Posted on

Light Speed: Kraken, Another Giant Exchange Integrates The Lightning Network

This is huge! Kraken now supports Lightning Network deposits and withdrawals. The suddenly popular second Layer protocol keeps growing and gaining importance. “Finally, traders have an instant and inexpensive way to move bitcoin on and off the platform,” Kraken said in their official announcement. The Lightning Network is much more than that, though. 

What will happen once Kraken’s extensive clientele tries out Lightning transactions? Will the phenomenal experience change the way they see bitcoin? The second layer solution can perform millions of operations per second and all transactions cost pennies and offer final settlement. In using it, there are also privacy gains. The huge innovation, though, is the cash-like experience. 

The Kraken integration comes with a Lightning node of their own. To implement it, the company used LND by Lightning Labs. The reason is that “they have the largest user base and we have a lot of people on the network that have lots of experience with LND. So it has proven to be easy to use and very reliable as well.” That’s according to Kraken’s bitcoin product manager, Pierre Rochard, who also said to Bitcoin Magazine: 

“Adoption is going to come from people who have fiat in their bank account, and they need to get it into Bitcoin. Kraken is providing an excellent venue for them to do that, and then they can top up their mobile Lightning wallet and use it as a medium of exchange. That’s clearly the next step in terms of Bitcoin’s evolution.”

Designed with this and the cash-like experience in mind, Kraken limits Lightning deposits and withdrawals to 0.1 BTC.

BTC price chart for 04/02/2022 on Binance | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Kraken Announced Lightning Network Integration In 2020

Even though this looks like it magically happened, the integration had been in the works for a while. In 2020, Kraken stated its intentions:

“In 2021, we are committed to hiring a team to focus specifically on the Lightning Network, as part of our continuing effort to deliver the best possible experience for traders and investors.

We expect to allow clients to withdraw and deposit Bitcoin on Lightning in the first half of 2021, which will allow clients to move their Bitcoin instantly and with the lowest fees.” 

It took a while, but it’s finally here. Market-wise, will this move the needle in favor of bitcoin? Will the world even notice? According to this list, Kraken became the 23rd exchange to support the Lightning Network. Among the giant ones already on board are Bitfinex, OKEx, OKcoin, BitMex, and Bitstamp. Among the up-and-coming ones, BullBitcoin, Buda, CoinCorner, Kollider, and Boltz.

This also means, that you're able to instantly move the lightning payment you received to @krakenfx to exchange it for fiat, basically reducing the currency exchange risk to zero.This completely changes the dynamic for fiat brick and mortar stores.https://t.co/bpNzKC7ZDL

— zero fee routing ⚡ (@zerofeerouting) March 31, 2022

And, since we’re on lists, in their announcement Kraken provided Lightning wallet recommendations: 

“For example, BTCPay Server enables Lightning payments for merchants, greatly improving the bitcoin checkout flow. For consumers, Breez, Phoenix and Muun bring Lightning to mobile with a modern user experience.”

As to the importance of the move for markets and business, a pseudonymous Lightning node operator that goes by “zero fee routing” puts everything in perspective. “This also means, that you’re able to instantly move the lightning payment you received to Kraken to exchange it for fiat, basically reducing the currency exchange risk to zero. This completely changes the dynamic for fiat brick and mortar stores.”

Attacking The ESG FUD Head On

The increase in Lightning Network adoption also brings a great opportunity with it. The community could clean up the disgusting ESG-based narrative enemies of bitcoin have been planting in mainstream media. Regarding this, in the already quoted interview Kraken’s Pierre Rochard said: 

“With Lightning, you can send a payment off-chain that is much more energy efficient, not only because you’re not adding the miner fees, and thus the amount of electricity consumption by miners, but also because that payment only has to be stored and shared by the two parties in that channel.”

Do Greenpeace and Ripple not know that most bitcoin transactions are going to be off-chain in a few years? Do they not know that the Lightning Network alone will take bitcoin out of the conversation its enemies have been carefully manufacturing? Kraken certainly knows. And took action. 

Speaking about Kraken, its CEO Jess Powell has been present on the news lately. He recommended buying bitcoin below $40K. During the Canadian crisis, he hinted that bitcoiners should take their funds out of centralized exchanges. And he refused to voluntarily ban Russian users, providing a convincing rationale to justify Kraken’s actions.

And now, his company integrated the Lightning Network.

