Mediaboss Marketing

Bitcoins Taproot upgrade is a pivotal moment for the cryptocurrency as it brings with it a host of improvements designed to enhance network efficiency and privacy. In fact, this upgrade is considered one of the most significant updates in Bitcoins history, and its expected to have a major impact for years to come.

As per Glassnode, Taproot transactions made up more than 37% of the Bitcoin networks spent outputs, indicating a growing demand for the upgrade. This was also reflected in the adoption and utilization metrics, with a record-breaking 60% of all transactions on May 1 leveraging Taproot.

So, what does the Bitcoin Taproot upgrade mean for investors?

The Taproot upgrade aims to achieve a faster, more efficient, and private network. This update introduces the ability to batch multiple signatures and transactions together, simplifying the verification process for transactions on the Bitcoin network.

Since the upgrade, the number of daily BTC on-chain transactions has skyrocketed, surpassing half a million. On May 1, the daily transaction count reached an all-time high of 682,000.

According to a tweet, Rafael Schultze, Co-founder & CTO of Glassnode, this surge represents a more than two-fold increase compared to the 2022 baseline, which remained steady at approximately 250,000 transactions per day throughout the preceding year.

In short, the Taproot upgrade is driving an unprecedented level of network efficiency and transaction volume for the alpha coin, creating new opportunities and challenges for investors and traders alike.

Since the Taproot upgrade is a technical change, most users are unlikely to notice its implementation. However, investors should pay close attention to this development as it could have significant long-term effects on the leading cryptocurrency.

One key benefit of the upgrade is lower transaction fees. This is due to the decrease in data size for complex transactions, which creates more space for processing additional entries on the blockchain.

Moreover, the Taproot upgrade directly impacts the cost-efficiency and functionality of the Lighting Network. The Lighting Network becomes more versatile for developers, enabling them to build on it more cheaply and securely for users.

The implementation of the Taproot upgrade establishes a technical framework for accelerating peer-to-peer financial services in the emerging DeFi ecosystem on the Bitcoin network. This expansion of the crypto utility creates new opportunities for entrepreneurs looking to invest in the cryptocurrencys potential over the long term.

Regarding the impact of the Taproot upgrade on BTC price, it remains to be seen. At the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin is $29,596.31, showing a slight 0.9% increase in the last 24 hours and over the past seven days.

However, analysts suggest that the Taproot upgrade has significantly boosted the coins value as confidence in the network continues to grow. It will be interesting to see whether institutional and mainstream participants stick to existing platforms or switch to Bitcoin.

-Featured image from Paxful

Read the rest here:

Bitcoin Taproot Drives Transactions To ATH - What This Means For Investors - Bitcoinist

In Silicon Valley, Tim Draper is venture capital royalty. A third-generation investor, Draper was an early backer of some of the most pivotal technology to come out of California, from Hotmail to Skype. In recent years, his focus has been on Bitcoin and the broader ethos of decentralization, famously paying $19 million for 30,000 Bitcoin in 2014 that had been seized in the U.S. government takedown of dark web marketplace Silk Road.

While some of his bets have not paid offincluding an investment in Theranos and repeated predictions that Bitcoin would reach $250,000he is continuing to throw his chips in with the pioneer cryptocurrency. In an interview with Fortune, Draper said he expects Bitcoin to soar in value amid economic uncertainty in the U.S.

If the bear gets that angry to where the banks start falling apart, that actually means that Bitcoin will have a bull market, he told Fortune. Itll be a raging bull in the middle of the bear.

Bitcoin is currently sitting at just under $29,000. Its up nearly 75% since the beginning of 2023 amid the failures of major U.S. banks Signature, Silicon Valley Bank, and First Republic.

Drapers support of Bitcoin does not extend to the entire crypto ecosystem. While he backed pioneering projects like the blockchain Tezos, he said hes wary of companies that are too centralized. Draper said he twice turned down an investment opportunity in Sam Bankman-Frieds now-failed exchange FTX, arguing that there was no utility for its proprietary token, FTT, except for speculation.

