Intel Details Its Bitcoin-Mining 'Bonanza Mine' Chips
The European Union is open to Bitcoin if regulated
Russia’s Ministry of Finance has formally submitted the draft bill on Bitcoin regulation
Lugano is working on becoming "the European Bitcoin capital”
Bulgarian Stock Exchange starts trading Bitcoin
Canada Warns Crypto Exchanges Not to Promote Self-Custodial Wallets
A Bill approved by Brazil's senate committee would exempt Bitcoin mining hardware taxes
Thailand Stock Exchange to allow trading with Bitcoin
The 6 months+ Bitcoin held is at ATH and on a 2 year low the custody on Exchanges
EU plan: Banning Bitcoin due to environmental concerns
Bitcoin donations to Ukraine are soaring as Russia invades (UPDATED!)
The S&P 500 and Bitcoin correlation after an armed conflict
Senator Ted Cruz bullish Bitcoin speech
Bitcoin trading volume on Ukrainian exchange surged over 200% (UPDATED!)
BNY Mellon is launching a Bitcoin custody platform this year
Lagarde wants to speed up Bitcoin regulations
Bitcoin is officially legal in Ukraine
The first ever Bitcoin funded Pet hospital built in El Salvador
Intel Details Its Bitcoin-Mining 'Bonanza Mine' Chips
I can’t decide that this is an early April 1st fools day joke or Intel thinks this is a competitive hardware in 2022? “At ISSCC 2022, Intel shared the deep-dive details of its new Bitcoin-mining Bonanza Mine ASICs and outlined how it melds 300 of these tiny power-efficient chips into a powerful 3,600W miner that delivers up to 40 THash/s of performance.” by Tom’s hardware
These 1st gen chips are a complete joke. With the stock 55 J/THash/s efficiency it's nearly 3 times worse than the Bitmain flagship chips. To put things into perspective like buying 3 pcs of stock Bitmain Antminer S9 miners with 13.5Th/s hashrate and with around 1350W consumption each. In total you get 40,5 Th/s hashrate and 4050W consumption (w/o undervolting) nearly as the Intel 1st gen miner, just from a 5 year old technique. But Antminer will be a better choice because if one miner fails you lose only 33% of the mining, but if the Intel miner fails you lose 100% of the 40Th/s hashrate. I bet on it that the 3 pcs of Antminer S9 would be way cheaper than these 1st gen Intel miners. It’s a complete joke.
I know the clients ordered from the secretly hidden 2nd gen chipset, but this reveal of the 1st gen is a really bad PR.
The European Union is open to Bitcoin if regulated
“I’m not uncomfortable with digital currencies but we need to regulate them in a proper way” so criminal organizations and terrorists can’t exploit the anonymity allowed by some networks, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said. She sees that with banning they won’t resolve anything. The second step is that they can “regulate”. It depends how they think about it?
Russia’s Ministry of Finance has formally submitted the draft bill on Bitcoin regulation
I was hoping that the government won’t f@ck over the average citizen, but I was wrong. “The use of digital currencies as a means of payment on the territory of the Russian Federation will continue to be prohibited,” the Ministry of Finance said. There is a wild “misunderstanding/fight” between the government and the Bank of Russia. While the ministry has strived to accommodate the burgeoning technology into a legal framework, the central bank has called once and again for a complete ban on the trading and mining of bitcoin. “Russians will have to provide their personal information to buy or sell bitcoin on regulated exchanges, though it is still unclear how much information will be necessary. Users will also only be allowed to buy about $7,700 worth of bitcoin per year upon successful completion of a testing procedure to assess their knowledge level of cryptocurrency. If they fail the test, they will only be able to purchase up to roughly $650 worth of bitcoin per year. Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals to and from an exchange will only be allowed through accounts in a bank, the statement said. It seems, therefore, that users’ won’t be able to withdraw bitcoin to a self-custody wallet.” by Bitcoin Magazine
With these kinds of rules, they only slow down the process of onboarding and the P2P trading of Bitcoin will be just having bigger and bigger traffic. Sadly the criminals will still easily be able to buy huge amounts of Bitcoin, but the average Ivan and Ivanka not. Let’s wait for Putin’s final decision. He can still mix things up!
