Banking uses 56 times more energy than Bitcoin: Valuechain report

June 16, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Banking

Analysis of Bitcoin’s Proof of Work and the Lightning Network exposes the banking system as energy hungry, demonstrating that Bitcoin is better for the planet.

Fresh figures on Bitcoin’s (BTC) energy consumption, efficiency and scalability serve to expose the banking sector while bathing the world's largest cryptocurrency in a new light.

A research report published by Michel Khazzaka, an IT engineer, cryptographer and consultant, calculates that Bitcoin payments are a "million times more efficient" than the legacy financial system. Plus, the Banking sector “uses 56 times more energy than Bitcoin.”

The report compiles almost four years of research and suggests a new calculation for estimating Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work energy consumption. In an interview, Khazzaka told Cointelegraph:

“Bitcoin Lightning, and Bitcoin, in general, are really great and very efficient technological solutions that deserve to be adopted on a large scale. This invention is brilliant enough, efficient enough, and powerful enough to get mass adoption.”

Khazzaka, who founded payments consultancy Valuechain in late 2021, proposes an alternative to the energy estimates provided by Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI). The index, often cited by Cointelegraph, estimates that Bitcoin consumes roughly 122 TW/H per year.

Taking into account the average lifespan of Bitcoin mining machines as well as the rate at which new IT materials are created, Khazzaka suggests that Bitcoin consumes 88.95 TWh per year, considerably less than Cambridge's estimate.

Graph to show total count of mining units over time over 160 months. Source: Khazzaka report

A payments specialist who wrote his dissertation about cryptography in 2003, and discovered Bitcoin in 2011, Khazzaka also puts the banking sector under the microscope in order to effectively compare the two monetary systems. Khazzaka told Cointelegraph he “really underestimates every aspect of the banking sector,” and contrary to critics, his report is “biased to the banking system.”

Nonetheless, taking into account the creation of money, transporting money, physical banking infrastructure energy consumption, etc, he arrives at a figure of 4,981 TWh. Rounded up, 5,000 TWh is consumed by the “classical payments” sector every year. Consequently, banking uses 56 times more energy than Bitcoin.

The report examines transaction efficiency revealing that “Today, at current block size and if the blocks are filled to their maximum capacity ηmax = 5.7× better energy efficiency than the classical system.” However, that’s without taking into account the Lightning Network. In the interview, Khazzaka explained:

“Lightning will allow the bitcoin protocol to do more transactions without consuming more energy. And this is magic.”

The report concludes that the combination of Bitcoin and the Lightning Network allows Bitcoin to become “194 million” times more energy efficient than a classical payment system.

For Khazzaka, the report lays bare that the “Banking and payments industry needs to adopt blockchain and maybe even Bitcoin.” While Khazzaka’s conclusion may come as a surprise to the cypherpunks and anarchocapitalists who favor the crypto space, Khazzaka believes that Bitcoin could actually benefit banking:

“If they are courageous enough blockchain technology, it will improve their efficiency and their scalability.”

Although Bitcoin's energy use is frequently critiqued, the investigation into the banking sector will come as welcome news to many.

Report: Three Arrows Capital Liquidated for Millions, Sources Say Crypto Hedge Fund May Face Insolvency

June 15, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Despite what you heard, NFT market is far from dead: DappRadar

June 9, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

There’s no question that blue-chip NFT collections such as BAYC have declined in value recently, but the market for digital collectibles is much bigger.

The market for nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, has slowed from its peak, but that doesn’t mean the industry is dead — far from it, actually.

NFT sales volumes came in at a healthy $3.7 billion in May, according to DappRadar’s latest Industry Report, which was released on Wednesday. While volumes were down 20% compared with April, industry activity remains robust considering that crypto assets as a whole are in a bear market .

DappRadar also highlighted the fact that marketplace volumes aren’t down nearly as much when measured in their native tokens such as Ether (ETH). Case in point: OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, generated 950,000 ETH in trading volume last month, which was down only 6.5% compared with April. When measured in United States dollars, OpenSea’s monthly volumes decreased by 25%.

Meanwhile, Solana NFTs posted their best trading month, generating $335 million in volume across all marketplaces for an increase of 13% compared with April.