As FTX rose in popularity in 2021 and 2022, Draper said he thought he had missed something, but was vindicated in November when the company collapsed in spectacular fashion.

I just thought it was a race to the bottom, Draper said about CeFi, or centralized finance, companies like FTX.

His concern now is with crypto regulation, as lawmakers debate legislation to establish guardrails for the industry and agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission target firms with enforcement actions. Draper said that when he speaks with startups in the space, they ask him about regulation, which had never before been the case.

If theyre regulating by enforcement, theyre just slapping people down and fining them and suing them, he told Fortune. I dont want to waste years of my life in court and trying to avoid some problem.

Draper, who has advocated for breaking up California into six states, said that the only solution is to have a new political party in charge.

This is as controlling as the U.S. government has ever been, he said. Theyre ruining business, theyre killing the golden goose, and Silicon Valley is breaking up because of it.

Here is the original post:

Billionaire investor Tim Draper predicts Bitcoin bull market, says controlling government is killing the golden goose of Silicon Valley - Fortune

There've been rivers of ink written on all aspects of cryptocurrency ever since that fateful day of the Bitcoin whitepaper publishing. Still, one question that's repeatedly brought to the limelight (and understandably so) surrounds energetic and environmental sustainability. Now, the White House itself is adding fuel to the fire through its DAME Tax proposal, whose aim is, and we quote: "making cryptominers pay for costs they impose on others."

How, you ask? By phasing in an additional 30% tax penalty for cryptocurrency mining firms on any energy they consume in that process. According to the White House, this is "an example of the President's commitment to addressing both long-standing national challenges as well as emerging risks in this case, the economic and environmental costs of current practices for mining crypto assets." The idea is simple: Bitcoin mining consumes a lot of power; this consumption drives electricity prices up; which is bad for everyone unfortunate enough to share a grid with a cryptocurrency mining firm.

It seems that the White House's hand has been forced by their very own report, which estimates total Bitcoin mining energy consumption in 2022 at an eye-watering 50 billion kilowatt-hours (in fact, the estimate places consumption anywhere between the low of 30 billion kWh and a high of 60 billion kWh). That's greater power consumption than all operating computers in the United States put together - and within the margin of error of the countrywide electrical consumption for as basic a necessity as lighting.

It's also more energy than Americans consume through their TV sets, and it's right here, in a nice graph:

Let's get this straight right off the bat: public and private lighting is definitely (and inarguably) more important than Bitcoin mining.

However, some arguments favoring the proposal seem to be mired in inconsistencies. Back when Intel announced its "Bonanza Mine" cryptocurrency mining chips, we took a relatively detailed look at Bitcoin's global power consumption and the utility that can already be extracted from it: anyone who has taken profits can attest to its utility; anyone who sold anything to someone and got paid in Bitcoin can attest to its utility; so can anyone who crossed an embattled border while invisibly carrying their wealth, or the citizens of El Salvador, where Bitcoin is legal tender. I'd be interested to know which process the White House used to quantitatively analyze cryptocurrency applications' social benefits before concluding that they "are yet to materialize."

There's also the question of what amount of Bitcoin's energy consumption actually hails from carbon-intensive sources; according to the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC), a global forum of mining companies that represents 48.4% of the worldwideBitcoin mining network, it's estimated that in Q4 2022, renewable energy sources accounted for58.9%of the electricity used to mine bitcoin - against an estimated 36.8% as of Q1 2021.

