Bitcoin

BeInCrypto takes a look at the 10 best exchange platforms to watch in 2021.

The list features centralized, decentralized and derivative exchanges.

A diversified offer for all cryptocurrency enthusiasts

Cryptocurrency markets are currently very turbulent and traders are looking to profit from the volatility of these assets. What are the main exchanges to consider in 2021? In this article, Bitcoin Champion review the top 10 best cryptocurrency trading platforms .

As the rise in digital assets sees more and more new traders seize the opportunity, the common question becomes: „Where to buy bitcoin (BTC)?“ While cryptocurrency traders and investors know where to go, newbies usually have no idea of ​​the buying process.

Considering centralized, derivative and decentralized (DEX) platforms, we take a look at the various platforms that are worth watching in the future.

Founded in 2015, Changelly is a no deposit required platform known for buying or selling cryptocurrency without user funds necessarily being on an exchange.

With an offer of over 150 cryptocurrencies, users can buy and sell digital currencies through the Changelly site or through their mobile app available on Android and iOS.

Changelly also has over a million visitors per month. With fast transactions, 24/7 live support and a reputation spanning more than six years, Changelly is a platform you can trust, and available when needed.

Crypto.com is a centralized platform well known for launching an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in 2017. The project has since been renamed from Monaco to Crypto.com, with the company spending $ 12 million for the name domain under which it now operates.

The project has come a long way from its ICO, now offering an exchange platform, a debit card service, a crypto-payments solution, as well as a decentralized financing ( DeFi ) wallet . Crypto.com is now responsible for around $ 284 million in daily transaction volume and offers a mobile app for iOS and Android to manage user funds for redemption or card spending.

New to the list, Stormgain recently gained popularity for its leveraged option trading platform . Stormgain currently has over 120,000 users in over 100 countries. Users have the ability to trade, and store eight of the major cryptocurrencies. The project allows users to buy crypto using a credit card or wire transfer.

Stormgain is best known for trading with 200x leverage, for risk lovers. The exchange also includes a mobile app for Android, iOS and Huawei

Well known as a “social” trading and multi-asset brokerage platform , eToro has finally dabbled in cryptocurrency and now even offers a specialist crypto exchange in the form of eToroX .

eToroX offers cryptocurrency services for professional traders. The platform currently brings in over $ 467 million in daily volume on eToroX.

eToro is well known as the world’s leading social trading platform . Let’s keep an eye on this platform in 2021.

Known as one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, Bittrex is well known for being the most popular exchange platform in early 2017, before bitcoin’s dramatic rise to $ 20,000. Bittrex was unfortunately unable to handle the influx of new traders, and Binance stepped in to take market share.

Bittrex offers a huge range of cryptocurrencies, with around 315 different assets to trade. The exchange is also available on iOS and Android.

FTX is a relatively new platform on the market. However, the company is experiencing constant growth. The platform currently generates around $ 7 billion in daily trading volume . It focuses on derivatives trading and is rapidly gaining popularity. Billed as a cryptocurrency exchange built by traders and for traders, the company is making a big mark for 2021.

FTX currently offers derivatives, spot trading, market forecasting and volatility, and has even recently added various exchanges to its trading platform. It also offers an over-the-counter (OTC) service for professionals who need liquidity quickly, at no cost and with tight spreads. FTX also offers a well-designed mobile application for all platforms.

Arguably the most popular exchange in North America, Coinbase was founded in 2012. Being one of the oldest exchanges on the list, Coinbase has more than 43 million verified users in 100 countries.

The company currently generates more than $ 5.7 billion in daily volume . With over 44 cryptocurrencies, the exchange has remained a vital gateway for Americans to access the cryptocurrency space. Coinbase offers fiat gateways for ease of use. In addition, the exchange is guaranteed by insurance, which is quite convenient.

Following the rise of decentralized exchanges, SushiSwap is on the list as one of the popular exchanges to watch in 2021. With a daily volume of $ 446 million , the platform has grown in popularity as users seek to leave centralized exchanges.

SushiSwap also offers to save its cryptocurrencies, a way to earn returns in crypto. The craze for DeFi has certainly favored the new exchange, which seems to rival Uniswap.

