BITCOIN MINING

Block, Inc CEO Jack Dorsey Leads $6M Funding Round for Decentralized Bitcoin Mining Pool

The Scoop: Wyoming-based Mummolin, Inc. has successfully completed a $6.2 million seed funding round for OCEAN, its new decentralized Bitcoin mining pool. Prominent investors included Jack Dorsey and various notable investment firms.

Decentralized Pool Party: OCEAN, led by Mummolin, Inc. and its founder Bitcoin Core dev Luke Dashjr, was designed to address the increasing centralization of Bitcoin mining pools. Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and CEO of Block, Inc., highlighted OCEAN's potential to maintain Bitcoin's core attributes by decentralizing mining operations.

New Features: OCEAN introduces a transparent, non-custodial mining pool model. Unlike traditional pools, OCEAN allows miners to receive block rewards directly from the Bitcoin network (that’s at the protocol level), eliminating the risk that the pool doesn’t pay its miners. The miners also have more autonomy to choose which transactions make it into the winning block, protecting users as well.

Why It Matters: All mining pools, at the end of the day, are centralized entities that can be regulated out of existence. They are subject to the jurisdictions they are headquartered in. By paying out rewards directly from the chain, this vulnerability is removed, leaving users free to transact without fear of being temporarily blacklisted by a pool.

💧 A slew of news articles from mainstream media have popped up in the last couple of days purporting to outline Bitcoin’s copious usage of water. The effort appears almost coordinated and just in time for an ETF approval! Stay frosty out there, friends!

📈 Standard Chartered Bank predicted Bitcoin could rise to $50,000 by end of this year and $120,000 by 2024, citing factors like increased miner profitability. However, this rationale (that miners ‘determine net supply’) doesn’t make a lot of sense to us here at the Minimalist. Miners CAN burn block rewards if they want, but they never do.

🐋 A new mystery whale is buying hundreds of Bitcoin daily, adding 500 BTC yesterday. The current balance of this wallet is already valued at over $427M, and sits as the 70th highest-value wallet. At this rate, this whale could potentially join the top 10 largest Bitcoin addresses by month's end. We at the Minimalist have been wondering if this is a custody wallet for a forthcoming ETF.

🇸🇪 HIVE Digital Technologies, a bitcoin mining company, acquired a data center in Boden, Sweden, paying partly in cash and shares. HIVE has expanded its mining site portfolio this year already, adding hydro and geothermal centers in Canada and Iceland as well.

🔍 The U.S. Treasury Department has sought more sanctions powers over digital assets and asked to update illicit finance laws. The move, influenced by concerns about groups like Hamas using digital assets (without any evidence), marks the biggest reform since 9/11.

Bitcoin Futures Contracts Reach All-Time High Value of $4.5B

The Scoop: The total open interest in Bitcoin futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) in the United States has reached an unprecedented high of $4.5 billion.

A Bright Future: This record-setting figure marks a significant milestone in the trading of Bitcoin futures, indicating a heightened interest and increased activity in the U.S. Bitcoin futures market.

Understanding Bitcoin Futures: Bitcoin futures allow traders to speculate on the future price of Bitcoin by allowing them to buy or sell Bitcoin at a predetermined price on a specific future date. This enables traders to profit from price movements or hedge against risks without needing to hold Bitcoin directly.

Settling the Score: All futures contracts, including those for Bitcoin, must eventually be settled. Mass settlement of these long positions at lower prices could significantly drive down Bitcoin's market price. The scale of this impact depends on the volume of Bitcoin involved and current market sentiments.

Do the cabinet departures in Milei's administration spell danger for his policy goals?

Yes - 37%

No - 63%

👍 Yes: “It’s rarely a good sign when an outsider who has come to shake up the system has some of his people leave as soon as its prime time.” - Larry

👎 No: “Time for CHANGE” - Brian

🔋 Several researchers, including prominent Bitcoiner Nic Carter and former ERCOT president Brad Jones, authored a paper on Bitcoin mining as a catalyst for clean energy transition and improved power grid management. The paper emphasizes Bitcoin mining's role in demand response, leveraging its quick response capabilities for grid flexibility. It also highlights how Bitcoin mining can utilize stranded energy resources, showcasing its potential to foster renewable energy growth and grid efficiency.

💬 The SEC has delayed a decision on the Franklin Templeton Spot Bitcoin ETF, but don’t fret just yet. the SEC also initiated a comment period for the proposal. Because of this, many are hypothesizing that the SEC is attempting to align all the approvals to happen at once so as not to give any firm a first-mover advantage.

⚽ Cristiano Ronaldo's partnership with Binance for NFTs has led to a lawsuit alleging misleading promotions. Claimants accuse Ronaldo of not disclosing his payment for endorsing Binance's NFTs, which they argue are "unregistered securities." This comes just after Binance founder Changpeng Zhao is facing criminal charges in the US and Binance’s announced plan to delist & end support for its BUSD stablecoin in December.

You can now get alerts of new charts on Charts.Bitbo.io via our WhatsApp or Telegram (@NewBitboCharts) channels.

🚀 Bitcoin’s Daily Stats

• The next Bitcoin Halving is 146 days away - we are 90% of the way there!

• ~25k bitcoins have been withdrawn from exchanges over the last two weeks.

• Bitcoin hit $10,000 for the first time 6 years ago from yesterday. 

• 1 in 4 Americans owns Bitcoin, according to a new study from Unchained Capital.

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Today’s newsletter was written by Jordan and edited by Colin.