Bitcoin Network Now Consumes 7 Nuclear Plants Worth of Power

Bitcoin’s processing power has touched all-time highs in 2020. Moreover, the gigawatts of electrical consumption powering industrial bitcoin mining today consumes as much as seven nuclear power plants.

The Bitcoin Network Now Consumes 7 Nuclear Plants Worth of Power - Bitcoin mining is a process where groups of miners compete in order to capture as many block rewards as they can. Bitcoin miners essentially plug machines into the wall that consume electricity in order to hash away at the Bitcoin network’s consensus algorithm so they can outpace competitors. Hashrate is how analysts measure the amount of computing power dedicated to the blockchain network.

Collectively the aggregate total of all the bitcoin miners combined makes up the total amount of hashrate dedicated to the blockchain. Today the Bitcoin (BTC) network hashrate is around 120 exahash per second (EH/s).

Next Step in the Evolution of Money? -The IMF tweeted a video explaining what cryptocurrency is on Sunday that instantly went viral. Referring to cryptocurrency as “a special currency,” the two-minute video attempts to outline its benefits in payments, such as by removing middlemen, lowering costs, and increasing transaction speed. It also warns of what it sees as risks, such as anonymity and volatility. The video has garnered more than 523K views at the time of writing; it has been retweeted 5.5K times, liked 8.2K times, and received 807 comments. The video ends with:

"If we can counter the risks, then this new technology or some variation of it can completely change the way we sell, buy, save, invest, and pay our bills. And who knows, this could be the next step in the evolution of money."

Bitcoin is on Target to hit $288K as US Money Velocity Collapses in Q2 - In a blog post on Aug. 25, Jeroen Blokland, portfolio manager at asset manager Robeco, noted that U.S. M2 money velocity had hit historic lows.

“Theoretically, the velocity of money rises when economic activity increases,” Blokland wrote. 

“While the sudden economic stop obviously resulted in much lower economic activity, the sharp decline also suggests there is just too much money to spend. A quick look at central bank balance sheets confirms this.”

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com