
1 kWh = 3.6 million J
25.34 million / 3.6 million = 7.038
So the device will consume about 7 kW per hour

The other two models presented were the M50S ++, air-cooled and with a computing power of 150 TH/s, and the M56S ++. And also with immersion cooling, this unit can deliver 230 TH/s. The efficiency of both machines is 22 J/TH.

MicroBT believes that the energy crisis and global warming will lead to the modernization of power supplies for mining. And they call “green energy” the best solution. In this regard, MicroBT is working to make WhatsMiner devices better suited to the use of solar energy. That is, from an energy source that corresponds to the decentralization of the Bitcoin network.

Our experts tell us what we need to know about Bitcoin halving. As well as when to expect it, and what impact it may have on crypto market

The fourth Bitcoin halving is about a year away. This event occurs every four years and historically serves as a bullish catalyst for Bitcoin’s price rise and popularity.

Halving is a planned reduction in the number of newly issued BTCs. Which are created and distributed to miners who perform transaction verification and validation on the network. This is embedded in Bitcoin’s software code to ensure that the total number of coins in the network never exceeds 21 million units.

Halving first took place in November 2012, when the reward per block was reduced from 50 BTC to 25 BTC. The second reduction occurred in July 2016, when the reward dropped from 25 BTC to 12.5 BTC. The third and final halving occurred in May 2020, when the reward dropped from 12.5 to 6.25 BTC.

The next Bitcoin halving is expected in April 2024. The reward per block will be reduced to 3.125 BTC, reducing Bitcoin’s annual inflation rate from 1.7% to 0.8%. The final halving will occur in 2140, when the last Bitcoin will be mined. And the total supply of coins will reach 21 million.

Bitcoin’s monetary policy is unique compared to most other crypto-assets, which tend to have inflation. Dogecoin (DOGE) has 2-3% inflation. And Solana (SOL) has long-term inflation of 1.5%. Ethereum has had a negative inflation rate since the blockchain switched to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithm. As the volume of transaction fees burned on the network exceeded the volume of newly issued ETH coins. Halving occurs not only in Bitcoin, but also in other Proof-of-Work (PoW) cryptocurrencies, such as Litecoin (LTC) or Zcash (ZEC).

Profits of miners

Now the main part of the miners’ profits comes from the distribution of rewards for a found block of bitcoin (newly mined bitcoin). And at which 6.25 BTC is paid out to miners about every 10 minutes. The annual issuance of new Bitcoins creates about $9.8 billion, creating additional selling pressure. Which the market is forced to absorb every year.

Despite the fact that the number of new Bitcoins mined per block is halved. The cumulative income of miners after each halving increased. This is due to the rise in the price of BTC. But when the number of new Bitcoins mined in each block approaches zero.Then miners will no longer be able to rely on rising prices to cover costs.

In addition to newly issued Bitcoins, miners also receive income in the form of transaction fees. It can be assumed that the commissions for this should increase. At the same time compensating miners for the decreasing income from the issuance of new Bitcoins. Right now transaction fees are only 2.6% of miners’ income as a percentage of the total reward per block found.

This year has seen an upward trend in transaction fees. This is largely due to the emergence and popularization of so-called ordinals or BRC20-tokens. These are analogous to NFT in the Bitcoin blockchain, which require space in a block. New experiments with second-tier technologies such as the Lightning payment network or the Stacks smart contract platform. So too could further increase the strain on the blockchain.

If transaction fees don’t rise appreciably. Or miners fail to find alternative sources of income. Then Bitcoin’s long-term viability could be in question. And subsequent halving will put additional pressure on miners.

How Halving will affect the price

If you estimate the price dynamics in three Bitcoin halving cycles over a two-year period. And beginning one year before each halving and ending one year after it, one can get an idea of Bitcoin’s price trajectory as the fourth halving approaches. Over such a two-year period in 2012, Bitcoin gained about 30,000%. And in 2016, 786%, and in 2020, 712%. If Bitcoin performs as well as in the last two periods, its price could reach the $220,000 mark in 2025.

However, past performance is no guarantee of future results. And there are many other factors influencing Bitcoin’s price. Moreover, as Bitcoin develops and becomes more widespread over time, its price may become less volatile and more stable.

Another expectation of halving is less pressure on the price due to sales, especially from miners. Miners are the most predictable sellers of Bitcoin. That’s because they need to cover the cost of maintaining operations by converting new Bitcoins into fiat money. With each halving, the structural pressure to sell decreases. And assuming demand stays the same or goes up, the resulting price should also go up.

Marathon Digital and Zero Two plan to launch two cryptocurrency mining platforms in Abu Dhabi this year at a total cost of $406 million

One of the largest U.S. miners, Marathon Digital, and developer Zero Two announced the creation of bitcoin mining platforms in Abu Dhabi (UAE). According to a press release, the Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) joint venture will begin building two mining centers under equipment with a total capacity of 250 MW.