Lugano is working on becoming "the European Bitcoin capital”
Lugano, the 9th biggest city in Switzerland, plans to become Europe’s Bitcoin city. On March 3rd Michele Foletti, the Mayor of the city of Lugano, will unveil the plan at a live-streamed conference. There is a big possibility that the mayor thinks of his “Plan B” project as a “Plan Blockchain” and not Plan Bitcoin which eventually means another shitcoinery. Hope not, but will find out on March 3rd. More can be read in this article.
Bulgarian Stock Exchange starts trading Bitcoin
The Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) started on February 17th the trading in crypto instruments based on and following Bitcoin and other shitcoin prices.
“By launching the new instruments, BSE joins leading European exchanges such as Deutsche Borse and Euronext, which started trading in these instruments two years ago.” according to the BSE press release.
Canada Warns Crypto Exchanges Not to Promote Self-Custodial Wallets
The Trudeau administration is not even trying to disguise that they are pushing their country into totalitarianism. The Ontario Securities Commission sent tweets from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Kraken CEO Jesse Powell to the Canadian police because it believed that the crypto executives were offering advice on how to evade the sanctions on funds, according to the report. Luckily the representatives for Kraken and Coinbase after some bullshit law friendly notes, they have taken a public stance that they believe money shouldn't be censored and users should have protection from “unjust” seizure of assets.
A Bill approved by Brazil's senate committee would exempt Bitcoin mining hardware taxes
“... Business entities that acquire hardware and software for the processing, mining, or preservation of bitcoin and cryptocurrency would be exempt from import taxes, as well as from some transaction taxes that affect local sales. However, only businesses that exclusively use renewable energy sources and are carbon neutral would be eligible for the tax incentives.” by Bitcoin Magazine
Just to put things into perspective: If you waste massive amounts of money for solar panels or wind turbines then you can be exempt from import taxes and some other fees. I’m sure that to be “carbon neutral” (which is BTW a complete nonsense) will be way bigger price than the import tax. Just imagine how much would be the overhead to be able to mine 24/7 with renewables. It needs massive investment, not worth it. Another example of how the politicians are out of their mind. Of course everything is calculated without subsidies.
Thailand Stock Exchange to allow trading with Bitcoin
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is looking at launching a new digital asset exchange in 2022 and planning to enable new exposure options such as shitcoins.
“While the SET’s upcoming digital asset exchange will not be directly related to crypto markets, the platform will still have something to do with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC).” by Cointelegraph
How odd is this sentence:”... will still have something to do with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin”. Something to do? What? Yeah, Bitcoin is the past, shitcoins are the future, so let’s focus on them. Typical shitcoiner standpoint, but we should expect some thoughtfulness from a country's main stock exchange. Unbelievable how some countries are reacting the opposite way as they should.
The 6 months+ Bitcoin held is at ATH and on a 2 year low the custody on Exchanges
“Bitcoin supply held for at least 6 months has reached a new all-time high of 76.9%, surpassing the previous high set in October 2015.” by @TXMCtrades
“Nearly a 2-year low of #bitcoin being sent to exchanges. More users are HODLING.” by Documenting Bitcoin
EU plan: Banning Bitcoin due to environmental concerns
According to the latest EU Parliament meeting, the Socialists, Greens and Left call for ban of Bitcoin in the European Union due to environmental concerns of proof of work. This is when someone is so stupid that not even searched on the internet before he says something: “Globally, estimates of Bitcoin’s use of renewables range from about 40 percent to almost 75 percent” according to NYTimes. Most of the sources I asked about it are even over 60%. Then we haven’t even talked about the Flare gas mining, which even lowers the air pollution while diminishing the need for flaring. Bitcoin is the most environmentally friendly monetary solution.
Bitcoin donations to Ukraine are soaring as Russia invades (UPDATED!)
“New data from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic shows that over a 12-hour window, nearly $400,000 in bitcoin was donated to Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian NGO providing support to Ukraine’s armed forces.” by CNBC
Yeah Bitcoin knows no boundaries, so it’s unstoppable even in a country under invasion. Just to remember, Bitcoin can be transacted not just through the internet, but via Satelite, RF, SMS and mash-networks too. In case people are in need, people with Bitcoin always help. Bitcoin is for FREEDOM!
(UPDATE: on February 27th already $8 million in bitcoin donated to charity group “Come Back Alive and directly to the government too.”)
The S&P 500 and Bitcoin correlation after an armed conflict
“The market takes 47-days on avg to recover after an armed conflict. The strong correlation between the $SPY and Bitcoin shows that they'll recover together if things escalate.” by @Negentropic_
Senator Ted Cruz bullish Bitcoin speech
I just need to share this speech because this is how a true Bitcoin believer politician talks:
Bitcoin trading volume on Ukrainian exchange surged over 200% (UPDATED!)
