The cryptocurrency market got off to a slow start on Aug. 19 after stimulus tapering talks from the U.S. Federal Reserve put pressure on global financial markets, but momentum within the crypto market picked up in the afternoon session as Bitcoin (BTC) bulls finally managed to break above the $46,000 level. While most altcoins were slow to warm up on Thursday, several altcoins led the way with gains in excess of 20% due to major protocol upgrades and exchange listings. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the biggest gainers over the past 24-hours were Voyager Token (VGX), …

Following Beijing’s crackdown on energy-sapping Bitcoin (BTC) mining, Guizhou province has become the country’s first to make use of its freed-up power capacity to advance a climate-conscious agenda. The hydroelectric-rich southern province has recently announced a plan to build at least 4,500 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in 2021. This will ramp up to 5,000 in 2022 and 5,500 the following year. As the South China Morning Post reported, Beijing’s pressure on Bitcoin miners has freed up over 50 terawatt-hours of electricity — enough to sustain an industrialized city with a population of 1 million for 33 years or to …

Amid the looming Ethereum London hard fork, Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead predicted that the upcoming upgrade would likely help Ether (ETH) outpace Bitcoin (BTC) as the largest cryptocurrency. As a newer cryptocurrency, Ether has more potential than Bitcoin, Morehead said at the Reuters Global Markets Forum on Monday, noting that the latest Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1559 upgrade will help the digital token to trade more like a fixed asset. One of five EIPs in the Ethereum London upgrade, EIP-1559 is an anticipated update to Ethereum’s existing fee structure, introducing a minimum payment for sending Ethereum transactions and move …

Bitcoin mining company Greenidge Generation is planning to increase the number of renewable energy sources available for use in New York. In a Thursday announcement, Greenidge said it would be using the profits from its Bitcoin (BTC) miners in the Finger Lakes region of New York state to expedite the closure of a nearby coal ash landfill. The company plans to transform the Lockwood Hills site into a solar farm capable of generating 5 megawatts of power. Greenidge CEO Jeff Kirt said the project was “making more renewable energy a reality by leveraging Bitcoin mining profits to fund the creation …

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hinted that the crypto industry is on its way toward greener future, but Tesla won’t be accepting Bitcoin payments just yet. Speaking at "The ₿ Word," a virtual Bitcoin (BTC) event, with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood and moderator Steve Lee from Square Crypto, Musk said that Tesla would “most likely” consider resuming crypto payments for its vehicles — a policy the CEO said the company would be stopping in May — but said he needed to exercise diligence before making a decision. “There appears to be a positive trend in the …

A major cryptocurrency and blockchain association in Russia is launching a project to bring global crypto mining operations to the country amid a Chinese crypto mining crackdown. The Russian Association of Cryptoeconomics, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain, or RACIB, announced an initiative aimed at transferring global computing resources for crypto mining to the Russian Federation. More information on the project is expected to be released at a later date, a spokesperson for RACIB told Cointelegraph. In order to promote and implement the project, RACIB is closely cooperating with Russian government authorities and state corporations, forming a range of joint working groups …

The Chinese government continues cracking down on the cryptocurrency mining industry by suspending crypto mining operations in another province. Authorities at Anhui, a small province in eastern China, have announced a set of measures to tackle growing electricity demand and an associated power supply shortage in the next three years, local news agency Hefei Online reported on Wednesday. As part of Anhui’s efforts to curb energy consumption, the province plans to shut down crypto mining projects and scrutinize new initiatives that require large amounts of energy consumption. Local authorities also plan to adopt new practices for building data centers as …

Bitcoin’s total estimated annual electricity consumption has plummeted nearly 60%, falling from the all-time peak above 143 terawatt-hours (TWh) in May to as low as 62 TWh in early July, according to data from Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI). This is the lowest energy consumption rate recorded since early November 2020. At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s annualized electricity consumption is estimated at 67 TWh, while the upper bound consumption, or the absolute maximum total electricity expenditure based on the worst case assumption, stands at 162 TWh, down from 520 TWh in mid-May. The lower bound estimate, which corresponds …

Eshaq Jahangiri, the first vice president of Iran under Hassan Rouhani, has called on all legally operating crypto miners in the country to stop producing coins. According to a Wednesday report from the Tasnim News Agency, Jahangiri said at a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Energy that the electricity restrictions for Iranians were likely to continue until early August, purportedly in line with Rouhani’s previously announced prohibition on crypto mining. The president said in May that crypto mining would be banned in the country until September in an attempt to conserve power during the summer months. “We will …

Chia Network recently entered the cryptocurrency scene and has quickly piqued the interest of many miners and investors. There are several reasons for this: First, the Chia blockchain operates using a novel proof-of-space-and-time (PoST) protocol, which means that proof of the space used and time spent on the task is required to farm the cryptocurrency. Second, according to the creators of the currency, Chia (XCH) is an environmentally friendly coin and is not mined, rather it’s farmed, with the protocol needing low energy to generate new coins. Gene Hoffman, president and chief operating officer of Chia Network, told Cointelegraph that …

Bitcoin mining company Greenidge Generation announced it would be starting operations in South Carolina as early as this year. In a Friday announcement, Greenidge said it would be operating in a carbon neutral crypto mining facility in the city of Spartanburg. The company said it had signed a letter of intent for a 10-year lease with printing firm LSC Communications’ location on the outskirts of the South Carolina city, where it plans to start mining crypto “in late 2021 or early 2022.” According to Greenidge, the location has been capable of drawing 80 megawatts (MW) of power, two thirds of …

Over the years, Bitcoin has been able to overcome naysayers by frequently reinventing its narrative. Because Bitcoin (BTC) is multifaceted, it is able to quickly change to confront new criticism. We have seen this over the years. For example, Bitcoin used to be frequently assailed by the media for its volatility — many articles pushed the notion that Bitcoin was too volatile to ever succeed as a currency. We do not hear too much about Bitcoin’s volatility today, in part because observers have been accustomed to its frequent price swings, but mostly because “Bitcoiners” have coalesced around the notion of …