Blockchain Bites: Hashrates Drop, Bitcoiners Hodl and an open letter to bankers

Floods dampen hashrates of bitcoin mining, Ethereum Classic may be smashed from its most popular exchange and bitcoin move from exchanges.

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Exaggerated network
Large Chinese bitcoin mining pools each see daily hashrate drops of between 10% and 20% following persistent rainstorms in Sichuan. China’s southwestern province of Sichuan, which accounts for more than 50% of the total computing power of the Bitcoin network, has been hit by severe rainstorms since last week. BTC.com data shows the world’s top four mining pools – PoolIn, F2Pool, BTC.com and Antpool, all based in China – have each seen their hash rates drop between 10% and 20% in the last 24 hours.

Exchange patterns
Bitcoin exchange reserves have fallen to a 21-month low. Data shows the number of bitcoins held in exchange addresses fell on Monday by 0.83% to 2,610,278 BTC – the lowest level since Nov. 24. 2018. Some see this as an indicator that investors feel is Bullish about the market. Investors tend to move digital assets from their wallets to exchanges as they lose confidence in the current price movement, as happened during the sale of Black Thursday, when bitcoin crashed by 40% and exchange balances increased by 2%. Bitcoin now runs a high of 13 months.

Is ETC OK?
OKEx, the exchange with the highest trading volume of ethereum classic (ETC), is considering depreciating the cryptocurrency after two recent attacks of 51% removed $ 5.6 million from its coiffures. “Given the popularity and status of ETC, we are in no hurry to write it off … We also do not want to account for ETC’s security vulnerabilities, which have made it particularly vulnerable to attack (s),” said Jay Hao, CEO of the exchange. The hacker is believed to have used OKEx during the attacks because of his ETC liquidity. The exchange has increased since confirmation times for ETC trades.

Chipping away
Investors who sue chipmaker giant Nvidia for proving that the size of its crypto-mining-related revenue have been misreported have complained that the company is now trying to block important evidence from a former employee. The lawsuit, launched in 2018, alleges that Nvidia downplayed the quantity of graphics cards sold to crypto-miners. Shareholders have now told the court that Nvidia’s lawyers have hired the former marketing executor to “undo” several key statements. Plaintiff pleading for the former employee has withdrawn the testimony out of fear of retaliation.

Crypto-trust
Crypto products from Greyscale Investments’ Bitcoin Cash Trust (BCHG) and Litecoin Trust (LTCN) are set to start trading publicly on hot markets after Monday’s DTC eligibility. The twin funds give institutional and retail investors exposure to their name cryptocurrencies: bitcoin cash ($ 5.8 billion market cap) and litecoin ($ 4.3 billion market cap). The crypto-trusts serve as a gateway for investors who lack the technical knowledge or risk tolerance to hold even coins. (Grayscale is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, the parent company of CoinDesk.)

Last week, the Financial Times reported that the coronavirus is running digitally with tape trading.

According to JPMorgan Chase’s Treasury trading desk, only 50% of pre-pandemic U.S. Treasury trades were conducted electronically. The figure has since risen to 70% in April and 77% in June. The trend is likely to continue, says JPMorgan.

Previously, trades would be carried out by “picking up the phone to negotiate with a human trafficker” or by standing on the trading floor, reports the FT. This is no longer possible due to hygienic concerns.

Apart from cultural barriers, the bond market is resistant to digitalisation due to its very large size. ‘Actually, there are only 43,000 stocks in the world, but there are millions of bonds, each with [its] own legal and financial idiosyncrasies, ”the FT reported in 2018.

But is a human touch necessary to make sense of trade debt?

One of the goals of blockchain is to provide a sound foundation for the digital economy. To create unique and persistent digital representations of any assets or liabilities.

While still in its infancy, the blockchain bond sector saw early success. Governments, nonprofits and corporations have all had successful trials as expenditures with a blockchain. Most recently, the Thai Ministry of Finance announced plans to spend $ 6 million in debt.

Peaked?
Bitcoin (BTC) was flat after it jumped to a new 2020 high above $ 12,400 on Monday. Analysts speculate if the largest cryptocurrency could hold the higher ground. The latest increase came at full volume, and it was a “convincing break,” Denis Vinokourov, head of research for crypto-prime maker BeQuant, told CoinDesk. All Monday, it was just 11% off the 2019 peak of $ 13,880. This insight came from First Mover. You can sign up here.

Second sleuth
Elliptic has added Binance Chain and its own payment token BNB to its monitoring platform, becoming only the second blockchain analytics company to do so. As of Tuesday, Elliptic’s automated compliance tools, wallet monitoring and transaction tracking can all apply to Binance Chain activity. Binance executives said compliance is key to BNB adoption. The SEC signed a deal in July with rival firm CipherTrace, specifically for its BNB tracking capabilities.

Dear banker
Ouriel Ohayon, CEO and co-founder of ZenGo, is writing an open letter to all bankers encouraging them to experiment with crypto, professionally and personally. Crypto will not replace banks, but banks may not survive the path they are on. “Nobody asks you to change everything during the day. Just start somewhere, learn continuously, explore the rabbit hole, do some pilots. Start with more well-known areas such as exchange rates and stable domes with US dollars, which are in great demand everywhere, ”he writes.

Inflated narratives?
Nathaniel Whittemore looks at the macroeconomic environment to discuss the opposing forces influencing inflation in the latest edition of The Breakdown.