News
Bitcoin Gets Political as US Government Mulls Airdrops
Last week’s Bitcoin Nashville conference dominated cryptocurrency news headlines, largely due to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign speech (and his many promises), as well as Senator Cynthia Lummis’ call for a national “strategic Bitcoin reserve.” (We bill)
We walked around the event for four days, scrambling to cover all the news, and took tons of photos. Bitcoin LARP, anyone?
U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis, Republican of Wyoming, holds a copy of her bitcoin reserve bill at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Saturday, July 27. (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)
RESERVING JUDGMENT: Details on last weekend’s Republican demands for a “national strategic bitcoin reserve.” Trump, the party’s presidential nominee, has suggested using the government’s current reserves, amounting to just over 200,000 BTC, as the “core” of a new reserve. Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming has proposed going even further, perhaps building it up to 1 million BTCwhich is approximately 5% of the cryptocurrency’s maximum supply.
Lummis said on stage at Bitcoin Nashville that the plan could eventually “eliminate” the national debt — $27 trillion, at the last check! – but he didn’t really explain how it would work, “other than the basic math that increasing the wealth of the U.S. government would generally equate to reducing debt,” as CoinDesk’s Jesse Hamilton said soQuestions have arisen on social media as to whether the government… had the right to maintain the existing treasurymostly obtained through seizures and confiscations associated with criminal activities; in other words, all stolen property may at some point have to be returned to its rightful owners.
There was also considerable speculation about what exactly did Lummis mean? when he said, “We will convert excess reserves at our 12 Federal Reserve banks in bitcoin in over five years,” or whether the economics or legality of anything remotely like that were even feasible. George Selgin, an economist at the conservative Cato Institute, wrote on X that he had “heard from someone in Senator Lummis’ office” who had clarified that the plan was actually just to buy about $64 billion in bitcoin using balances simply created Gold Revaluation at Fort Knox. CoinDesk got a bill which effectively outlines a plan to revalue the Federal Reserve’s gold certificates, while setting aside $6 billion from any net profits the U.S. central bank might generate over the next five fiscal years – with the giant caveat that, lately, the Fed has been losing money at a record rate.
Fun fact: The draft bill includes a provision on how the U.S. government would handle any tokens launched via airdrop.
Taking things from a high level, the The Wall Street Journal editorial board has concluded that “if cryptocurrencies are truly a libertarian tool for investing without political constraints, then they should be traded autonomously, without government help.”
Bitcoin Conference Nashville in Pictures: Orange Athena, Pink Dresses, Polymarket Gadgets, Trump Song
Lightning Protocol Engineer Lisa Neigut leads an educational game called “Bitcoin LARP” at the Bitcoin Nashville conference last week (Bradley Keoun)
Check out our Photo blog from last week’s Bitcoin Nashville Conference: “Surreal doesn’t begin to describe the combination of images gathered at last week’s festival-style gathering in homage to the world’s oldest and largest cryptocurrency, punctuated by former US President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto campaign speech to an adoring crowd.”
Featuring, in order of appearance: David Tse, Lisa Neigut (above), Adrián Eidelman, Fred Thiel, Justin Sun (not really, but sort of), Robin Linus, Jeremy Rubin, Liam Eagen, Weikeng Chen, Andrew Poelstra, Casey Rodarmor, Erin Redwing, Cathie Wood, Michael Saylor, Ron Paul, Donald Trump.
Last week’s top picks from Our Protocol Village column highlighting the main innovations and technological updates of blockchain.
The Irys project will include both permanent data storage and “forward data registries” (Irys)
1. Irisdescribing himself as a layer of origin for data storage, announced that it will move to a new layer-1 network with the launch of a “programmatic datachain that combines data storage and execution.” According to the team: “Through IrysVM, which is fully compatible with EVM, developers can leverage efficient and cost-effective real-time data manipulation. This approach simplifies development processes, improves scalability, and ensures stable and predictable pricing for data transactions and storage. Ecosystem partners that are building on Irys Layer 1 include Berachain, Eclipse, Injective Labs, Livepeer, Linea, IoTeX, Gateway.fmLit Protocol, NodeKit, Olas, Snapchain, BeraLand, and YEET.” Founded in 2021, Irys started its journey as Bundlr, a scalable solution for persistent data storage on Plot of Ar.
