Each week we look back at the most important crypto news from the past week. Two weeks ago The price of Bitcoin didn’t do much, largely due to a fickle policymaker. Still, there were signs that cryptocurrency adoption continues to grow. Last week, this launch manifested itself in good news for crypto miners and a progressive ECB.
The ECB is not a fan of stablecoins, but is a fan of the digital euro
While the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is still relying on unclear regulation, the European Central Bank (ECB) is trying to implement constructive regulation. The digital euro, for example, would bring big changes. European government authorities are not fans of stablecoins, that is now clear.
According to the ECB, these tokens pose a threat to consumer privacy, which is why it sees its own central bank digital currency (CBDC) as a better alternative. The institute even described PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin as an imminent threat to Europeans. After all, PayPal pursues a profit motive and therefore benefits financially from more user information.
Bitcoin miners get rich while they sleep
Nowadays, crypto mining is something that governments are not too happy about. Many miners are so large that they require an enormous amount of energy. But in August, the US state of Texas was hit by a heatwave that caused its air conditioning systems to use enormous amounts of electricity. This can lead to an overload on the power grid.
Mining companies have reached an agreement with the state government that allows them to get paid if they shut down their equipment during times of high demand, like now. This prevents the network from experiencing major problems, such as nationwide power outages. Last August, miner Riot Platforms collected a record amount of these fees. So he literally became rich overnight.
Are BTC miners expensive? No longer
A small company has found a creative solution to expensive Bitcoin mining equipment. A tiny device suitable for Bitcoin mining costs just 2.80 euros. This way, anyone interested could get into the mining industry without needing entire warehouses full of hardware.
Of course, this little device will hardly be a competition for companies like the ones mentioned above. Nevertheless, the new miner offers a number of advantages.
Second Largest Bitcoin HODLer Identified
Additionally, thanks to on-chain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, we know who the second largest holder of Bitcoin (BTC) is. This wasn’t as easy to find out as you might think, because the coins are said to be distributed across no fewer than 1,750 wallet addresses. It turns out that these are all wallets from the exchange provider Grayscale.
Ethereum founder dumps tokens
Also notable: Ethereum (ETH) founder Vitalik Buterin disagrees with MakerDAO’s decisions. The publisher of the DAI stablecoin is planning to switch to a completely new blockchain, for which he wants to copy the Solana (SOL) blockchain. But Buterin doesn’t think that’s a good idea at all and that’s why he sold around $700,000 worth of MKR tokens.