*While NFT sales and trading volume are down from their peak, industry activity remains robust. Source: DappRadar.*

DappRadar’s report cited NFT collections such as Moonbirds and Solana’s Okay Bears as being the biggest catalysts for the industry’s solid performance in May. Meanwhile, the free-to-mint NFT collection Goblintown has generated $31 million in sales since launching on May 22. The high demand pushed the project’s floor price from zero to 6 ETH at the time of publication.

However, the news wasn’t all positive, as so-called “blue-chip” collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) saw their value decline sharply as buyers shifted to the newly hyped collections. The floor price for BAYC declined 38% in May, falling from 150 ETH to 93 ETH, according to DappRadar.

Although NFTs are not immune to crypto market volatility, the industry appears to be carving out a strong niche — and gaining mainstream adoption in the process. According to a recent report by crypto data aggregator CoinGecko, the NFT market is projected to move more than $800 billion over the next two years.

11% of US insurers invest — or are interested in investing — in crypto

June 2, 2022 Coin Telegraph

CFO

Of the 328 CFOs and CIOs representing around half of the global insurance industry, 6% responded their firm was either already invested or considering an investment into cryptocurrencies.

United States-based insurers are the most interested in cryptocurrency investment according to a Goldman Sachs global survey of 328 chief financial and chief investment officers regarding their firm’s asset allocations and portfolios.

The investment banking giant recently released its annual global insurance investment survey, which included responses regarding cryptocurrencies for the first time, finding that 11% of U.S. insurance firms indicated either an interest in investing or a current investment in crypto.

Speaking on the company’s Exchanges at Goldman Sachs podcast on Tuesday, Goldman Sachs global head of insurance asset management Mike Siegel said he was surprised to get any result:

“We surveyed for the first time on crypto, which I thought would get no respondents, but I was surprised. A good 6% of the industry respondents indicated that they’re either invested in crypto or considering investing in crypto.”

Asia-based insurers were next in line, with 6% interested or currently invested, and European insurers came in at only 1%.

The report found cryptocurrencies were in fifth place for the asset class insurers expect to deliver the highest returns over the next 12 months, with 6% ranking it as their first choice, beating United States and European equities.

Around 2% of firms indicated a current crypto investment, and while it’s a small number of firms indicating investment or interest, Goldman Sachs analysts wrote that this level of interest “is still notable.”

On the podcast, Siegel discussed a follow-up survey conducted of crypto-interested firms to understand their motivation behind purchasing:

“We did some follow-up questions on that, and generally, the companies that are either invested or considering crypto are doing so to understand the market and to understand the infrastructure. But if this becomes a transactable currency, they want to have the ability down the road to denominate policies in crypto and also accept premium in crypto, just like they do in, say, dollars or yen or sterling or euro.”

Only 1% of the total surveyed firms said they would increase their crypto position over the next 12 months; 7% said they would maintain their current position; and 92% said they would not invest in crypto over the next year.

Despite the growing interest, there are still those pessimistic about crypto as 16% said it was an asset class they expected to deliver the lowest returns over the next 12 months. Overall, crypto was the third-lowest ranked asset class on this measure.

Mathew McDermott, the bank’s global head of digital assets, wrote in the report:

“As the crypto market continues to mature, coupled with growing regulatory certainty, a cross-section of institutions are becoming more confident to explore investment opportunities as well as recognizing the disruptive impact of the underlying blockchain technology. I have been positively surprised by the rising adoption by global Asset Managers, who clearly recognize the potential of this market.”

Jack Dorsey’s Block hits $1.3B in Q1 profits, $43M in BTC trading revenue

May 19, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Jack Dorsey’s Block hits .3B in Q1 profits, M in BTC trading revenue

Bitcoin Price

Despite that the Bitcoin price trended down over Q1, the Block ecosystem of payment solutions with Bitcoin in mind performed well.

Block, the pro-Bitcoin (BTC) umbrella company that hosts Cash App, Square and Afterpay, continues its growth in 2022. According to its Shareholder letter, in the first quarter of 2022, gross profits are “up 34% year over year.”

In total, the group netted $1.29 billion in gross profits. However, operating costs were also up “$1.52 billion in the first quarter of 2022, up 70% year over year.” The group explains that the acquisition of Afterpay, a buy now pay later service, could explain the increasing costs.

In total net Block’s revenues reached $3.96 billion from January to March 2022, down 22% compared to 2022. The group confirms that the drop was “driven by a decrease in Bitcoin revenue.”