2. Router protocola project built using Cosmos blockchain technology, said Tuesday it has launched the mainnet of a new blockchain designed for “chain abstraction” – a concept embraced by many protocols with the goal of making blockchain user experiences more seamless. To make the new Router Chain more seamless in cross-chain interactions, it will focus on “lowering development barriers and simplifying the development of dApps that can seamlessly interact with multiple blockchains and aggregate liquidity from any chain,” according to a press release shared with CoinDesk.
3. Blackbird Labsthe restaurant loyalty platform founded by Resy and Eater co-founder Ben Leventhal, has announced the Blackbird Pay launcha system that will allow participating restaurants to accept cryptocurrency payments. The new payment platform expands on Blackbird’s mission by allowing consumers to pay for their meals using the $FLY cryptocurrency. Tokens can be earned as loyalty points for dining at participating restaurants or purchased in the Blackbird app using the popular USDC Stablecoin.
4. The developers of Theorydescribed as a “base layer of the AI agent,” has released its official project whitepaperintroducing key aspects of its network and outlining its benefits for developing advanced AI agent collectives. According to the team: “Using a decentralized model, Theoriq will leverage smart contracts to ensure transparency and accountability, while maintaining flexibility to ensure its network continues to adapt as AI continues to advance in complexity.”
5. HyphenA cryptocurrency project focused on paymentsis launching the Evolution update on July 29, described as “its most significant update” to date, with a new sidechain. According to the team, the project aims to “enable indexed decentralized storage and decentralized applications.” According to a blog postThe sidechain “is managed by EvoNodes, which also secures the legacy Dash chain. It uses the account-based model (individual addresses have balances), as opposed to the UTXO model (multiple addresses hold coins, or UTXOs) of the Core chain. It uses a heavily modified derivative of the Tendermint (Cosmos) consensus called Tenderdash. The main differences between Tenderdash and Tendermint are that the Dash version runs in the same block, meaning you don’t have to wait for the next block after writing new data to be able to query it.”
Hyperbolic CEO Jasper Zhang and co-founder Yuchen Jin (Hyperbolic)
The reference point CoinDesk Index 20 blue-chip digital assets returned 3.3% for the month through July 30, in line with gold’s July returns but slightly outperforming the Standard & Poor’s 500 index of U.S. stocks.
MTD returns until July 30. (Tracy Stephens/CoinDesk Indices)
Exchange rate riskThe token used in the XRP Ledger developed by Ripple Labs, led the month’s big gainers, up 32%, followed by Solana’s SOL at 20%. Bitcoin was the only other cryptocurrency to gain, up 3.8% month-to-date.
MTD returns until July 30. (Tracy Stephens/CoinDesk Indices)
News
Cryptocurrency Price August 1: Bitcoin Dips Below $65K; Solana, XRP Down Up To 8%
Major cryptocurrencies fell in Thursday trading following the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep its key interest rate unchanged. Overnight, the U.S. Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate at 5.25-5.5% for the eighth consecutive time, as expected, while also signaling the possibility of a rate cut at its next meeting in September. The unanimous decision by the Federal Open Market Committee reflects a continued wait-and-see approach as it monitors inflation trends.
CoinSwitch Markets Desk said: “Bitcoin has fallen below $65,000 after the US Federal Reserve announced it would keep interest rates unchanged. However, with markets now anticipating rate cuts at the next Federal Reserve meeting in September, the outlook for a Bitcoin rally by the end of the year has strengthened.”
