On May 5, the last pre-halving correction of Bitcoin's mining difficulty took place. It brought the increase expected by many analysts, to the second highest level in BTC history. Bitcoin mining difficulty adjusts automatically every 2016 blocks or once every two weeks. The entire process is based on available computing power. One step away from ATH On May 5, 2020, the Bitcoin network once again adjusted to the current situation. After the March drops, the difficulty was drastically reduced by 15.95%. Yesterday, the difficulty level was readjusted to 16.10T, an increase of 0.92%. Thus, we are now very close to the record level of March 9 (16.55 T). This is the second time ever that the 16 T level has been exceeded and the last sweep before the upcoming halving. After the drastic March drops in the price of BTC, many miners capitulated and the power of the Bitcoin network declined. As the number of miners increases, the difficulty increases. For many, this is a positive sign as it shows the strength of the network. The charts above show the difficulty of BTC mining and the hashrate of the network, respectively. Each difficulty adjustment is cyclical, which is why the graph looks like a multi-level graph. After the halving, which will take place on May 12, only 900 new Bitcoins will be delivered to the market each day, instead of the current 1,800. The reduction in supply has generally had a positive effect on the BTC exchange rate. Unfortunately, with the reduction in the reward for mining a block, expect a drop in hashrate as miners' earned income will drop. What may dissuade them from capitulating is the price of Bitcoin. Currently, the average mining time per block is 9 minutes 55 seconds and the hashrate oscillates around 115 EH/s. While the May 5 rise was not spectacular (1% increase), history has seen rises of 100% or even 302.22% (Bitcoin's beginnings), which is certainly a good sign for the upcoming halving. As for more significant declines, for that matter, the March difficulty drop of 15.95% mentioned in the article was the second largest in Bitcoin's entire history. Tags hashrate computing power difficulty of digging
Tuesday, June 8, 2021
Bitcoin's latest mining difficulty correction reaches second highest level ever!
Inflation is falling...but is it really?
According to new preliminary data from the Central Statistical Office, inflation in our country is falling, but only seemingly. In April (3.4 percent), it was lower than in March (4.6 percent). However, this is a result of a drop in fuel prices by about 20 percent. Food prices went up by 7.5 percent. Inflation is falling... seemingly When looking at inflation data, it is always worth delving into the details. Apparently, the inflation rate declined, as in March it amounted to 4.6 per cent. However, such a relatively low inflation rate - which is again within the NBP inflation target - was determined last month by a decrease in the price of fuel for private means of transport. On the other hand, energy carriers rose by 5.2 per cent, while food prices increased by as much as 7.5 per cent. Why are we emphasizing these data? Well, each of us can do without fuel (especially now, in the era of lockdown), while the vision of forced starvation does not sound so appealing, right? Of course, we're still far from having to deny ourselves food, but food price spikes should worry us. - The April changes in prices were most painfully felt by families that are not motorized and spend a relatively large part of their income on groceries, Polsat News noted. The phenomenon of rising food prices was already visible in March, when the inflation for this type of products amounted to 8%. The most expensive products were then: pork (by 27%), fruit (by 20%) and cold meat (by 15%). Poland against the EU background All this will start to provoke Poles to look for tools that will help them save the value of their savings. Especially that, compared to the European Union, inflation in Poland is quite high. Out of the entire European Union, it was Poland and Hungary that saw the highest increase in prices in March - by 3.9%. Generally, in the entire European Union, prices are growing the most strongly in Central and Eastern Europe. Poland and Hungary are followed by the Czech Republic (3.6 percent). In France and Germany, inflation is less than 1 percent: Spain, Italy, Portugal and Cyprus. Tags
Bitcoin's price is dependent on the stock market, Tom Lee suggests
Tom Lee, one of the most well-known analysts in the cryptocurrency industry, said that the stock market needs to reach new highs on the charts before Bitcoin's price can enter a full bull market again. In two tweets that Lee published on September 25, the founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors reassured cryptocurrency fans. He believes that concerns about the state of the Bitcoin exchange rate, which has scored a major dive, are exaggerated. Bitcoin's exchange rate is falling The largest cryptocurrency has fallen 15 percent this week, causing many investors to express a lot of concern that the bears are just coming back into the market and now we're facing a downturn again. "[The market] is overbought and needs weaker sentiment. Our [Bitcoin Misery Index] has been saying that since July." - Lee concluded. As some investors have noted, the S&P 500 index lost value just before the drop in Bitcoin, which happened exactly on Tuesday. For Lee and Fundstrat, the two events are closely related. "The [Bitcoin] decline followed the [stock] sell-off," - he continued in a further tweet. He added that this "reinforces our" unpopular" opinion which is that Bitcoins do not do well in an environment "without macro trends." Lee also stated: "There are new highs needed on the S&P 500 before BTC can [re] take off. Why? We think crypto is retail and therefore a risk." Why it's falling. Bitcoin's correction to $8,000 has led many to float numerous theories as to the reason for the decline. Some explain it by technical analysis alone. Others - the disappointing start of Bakkt, which we wrote about in more detail here. There is also a third group - fans of macroeconomics and geopolitics - that sees the reason in the scandal in the U.S. related to the potential impeachment of Donald Trump, who allegedly pressured the Ukrainian authorities to provide him with hints on the son of his main competitor in the race for the White House - Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Lee told BTC supporters to wait to make new purchases until his Bitcoin Misery Index (BMI) suggests an even more pessimistic mood. At the time of writing these words, BTC costs just over $8,400. You can always check the current exchange rate of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at bitcoin.co.uk. Places where you can buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies include BitBay.net cryptocurrency exchange. If you don't have an account on BitBay yet, this article will show you how you can create one efficiently: LINK. Tags bitcoin price btc price bitcoin price bitcoin price bitcoin exchange rate btc exchange rate