Without a doubt the most popular platform in the world for trading , and derivatives. The Binance exchange rose to prominence during the cryptocurrency surge in 2017-18 and has grown steadily since.

Binance has a staggering daily volume of $ 27 billion . No other trading platform comes close to the volume generated by Binance. The company is well known for its ease of use.

The exchange offers several ways of investing, as well as over 275 cryptocurrencies to trade. Binance looks poised to remain the largest cryptocurrency exchange; thus, it will be necessary to keep an eye on it in the future.

Uniswap experienced the fastest growing in 2020. The world’s largest decentralized platform currently generates $ 1.2 billion in daily volume , more than three times the volume of the second decentralized exchange SushiSwap. This is quite impressive for an exchange which, over a year ago, was nowhere to be found.

Uniswap offers a simple decentralized platform, allowing users to exchange any ERC-20 token on the market with each other. One of the main drawbacks today is the ERC-20 transaction fees.

However, Uniswap is looking to improve its current offering by offering greater transparency, faster settlement and cheaper transactions. The exchange also gave 400 UNIs to existing users of the platform, and currently valued at around $ 9,000.

Uniswap will likely remain the decentralized exchange of choice, with its transactions accounting for 25% of all Ethereum Network (ETH) transactions at the time of writing.

The list includes a variety of platforms, all featuring dynamic offerings ranging from wallets, mobile apps , to centralized and decentralized platforms.

2021 looks like a huge year for the cryptocurrency industry. The platforms listed above will offer any crypto expert or newcomer to the market some of the best options for buying, trading, or holding cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin (BTC) es un activo de extrema volatilidad, su movimiento de precios es conocido por ser muy amplio. En enero de 2021, el precio de BTC alcanzó un máximo histórico de más de 41.000 dólares, pero luego cayó por debajo de 35.000 dólares en una semana.

En 2017, después de que el precio de Bitcoin alcanzara su anterior récord de casi 20.000 dólares, BTC cayó en picado por debajo de los 6.000 dólares en 2018. El patrón de precios históricos de BTC sugiere que hay una oportunidad de obtener beneficios vendiendo Bitcoin al descubierto.

Hay muchas formas de vender al descubierto Bitcoin, algunos de los métodos populares de venta al descubierto incluyen productos de intercambio y derivados. La venta en corto se refería al proceso de vender la criptodivisa con la especulación de que su valor caerá, y volver a comprar el activo a un precio más bajo. Los comerciantes buscan obtener beneficios de la diferencia en el precio de mercado.

Venta en corto por bolsa

Para vender al descubierto Bitcoin, los inversores necesitarían encontrar una bolsa que ofrezca un servicio de venta al descubierto para tomar prestado el Bitcoin real para venderlo en el mercado.

Por ejemplo, cuando el precio de Bitcoin Storm se negociaba a 23.000 dólares por BTC. Eric especuló que el mercado se volvería bajista, y decidió tomar prestado un BTC de la bolsa para venderlo en el mercado. El precio del BTC cae a 20.000 dólares en la semana siguiente, Eric puede volver a comprar el Bitcoin con el nuevo precio del mercado, y obtendrá una ganancia de 3.000 dólares. Sin embargo, perderá 3.000 dólares si el precio de la BTC sube a 26.000 dólares.

Los operadores que compren Bitcoin usando este método están expuestos al riesgo de „pérdidas ilimitadas“, ya que no hay límite en cuanto a la cantidad de BTC que puede subir, y los operadores deben recomprar el Bitcoin que han tomado prestado. La venta de Bitcoin en un mercado de valores también implica tasas de préstamo, comisiones, etc. Muchos comerciantes han recurrido al comercio de derivados para una forma más eficiente de vender Bitcoin.

Venta de Bitcoin con Futuros Bitcoin

El producto derivado es otra forma de vender a corto plazo Bitcoin. Un contrato de futuros es un tipo de producto derivado, que se refiere a un acuerdo de compra o venta de un activo concreto a un precio predeterminado en un momento determinado del futuro.

Los operadores pueden vender al descubierto Bitcoin mediante la venta de un contrato de futuros BTC con la expectativa de que el precio de BTC disminuya en el futuro. Mientras que los comerciantes que compran un contrato de futuros BTC esperan que el precio de BTC aumente en el futuro.

