9/3/24: Bitcoin Mining High ⛏️📱🤝

Top News

  1. Bitcoin hashrate hits a new all-time high of 746 EH/s

  2. Bluesky signups soar by 1M after X is banned in Brazil

  3. Aave and Sky partner to accelerate DeFi adoption

Specs’ Insights

1. Bitcoin hashrate hits a new all-time high of 746 EH/s

⌐◪-◪ → The Bitcoin network hash rate just reached a new all-time high of 746 EH/s. Here’s what that means:

  • Increased Security: More computational power is securing the network, making it almost impossible for any entity to control over 50% of the mining power.

  • Network Health: Reflects strong miner confidence and investment in Bitcoin's future, indicating a robust and growing network.

  • Energy Consumption: Increased energy use, which remains a major point of environmental debate, but also what brings security.

  • Mining Difficulty: As the hash rate rises, so does mining difficulty, pushing miners to adopt more efficient hardware or face higher operational costs.

  • Cost of Attack: The cost to launch a 51% attack on the network is now higher than ever, making Bitcoin more secure.

In essence, reaching an all-time high in hash rate means Bitcoin's network is more secure, more decentralized, and potentially more valuable. However, it also brings attention to ongoing concerns about energy consumption and environmental impact.

2. Bluesky signups soar by 1M after X is banned in Brazil

⌐◪-◪ → After Twitter was banned in Brazil, with users facing fines of $8,910/day for bypassing the ban, Bluesky saw a surge of 1 million new signups, bringing its total to nearly 7.8 million users.

This influx overwhelmed Bluesky’s servers, causing a 20x spike in server load. For context, Twitter has over 368 million monthly active users, but lost about 21.5 million due to Brazil’s ban.

I’ve been skeptical of decentralized Twitter clones' ability to capture attention without new game-changing features (like Farcaster frames), but if governments keep banning platforms (Twitter in Brazil) and arresting executives (Durov in France), people might actually start to care about decentralized social platforms.

A good example is the mainstream adoption (or lack thereof) of privacy protocols and messaging apps — i.e., most people don’t use end-to-end encryption on Telegram because they don’t care.

Would be pretty crazy if Jack Dorsey re-built Twitter from scratch after selling it to Elon for $44B. It’s a long shot, though.

3. Aave and Sky partner to accelerate DeFi adoption

⌐◪-◪ → DeFi giants Aave and Sky (formerly MakerDAO) just partnered to launch “Sky Aave Force,” a partnership aimed at bridging the gap between decentralized finance and traditional financial systems.

To put these players in perspective, Aave has over $18B in TVL, and Sky has over $6B in TVL — together that’s $24B in total TVL, roughly the same as Lido (#1 by TVL).

The core pieces of the partnership are:

  1. Integrate USDS (formerly DAI) and Savings USDS (sUSDS) on Aave V3 with native token rewards; and

  2. Creating a new SparkFi/Aave market for seamless interactions and exclusive rewards

The initiative envisions driving mass adoption with provisions like a $100M debt ceiling for USDS in the Aave Lido Market, using highly liquid ETH and wstETH as collateral. Revenue from these markets will be split equally between Aave and Sky.

Seems promising overall, but seriously, guys, was “Sky Aave Force” the best partnership name you could think of?

Everything Else

⛓️ Crypto & DeFi

🏦 Wallstreet & VC

🏛️ Legal & Regulatory

  • FTX to repay $16B to creditors in Q4 2024

  • FTX estate may face SEC challenge over stablecoin payments

  • SEC should create customized forms for digital assets, says Uyeda

🌎 Rest Of The World

  • Token2049 to feature Binance CEO and Solana founder

  • Telegram faces deepfake pornography probe in South Korea

  • Bank of Japan hints at more rate hikes; Bitcoin drops

  • Qatar releases new crypto regulatory framework

  • Fake Ukrainian cops arrested for extorting $250,000 in Tether

  • BitGo partners with SK and Hana in South Korea

  • Binance exec's wife urges US government to help in Nigeria

  • Binance exec Tigran Gambaryan attends Nigeria court on crutches

🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse

  • SuiPlay unveils world’s first Web3-native gaming device

  • MetaStreet sells 20 CryptoPunks for $1.4M in online auction

  • CryptoKitties new “Egg” project surges to 0.33 ETH floor

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