Foundry

Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Rises for the First Time in 57 Days, BTC Hashrate Slipped 1.7% Lower in Q2

04/08/2022 by Idelto Editor

The mining difficulty tied to the Bitcoin network increased for the first time in 57 days, rising 1.74% higher than the last two weeks. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s hashrate has been below average as the network’s computational power is down 1.7% lower in the second quarter than in Q1 2022. After reaching 292 exahash per second (EH/s) on June 8, Bitcoin’s hashrate today is coasting along below the 200 EH/s mark at 182 EH/s.

Bitcoin’s Difficulty Increases, Making It More Difficult to Discover Block Rewards for the Next 2 Weeks

Following the three consecutive difficulty adjustment algorithm (DAA) reductions over the last six weeks, the DAA has shifted upwards for the first time since June 8. On August 4, at block height 747,936, the difficulty increased by 1.74%, bringing the metric up from 27.69 trillion to the current 28.20 trillion.

The DAA, or difficulty epoch, changes every 2,016 blocks or roughly every two weeks. The DAA increases when the 2,016 blocks are discovered too fast and the metric decreases when the discovery time is too slow. Satoshi Nakamoto’s design makes it so roughly every ten minutes, a new BTC block is found as the DAA system is modeled by a Poisson distribution scheme.

Since the 1.74% increase on Thursday, it is now harder to find a bitcoin block than it was during the last two weeks. Prior to the rise, the DAA shifted downwards three times in a row after June 8. Currently, the network’s 28.20 trillion difficulty metric is 9.76% lower than the all-time high in mid-May when it tapped 31.25 million.

With lower BTC prices and the latest difficulty increase, the changes could affect miners negatively during the next two weeks. At press time, the network’s computational power is under the 200 EH/s zone, as it’s coasting along at 182 EH/s today.

The overall Bitcoin hashrate slipped 1.7% lower in Q2 2022 compared to the first quarter, according to statistics compiled by stockapps.com’s fintech expert Edith Muthoni. “In the second half of the second quarter, Bitcoin’s overall hash rate grew more irregular and variable,” Muthoni notes in her research. “This behavior indicates miners are struggling to adapt to the changing market conditions.”

At 182 EH/s, Bitcoin’s hashrate is 37% lower than the 292 EH/s all-time high posted on June 8. Second quarter data indicates that Foundry USA was the top mining pool, capturing 22.27% of Q2’s overall hashrate. Foundry discovered 2,843 BTC blocks out of the 12,766 blocks found in Q2.

Antpool followed Foundry with 14.77% of the global hashrate as the pool discovered 1,885 blocks during the three-month period. The third largest mining pool in Q2 2022 was F2pool, with 14.31% of the global hashrate, as it mined 1,827 out of the 12,766 blocks discovered in the second quarter.

What do you think about Bitcoin’s difficulty rising 1.74% higher? Let us know your thoughts about this subject in the comments section below.

Foundry Digital Launches Logistics Arm to Advance Standards in the Cryptocurrency Mining Industry

28/07/2022 by Idelto Editor

On Thursday, Foundry Digital LLC, the mining company and subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), announced the launch of Foundry Logistics in order to advance standards in the cryptocurrency mining industry. The newly launched arm of the company plans to “bridge the gap between hardware manufacturers and buyers by providing an all-in-one solution for mining hardware deliveries.”

DCG Company Foundry Launches Mining Logistics Arm

Foundry, the crypto mining, staking firm, and DCG company has announced the launch of a new company venture called Foundry Logistics. The new mining logistics arm follows the firm launching staking services in mid-November last year, and Foundry’s mining machine marketplace the following month. Foundry Logistics aims to enhance and set “high standards of transparency, efficiency, and dependability in the cryptocurrency mining industry.”

Foundry Logistics leverages offices worldwide, and on-the-ground contacts in order to bolster “cost-effective and streamlined deliveries” in the crypto mining industry. The company provides “clients with customs clearance, insurance guidance, ocean shipment solutions, national warehouse solutions, and other domestic surface logistics.” Foundry Logistics customers can also access the company’s mining machine marketplace Foundryx and other services the crypto business offers.

“With Foundry Logistics we want to do exactly what Foundry has done with other business verticals: provide the increasing number of institutions in this maturing industry with products, services, and resources that are at par with those that exist in older and more established industries,” MK Sathya, the senior vice president of infrastructure at Foundry Logistics said in a statement sent to Bitcoin.com News.