It'll be interesting to see what results from this legislative push. For one, a 30% tax for cryptocurrency mining firms would drive most of them out of business, resulting in a concentration of hashing power in the hands of the few firms with strong enough financials to stand above the waterline. That would be terrible for Bitcoin, whose network security assumes that processing power is distributed, not concentrated. We wouldn't go so far as saying that Bitcoin Core devs would be open to changing Bitcoin's security model from Proof of Work (the cause for the monumental energy consumption) to Proof of Stake (Ethereum did this transition through its Merge, basically cutting its energy consumption on transaction validation by over 99%). But Ethereum isn't Bitcoin, and Bitcoin isn't the only Proof of Work cryptocurrency out there.

Read more from the original source:

U.S. Bitcoin Mining Consumed 50 Billion kWh of Energy in 2022 - Tom's Hardware

Coinbase, the leading cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. based by volume, announced that it will be discontinuing its lending product, Coinbase Borrow, from next week.

The company will stop issuing new loans from May 10, although current users of the product will not be impacted as their loans will remain active until their maturity.

"We regularly evaluate our products to ensure were prioritizing the offerings that our customers care about most," a Coinbase spokesperson told Decrypt. "Effective May 10, we will stop issuing new loans through Coinbase Borrow. There is no impact on customers outstanding loans, and no action is required from them at this time."

Launched in November 2021, Coinbase Borrow allows users from certain U.S. states to borrow up to $1 million using Bitcoin (BTC) as collateral.

Customers can borrow up to 40% of the value of the Bitcoin in their accounts at an annual interest rate of 8.7%, according to the exchange's website.

The exchange has also indicated that the closure of Coinbase Borrow has nothing to do with the potential enforcement action that may be undertaken following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) slapping the exchange with a Wells Notice in March.

A Wells Notice is a letter that the SEC sends when it is considering bringing an enforcement action. The notice gives the recipient the opportunity to respond to the allegations made by the agency and explain why they believe enforcement action is not warranted.

In Coinbases case, the Wells Notice alleged that the company's staking products constitute unregistered securities, while also mentioning several other aspects of the exchanges activities, including the Coinbase Wallet.

In response to the SECs Wells Notice, Coinbase stated it does not list securities, its Coinbase Wallet product does not constitute a broker, and the exchanges staking services have nothing to do with a securities offering.

Last week, the San Francisco-based exchange also revealed that it was suing the SEC over its petition for rulemaking that was sent to the regulator last July and still remains unanswered. The legal action aims to get the agency to respond to Coinbases plea for clearer crypto regulations.

In a separate development earlier this week, Coinbase has launched a new international exchange that will initially offer Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual futures, with trades settled in USD Coin (USDC).

Originally posted here:

Coinbase to Shutter Bitcoin Borrow Service Next Week - Decrypt

High risk warning: Foreign exchange trading carries a high level of risk that may not be suitable for all investors. Leverage creates additional risk and loss exposure. Before you decide to trade foreign exchange, carefully consider your investment objectives, experience level, and risk tolerance. You could lose some or all your initial investment; do not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. Educate yourself on the risks associated with foreign exchange trading and seek advice from an independent financial or tax advisor if you have any questions.

Advisory warning: FOREXLIVE is not an investment advisor, FOREXLIVE provides references and links to selected blogs and other sources of economic and market information as an educational service to its clients and prospects and does not endorse the opinions or recommendations of the blogs or other sources of information. Clients and prospects are advised to carefully consider the opinions and analysis offered in the blogs or other information sources in the context of the client or prospect's individual analysis and decision making. None of the blogs or other sources of information is to be considered as constituting a track record. Past performance is no guarantee of future results and FOREXLIVE specifically advises clients and prospects to carefully review all claims and representations made by advisors, bloggers, money managers and system vendors before investing any funds or opening an account with any Forex dealer. Any news, opinions, research, data, or other information contained within this website is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment or trading advice. FOREXLIVE expressly disclaims any liability for any lost principal or profits without limitation which may arise directly or indirectly from the use of or reliance on such information. As with all such advisory services, past results are never a guarantee of future results.

Continue reading here:

Binance has resumed Bitcoin withdrawals after temporary disruption - ForexLive