Los contratos de futuros de Bitcoin tienen fechas de vencimiento que pueden variar desde ninguna fecha de vencimiento hasta una semana. Por ejemplo, la plataforma de comercio de futuros de BTCC bitcoin & ethereum ofrece un contrato perpetuo, un contrato semanal y un contrato diario, donde el contrato perpetuo no tiene fecha de vencimiento, mientras que el contrato semanal y el contrato diario expiran diariamente y semanalmente respectivamente.

Otra ventaja de la negociación de contratos de futuros es el uso del apalancamiento, que permite a los comerciantes maximizar su beneficio potencial con un pequeño depósito inicial, conocido como margen.

Por ejemplo, un margen de 350 USDT permite abrir un lote de transacciones para un contrato semanal BTC/USDT con un apalancamiento de 100x en el BTCC. El intercambio proporciona 10x, 20x, 50x, 100x, y 150x para el comercio de futuros de Bitcoin. Los comerciantes pueden elegir el tipo de contrato de futuros y apalancarlo para que se ajuste a sus intereses.

Główny ekonomista Hamburg Commercial Bank, Cyrus de la Rubia, przewidział cenę docelową Bitcoin na 1 milion dolarów, dodając, że prognoza opiera się na modelu energii elektrycznej.

Główny ekonomista w Hamburg Commercial Bank, Cyrus de la Rubia, powiedział, że cena Bitcoina osiągnie 1 milion dolarów do 2030 roku.

Ekonomista powiedział, że doszedł do tej liczby, korzystając z modelu energii elektrycznej. Powiedział:

„W momencie, gdy na te inne energochłonne towary, na przykład stal lub aluminium, jest większe zapotrzebowanie niż dodatkowe jednostki kryptowaluty, względna atrakcyjność Bitcoina spada. Wtedy osiągnięta zostaje górna granica ceny ”.

W zeszłym miesiącu dyrektor generalny Global Macro Investor Raoul Pal również przewidział, że cena BTC osiągnie 1 milion dolarów. Jeśli chodzi o Pal, Bitcoin wzrośnie o 1 milion dolarów do 2026 roku. W wywiadzie przeprowadzonym 20 grudnia prezes powiedział, że jego prognozy cenowe są oparte na modelu przepływu akcji. Pal powiedział, że twórca modelu przepływu zapasów, Plan B, wyjaśnia model i ułatwia analizę wpływu podaży na cenę.

Pal dodał również, że osiągnięcie 1 miliona dolarów BTC do 2026 roku nie jest „nierozsądne”

W 2020 roku Bitcoin przyciągnął kilku inwestorów indywidualnych i instytucjonalnych. Cena BTC wzrosła o ponad 3000% w ciągu roku i nowe szczyty w różnych metrykach. Skok ceny Bitcoin w 2020 r. Był napędzany różnymi czynnikami, w tym ogłoszeniem PayPal, aby zezwolić na płatności kryptograficzne na swojej platformie. W październiku PayPal poinformował, że jego 346 milionów użytkowników może teraz kupować i sprzedawać BTC i trzy inne aktywa cyfrowe za pomocą swoich kont PayPal.

After a very strange year for the markets, cryptomyces suffered a pandemic after only leaving a long market downturn and became stronger

As we see every year, there are always big winners in the crypto space with four digit percentage increases.

Let’s start by examining Bitcoin before moving on to some unknown projects that have risen rapidly this year.

Bitcoin

In January 2020, Bitcoin cost about $7,000. Halving was coming in May and things were generally optimistic in the market.

Then March arrived and the blockages started to occur all over the world because of a new deadly disease. In retrospect, most would agree that the sales observed in the financial markets were an exaggerated reaction, but at the time there was great uncertainty about how Covid-19 would spread and what impact it would have.

It was speculated that the liquidation of Bitcoin was actually caused by miners who were trying to profit before their rewards were halved in May. The evidence? Most of the Bitcoin Benefit sold was newly-built Bitcoin.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin cost $23,200 – a 205% increase in price since the beginning of the year and a new historical record, seeking to discover new highs in 2021.