Cash App, Block’s Bitcoin retail outlet as well as a mobile payment service, continued to sell Satoshis, although the figures are less promising than the previous quarter:

"Cash App generated $1.73 billion of Bitcoin revenue and $43 million of Bitcoin gross profit during the first quarter of 2022, down 51% and 42% year over year, respectively".

In light of Bitcoin prices struggling to break $30,000 in quarter two, the group will take encouragement from an increase in non-Bitcoin revenues in quarter one. On the march by 44$ year on year, to $2.23 billion, the Block ecosystem which also includes Tidal and the group TBD is not wholly dependent on crypto market performance.

Plus, the Square ecosystem of payment solutions for merchants, including point of sale devices, has performed well. It delivered a "gross profit of $661 million, an increase of 41% year over year.”

The quarterly report made 81 mentions of Bitcoin and zero of cryptocurrency, holding true to Jack Dorsey’s Bitcoin-maxi credentials. Furthermore, the report states that over 10 million Cash App accounts have bought Bitcoin. Cash App does not offer the purchase of popular cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum (ETH) or Dogecoin (DOGE).

In April, it was announced that its customers in the United States could automatically invest a portion of their direct deposit paychecks into Bitcoin using Cash App, or that their “direct deposits” would automatically convert, says the report.

Cointelegraph Research launches venture capital database

May 18, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

A new database from Cointelegraph Research tracks VC activity in the crypto and blockchain industry in unprecedented detail.

Despite the generally negative price action across the crypto industry, continued venture capital investments in the space indicate that the industry is healthy and continues to evolve. Cointelegraph Research’s new venture capital database tracks the activity of VC firms and gives users access to the most important bellwether of innovation and early-stage activity.

Macroeconomic factors have been strangling the crypto economy over the past few weeks and are stoking fears of a prolonged downturn. After the United States Federal Reserve announced it would hike interest rates by 50 basis points, crypto prices went into freefall. Then on May 9, a black swan event affected the Terra ecosystem and wider space when the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) lost its one-to-one peg to the U.S. dollar.

Nonetheless, VC investment in the industry appears to continue undisturbed. So far, Q2 2022 has seen $6.8 billion in venture capital investment. This number may remain on track to match the uptick seen in the previous quarter.

Yet, this should not be taken as an indicator of imminent recovery across the crypto market. VC investments and returns have historically shown extraordinarily weak correlations with both crypto and traditional assets. Depending on the funding stage, it can take years for companies receiving investments to break even, despite the outsized annualized returns that blockchain venture capitalists have achieved recently.

VC investors are in it for the long term when funding a project, and private equity investment does not strongly affect the price movements of publicly traded assets. Instead, activity by VC actors should be taken as a long-term indicator of the level of innovation in the space. Continued investment in startups working on Web3, decentralized finance (DeFi), infrastructure and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) proves that the blockchain industry is still a young, dynamic space — one that is rapidly evolving to adapt to technical challenges.

Cointelegraph Research has put together an industry-leading database that documents this development. It keeps track of all publicly announced VC funding rounds and contains over 5,000 records of venture capital deals in blockchain made over the past 10 years.

Purchase the VC database on the Cointelegraph Research Terminal

Not only does this data provide valuable insight into the level of innovation and future potential of the space, but it also gives early cues regarding potential projects to invest in. VC investors have a nose for promising technologies and are known for spotting auspicious projects long before their coin pumps and hits the mainstream news.

Occasional triple-digit annualized returns are solid evidence of this. To start exploring the darlings of private equity and take advantage of our extensive database of deals, visit the Cointelegraph Research Terminal. The VC database is available for preview and purchase alongside cutting-edge industry reports on DeFi, NFTs, GameFi, mining and more.

Some of the notable VC deals that have already taken place this quarter include Indian crypto trading platform CoinDCX raising $135 million in a Series D funding round, with significant contributions from Pantera Capital and Steadview.

Stablecoin issuer Circle, which backs USD Coin (USDC), closed a round for $400 million after partnering with big names from traditional finance. In late April, Near Protocol — an up-and-coming carbon-neutral smart contract blockchain that integrates with Ethereum, Polkadot and Cosmos — raised $350 million for its ecosystem. There are no strong signs that VC activity is slowing, which indicates that despite the current price uncertainty, the crypto space may not face an innovation winter.

This article is for information purposes only and represents neither investment advice nor an investment analysis or an invitation to buy or sell financial instruments. Specifically, the document does not serve as a substitute for individual investment or other advice.

