US Government Plans to Sell Over 41,000 Bitcoins Confiscated from Silk Road Hacker

According to a court document filed on March 31, 2023, regarding the sentencing of James Zhong, who stole over 50,000 bitcoin from the Silk Road marketplace, the U.S. government plans to liquidate 41,490 bitcoin “over the course of this calendar year.” U.S. Government Discloses Strategy for Selling Confiscated Bitcoin The U.S. government, one of the … Read more

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

Bitcoin’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 … Read more

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

While 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 … Read more

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

Bitcoin 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 … Read more

Onchain Research Shows FTX’s Falling BTC, ETH, Stablecoin Balances ‘Suggest Cracks Had Formed as Far Back as June’

While the analytics firm Nansen published a report that points to the Terra collapse igniting the flames of FTX’s and Alameda Research’s financial problems, onchain data from the intelligence and research firm Glassnode suggests FTX’s “cracks had formed as far back as May-June.” Glassnode’s report highlights a “growing pool of [onchain] data” that shows FTX’s … Read more

Bitcoin Miners Face a Squeeze as BTC Production Cost Remains Well Above Spot Market Value

Bitcoin miners are dealing with lots of pressure following the recent difficulty adjustment increase on Nov. 20, 2022, and the leading crypto asset dropping further in value against the U.S. dollar following FTX’s collapse. Statistics recorded this past weekend show that bitcoin’s average cost of production has been a lot higher than bitcoin’s USD value … Read more