Monthly term for BTC USD: TradingView

Altcoins

The Chainlink (LINK) also had a great year, going from $1.76 at the beginning of the year to now reach $13.89, representing a 629% increase in price. Chainlink is a fascinating addition to the Ethereum blockchain, as it is able to take real-world data and apply it to intelligent contracts. If smart contracts become more widely used in the future (a distinct possibility in the increasingly remote world), then this project may still be severely undervalued and have more serious gains by 2021.

Chainlink performance from December 2019 to December 2020: Coingecko

Some outliers also made big gains this year, with Gamestars (GST) gaining 68,999%. To put this in perspective, a $100 investment in January in GST would now be worth $69,000. Other symbolic annual increases included Zap (ZAP 6.374%), Auctus (AUC 5.489%), Aave (AAVE 5.121%) and Starchain (STC 3.674%).

Having strength for hodl

In comparison with the last years, the cryptomeda market seems to be entering a bullish phase. Having shaken many people, the bearish market in 2018 was a consolidation phase for large scale investors who used the period of fear and uncertainty to accumulate as much cryptomeda as possible before the next bullish phase.

Buying cryptomoeda at cheap prices is not an exclusive strategy of the crypt markets. The stock and foreign exchange markets also have long market cycles in which the most stable hands generate the best returns.

Of course, choosing the right asset to invest and maintain is also important, as is knowing when to stop and when to make a profit on green.

Maybe you’re thinking about what the cryptomoeda market will be like in December 2021 – one thing is for sure; there will be winners and losers, so how are you sure to keep one of the winners? Spread your bets. As can be seen in some of the above examples of winners this year, a small investment in a project that has a four digit percentage increase can give returns of tens of thousands of dollars.

Let’s say you have $500 to invest in January 2021 and don’t mind losing. You could simply buy Bitcoin with this and see where it will be in years to come; however, to spread this money, say, 10 different projects for $50 each could generate a much bigger return for an investor if one of these projects ended up making a list as above this time next year.

Michael Sonnenshein entgegnet den Argumenten, die Bitcoin-Kritiker gegen die Krypto-Adoption vorgebracht haben.

Der Chief Operating Officer Michael Sonnenshein von Grayscale Investments hat seine Meinung zur verstärkten Einführung von Bitcoin und anderen Kryptowährungen geäußert.

In den letzten Wochen hat die Zahl der Kryptowährungen zugenommen, ganz zu schweigen von einem Anstieg des Wertes von BTC. Dies hat viele Gespräche und Diskussionen von Branchenexperten wie Michael Sonnenshein, COO von Grayscale Investments, ausgelöst.

Als ein weltweit renommierter Investmentfonds für digitale Vermögenswerte verfügt Grayscale Investments über ein Vermögen von etwa 11 Milliarden Dollar. In einem Interview sprach Michael Sonnenshein darüber, wie Bitcoin in den letzten Jahren Erfolge erzielt hat. In seiner Diskussion über Bitcoin verglich er das Vermögen mit einer Form von digitalem Gold, das nicht von der Inflation betroffen ist.

Der Erfolg und die Masseneinführung von Bitcoin

In seiner Diskussion vertrat Michael Sonnenshein einige der Argumente, die von den Bitcoin-Gegnern vorgebracht wurden. Er wies darauf hin, dass der Aufstieg von Bitcoin nicht nur eine Verrücktheit sei, sondern dass die Hauptakteure der Branche jetzt an einer Kryptoadoption interessiert seien. Ein solcher Akteur in der Finanzindustrie ist PayPal. Im Oktober kündigte PayPal die Einführung seiner Kryptodienste an. Die Ankündigung kam für die meisten Menschen überraschend, und innerhalb kurzer Zeit haben sich andere wichtige Branchenakteure in die gleiche Richtung bewegt.

„Ich denke, sie verstehen jetzt, dass der Kauf von Bitcoin und die Speicherung in ihrem Portfolio eine Möglichkeit ist, den Wert inflationsgeschützt zu speichern, ein bisschen wie digitales Gold (…) viel besser geeignet für die digitale Welt, in der wir leben“, sagte Michael Sonnenshien.