With currency controls in place and the hryvnia at all-time lows, Kuna, a long-running native crypto exchange, is seeing a rapid shift in client activity. Trading volumes of bitcoin (BTC) have increased at a major Ukraine cryptocurrency exchange in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion, according to data. According to CoinGecko, the effect was visible at Kuna, a seven-year-old stock with volumes of less than $1 million on Feb. 21 but nearly $4.1 million three days later on February 24th. Meanwhile the National Bank of Ukraine started restricting cash on Wednesday, capping hryvnia withdrawals at 100,000 UAH ($3,353) a day and outright prohibiting cross-border foreign currency purchases and withdrawals.
(UPDATE: on February 25th the Ukrainian central bank suspended cash transfers.)
BNY Mellon is launching a Bitcoin custody platform this year
The world’s largest asset servicer will now be the first global bank to launch a Bitcoin custody platform this year.
“We announced last year that we were standing up for digital asset users. The idea is that we build a digital asset platform, the cornerstone of which is custody that will enable the interoperability of traditional assets and digital.” by Katey Neate, Chief Risk Officer for asset servicing at BNY Mellon
Never forget the rule: Not your keys, not your Bitcoin! Never ever use a custodial solution for holding Bitcoin!
Lagarde wants to speed up Bitcoin regulations
“There are always criminal ways to try to circumvent a prohibition, which is why its so critically important that MiCA is pushed through as quickly as possible so we have a regulatory framework,” Lagarde said in a press briefing when asked if Russia could use cryptocurrencies to bypass penalties.
Who will explain to her that even if the whole EU bans Bitcoin other countries still can use it? What will the EU do if the Russians will be [already] banned from the SWIFT and they will say from tomorrow the payments for nat gas will be in Bitcoin? Even after so many countries tried to ban Bitcoin, Lagarde didn’t learn anything from it.
Bitcoin is officially legal in Ukraine
In the Ukraine - Russian crisis, the Ukrainian government made Bitcoin officially legal in the country. On the country's official Twitter account it was posted a Bitcoin address (other shitcoin too) to accept Bitcoin donations. Literally the Hryvnia monetary function just broke as the war tightened. As long as any network (Internet, RF, mash etc.) can be reached the Bitcoin can support the whole country without any interference. Foreign reporters in Ukraine already bought a car with Bitcoin. I think announcing Bitcoin as a legal tender is just a formal step.
The first ever Bitcoin funded Pet hospital built in El Salvador
The first ever Bitcoin funded animal hospital located in El Salvador is offering all pet services for $0.25 if paid in BTC. This includes not just the diagnosis, but the medications too, which they get from the inhouse Pharmacy. It’s brilliant how Bitcoin can offer pets a near free treatment on the other end of the World. Can’t wait to see other things made possible purely by Bitcoin.
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Global Economic News
TL;DR
In Germany inflation pressure accelerates
Last week global stocks have lost another $1.3tn in market cap
Russia's stocks plunge 14%
Saudi Arabia says they won’t pump more oil
Russia’s economic defense power today
In Germany the consumer morale darkens due to high inflation
Bloomberg Commodity Index hit fresh ATH
Nasdaq in bear market territory
Some Russian Banks were banned from the SWIFT message system
In Germany inflation pressure accelerates
The German Producer Prices jumped by >25% (!) YoY in January. The highest increase since making PPI statistics from 1949. The main propulsion of PPI is the ever rising energy prices, but even without them would be 12% YoY. With the ECB printing press and that they still haven’t changed their mind with the closing of their last 3 nuclear reactors, it’s like intentionally killing the economy!
Last week global stocks have lost another $1.3tn in market cap
“Global stocks have lost another $1.3tn in mkt cap this [last] week on heightened Russia/Ukraine risk & the potential for continual Fed rate hikes this year. The latter is expected to halt growth & trigger a recession by 2023H1 in the US. Stocks now worth $114tn, equal to 134% of global GDP” by Holger Zschaepitz
Russia's stocks plunge 14%
The Moex index plunged as much as 14.2%. It’s the most fall since 2008. The Western sanctions ‘would clearly be problematic’ for investors. Benchmark index Moex now down 30% from its recent record. But don’t forget that like in every war (if this will be too) the oil prices are going sky high which is equally or even better for Russia.