Pornhub opens up to XRP
Some time ago, the portal with videos for adult viewers, Pornhub, began to have some problems. Companies such as Visa and Mastercard withdrew from cooperation with it. In response, they started promoting cryptocurrency payments. As of now, the porn platform also accepts the service of paying for its services in exchange for Ripple tokens - XRP. However, this is not the end of the story. You can also pay the company in other digital currencies for access to your premium account. Pornhub is accepting more and more cryptocurrencies According to The Block, Pornhub is now accepting payments in XRP, USDC stablecoins, Dogecoins (DOGE) and Binance Coins (BNB). This brings the total number of cryptocurrencies accepted in Pornhub's premium subscription payment system to 16 now. The decision to open up to XRP in the first place is puzzling. After all, there is an ongoing court dispute in the background regarding Ripple Labs, the company that issues XRP. The controversy eventually caused the token to be removed from more than a dozen cryptocurrency exchanges. As you can see, and in the case of XRP, there is now light in this dark tunnel. Pornhub's problems Recall that the portal Pornhub has problems arising from the content that could be found on it. It turned out that the videos published on the platform were not sufficiently filtered, and as a result, it was possible to post videos with pedophilic content or containing scenes of beating women. In response, Visa and Mastercard no longer want to cooperate with the company. It is known that in the case of Mastercard the blockade is permanent. Visa, on the other hand, has only suspended its services and is investigating the matter. This move by Visa and Mastercard initially caused Verge, the hardfork of Dogecoin (DOGE), for example, to rise to prominence. The cryptocurrency has long been one of the payment methods on the platform. Only that so far few people have used it. That may now be changing. Responding to Pornhub's troubles, Mark Wittenberg of the Verge Core Marketing Team appealed to models in the porn market to consider adopting cryptocurrency as an alternative to Visa and Mastercard services. - If any model on Pornhub needs help getting familiar with [new] payment options, it's our role as a global community to help. We should embrace decentralized payments," he said. Tags ripple pornhub XRP
What are funding rates?
The term funding rates comes up quite often in futures terminology. Today, we will take a look at what is behind this term. What are funding rates? Funding rates are periodic payments. They are made to traders in long or short positions. They are based on differences between prices on futures and spot markets. Depending on the type of open position, traders will either receive "funding" or have to pay a fee. Funding rates in the cryptocurrency market help counteract the disparity in the prices of the two markets. Fees typically scale several times throughout the day. The most common practice with exchanges such an open position fee is charged every 8 hours. This is the case with Binance and BitMEX. Funding rates have two components: interest rate and premium. The interest rate is usually fixed - the platform determines it as a percentage of the value of each position. Their values usually fluctuate around several tenths of percent. Premium, on the other hand, is a variable value. Its value results from the mentioned difference between the price difference on the futures market and the spot price. In simple terms, a high spread between markets increases the premium value, while a low premium indicates a relatively low spread between the two prices. Funding rates in periods of high price volatility can develop in a dynamic way. What does the fee process look like? When the funding rate is positive, the price on futures contracts is higher than on the traditional market - then traders of long positions "pay off" their short positions. As we wrote earlier, the fee is charged on the exchanges usually every 8 hours. Geco.one offers an interesting alternative which also results from the withdrawal from the orderbook. In this case the fee is charged from the open position only once every 24 hours. How does this process affect traders? Funding rates can have a huge impact on a trader's final performance. With high leverage, a trader paying a funding rate may suffer a loss that may even lead to liquidation of his position (despite trading in a relatively stable market). On the other hand, fundraising can be profitable in markets with limited range. Traders often monitor funding rates and incorporate this mechanism into their trading strategies. Above all, funding rates are meant to encourage traders to take positions that keep futures contracts in the same price horizon as spot markets. Tags Binance bitmexx funding rates geco.one
Kaspersky Lab implements blockchain for its voting system