Featured Image by Ferhat Deniz Fors on Unsplash | Charts by TradingView

Posted on

Green Mining Company HIVE Secures Deal To Buy A Number Of Intel’s New ASICs

The ESG-focused mining company HIVE is the latest organization to sign a deal with Intel. It joins Block, Argo Blockchain, and GRIID, as the first clients and testers of the giant’s new ASICs. Intel’s Bonanza Mine project is quickly becoming one of bitcoin’s stories of the year. It’s funny that, so far, no one has seen the equipment. The idea of a bitcoin miner made in the US is appealing, though. Plus, the project’s rollout has been masterful so far. 

The headline here is that “HIVE owns state-of-the-art, green energy-powered data centre facilities in Canada, Sweden, and Iceland, where we source only green energy to mine.” In a recent press release, the company announced the Intel deal and its intention to expand into the US. “The Company is planning for a 100 MW deployment at one of Compute North’s renewable energy campuses in Texas.” 

HIVE self-proclaimed itself “the first cryptocurrency mining company with a green energy and ESG strategy”. The company’s other significant characteristic is that they’re holders. “Since the beginning of 2021, HIVE has held in secure storage the majority of its ETH and BTC coin mining rewards.” That goes in line with new data that shows that miners are quietly accumulating bitcoin as the market bleeds.

BTC price chart for 03/08/2022 on Capital.com | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
What Do We Know About HIVE ‘s Deal With Intel?

Not much, really. “HIVE has entered into a Supply Agreement with Intel which is one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers, for their upcoming blockchain accelerator.” Notice how HIVE calls the ASICs “blockchain accelerators,” just as Intel did in the company’s blog. Will the name catch on?

The press release doesn’t specify how many bitcoin miners will HIVE buy, but, it provides some relevant data: 

“These miners are expected to be delivered over a period of one year starting in the second half of calendar 2022, the effect of which, if they are all installed, would be an expected increase of up to 95% in our aggregate Bitcoin mining hashrate from 1.9 Exahash per second.”

It also quotes HIVE ‘s president, Aydin Kilic, who about the deal said:

“After months of careful planning, we are very excited to take this step forward with a global technology leader like Intel. HIVE is committed to implementing these next-generation blockchain accelerators in its green energy infrastructure.”

The ESG aspect of the whole endeavor is another important point here.

Bitcoin Keeps Going Greener And Greener

Recently, GRIID’s filling with the SEC revealed several characteristics of Intel’s new bitcoin miners. As always, NewsBTC got you the 411:

“When the world first heard about Intel’s ASIC ambitions, the company cleverly described the machines as “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient.” How efficient will they actually be? Tom’s hardware answers:

“According to the listing, BMZ2’s performance weighs in at 135 TH/s with 26 J/THs of efficiency. Additionally, the miner is roughly half the cost of a competing Bitmain S19 Pro while being 15% more efficient, rivaling the best hardware on the market from competing companies.”

Would 15% really make that much of a difference? If it can rival the S19 Pro, it would. And Intel wouldn’t make this much noise if they didn’t have a winner in their hands, would they? Maybe HIVE ‘s president, Aydin Kilic, can shed some light on that:

“Intel’s energy-efficient and high performance blockchain accelerator is expected to reduce our power consumption over current ASIC miners on the market. HIVE will participate in the system development process from design verification, through to the prototype stages, and then factory & test engineering regimens to arrive at a production model; we are well-positioned and excited to undertake the process ahead.”

That’s right, the first few clients will help with the testing and development of Intel’s final product. That makes all the sense in the world. Let’s wish them luck, because an ASIC miner made in the US would certainly help break Bitmain’s quasi-monopoly. The bitcoin ecosystem needs more decentralization in that aspect. 

Featured Image: HIVE’s logo, screenshot from this video | Charts by TradingView

Posted on

ESG Organizations Send Letter To Congress About PoW Mining, Bitcoin Responds

Will the ESG FUD ever stop? As a Congressional subcommittee prepares to take a good look at Proof-Of-Work mining, “more than 70” national, international, state and local organizations wrote a letter to the “Congressional leadership.” In it, they use old and unreliable data to get their point across. They completely ignore all of 2021’s research and progress on the matter, because it would invalidate their argument.

The question is, will Congress buy their poorly researched, alarmist letter? The ESG FUD hit PoW mining like a ton of bricks in 2021. It might be based on a poor understanding of the subject at hand, but the public in general definitely bought it. And they quote the bogus numbers that their authorities invented left and right on social media. 