Cointelegraph Research Terminal launches, home to critical crypto data reports

May 17, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The new Cointelegraph Research Terminal brings reports, expert analysis and comprehensive database access — all in one convenient package.

Cointelegraph — one of the oldest crypto media companies, founded in 2013 — has launched the Cointelegraph Research Terminal. The Research Terminal will be a convenient one-stop location to find past industry analysis, premium research reports and access to exclusive databases. The website is live, and subscriptions to the premium features are active.

Cointelegraph Research has produced some of the best in-depth analyses on the blockchain and crypto industry, hitting on trends before they land in the mainstream. One of the Cointelegraph Research Terminal’s most recent public reports is on game finance, asking: “GameFi: Can blockchain-based gaming redefine the industry?”

Being ahead of the curve in the dynamically evolving crypto space can be tough, but Cointelegraph Research has found a solution to help alleviate this problem: the Cointelegraph Research Terminal.

The Research Terminal

Cointelegraph aims to unite the hard-won experience of cryptocurrency expertise with talent from across the fields of finance, economics and technology to bring to the market the premier source for industry reports and insightful analysis. The Cointelegraph Research Terminal will be a one-stop-shop that will begin by focusing on three major areas but has plans for more as time goes on.

The three areas of initial focus will be to provide collections of previous research reports, access to current premium reports, and permissions to databases with up-to-date information on all areas of the crypto space.

Public reports

Cointelegraph Research has been producing reports since 2020 on a myriad of topics that can provide insights for the discerning investor. The Research Terminal will make all of these previously created reports available to subscribers.

Reports such as “Security Token Report,” “Polkadot: The Bedrock of the New Web,” “Does the Future of Decentralized Finance Still Belong to Ethereum?” and “Nonfungible Tokens: A New Frontier” are just a few examples of the variety of subjects that will be available in the Cointelegraph Research Terminal. The overwhelming feedback from clients was that they wanted even more, which was part of the impetus to create the new services found in the Cointelegraph Research Terminal, such as premium reports.

Premium reports

In addition to past publications, the Cointelegraph Research Terminal will provide access to premium reports found nowhere else. A great example of such is “Landscape of Publically Listed Crypto-Mining Companies,” which covers 12 of the largest publicly traded crypto mining companies from Q1 2022 and provides unparalleled insights.

Another example is the “Regulations Report,” which covers what happened to the crypto industry globally in the first half of 2022, along with expert insights into how the crypto landscape will be impacted. These premium reports stay ahead of trends and are written by a staff of educated, knowledgeable individuals who can provide industry insights in practical ways.

Expansive database

Each quarter, the Cointelegraph Research Terminal publishes a public Venture Capital Report, providing a high-level overview of the activities going on behind the scenes in the crypto industry. However, in between publications of this and other reports, there is a lag time. It is the nature of any news source or reporting.

But what if someone wants the data before the next report is produced? The Research Terminal has that covered with access to the databases. This will allow interested parties to look up information across the crypto space, including merger and acquisition deals, which investors made which deal, what investors have in their portfolio, what sectors are trending, what protocols are receiving the most backing, historical price action of different blockchains and so much more.

The subscriber may dive as deeply into the data as they want at any time. There is also a Regulatory Database that is designed to show the actions of regulators and law enforcement agencies on companies and individuals that operate within the digital assets market. These databases are important for institutions, offices, funds and firms to stay on top of.

Why Cointelegraph’s Research Terminal?

One of the most valuable assets a person has is time. The Cointelegraph Research Terminal allows the reader to save that precious time by coming to a singular location and having the entire crypto and blockchain space at their fingertips. Cointelegraph is properly positioned to bring clients the best-in-class research to keep informed and with a competitive advantage in the ever-changing crypto landscape.

The Cointelegraph Research Terminal aims to provide the best quality information and research available to subscribers in a convenient package that saves them time while providing valuable market insights. Historical and current premium reports, along with relevant databases, make the Cointelegraph Research Terminal a must-read website for serious crypto participants.

Check out the website here and follow Cointelegraph Research on Twitter, LinkedIn and Telegram to receive the latest updates to the Cointelegraph Research Terminal.

This article is for information purposes only and represents neither investment advice nor an investment analysis nor an invitation to buy or sell financial instruments. Specifically, the document does not serve as a substitute for individual investment or other advice.

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