Meanwhile, CoinDCX research team said: “The crypto market has plunged after the Fed decision. Tomorrow’s US unemployment rate announcement is expected to induce more volatility, with the ‘actual’ figure coming in higher than the ‘expected’ one, which is positive for cryptocurrencies.”
At 12:21 pm IST, Bitcoin (BTC) was down 3.2% at $64,285, while Ethereum was down nearly 4.5% at $3,313. Meanwhile, the global market cryptocurrency The market capitalization fell 3.6% to around $2.3 trillion in the last 24 hours.
“Bitcoin needs to clear its 200-day EMA at $64,510 to consolidate further. Otherwise, a retest of $62,000 could be in the cards,” said Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus.
Altcoins and meme coins, such as BNB (3%), Solana (8%), XRP (5.7%), Dogecoin (5%), Cardano (4.6%), Avalanche (4.3%), Shiba Inu (3.8%), Polkadot (3.4%), and Chainlink (4%) also saw declines.
The volume of all stablecoins is now $71.64 billion, which is 92.19% of the total cryptocurrency market volume in 24 hours, according to data available on CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 54.99%. BTC volume in the last 24 hours increased by 23.3% to $35.7 billion.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, opinions and views provided by experts are personal. They do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
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News
Altcoins WIF, BONK, RUNE, JUP Down 10% While Bitcoin Drops 4%
Altcoins dogwifhat, Bonk, THORChain, and Jupiter have suffered losses of more than 10%, while Bitcoin is down 4% in the last 24 hours.
After a period of relative calm yesterday, July 31, Bitcoin (BTC) price action has seen a drastic change as the cryptocurrency dropped by more than $3,500, bringing its value to $63,300. At the same time, altcoins mirrored this trend, with the total value of liquidated positions rising to nearly $225 million over the course of the day.
Initially, the week started on a positive note for Bitcoin, which reached its highest point since early June, hitting $70,000. However, this peak was short-lived, as it was quickly rejected, leading to a substantial decline, with Bitcoin falling below $65,500.
The cryptocurrency managed to regain some stability, trading comfortably at around $66,800. However, following a Press conference According to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, the value of Bitcoin has fallen again to $64,300, down more than 3% in 24 hours.
BTC Price Chart 24 Hours | Source: crypto.news
The recession coincided with a relationship from the New York Times stating that Iran had called for retaliatory measures against Israel following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, increasing the risk of further conflict in the region.
Meanwhile, on the economic front, the Federal Reserve decided to keep its benchmark interest rates in place, offering little information on a planned September rate cut. Powell also hinted that while no concrete decisions have been made on the September adjustment, there is growing consensus that a rate cut is likely.
Amid Bitcoin’s decline, altcoins have suffered even more significant losses. For example, dogwifhat (Wife) saw a 12.4% drop and (DISGUST) has suffered a 10% drop. Other altcoins such as THORChain (RUNE) also fell by 10%, while Jupiter (JUPITER) and the Ethereum naming service (ENS) decreased by 8% and 9% respectively.
Among the largest-cap cryptocurrencies, the biggest losers are Solana (SOL) with a decrease of 8%, (Exchange rate risk) down 6%, Cardano (ADA) down 4%, and both Ethereum (ETH) and Dogecoin (DOGE) recording a decrease of 4.4%.
Data from CoinGlass indicates that approximately 67,000 traders have been negatively impacted by this increased volatility. BTC positions have seen $61.85 million in liquidations, while ETH positions have faced $61 million. In total, the value of liquidated positions stands at $225.4 million at the time of writing.
News
Riot Platforms Sees 52% Drop in Bitcoin Production in Q2
Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms has released its second-quarter financial results, highlighting a decline in cryptocurrency mined due to the recent halving.
Colorado-based Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Riot platforms revealed its second quarter financial results, highlighting a significant reduction in mined cryptocurrencies attributed to the recent halving event that took place in early April.
The company reported total revenue of $70 million for the quarter ended July 31, a decline of 8.7% compared to the same period in 2023. Riot Platforms attributed the revenue decline primarily to a $9.7 million decrease in engineering revenue, which was partially mitigated by a $6 million increase in Bitcoin extraction income.
