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Bitcoin Braces for Record Difficulty Surge Ahead of Retarget as Miners Push Network to New Heights

Bitcoin Braces for Record Difficulty Surge Ahead of Retarget as Miners Push Network to New HeightsScheduled for Feb. 15, 2024, the upcoming Bitcoin difficulty retarget is poised to mark a notable upswing in the network. Current projections forecast an estimated difficulty surge ranging from 8.45% to 9.2%, setting the record for the steepest increase of 2024 thus far. Bitcoin Difficulty Poised for a Steep Increase This week, bitcoin (BTC) mining […]

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Ethereum logs $1M MEV block reward amid Curve Finance exploit

The highest recently generated block reward was 584 ETH, created by a MEV bot front-running transactions during the DeFi chaos.

The recent Curve Finance exploit has reportedly led to one of the largest ever maximal extractable value (MEV) reward blocks of 584.05 Ether (ETH). 

On July 31, Ethereum core developer “eric.eth” reported that “today has produced some of the largest MEV reward blocks in Ethereum’s history,” adding it was caused by the exploit of Curve Finance stable pools on July 30.

Data shows a larger MEV reward block of 692 ETH was recorded in March.

“A bot notices an incoming hack in the mempool, reproduces the tx [transaction] and front runs it”, he explained before adding, “To do so they pay the block producer a lot of ETH to be front of the line.”

A MEV bot is designed to generate extra revenue by reordering and/or inserting transactions in an otherwise normal block to generate arbitrage opportunities.

MEV bots can also see pending liquidation transactions and front-run them to buy the liquidated assets first at a discount.

The validator gets to propose a block using a relay that outsources their block production to entities specialized in extracting this extra revenue. They will get a cut of this revenue in exchange for allowing the MEV bot to front-run the transaction.

This is known as the “block reward” and some huge ones have been logged over the past few hours.

The highest MEV bot block reward was 584.05 ETH, valued at around $1 million, confirmed at 1.34 am UTC on July 31, according to Beaconcha.in. There were also block rewards for 345 ETH and 247 ETH around that time.

Related: Vyper vulnerability exposes DeFi ecosystem to stress tests

Moral questions were raised among the responses to the tweet and the implications of potentially illicit funds being used to pay validators to allow the front-running of transactions.

“And this is where the morality of MEV rewards going to miners gets pretty shady. These are effectively hacked funds.”

In April, a Subway-themed trading bot made millions in extractable value by using “sandwich attacks” during the memecoin trading frenzy.

Collect this article as an NFT to preserve this moment in history and show your support for independent journalism in the crypto space.

Magazine: Should crypto projects ever negotiate with hackers? Probably

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Ancient Bitcoin Block Rewards See Decrease in Spending After Record Activity in 2020 and 2021

Ancient Bitcoin Block Rewards See Decrease in Spending After Record Activity in 2020 and 2021In 2021, a number of 2010 block rewards were spent after the bitcoins sat idle for more than a decade. Furthermore, in 2020 and 2021, an early miner from 2010 spent strings of 20 ancient block rewards. In 2022, however, only 17 block rewards from 2010 were spent. Alongside this, on March 10, 2022, an […]

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While Miners Deal With Low BTC Prices, Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Target Expected to Increase 3% Higher

While Miners Deal With Low BTC Prices, Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Target Expected to Increase 3% HigherBitcoin’s mining difficulty target is expected to increase on Dec. 19, 2022, after printing the largest reduction recorded in 2022 on Dec. 5, at block height 766,080. During the last 2,016 blocks, Bitcoin’s hashrate has been around 254.3 exahash per second (EH/s), and block intervals have been faster at 9:41 minutes per block. Bitcoin’s Difficulty […]

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Bitcoin’s Total Hashrate Slides Lower in December as BTC Miners Struggle for Profits

Bitcoin’s Total Hashrate Slides Lower in December as BTC Miners Struggle for ProfitsWhile bitcoin prices have been lower than the estimated cost of bitcoin production, the network’s hashrate has dropped a great deal since mid-November. Presently, the total hashrate dedicated to the Bitcoin network is coasting along at 236 exahash per second (EH/s) after dropping below the 200 EH/s range six days ago. Bitcoin’s Hashrate Slips Lower […]

