The bitcoin market now exceeds $1 trillion with its price rising tenfold in a year, but focus is shifting towards the massive power requirements needed to sustain the online currency.
Here are some questions and answers about bitcoin:
Impressive value.
According to data, bitcoin’s market cap is currently over $1 trillion. The digital coin went from zero to $1 trillion in network value 3.6 times faster than Microsoft.
Bitcoin also achieved a higher valuation than the world’s three biggest banks combined, when it hit an all-time high of $61700 last week, as its market cap approached roughly $1.15 trillion. The combined market cap of JPMorgan, Bank of America and The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is $1.08 trillion.
A team of researchers has created software to detect illegal mining of cryptocurrency on computers.
Chinese bitcoin miners have long dominated the global processing power that runs the bitcoin network with sophisticated equipment and access to cheap electricity. But now, a group of U.S. miners with deep pockets wants to conquer a greater share of the industry. Photo illustration: Clément Bürge.
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Bitcoin mining is mainly driven by renewable energy — hydro (by far the largest component), solar, wind and geothermal. Period.
In fact, we’ve estimated the lower bound of renewables penetration in the bitcoin mining energy mix to be 77.6%.
From 2018, but it’s likely gotten better since then.
Continue reading “Beware of Lazy Bitcoin Research | Insights” »
Billionaire CEO Elon Musk said on Saturday the price of bitcoin and ethereum seemed high, at a time when the cryptocurrencies have hit record highs, with bitcoin crossing the $1 trillion market-capitalization threshold.
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — In the Nevada desert, a cryptocurrency magnate hopes to turn dreams of a futuristic “smart city” into reality. To do that, he’s asking the state to let companies like his form local governments on land they own, which would grant them power over everything from schools to law enforcement.
Jeffrey Berns, CEO of Nevada-based Blockchains LLC, envisions a city where people not only purchase goods and services with digital currency but also log their entire online footprint — financial statements, medical records and personal data — on blockchain. Blockchain is a digital ledger known mostly for recording cryptocurrency transactions but also has been adopted by some local governments for everything from documenting marriage licenses to facilitating elections.
The company wants to break ground by 2022 in rural Storey County, 12 miles (19 kilometers) east of Reno. It’s proposing to build 15000 homes and 33 million square feet (3 million square meters) of commercial and industrial space within 75 years. Berns, whose idea is the basis for draft legislation that some lawmakers saw behind closed doors last week, said traditional government doesn’t offer enough flexibility to create a community where people can invent new uses for this technology.
“Mining” for the cryptocurrency is power-hungry, involving heavy computer calculations to verify transactions.
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The custody bank said it will hold, transfer and issue bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on behalf of its asset-management clients.
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