Foundry Logistics Launch Follows Company’s Mining Industry Academy

The New York-based company’s mining pool Foundry USA is also the top mining pool in terms of BTC’s three-day global hashrate percentages. During the last three days, Foundry has captured 18.55% of the Bitcoin network’s global hashrate, which equates to 38.42 exahash per second (EH/s). While 469 blocks were collectively discovered by 13 mining pools, Foundry found 87 block rewards. Year-to-date statistics indicate Foundry USA was the top mining pool capturing 16.16% of the global hashrate in 12 months. Out of the 53,864 block rewards found during the course of the past year, Foundry USA found 8,705 blocks.

The Foundry Logistics launch follows the company introducing Foundry Academy on July 19. The academy offers a one-week program to train technicians so they can participate in the bitcoin mining industry. Foundry Academy detailed that registrations for the class are open as the program’s first session concluded in May. Foundry’s academic courses are conducted at a mining facility located in Rochester, New York.

What do you think about the newly launched Foundry Logistics? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Bitcoin Proponents Rally To Oppose New York Mining Moratorium

06/05/2022 by Idelto Editor

Bitcoiners and politicians come together in Albany, New York to speak out against a proposed ban on proof-of-work mining and to keep industry jobs in the state.

“This (Bitcoin) isn’t going to stop. Crypto mining may move somewhere where there is little or no concern for the environment.” –Ken Pokalsky, Vice-President of The Business Council of New York State

Pokalsky’s words echoed the sentiments of the half dozen speakers assembled at the New York State Capitol in Albany on May 2, 2022. Gathered on the Capitol’s famed “Million Dollar Staircase” were state legislators, Bitcoin industry leaders and advocates for technology jobs. The occasion was to urge Governor Kathy Hochul and the State Senate to oppose a two-year moratorium on proof-of-work mining. The bill has already passed the State Assembly.

The bill that passed the Assembly would impose a two-year ban on proof-of-work mining unless done with 100% renewable energy sources. Though much mining in the state is done with hydroelectric power, the ban would effectively shut down many mining facilities, including the Greenidge facility on Seneca Lake. Greenidge uses an older gas-fired plant to do its mining.

Both houses of the legislature and the governor’s chair are controlled by Democrats, so the environment is surely one of their biggest concerns.

The event was organized by Foundry Services of Rochester, New York. Foundry is a Digital Currency Group company, focused on mining, equipment sales, financing and staking services. The press conference, hailed by organizers as a “rally/protest,” drew only a couple of dozen supporters and a few legislators. The event was moderated by Cleve Mesidor, executive director of the Blockchain Foundation.

Assembly Member Clyde Vanel, representing the 33rd District in Queens, stated that while his party cares about the environment, they also care about jobs and good salaries. It was a theme touched on by many of the speakers.

State Senator Jeremy Cooney, representing the 56th District in Rochester, focused on how legacy financial institutions have long excluded people of color. “Financial inclusion should not be restricted by one’s zip code,” said Cooney. And an even more powerful statement from the senator, “We can’t stop the conversation with a moratorium.”

Pokalsky, quoted above, also focused on the fact that New York State has struggled to keep up with the nation in terms of job growth. The jobs theme was echoed by Assembly Member Addie Jenne, who also happens to be a regulatory counsel for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union. Jenne said, “New York should not squander the opportunity to lead the nation in innovation.”

*In front: Jenne, Vanel, Mesidor, Cooney, Pokalsky (*Photograph/Rick Mulvey)

Adrian Hale, the director of economic and community development for Foundry, was probably the most powerful speaker at the event. Hale, previously with the Rochester Chamber of Commerce, pointed out that the city is the third-poorest city in the nation. He referenced the New York State “BitLicense” as an impediment to doing business in the state, and as especially hurting opportunities for Blacks and Latinos. He pointed out that there are very few other opportunities for minorities to earn “generational wealth.”

Hale pointed out that Rochester’s Bitcoin community is adopting the already-used slogan for employment fair opportunities, “ROC the block,” to reference local employment by blockchain companies.

