Unfolding in the markets right now is a battle that has taken place several times over the past year: who will be listed at No. 2 in total market capitalization on the digital asset listing websites? Throughout most of 2018, the digital asset markets have been in a bear market tailspin. After hitting an all-time high of $1,538.13 for Ethereum’s ether and $3.92 for Ripple’s XRP (as reported by Live Coin Watch), the markets began falling just as fast as they went up. Looking back at the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, it is easy to see where investors were acting out of “fear of missing out”…
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The staggering environmental cost of blockchain
With bitcoin using more power than Czech Republic, are mined coins sustainable?
Over the last couple of years an argument has ensued regarding the amount of electricity that the Bitcoin network consumes to produce (mine) a coin and ensure the security of its network. Though the electricity itself may be inexpensive in some countries, the environmental cost to produce that needed electricity is building towards insurmountable proportions. In recent testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Arvind Narayanan stated that assuming “all [Bitcoin] miners use the most energy efficient mining device available on the market” the total energy required by the Bitcoin network is “is slightly under 1% of world electricity consumption.” The key to this figure…
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Does the White House Prefer XRP to BTC?
China’s control over Bitcoin network said to make Trump Admin uneasy
The battle for dominance in the digital asset space just went big. And now it looks like it’ll include political might, too. According to a story in Forbes Tuesday, “Many in the bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry have expressed concern about how much control [mining concentration] gives China over bitcoin, with the Beijing-based Bitmain Technologies mining more than half the world’s bitcoins.” American crypto companies have noticed, as well. In a recent interview in Breaker, Ripple’s Chief Market Strategist Cory Johnson stated that the Trump administration was doing its “homework” regarding China’s dominance over Bitcoin, and more specifically, the mining operations that provide the necessary security for Bitcoin’s blockchain. In recent years China has become…
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Judge rules ‘virtual currencies’ are commodities
Regulatory waters clear as mud
On October 3, 2018, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a statement saying that Judge Rya W. Zobel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts declared “virtual currencies” are commodities. The order coming from Judge Zobel is one of several rulings and statements that have gripped the crypto-sphere over the last year or so as digital asset creators, their investors, exchanges, and various companies and organizations attempt to gain clarity over whether their distribution, purchase and selling, and use of digital assets is legal in the United States. Unfortunately, the ruling from Judge Zobel and subsequent statement from the CFTC only seems to muddy the waters…