During the quarter, the company mined 844 BTC, representing a decline of over 50% from Q2 2023, citing the halving event and increasing network difficulty as major factors behind the decline. Riot Platforms reported a net loss of $84.4 million, or $0.32 per share, missing Zacks Research forecast a loss of $0.16 per share.
Halving increases competitive pressure
The Colorado-based firm said the average cost of mining one BTC in the second quarter, including energy credits, rose to $25,327, a remarkable 341% increase from $5,734 per BTC in the same quarter of 2023. Despite this significant increase in production costs, the firm remains optimistic about maintaining competitiveness through recent deals.
For example, following the Recent acquisition Cryptocurrency firm Block Mining, Riot has increased its distributed hash rate forecast from 31 EH/s to 36 EH/s by the end of 2024, while also increasing its 2025 forecast from 40 EH/s to 56 EH/s.
Riot Platforms Hashrate Growth Projections by 2027 | Source: Riot Platforms
Commenting on the company’s financials, Riot CEO Jason Les said that despite the halving, the mining company still managed to achieve “significant operational growth and execution of our long-term strategy.”
“Despite this reduction in production available to all Bitcoin miners, Riot reported $70 million in revenue for the quarter and maintained strong gross margins in our core Bitcoin mining business.”
Jason Les
Following its Q2 financial report, Riot Platforms shares fell 1.74% to $10.19, according to Google Finance data. Meanwhile, the American miner continues to chase Canadian rival Bitfarms, recently acquiring an additional 10.2 million BITF shares, increasing its stake in Bitfarms to 15.9%.
As previously reported by crypto.news, Riot was the first announced a $950 million takeover bid for Bitfarms in late May, arguing that Bitfarms’ founders were not acting in the best interests of all shareholders. They said their proposal was rejected by Bitfarms’ board without substantive engagement.
In response, Bitfarms She said that Riot’s offer “significantly understates” its growth prospects. Bitfarms subsequently implemented a shareholder rights plan, also known as a “poison pill,” to protect its strategic review process from hostile takeover attempts.
News
Aave Price Increases Following Whales Accumulation and V3.1 Launch
Decentralized finance protocol Aave is seeing a significant spike in whale activity as the market looks to recover from the recent crash that pushed most altcoins into key support areas earlier this week.
July 31, Lookonchain shared details indicating that the whales had aggressively accumulated Aave (AAVE) over the past two days. According to the data, whales have withdrawn over 58,848 AAVE worth $6.47 million from exchanges during this period.
In one instance, whale address 0x9af4 withdrew 11,185 AAVE worth $1.23 million from Binance. Meanwhile, another address moved 21,619 AAVE worth over $2.38 million from the exchange and deposited the tokens into Aave.
These withdrawals follow a previous transfer of 26,044 AAVE from whale address 0xd7c5, amounting to over $2.83 million withdrawn from Binance.
AAVE price has surged over 7% in the past 24 hours amid buy-side pressure from these whales. The DeFi token is currently trading around $111 after jumping over 18% in the past week.
Recently, the price of AAVE increased by over 8% after Aave founder Marc Zeller announced a proposed fee change aimed at adopting a buyback program for AAVE tokens.
Aave v3.1 is available
The total value locked in the Aave protocol currently stands at around $22 billion. According to DeFiLlamaApproximately $19.9 billion is on Aave V3, while the V2 chain still holds approximately $1.9 billion in TVL and V1 approximately $14.6 million.
Aave Labs announced Previously, Aave V3.1 was made available on all networks with active Aave V3 instances.
V3.1 features improvements that are intended to improve the overall security of the DeFi protocol. The Aave DAO governance has approved the v3.1 improvements, which also include operational efficiency and usability for the network.
Meanwhile, Aave Labs recently outlined a ambitious roadmap for the projectwith a 2030 vision for Aave V4, among other developments.
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