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Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Expected to Drop Significantly, Retarget Could Be 2022’s Largest Reduction

Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Expected to Drop Significantly, Retarget Could Be 2022’s Largest ReductionBitcoin miners could catch a break in a week or so, on or around Dec. 5, 2022, as the next difficulty retarget is expected to see a significantly large reduction. Estimates show the next difficulty retarget could drop anywhere between 6.13% and 10% lower. Presently, the difficulty change looks as though it could be 2022’s […]

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Bitcoin’s Top Mining Pool Foundry USA’s Hashrate Climbed 350% in 12 Months

Bitcoin’s Top Mining Pool Foundry USA’s Hashrate Climbed 350% in 12 MonthsLast year, Bitcoin’s total network hashrate was around 160 exahash per second (EH/s), and 15 known mining pools dedicated hashrate to Bitcoin on Nov. 6, 2021. At that time, the mining pool Foundry USA was the fifth largest mining pool with 18.44 EH/s dedicated to the Bitcoin chain. During the last 12 months, Foundry has […]

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Litecoin pre-halving fractal hints at 200% LTC price rally by July 2023

Litecoin's momentum indicators signal extremely oversold conditions, hinting at the formation of a potential market bottom.

The price of Litecoin (LTC) could skyrocket by up to 200% by July 2023, coinciding with its halving event, reducing miner block rewards by 50%.

Litecoin has bottomed out?

Litecoin has undergone two halvings since its launch in October 2011. The first one occurred in August 2015, which reduced its block reward from 50 LTC to 25 LTC. The second happened in August 2019, which slashed the 25 LTC reward to 12.5 LTC.

Interestingly, each Litecoin halving event occurred after a volatile LTC price cycle, namely an enormous price pump, followed by a similarly massive correction, a price bottom, and recovery to a local top.

After the Litecoin halvings, LTCs' price corrected from its local top, established another bottom, and followed it with another massive price rally to a new record high, as shown below,

LTC/USD weekly price chart featuring halving fractals. Source: TheScalpingPro

Litecoin's third halving is scheduled to occur sometime in July 2023. Meanwhile, market analysts are already pointing out that LTC's price is undergoing the same pre-halving trajectory as before the 2011 and 2019 events, now in the bottoming-out stage.

The Scalping Pro, an independent market analyst, added a dose of MACD and RSI momentum indicators to support the bullish outlook. Momentum indicators determine an asset's oversold and overbought conditions to predict potential trend reversals.

On a weekly timeframe, LTC's RSI and MACD have turned extremely oversold, which coincided with market bottoms ahead of the previous halving events. Thus, the analyst considers it a strong cue for another major LTC price rally.

Will LTC price reach $180 by July 2023?

Litecoin may see a new local top if it has indeed bottomed out near $40 in June 2022.

Related: Research report outlines why the crypto market might be on the verge of a reversal

Drawing Fibonacci retracement graphs between Litecoin's pre-halving correction peaks and bottoms highlights the likelihood of testing the 0.236 and 0.382 Fib lines as their upside targets.

LTC/USD weekly price chart featuring Fib line targets. Source: TradingView

For instance, in 2011, Litecoin established its local top at the 0.236 Fib line near $10 in July, six months after bottoming out near $1.31.

LTC/USD weekly price chart featuring pre-1st-halving trend. Source: TradingView

In 2019, LTC price formed its local top at the 0.382 Fib line near $340 in June after bouncing from around $21 in December 2018. 

LTC/USD weekly price chart featuring pre-2nd-halving trend. Source: TradingView

In the current scenario, Litecoin's 0.236 and 0.382 Fib lines coincide with approximately $130 and $180, respectively.

LTC/USD weekly price chart featuring pre-3rd-halving trend. Source: TradingView

These levels could become potential local tops if Litecoin confirms $40 as its bottom. In other words, a 100%-200% price rally by July 2023 when measured from the current price levels.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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