Also Marathon Digital is one of the largest U.S. public companies. Which is engaged in cryptocurrency mining. It has tens of thousands of mining devices in Texas, North Dakota. And other states.  according to BitcoinTreasuries, the company ranks second behind Microstrategy in terms of Bitcoin ownership. It owns 12,200 BTC ($335.5 million).

Also Abu Dhabi-based Zero Two develops Web3 infrastructure solutions and digital assets in the emirate.

The site for 200 MW of mining equipment will be located in the “eco-city” Masdar. Another 50 MW platform will be built in the port area of Mina Zayed. Electricity will be supplied to the complex from the general power grid of Abu Dhabi.

Marathon’s share in ADGM will be 20%, Zero Two’s share – 80%. Capital investment by the companies in proportion to their shares will be about $406 million. The digital assets extracted will also be distributed according to each company’s shares twice a month.

The companies have developed a special immersion solution for ASIC-mainer cooling (liquid cooling) to operate the equipment in the desert climate. And they implemented new software for performance optimization. The new solutions were successfully tested during the pilot project.

It is expected that the mining centers will be launched by the end of 2023, their total hashing speed. Also according to the companies’ calculations, will reach 7 EH/s. Our experts note that according to BTC.com, the total global Bitcoin network hash rate as of May 10 is about 337 EH/s.

Mining company Bitdeer expects to build a 100 MW power plant in Bhutan for carbon-free cryptocurrency mining. Crypto-Upvotes expert review

The investment arm of the Kingdom of Bhutan and mining company Bitdeer Technologies plan to find investors for a $500 million fund.

Fundraising will begin as early as the end of May. The purpose of the fund is to launch a carbon-free Bitcoin mining center. Which uses hydroelectric power, the two companies said in a joint filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the document, Bitdeer expects to build a 100-megawatt power plant in Bhutan. And its construction will begin in the second quarter and be completed in July-September.

Mining will be the least risky way for Bhutan to take advantage of cryptocurrency opportunities. And for now, the country will only focus on Bitcoin, said Ujjwal Deep Dahal, head of the investment arm of local firm Druk Holding & Investments, in a commentary for Bloomberg. Druk began mining cryptocurrencies as part of an experiment when bitcoin was still worth about $5,000, he said.

The kingdom of Bhutan

The Kingdom of Bhutan is located between China and India. And it has a population of about 800,000 people. The local economy relies heavily on revenues from hydropower. Druk manages public investments in traditional areas. These include stocks, bonds, technology, energy and real estate. It also mines cryptocurrencies and invests in what the company calls a “future-oriented” strategy.

The Bitdeer company is registered in Singapore and is owned by Chinese businessman Jihan Wu. And acts as one of the leading players in the cryptocurrency mining market in terms of aggregate capacity. Wu previously served on the board of directors of Bitmain, a leading manufacturer of mining equipment. And owned the BTC.com mining pool until February 2021.

Bitdeer went public on the NASDAQ exchange through a SPAC deal in April, and its shares trade under the ticker BTDR. The company owns one of the largest cryptocurrency mining centers in Texas. In the United States, rising electricity prices have led to the bankruptcy of several major cryptocurrency players. And on May 2, the presidential administration again raised the issue of imposing a 30% tax on miners.

Hive Blockchain reported financial results for the last three months of 2022. It said it received 51.6% less profit from cryptocurrency mining in that period than it did a year earlier

The Ethereum blockchain’s transition to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithm was one of the reasons for a $90 million loss at major miner Hive Blockchain for the fourth quarter of 2022. The company released its financial results for the last three months of last year. In doing so, it noted that in addition to September’s Ethereum update, the losses were also contributed to the decline in the price of digital assets. As well as on mining equipment at the end of last year.

Our experts note that this report shows that the miner generated $14.1 million in cryptocurrency mining revenue during that period, down 51.6 percent from a year earlier. And the gross profit earned by Hive from mining in the fourth quarter of last year was $3.6 million, down 77% from $15.9 million in the previous quarter.

According to Miner, the average mining cost per Bitcoin in the last three months of 2022 was $13,600. While the average Bitcoin price during that time was $18k. This increased BTC production costs by 37% over the previous quarter. The company revalued its mining equipment, which also led to a $38.8 million loss on Hive’s balance sheet.

Additional reasons for losses

In addition to the “Merger” and the strong decline in cryptocurrency prices from the end of 2021. Hive’s revenue was also driven by a significant increase in global Bitcoin hashrate and an annual increase in mining complexity of 60%, to nearly 40T.

At the same time, the company noted that it mined 787 BTC during this period. And this is 13% more than in the same period of 2021, when 697 Bitcoins were mined. According to the Hive team, this reflects continued growth in its operating hashrate.

Hive also reported that the fleet of GPUs formerly used to mine Ethereum is not currently idle. And it’s generating an average annual revenue of more than $1 million by being busy with computational workloads unrelated to mining digital assets.