Related Reading | Despite Crackdown, Bitcoin Mining Is Still Alive And Well In China

Also, the whole argument completely ignores Bitcoin’s main virtue. The orange coin provides a framework and tools for the world’s transition to a disinflationary system. Paraphrasing “The Price Of Tomorrow’s” author Jeff Booth, in the inflationary system that we live in, there’s a clear incentive for consumption. If your money’s purchasing power decreases by the minute, everybody will logically buy, spend, and consume everything in sight. That is the real monster that the planet’s facing. And Bitcoin fixes it. 

In any case, Bitcoin’s resident ESG FUD expert, Nic Carter, took it upon himself to reply to the ESG organizations that sent misinformation to Congress. Let’s see how each part did.

The ESG Organizations Make Their Point, Nic Carter Counterpoints

The ESG organizations come out swinging from the introduction on: 

“We, the more than 70 climate, economic, racial justice, business and local organizations, write to you today to urge Congress to take steps to mitigate the considerable contribution portions of the cryptocurrency markets are making to climate change and the resulting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, environmental, and climate justice impacts it will have.”

And their accuracies start from the get-go, also:

“In 2018, scientists writing in Nature warned that Bitcoin’s growth alone could singlehandedly push global emissions above 2 degrees Celsius within less than three decades.”

Those numbers are ridiculous. The study assumes a progression relative to the number of users of the network, and that’s simply not how Bitcoin works. Even if the whole planet adopted the Bitcoin standard, the network would still produce one block every ten minutes. Energy consumption is not directly related to the number of users.

What did Nic Carter respond? That the claim is “false, based on a debunked paper with a completely erroneous model of bitcoin.”

2. bitcoin's energy consumption will 'only get worse over time'

most likely will trail off over time, after peaking in the next decade (see https://t.co/8x0koM6nR9 for actually rigorous projections)

— nic carter (@nic__carter) January 6, 2022

Right after that, the ESG organizations even throw Ethereum under the bus:

“The Digiconomist’s Ethereum Energy Consumption Index estimates that the Ethereum blockchain will consume 71 terawatt-hours this year, nearly the same as the energy consumption of Colombia.”

Since the letter is about PoW mining, it makes sense. The Ethereum community seems to have completely ignored the letter, at least over at Twitter. 

BTC price chart for 01/07/2021 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Bitcoin Incentivizes Green Energy Infrastructure

The ESG organizations continue their poorly-researched attack with:

“The GHG emissions from this exorbitant and unnecessary energy consumption is staggering.”

It’s not unnecessary at all. In fact, PoW mining is absolutely essential for a decentralized, permissionless system. And the energy consumption is directly proportional to the security of the network. Plus, it anchors it to the real world. Not to mention the fact that Bitcoin actually incentivizes and finances green energy infrastructure.

Then, the ESG crowd accuses Bitcoin of “exacerbating” the global chip shortage:

“Increased demand for these machines are exacerbating a global shortage of semiconductors. A bipartisan bill by Senators Maggie Hassan and Joni Ernst has called for a report on how cryptocurrency mining operations are impacting semiconductor supply chains.“

With ease, Nic Carter counterattacks with: “Bitcoin miners are not tier 1 clients, they don’t compete with Apple/Qualcomm/NVIDIA for space; the shortage is due to money printing and the demand shock. See section on semis here.”

5. Atlas/ greenidge increased power prices in NY.

The Atlas mine brought back online a fallow coal plant (converted to natgas) which now provides energy to the grid (in addition to mining). That's energy supplied to the grid which wasn't being produced beforehand

— nic carter (@nic__carter) January 6, 2022

Texas Doesn’t Know What Its Doing, The ESG Crowd Does

Then, the ESG researchers make wild, unbacked assumptions about Texas power:

“Following a crackdown on cryptocurrency miners in China, many miners are moving to Texas, due to its deregulated grid, taking away the power that Texans need.”

This completely ignores the fact that the state of Texas went to great lengths to attract those miners. And that, unlike the ESG organizations that signed the infamous letter, power companies in Texas regularly attend Bitcoin meetings. They are making an effort to understand the technology and the opportunities it brings to them. Also, as Carter puts it, “Majority of mining is in west texas where transmission bottlenecks mean prices routinely go negative. Huge overcapacity and limited demand for power outside of mining.”

Miners also participate in demand response, meaning they aren't online when the grid is overburdened. Their presence dramatically improves economics for renewables and does not compete with households during scarcity events.

— nic carter (@nic__carter) January 6, 2022

The state of Texas knows what it’s doing, they see Bitcoin’s future is bright. These ESG organizations think they know better, though:

“Adding more energy-guzzling crypto mining operations to Texas could exacerbate the sorts of blackouts the state already saw during the extreme cold in February — outages that reporting shows hit communities of color the hardest.”

