How COVID-19 is changing the geography of crypto mining

To view this email as a web page, go here.

March 31, 2020 Shifting landscape The coronavirus downturn is shifting the geography of crypto mining. Market dips have made it unprofitable for some bitcoin miners with older machines to operate, leading to consolidation of the activity in regions with investments in the latest mining tech. Thomas Heller, business director of F2Pool, estimated Chinese miners still contribute roughly 60 percent of the global hashrate, followed by Russia with 15 to 20 percent and North America with roughly 15 percent.  _________________________________________________________________ Voted off HackerOne, a bug bounty platform, cut ties with the mobile election app Voatz for breach of partnership standards. The removal cuts off Voatz’ access to HackerOne’s network of “ethical hackers” who trade their expertise in finding code faults for cash. Voatz has had a rough start to an important election year, after MIT Researchers and Trail of Bits published reports detailing security flaws in the blockchain-based app.  _________________________________________________________________ Blockchain medicine Spherity has developed a decentralized identity prototype to help people get the medicines while maintaining proper social distance. The “E-Rezept” prototype relies on self-sovereign identity (SSI), a way of managing the various attributes that comprise digital identity in a decentralized manner. Moving things away from password-based centralized architectures allows the real owners of sensitive personal data to control and share it without compromising their privacy.  _________________________________________________________________ Game reboot The game once known as MLB Crypto is reducing its dependency on its underlying blockchain, Ethereum. Incorporating Ethereum as the game’s base layer proved too complex for onboarding new users, and presented censorship concerns for getting listed on app marketplaces. The game is now renamed MLB Champions, will offload non-fungible tokens (NFTs) printing to its website, and will mix traditional databases and blockchain together to make game play more convenient. _________________________________________________________________ New in stablecoins France’s central bank wants to experiment with integrating digital currencies. On March 27, the Banque de France published a request for proposals for central bank digital currency “experiment” applications. These projects will help France’s central bank understand the risks and mechanisms of CBDCs and also contribute to the eurozone’s digital cash conversation. Essayer monnaie Dollar-backed stablecoins now account for the third largest asset in crypto with an ever-increasing transaction volume. However, precautionary, monetary measures by the Federal Reserve to shore up an economy ravaged by the COVID-19 outbreak, may upturn stablecoin issuer’s business models. Destabilizing stablecoins Coronavirus has made Universal Basic Income an attractive political goal for a nation cautioning workers to stay home and not work. Though, Frances Coppola, CoinDesk columnist, argues that problems of actually delivering these payments remain. “That leaves a gap for a new institution to step in, like a central bank, which could issue a digital currency as an efficient way of delivering a universal basic income.” Universal use case _________________________________________________________________ Around the web Understanding Miner Economics From First Principles. The next halvening is approaching, yet debate about its impact on asset prices remains mired in controversy. (CoinMetrics) Lightning Labs Pushes Digital Authentication Without Passwords. Lightning Labs’ new LSAT protocol standard wants to replace usernames and passwords with a Lightning Network payment stub. (Decrypt) Some Crypto Startups Were Already Scrambling to Raise Money. The coronavirus made their struggles worse. (The Block, paywalled) Eggs and Orange Juice Are the Best Performing Assets This Year (Quartz) Novogratz’s Buying Bitcoin After ‘Volaciraptor’ Ravaged Markets (Bloomberg) Decoupling/Down month After the weekend slump, many cryptocurrencies made strong gains Monday, as did major stock indexes.While bitcoin is following traditional markets, some traders are still looking for indications of decoupling. “Bitcoin rallied last week on inflationary fears in the U.S. It is the first time this year that it behaved as promised,” said Max Boonen, CEO of B2C2, a London-based over-the-counter (OTC) market maker. Market reader While bitcoin has recovered from recent lows below $4,000, the cryptocurrency is still on track to end March with a double-digit price loss. The top cryptocurrency by market value is currently trading near $6,440, representing nearly a 68 percent rise from the low of $3,867 registered on March 13. Even so, prices are still down 24 percent on a month-to-date basis. If that loss is held through Tuesday's close, it would be the biggest monthly percentage decline since November 2018. Month's end   ICYMI: Last week the Let's Talk Bitcoin! Show gathered to discuss how the MakerDAO DeFi stablecoin actually works and what happened during the sudden, precipitous drop in crypto prices earlier this month. WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER   Copyright © 2020 CoinDesk, All rights reserved.  Our mailing address is:  250 Park Avenue South New York, NY, 10003, US  Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or  unsubscribe from this list