Mehr von Michael Sonnenshien

Michael Sonnenshien merkte auch an, dass, da diese Schlüsselakteure die Kryptotechnologie eingeführt haben, jeder davon überzeugt sein sollte, dass die Kryptowährung eine Lösung für die Zukunft ist. Er wies jedoch auch darauf hin, dass die Auswirkungen der COVID-19-Pandemie Investoren und Bankinstitute stark beeinträchtigt haben. Während sich Wirtschaftskrisen zusammenbrauen, sind Bitcoin-Lösungen von immer mehr Investoren überdacht worden.

Das beliebte Argument „Bitcoin ist keine Währung, weil man damit keinen Kaffee bezahlen kann“ ist nicht mehr stichhaltig, da Bitcoin nun als wichtiger Schritt zur Geldentwicklung anerkannt wird. Es ist auch ein glaubwürdiger Weg, um Kapital zu sparen. Während der COVID-19-Ära reagierten Bitcoin und andere Kryptowährungen nach dem pandemiebedingten Marktschock überraschend positiv. Dies verstärkte auch die Überzeugung vieler Menschen, dass Bitcoin als robustes Anlagegut eine gute Kapitalrendite bieten kann.

Ein weiteres Anti-Bitcoin-Argument, das dem COO von Grayscale missfiel, ist das, das besagt, dass die endliche Anzahl von Bitcoins die Gesamtzahl der Menschen begrenzt, die Teil des BTC-Ökosystems sein können. Er weist darauf hin, dass jede einzelne BTC durch 100 Millionen geteilt werden kann. Weiter argumentiert er, dass „unter Berücksichtigung der Grösse der Weltbevölkerung allen, die in Bitcoin investieren wollen, die Möglichkeit gegeben wird“. Mit diesen Worten glaubt er, dass Bitcoin eine Möglichkeit für alle ist, die in Bitcoin investieren möchten. Insgesamt beläuft sich die maximale Anzahl von Satoshis auf 21 Millionen (der Gesamtbetrag der zu produzierenden Bitcoins) mal 100 Millionen.

Bitcoin-Preis

Zum Zeitpunkt des Verfassens dieses Artikels wird Bitcoin derzeit bei 19.335,50 $ gehandelt, mit einem 24-Stunden-Handelsvolumen von 21.832.192.779 $ und einer Marktkapitalisierung von 358.946.717.822 $.

TEX automates token exchanges through intelligent contracts

Money On Chain announced the launch of TEX, a new decentralized token exchange, built on RSK, the smart contract network that allows decentralized applications protected by the Bitcoin network. This was reported from Uruguay, to Cointelegraph en Español, through a press release.

According to them, TEX automates token exchanges through smart contracts, offering users access to DoC, BPro, RIF and rBTC, among others. „The launch expands the possibilities of DeFi in Bitcoin,“ they said in the release.

Money On Chain CEO: „MoC can become the cornerstone of DeFi on Bitcoin“.

„TEX uses a trading mechanism inspired by the method used in The London Gold Fix. Based on an Order Book (OB), order execution is not instantaneous and occurs in ticks. The tics occur every few minutes to allow the order book to form a price that will be discovered before the match is made. The frequency of the tics depends on the activity of the market. This is especially important in a new network and allows for organic growth in liquidity. Users who place orders on the OB can cancel them at any time,“ they later detailed.

On the other hand, as they explained, with a public order book, TEX’s design avoids „front running“, and with prices through tics, TEX aims to „ensure fairer price discovery, even with low trading volume“.

RSK launches an interoperability bridge to connect Bitcoin to Ethereum

Max Carjuzaa, co-founder of Money On Chain commented:

„TEX is an important part of the Money On Chain protocol. A decentralized order book ensures a fair and transparent price discovery process and establishes a secondary market for tokens.

Order Types

The TEX has two types of orders: Limit Orders and Market Maker Orders.

In the release they stated: „A limit order allows the user to set conditions to ensure that they buy or sell at the expected price or better. The buyer will not spend more than the maximum he was willing to pay and the seller will not receive less than the minimum he expected to get. The price will be the average between the two“.

„A market maker order is a special type of limit order. Here, the trader specifies a percentage difference with a fair price. The TEX gets a fair price from an oracle or the last tick where an oracle is not available,“ they added.