Wow, playing the race card there. So low. And unrelated. Anyway, answering the claim that miners “could exacerbate” the February blackouts, Carter says. “Miners were/ would have been offline during this time, as we demonstrate here. They also help alleviate ‘black start’ issues through primary frequency response.” 

9. Stronghold mining with coal waste is bad (implied)

The coal waste was going to oxidize naturally. It was going to combust anyway. This is an incentive to clean up a nasty site leeching into groundwater etc. Neutral from a CO2 perspective and ++ from an ecology view

— nic carter (@nic__carter) January 6, 2022

Three Other Prominent Bitcoiners’ Response

Are these direct responses to the ESG organizations’ letter? It’s not clear, but the authors published them in the same timeframe. The first one refers to SHA256, the set of cryptographic hash functions that Bitcoin uses. Nunchuk founder Hugo Nguyen said, “Once you understand that SHA256 is close to being 100% efficient at what it does, you’d stop calling it a “waste”. In fact, 100% efficiency is the exact opposite of “waste”. There’s nothing else like it.”

Once you understand that SHA256 is close to being 100% efficient at what it does, you’d stop calling it a “waste”. In fact, 100% efficiency is the exact opposite of “waste”. There’s nothing else like it. https://t.co/SLuVrAPfU2

— Hugo Nguyen (@hugohanoi) January 7, 2022

For his part, Swan Bitcoin’s Brandon Quittem attacks the concept of energy consumption being inherently bad. “Energy consumption is directly correlated with GDP. Want to help developing countries? Help them harness more energy. Interestingly, Bitcoin acts as a free market subsidy for energy investment.”

3/ Energy consumption is directly correlated with GDP.

Want to help developing countries? Help them harness more energy.

Interestingly, Bitcoin acts as a free market subsidy for energy investment.

Incentivizes developing otherwise uneconomical energy sources. pic.twitter.com/DJ6yYoz6WO

— Brandon Quittem (@Bquittem) January 6, 2022

And Kraken’s Dan Held states that “Bitcoin’s energy consumption is not “wasteful.” Why? Because “It is much more efficient than existing financial systems.” And we’re talking orders of magnitude, here. Not only that, “No one has the moral authority to tell you what is a good or bad use of energy (ex: watching the Kardashians).”

1/ Bitcoin’s energy consumption is not “wasteful.”

– It is much more efficient than existing financial systems– No one has the moral authority to tell you what is a good or bad use of energy (ex: watching the Kardashians)

Let's debunk this FUD👇

— Dan Held (@danheld) January 6, 2022

Do you know how much energy American households use for their Christmas lights? As much as the whole Bitcoin network, that’s how much. 

Related Reading | Is This The Reason China Banned Bitcoin Mining? Carvalho’s Mind Blowing Theory

Where is the letter to Congress protesting  Christmas lights, ESG organizations?

Featured Image by Karsten Würth on Unsplash | Charts by TradingView

Posted on

Five Bitcoin Short Films For A Lazy Holiday Evening: Energy, Money, &… Basket?

Happy Holidays from the NewsBTC team. We come bearing gifts. The cure for those suffering from cryptocurrency withdrawal syndrome. Spend the evening learning about Bitcoin in the most relaxed way possible. These five films were released throughout 2021 and contain the alpha everyone needs for the years ahead. At least the first four do, the fifth one has nothing to do with Bitcoin except for one small detail.

Related Reading | The First Interactive NFT in the World – VR Movie on Mars

Our sister site Bitcoinist covered the films and most of the accompanying text comes from those articles. Is there a better time for these films to make an appearance in NewsBTC than this lazy evening? Grab your beverage of choice, heat up those leftovers, and hit play in the one that interests you the most. Chances are you’ll end up watching them all.

Once again, happy holidays and happy watching!

Bitcoin Short #1- “This Machine Greens” (38 mins)

Is Bitcoin mining’s energy consumption a bug or a feature? This documentary’s “thesis is that the process is “a net positive for the environment.” The aim was to “dispels many of the misconceptions about Bitcoin mining.” Directed by  Jamie King, of “Steal This Film” fame, and produced by Enrique Posner and Swan Bitcoin. 

From the Bitcoinist’s coverage, in Part 1 they focus on the Petrodollar system:

“Watch “This Machine Greens” to learn how the US Military literally backs the Petrodollar. And, of course, the US Military uses infinite energy year after year. Learn about the deal that the US made with Saudi Arabia. The US was to protect the Middle East. The Saudis promised that “The global oil market will be denominated in and conducted with dollars. Ensuring a constant global demand for the currency.” Think about the results of this crucial deal.”

