News updates January 23, 2022
1. Bitcoin records all-time high network difficulty amid price fluctuations
The Bitcoin (BTC) network has recorded a new all-time high mining difficulty of 26.643 trillion with an average hash rate of 190.71 exahash per second (EH/s) — signaling strong community support despite an ongoing bear market.
The Bitcoin network difficulty is determined by the overall computational power, which co-relates to the difficulty in confirming transactions and mining BTC. As evidenced by the blockchain.com data, the network difficulty saw a downfall between May and July 2021 due to various reasons including a blanket ban on crypto mining from China.
2. With crypto winter back, the White House is making big plans for the sector
From a $69,000 ATH just last year, Bitcoin has now lost 50% of its value in the current market fall. We can see that the markets are volatile and the adoption in the sector is undeniably at its peak.
Many experts take the market weakness to be the result of the Federal Reserve withdrawing liquidity from the market. But, the fear of regulations stifling the industry is also high.
Russia’s crackdown seems imminent, the UK is growing stringent with crypto advertising and the EU is worried about the mining bit of the sector. Meanwhile, the only prominent debate in the US has been about what constitutes a “security” when it comes to crypto tokens. With the Ripple vs SEC lawsuit at the forefront of the debate.
With that being said, the Biden administration is reportedly preparing its government-wide strategy for digital assets.
3. Investment Strategist warns Crypto Market is in a Massive Bubble set to Burst
Jeremy Grantham, a famed investment strategist, has predicted that all markets, including the crypto market, are in a massive bubble that is set to burst. As reported by Bloomberg, the veteran investor, the market surge in crypto over the past few years points to the nearing the end of a market bubble that is poised to burst. Grantham adds that not even the Federal Reserve Bank’s intervention can remedy the situation.
4. Russian Banks Begin Testing Digital Ruble Payments
Banks in Russia are preparing to dive into the pilot phase of the digital ruble project and some are already testing transactions with the currency. Trials have started with customer-to-customer (C2C) payments and Bank of Russia plans to expand the types of operations in the future.
Digital Ruble Pilot Launches With 12 Participating Banks
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) completed the prototype of the digital ruble platform in December and is now beginning to experiment with transactions. A dozen banks have been invited to join the first stage of the project’s pilot phase. The monetary authority plans to gradually expand the range of participants to include other financial service providers and types of transactions.
Right now, the majority of Russian banks are gearing up to start testing the new central bank digital currency (CBDC), Tass reported after contacting the institutions. One of them, Promsvyazbank (PSB), is currently processing C2C payments, Maxim Khrustalev, advisor to the deputy chairman of the bank told the news agency.
5. Bitcoin Registers New Hash Rate and Mining Difficulty Highs
Despite the recent crash in the cryptocurrency market and Bitcoin moving below $36,000 for the first time in months, hash rate and mining difficulty have registered new highs. This shows that the network remains strong and ready to continue expanding in the future.
However, it is worth taking into consideration that the recent price data might not have yet been registered by the network. That means that the effects of this price drop should be seen by the network in early February, when the next Bitcoin difficulty adjustment takes place.
Bitcoin Registers New Hash Rate and Mining Difficulty Highs
Things seemed to be going on very well for the underlying metrics of Bitcoin. Lightning payments have been growing over the last months and Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty has reached new highs. Additionally, the network’s hash rate has also reached new highs after a hard 2021 with China banning miners in the country.
6. Bitcoin market cap drops 11% in 24 hours
As the Bitcoin market cap drops 11% in 24 hours, the world’s most significant 100 cryptocurrency tokens are trading in the red.
Overall the entire cryptocurrency market cap fell below 12% in the last 24 hours,
Ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency, went down 15%, dropping to $2,400 in the last 24 hours.
The fourth-largest coin, Binance, saw a decline of over 17%, while Cardano slumped to over 15%.