TEX is designed to exchange tokens in a Bitcoin ecosystem. It’s worth noting that TEX is already active, so traders can immediately start trading in a decentralized manner.

Diego Gutiérrez Zaldivar, CEO of IOVlabs, said

„We are very excited about this new announcement that continues to generate momentum in the Defi opportunity for Bitcoin. Decentralized exchanges built on Bitcoin are key“.

About Money on Chain

Money On Chain is an initiative that seeks to bring bitcoin to mass adoption. With this objective it offers solutions for different types of users: a fully collateralized stablecoin in bitcoin (DoC), a token called „bitcoin on steroids“ (BPro) and a bitcoiner option for lovers of leveraged trading (BTCx). All this, without the need to hand over the private keys.

About RSK

The RSK Network is an intelligent contract platform secured by Bitcoin hashing power through merged mining.

RSK adds value and functionality to the bitcoin ecosystem by enabling smart contracts, near-instant payments and greater scalability.

The network scales up to 100 transactions per second without sacrificing decentralization, and reduces storage and bandwidth through probabilistic verification, fraud detection, and more.

A couple from Hilversum, the Netherlands, have been convicted of money laundering after using bitcoins on dark web services.

Rotterdam District Court ordered the couple to return 2,532 BTC and 250,000 euros

According to court documents, convicts exchanged cash for Bitcoin Future scam from anonymous customers at busy fast food outlets.

The Trust Project is an international consortium of news organizations based on transparency standards.

The Rotterdam District Court in the Netherlands seized 2,532 bitcoins (approximately $ 29 million) from a couple guilty of money laundering on dark web platforms.

According to a court statement , the man and his wife, from the town of Hilversum in North Holland, were also sentenced to two and two and a half years in prison respectively for money laundering.

The Dutch prosecution successfully prosecuted the couple for laundering more than 16 million euros ($ 18.9 million) in two and a half years, after establishing that the source of the large sum of bitcoin in their possession came from illegal transactions on the dark web.

Details of the case

According to the court statement, two separate sums of 1,488 BTC and 1,044 BTC were seized from the suspects, as well as € 250,000 in cash. In addition, the two suspects were individually fined € 45,000 and were forced to return € 138,000 and $ 40,000.

The court ruled that the couple bought bitcoin to exchange large amounts of euros for cash from individuals and businesses. These transactions were not disclosed to the Dutch authorities and were carried out using methods to maintain the anonymity of customers.

It was explained by the court that the exchanges usually take place at a fast food restaurant in a big city, without any due diligence or know-your-customer protocol. This method is generally advantageous for dark web criminals looking to trade their fiat currencies for currencies without going through the usual checks of crypto-fiat currency exchange platforms.

“Des traces du dark web”

The court ruled that the BTCs acquired bore the mark of dark web activity. The use of bitcoins on the dark web has been linked to criminal activities like child pornography and sponsored murder, and authorities often target these underground markets.

In an excerpt from the court documents, we can read:

Traders did not ask their customers for identity papers, while large amounts were often exchanged. The suspects, a man and his wife, came into contact with customers through internet advertisements and a dark web place of commerce. Much of the bitcoins traded bore traces of the dark web. The court ruled that the suspects laundered more than 16 million euros in two and a half years.

Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba, recently spoke at the Bund Summit in Shanghai about the possibilities of digital currencies in the global financial system.

Jack Ma believesthat the crypto industry is disruptive

He sees the possibility that this could contribute to the overhaul of the financial system. In his eyes, global financial regulations are an obstacle to innovation. In this context, he urged China to adapt the system to the growing Chinese economy.

With the Arbismart wallet and arbitrage trading platform, thousands of investors earn passive income (10.8-45% per year). The fully automated crypto arbitrage platform offers low risk, high return investments. The News Spy is EU licensed and regulated.

Meanwhile, he drew attention to the future role of digital currencies. In his estimation, the Chinese CBDC could be of vital importance in building a new financial system in the next 30 years:

The digital currency could add value and we should think about how we can create a new kind of financial system through the digital currency

The financial system founded by the Basel Convention is also too conservative for him. He believes that China cannot cope with the growing economy adequately through this system:

After the Asian financial crisis, risk control highlighted in the Basel Conventions has focused only on risk control, not development, and rarely takes into account opportunities for young people and developing countries.