Kaspersky Lab wants to take advantage of what happened in the US recently. It's about the Iowa primary scandal, specifically the fact that the voting system turned out to be so faulty that after 24 hours the winner of the election was still unknown. Iowa, we have a problem! On February 3, Iowa held a vote to help determine the presidential candidate in the Democratic camp. Helping the process was the IowaRecorder app, which was developed by Shadow Inc. a company that had already worked with Hillary Clinton's staff. The year 2016 was marked by attacks by Russian hackers on Democratic Party servers. However, it turned out that the Democrats did not need cyber criminals from Moscow to compromise themselves in the eyes of Americans. Their contractors from Shadow Inc. were enough. The application did not work as expected and as a result, within 24 hours it was not clear who had won the primary. Success was self-proclaimed by Pete Buttigieg and then Amy Klobuchar. The media claimed that their pet - Bernie Sanders - had won. It was not until 3 days later that it was revealed that the electoral votes were distributed as follows: 14 went to Buttigieg, 12 each to Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, 8 to Joe Biden and only 1 to Klobuchar. The biggest losers turned out to be Shadow Inc. and... the Democrats. The result was clear: modern people power needs better systems for counting and recording votes. The issue became a topic of public debate. According to security experts, the incident (though that's probably too weak a word for what took place there) in Iowa highlighted the risks of relying on current digital systems. "When something as important as an election is involved, frankly, the abuse is in allowing proprietary software," said Joshua Simmons, a board member of the Open Source Initiative, which promotes open source software. "Licensed open source software ensures that security researchers can access everything and improve the software before it is used," he added. Kaspersky Lab goes to the aid of democracy Unsurprisingly, Kaspersky Lab, a company based in Russia, is going to the aid of democracy. Blockchain could help in creating a new voting system. "Open source is an important step in creating transparency, nurturing trust and building more resilient systems," - Simmons previously quoted said. But how does the Russian giant want to improve voting? Through its already existing Polys program, which will be augmented by blockchain for this. What would this look like? Polys users - and thus voters - would be assigned unique QR codes or tokens. The next step would be to scan them and cast a vote for a specific candidate. The process itself would still provide democracy participants with complete anonymity - just like voting with paper ballots. This is because the vote would then be encrypted. What's more, there is an additional option in all this that is not possible today. Once you mark your favorite with a cross and put your ballot into the ballot box, you don't actually know what happens to it. You have no certainty that someone will not manipulate your correctly cast vote. In a world where we vote using blockchain, things would be different. Voters would be able to verify that their vote was registered on the blockchain. This method obviously reduces the likelihood of fraud that comes with ballot tampering. It introduces a kind of control of vote counters by citizens. As if the advantages were not enough, it is worth adding that it solves the problem of accessibility to polling stations. This issue was recently discussed in India. Today, still a large part of voters have difficult access to places where they can vote. Thus, it is not uncommon for them to give up this privilege. Such a system may also encourage younger people to participate in the celebration of democracy. Roman Aleshkin, Polys project manager, explained to the media the advantages of such a model: "(...) we understand the problems and inconveniences that [our clients] face when organizing paper-based voting. As we see it, voting on our Polys platform can solve some of these problems, providing more opportunities for remote participation and even increasing youth turnout." An opportunity for democracy Today there is increasing talk of a crisis of democracy. The Edelman 2020 trust barometer, which we have cited in the past, measures people's trust in institutions. It recently showed that citizens form their trust in the state based on competence and ethical behavior. But the report found that neither business nor government is perceived as competent and ethical. The Iowa scandal certainly won't improve that score. Thus, blockchain systems could improve this state of affairs. Will the European Union bet on blockchain? However, Kaspersky Lab is still a Russian company. In the context of the 2016 hacking scandal, it cannot inspire full confidence in the US, especially in the realm of politics and voting. If you would
By 2020, the number of active BTC addresses has doubled
According to Coin Metrics, the number of active addresses on Bitcoin's network has increased by more than 105% this year. In its latest report called "State of the Network," the company said the number of active addresses has doubled this year, reaching 1.2 million. A healthy marketplace Why is this important? It is proof that the market is healthy. The healthiest since 2017. More active addresses means more people are using cryptocurrencies - or at least buying them. Coin Metrics credits Bitcoin's success this year with flooding the market with institutional investors including Square, MicroStrategy and PayPal. This is not surprising given that, in fact, institutions already own about 5% of the current BTC supply. Soon after [institutional investors invested], the price of Bitcoin began to rise. In a rapidly changing world, Bitcoin is increasingly being advocated as a hedge against inflation and a form of digital gold. - we can read in the report. Bitcoin will grow in 2021 Coin Metrics also noted that this year the market capitalization of BTC has increased by more than $300 billion, and the number of addresses holding at least 0.01 BTC by more than 700,000. According to the company, next year we can expect even higher returns on investments in the oldest cryptocurrency. In many ways, Bitcoin is at its strongest, but it is closing in on 2020. Bitcoin is on the verge of reaching unprecedented highs in 2021. You can always check the current exchange rate of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at bitcoin.co.uk. Places where you can buy BTC and other coins include the BitBay.net cryptocurrency exchange. If you don't have an account on BitBay yet, this article will show you how you can create one efficiently: LINK. Tags Active BTC addresses bitcoin btc