Saudi Arabia says they won’t pump more oil
A 50+ years of US - Saudi Arabia friendship is maybe going to end because the Saudi’s said no to Biden’s request to pump more Oil. I think with the Saudi’s decision, the sanctions against Russia will be weak like a baby fart. As the Oil prices are nearing to $100, with the LNG price rising too, Russia and Saudi Arabia are gaining more and more from it. Don’t think that this is only for doing good with the Russians. The main reason is that the Saudi’s are producing 10m barrels a day and they want to sell it for even higher prices. Now they can use the Ukraine crisis for their own benefit. Will see if the Biden admin can change the Saudi’s decision with some other favors.
Russia’s economic defense power today
“Russia produces 10 million barrels of oil per day. Russian gold reserves are 2,300 tonnes. If oil goes up $10 per barrel, Russia adds $3 billion per month. If gold rises 10%, Russia adds $15 billion. Russia feels no pain, just profit.” by Jim Rickards (NY Times bestselling author)
I can only add to this the following: Russia's Debt to GDP ratio is ~18% vs US's 133%.
“To make himself independent of the West, Putin has stopped investing FX reserves in US govt bonds. Russia now holds only $3.9bn in US govt bonds. The volume used to be $176bn in 2010. Putin has shifted many reserves into Gold.” by Holger Zschaepitz
In Germany the consumer morale darkens due to high inflation
“... GfK Consumer Sentiment Index fell to -8.1 points heading into March from -6.7 points a month earlier as expectations of significant easing in price trends at the beginning of the year have been shattered.” by Holger Zschaepitz
Bloomberg Commodity Index hit fresh ATH
“The Bloomberg Commodity Index hit fresh ATH w/oil prices came within a whisker of hitting $100/bbl, gas and aluminum prices surged on Ukraine crisis.” by Holger Zschaepitz
Nasdaq in bear market territory
“Tech Index Nasdaq is now in bear market territory for 1st time since March 2020.” by Holger Zschaepitz
Some Russian Banks were banned from the SWIFT message system
SWIFT is an independent enterprise based in Belgium that serves as an internal messaging system between more than 11,000 banks and financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories. “We’ve now targeted all 10 of Russia’s largest financial institutions, holding nearly 80% of the Russian banking sector’s total assets,” an anonymous U.S. official person said. The naive question is why not all? What transactions are done on the remaining 20%? Will see what later news will tell, but I can bet that some major transactions are going through that remaining 20% of Banks.
What does this ban even mean? It means:
- No credit cards
- No money transfers
- No other business with countries
- No banking transactions
- No Amazon, Netflix, Apple, ebay, etc.
- It will be difficult to top up a mobile account.
I agree with most Keynesian analysts who have some knowledge about Bitcoin, that with this perfect example about the centralized financial system, Russia, China and Iran will trade between each other using Bitcoin. Time will tell if these recent sections are strong enough to push the Russians to use Bitcoin. In this case even the EU must buy Bitcoin to pay their natural gas bills to Russia.
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“Bitcoin halving regression - There are many Bitcoin regression curves but what if we excluded the blow off tops and crashes and ran it only on just the 3 halving prices? This is the result.” by ChartsBTC
“Bitcoin is so BULLISH” by BTCfuel
“Bitcoin 200 week moving average still increasing. Ignore volatility, focus on the trend.” by PlanB
“If you are an investor or hodler, take time to zoom out and realize nothing has changed.” @JohalMiles
“The odds of a supply shock are increasing once Bitcoin demand kicks in” by @Negentropic_
“Bitcoin mayer multiple is under 0.8” by ChartsBTC
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Bitcoin Shorts
Funny Bitcoin short stories
“It doesn't matter when you buy, it only matters that you never sell.” by Documenting Bitcoin
“Being open source means anyone can independently review the code. If it was closed source, nobody could verify the security. I think it’s essential for a program of this nature to be open source.” — Satoshi Nakamoto on Bitcoin
“If you call this a bear market, you must be new here” by Lina Seiche
Bari Weiss asked Eric Schmidt former CEO of Google:
Q: Are you buying crypto?
A: Bitcoin
“Bitcoin supply. 19 % or ~ 4 million coins are lost forever.
„Lost coins only make everyone else's coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.” - #Satoshi
Let's have a silent minute in memory of the great donors.” by @CarlBMenger
“Amount of Bitcoin left to be mined:” by Documenting Bitcoin
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