The Bitcoin Saga

[AK_Icebear]

@HumanTon

Reminder that with every round of sell-offs, holdings of Bitcoin become more and more consolidated.

Is this a fact, unique to Bitcoin, or a truism of any market in any selloff? Just not sure why this should be a sign of something amiss.

[rei]

Yay for the blockchain!

Indie devs outraged by unlicensed game sales on GameStop’s NFT market

[HumanTon]

@AK_Icebear

Is this a fact, unique to Bitcoin, or a truism of any market in any selloff? Just not sure why this should be a sign of something amiss.

It’s not true to a meaningful extent for entire markets, because the ownership is so dispersed. Even if a bunch of people get out of stocks during a downturn, there are still millions of entities owning stocks left in the market.

It is true for individual small stocks, though - not the NASDAQ overall, but a given single company. In which case you can get things like, “The price is down 10% this quarter, because one of the heirs who owns a fifth of the company is retiring and liquidating.”

The point is that Bitcoin, being a single asset, is way more like that second case - prone to changes caused by individual whales - than it is like the NASDAQ as a whole.

(It’s not necessarily a sign of anything amiss, mind you, just a sign that that a small market can swing far more than a densely populated one.)

[Woolen_Horde]

Nomad: Hackers Can Keep 10% of Stolen Crypto if They Return the Rest

[AK_Icebear]

Much appreciated!

[JonRowe]

I look up some info on Helium and distributed wifi and got this

In my news feed.

[Tim_N]

@JonRowe

and got this

So you’re saying it will moon and a good buy right now?

[Tim_N]

@HumanTon

Here’s an interesting chart I hadn’t looked at before - Bitcoin trading volume over 5 years. It’s way down now over the frenzy of 2018.

I would not trust this chart at all since Binance isn’t included in it. Trading volume of btc is waaay up on binance relative to 2018, and they are now the largest exchange. Trading volume of all alt coins is also significantly up on 2018.

[HumanTon]

The Treasury Department just banned Americans from using crypto laundering site Tornado Cash.

Any person interacting with [Tornado Cash’s] wallet addresses could now face criminal penalties,

[Mark_Asher]

Tornado Cash? The name inspires nothing but confidence!

[scottagibson]

@Mark_Asher

Tornado Cash? The name inspires nothing but confidence!

Next up? The Money Shitstorm!

[Ginger_Yellow]

Crypto notables are being sent ETH from sanctioned Tornado Cash wallets

[JonRowe]

Hehehehe.

Smart, spread the laundered money around.

They can’t take them all down!

[Menzo]

Home of world’s most-infamous internet scam most interested in internet’s newest scam.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-10/the-most-curious-nation-about-crypto-is-nigeria-study-shows

[charmtrap]

Too bad for them, all the easy money has been skimmed off already.

[KallDrexx]

Bitcoin mining operation Riot Blockchain earns more money in July by not...

The Bitcoin mining firm Riot Blockchain produced 318 BTC in July, valued at around $6.88 million, from its mining operations located in central Texas. The firm also received $9.5 million in power credits for switching off their power-hungry Bitcoin miners during all-time-high energy demands in a month where the state has been experience extreme heat waves.

A press release from Riot proudly announced that “Riot curtailed a total of 11,717 megawatt hours in July, enough to power 13,121 average homes for one month”, as though it is acceptable that they are normally using this amount of electricity solely to churn out Bitcoins.

They also wrote that “When applied to anticipated power costs for the month, the power credits and other benefits are expected to effectively eliminate Riot’s power costs for July”—meaning that Texas residents are effectively subsidizing the cost of Bitcoin mining whether they like it or not. Meanwhile, the Texas Tribune and The Dallas Morning News report that many Texans are paying 50–70% more for electricity than this time last year.

[Calelari]

Every day, in every way, I wonder if I should be investing in rope futures.

[Ginger_Yellow]

@KallDrexx

Bitcoin mining operation Riot Blockchain earns more money in July by not mining, effectively mines without paying for power

The Bitcoin mining firm Riot Blockchain produced 318 BTC in July, valued at around $6.88 million, from its mining operations located in central Texas. The firm also received $9.5 million in power credits for switching off their power-hungry Bitcoin miners during all-time-high energy demands in a month where the state has been experience extreme heat waves.

A press release from Riot proudly announced that “Riot curtailed a total of 11,717 megawatt hours in July, enough to power 13,121 average homes for one month”, as though it is acceptable that they are normally using this amount of electricity solely to churn out Bitcoins.

They also wrote that “When applied to anticipated power costs for the month, the power credits and other benefits are expected to effectively eliminate Riot’s power costs for July”—meaning that Texas residents are effectively subsidizing the cost of Bitcoin mining whether they like it or not. Meanwhile, the Texas Tribune and The Dallas Morning News report that many Texans are paying 50–70% more for electricity than this time last year.

Dear Texas, I will happily take your money to not mine bitcoin.

[JoshL]

As a Californian who remembers 2000, I say to Texas: Ha, ha!

[Mark_Asher]

I hope Beto is campaigning about the high energy costs in Texas. That’s just more Republican fuckery.