The Basel Convention brought with it international regulation for banks that was intended to reduce risk in the global economy. As a reaction to the global financial crisis, Basel III – provision of the Basel Convention of the Bank for International Settlements for the Regulation of Banks – was adopted in 2008. As a result, the rules became quite strict. The financial crisis led, among other things, that Satoshi Nakamoto decided to start Bitcoin.

This is by no means a new fact and yet we still hear too little about it. Whether it is during speeches or articles in the mass media, the theme is too often avoided. I’m talking about the carbon footprint and the ecological transition potential of cryptocurrencies. Today, the energy used by these digital currencies comes mainly from “green” sources. Between hydraulic, geothermal or even solar, examples around the globe are legion. Thus in these lines we will come back to the energy needs of the mining industry, accompanied by its mix. Then, we will observe what are the issues that act in favor or against „green mining“. Obviously, this article exclusively concerns currencies working with Proof of Work.

Before discussing the mining industry and its challenges, let’s analyze the phenomenon of Proof of Work (PoW), or Proof of Work.

The advent of the first cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) was enabled by many innovations

The PoW consensus is now used to validate transactions on the Crypto Engine network . In the absence of a trusted third party or banking intermediary, we need technology to process payments. “ Blockchain ” technology is often mentioned , but its operability is mainly guaranteed by the existence of this protocol.

This protocol is unfortunately imperfect. The validation system based on the latter allows a significant energy expenditure. This consumption is made by validators called “ minors „.

To approve cryptocurrency transactions, they must individually solve complex mathematical calculations. To achieve this, miners who have graphics cards or Asics consume electricity. They are comparable to microcomputers. With the difference that they are specialized – in particular Asics – in the resolution of this type of calculation.

In addition, the more numerous minors participate in the validation system, the more energy consumed will be. Indeed, the mathematical difficulty of the calculations is adjusted according to the number of validators.

This adaptation is explained by the need to maintain the economic incentive at the same level, regardless of the number of actors involved. As a result, the more players there are, the more energy will be required to validate transactions.

State of play of the mining industry’s consumption level

Nowadays, the strong competition on the network to validate transactions results from high energy consumption. So much so that for several years the consumption of Satoshi’s currency has given rise to lively controversy. Compared to the energy demand of states of several million people, and even to household appliances , it is often described as “ energy intensive „.

This name is certainly justified because of the astronomical quantities of electricity it requires, but it is not harmful for all that. Unfortunately, the debate traditionally ends on this point. Without taking into perspective a number of factors essential to the debate. This gives rise to dramatic comparisons and caricatures that have no place . The most notorious remains today that brought to Bitcoin, it would be responsible for climate change .

It is therefore time to review the copy too often blank or riddled with errors made by „experts“ when asked about the subject. And thus, realize the true environmental footprint of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies that use PoW.

Understand the irregularities made by Bitcoin scavengers and the true impact of the mining industry
Contextualize perverted figures during debates

Today, the mystery surrounding the amount of electricity consumed by the mining industry remains. The opacity of the sector makes its precise estimation impossible. On the other hand, many researchers or research groups have looked into the subject. Some even with very outlandishly inspired calculation methods.

I am thinking in particular of the notorious Alex de Vries . Where it obtains for the period of June 2018 an annual consumption of Bitcoin of 70 Twh . In contrast to figures published by Cambridge and Jean-Paul Delahaye , a French mathematician, indicate 44 Twh and 40 Twh respectively (over the same period).

However, even these results have been the subject of debate, as they omitted certain characteristics to denote reality. As for the work of Alex de Vries, a publication was made to illustrate the multiple errors of reasoning made. The PwC consultant is now seen more as a detractor of Bitcoin rather than a real researcher.

The truth about industrial consumption is therefore not an infused science. And even for prestigious universities such as Cambridge. In this case, when you look for the level of consumption you do not get 1, but 3 different figures. With 3 rating levels, one low, high and medium. As of October 20, 2020, the estimates are between 37.68 and 97 Twh. Consequently, the difference observed between each of the scales shows the clear ignorance of information in the field.