From Bitcoinist’s coverage, in Part 2 they explain how Bitcoin mining will fund green energy initiatives:

“According to Alex Gladstein, Bitcoin can fund the “Electrification of new areas and creation of new economic activity.“ This machine greens, if you will. And if we’re talking infrastructure for clean energy, Magdalena Gronowska breaks it down:

 “It’s derisking constructions of renewable energy facilities. It’s derisking it because it’s willing to buy 24/7, 365. And when you have a predictable buyer, a predictable revenue stream, it’s easy to plan out your operations. And that certainty means that that site gets built.”

Bitcoin Short #2- “Human B” (73 mins)

This recent German documentary is one of the best introductions to Bitcoin produced to date. On top of that, directors Aaron Mucke and Eva Mühlenbäumer created a slick audiovisual piece that flows like a river and is an aesthetical pleasure to watch. 

In Bitcoinist’s coverage of the documentary, they introduce it like this:

“Human B” shows us how people in Germany and Austria view the Bitcoin phenomenon. This is a worldwide movement, and it’s important to listen to all the voices out there. In the documentary, we get to hear from Bitcoin authors like Der Gigi and Anita Posch. From economist and punk rocker Marc Friedrich and journalist Friedemann Brenneis. Plus, from a normal person like Jan, who ends up being the star of the show.

The documentary takes a surprising left turn when it travels to Caracas, Venezuela. There, we hear from Alessandro Cecere AKA El Sultán del Bitcoin, and from Juan José Pinto from Doctorminer.”

#3- “Hard Money” (34 mins)

This one is not about Bitcoin per se. This Bitcoin short is about money. To understand why Bitcoin is so important for the planet, people might need a refresher course on what money actually is.  This documentary is analogous to the first few chapters of Saifedean Ammous’ “The Bitcoin Standard,” and features sound bites from some of the most important Bitcoin philosophers out there. Directed by Richard James.

In Bitcoinist’s coverage of the film, they convince you to watch it with this:

“Watch the “Hard Money documentary and you’ll be able to answer these questions: Why was gold chosen as the premier form of hard currency? What were gold’s “severe flaws”? What is inflation and how does the government hide it? How breaking the relationship between the Dollar and gold broke the relationship between the market and reality. What is low and high time preference?  What does fractional reserve banking create? Why are the institutions that issue debt effectively printing new money?”

BTC price chart on Bitbay | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Bitcoin Short #4- “Bitcoin Is Generational Wealth” (15 mins)

This one is not a documentary, even though it uses some of the genre’s techniques. Also, this is the only specimen on this list that didn’t get a positive review from Bitcoinist. Why is that? We won’t spoil it for you. Watch the film first and then read the linked text. Directed by Matt Hornick. Written and narrated by Tomer Strolight.

In Bitcoinist’s bad review of the film, we find this quote:

“Half speculative fiction, half predictive programming, “Bitcoin is Generational Wealth” is in a genre of its own. Using high-quality stock footage to produce a professional montage, the film should work. But it doesn’t. Is the script to blame? Probably. The film shows an idyllic future that every Bitcoiner has dreamt about, but it doesn’t explain how we get there. It takes the “Bitcoin fixes this” meme to its ridiculous extreme.”

#5- “Lynchpin” (21 mins)

This one is about amateur basketball. Its only link to Bitcoin is that Swan and the Bitcoin Movie Club financed and produced it. Is this the first of many or a one-time thing? Word on the street is that the companies will finance several chapters of this story, but don’t quote us on that. “Lynchpin” was supposed to be a TV show, so it sounds possible on that end. We’ll keep you all posted. Directed by Mike Nicoll.

In Bitcoinist’s presentation of the short film, they introduced it as follows:

“Compton Magic’s Etop Udo-Ema, “America’s most recognized basketball powerbroker,” is “Lynchpin’s” star. Before Covid hit, this charismatic man receives an offer that he can’t refuse. The whole short film follows him trying to change sponsors and create a league. That carries Etop to Roc Nation and its boss Jay Z, who happens to be Puma’s creative director. The whole enterprise seems to be on its right track. No one could predict the monkey wrench that hit the world’s engines.”

Related Reading | Miramax Sues Quentin Tarantino Over “Pulp Fiction” NFTs. Tarantino Moves Forward

And that’s enough Bitcoin for tonight. Happy holidays!

Featured Image by Bru-nO on Pixabay | Charts by TradingView