The event had an interesting tone to it, as all of the legislative reps on hand were Democrats and most attendees were people of color. This was a point stressed by Jenne, who touted the diversity of the effort. The rally was promoted and attended by the Harlem Bitcoin Community as well. Bitcoin is generally thought of as a right-wing endeavor, but you wouldn’t have known it from this rally.

Hale stated that the goal of nearly everyone involved in the Bitcoin space was “a smart, equitable regulatory framework.”

The bill now moves on to the New York State Senate.

This is a guest post by Rick Mulvey. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

How Mining Pools Adapt To Changing Market Conditions

06/04/2022 by Idelto Editor

Miners need to be flexible to changes in the market, including global cultural differences and adversarial legal frameworks when countries ban Bitcoin.

Mining pools are important to the Bitcoin ecosystem because they allow small bitcoin miners to collect rewards for their hash rate. Small-time miners are very unlikely to find a block and receive the block reward on their own. Mining pools improve the chances of individual miners finding a block because the pool groups the hash rates of all the miners in the pool, acting as one big miner.

A group of mining pool specialists sat down together at the mining stage at Bitcoin 2022 to discuss the state of mining pools and ways that the pools are evolving for both retail and industry miners. The panel consisted of Leo Zhang, the founder of Annica Research, Nick Hansen; the CEO and co-founder of Luxor; Jay Beddict, the director of research at Foundry; Denny Xing, the business development manager of Poolin; and Edward Evenson, the head of business development at Slush Pool and Braiins.

The (Mining) Pool Boys panel at Bitcoin 2022.

The panelists started off discussing the major changes that occurred due to hash rate migration. Panel moderator Zhang said, “The past year has been a very interesting year in the distribution of the mining industry, especially with the China ban.”

After the China ban, “Companies had to prepare for a large influx of American hash rate,” said Hansen.

Xing expanded on this idea when he said, “You see the migration of hash rate not only from China, but Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Stability and security will be an important factor for hash rate and that’s why people are moving to the U.S.”

The conversation evolved to discussing renewables. Xing said, “People are calling for renewables and reusing the heat from mining which is new for us.”

Evenson elaborated, “The narrative used to be that bitcoin was funding terrorists and criminals and now it’s that bitcoin mining is boiling the oceans.”

But the desire for renewables is not limited to wind and solar power. Beddict shared, “Foundry does advising work and we are certainly seeing more interest from those [renewables] groups, but what’s more interesting to me is the flare gas.”

Evenson added, “The recent trend is pools trying to be ‘green pools.’ It makes more sense to me for that to be done on the miner level because mining pools don’t consume very much energy.”

After a short discussion about green energy, the panelists moved on to talk about cultural variance between Chinese and American miners. Hansen said, “One of the biggest differences between Chinese miners and American miners is treasury management. It seems like most of the American miners are trying to hold the bitcoin. For Chinese miners, it seems like they’re trying to at least sell to cover their operation expenditure.”

In addition to cultural differences, there are regulatory differences that impact hash rate and where miners choose to set up their operations. Hansen spoke about OFAC compliance, “The market seemed to indicate that maybe an OFAC compliant pool would be desired, but it quickly became clear that that was not the case and the pool switched back.”

Beddict added, “Over-complying will lead to a more negative outcome. By participating in the bitcoin mining network, by putting a block on top of another one, you are providing security to all the transactions before it.”

This means that even if a block is mined within OFAC compliance, the previous as well as the following blocks will contain non-OFAC compliant blocks within the chain, rendering the OFAC compliant block pointless. Zhang concluded, “There’s a lot more money, there’s a lot more interest to push for a more friendly regulatory environment.”

At the end of the conversation, all of the panelists expressed excited about the Stratum V2 protocol being further developed.

Bitcoin 2022 is part of the Bitcoin Event Series hosted by BTC Inc, the parent company of Bitcoin Magazine.

US Still Dominates Bitcoin Mining Sector, 30-Day Stats Show Foundry USA Takes Top Pool Position

24/01/2022 by Idelto Editor

Since the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) project updated its mining map in mid-July, the United States has continued to dominate in terms of the amount of hashpower worldwide. Moreover, data shows that Foundry USA has managed to command the top pool position with 755 bitcoin block rewards mined during the last 30 days.

The United States Commands a Large Concentration of Bitcoin Miners, 66 Exahash Recorded in the US on January 24

According to chainbulletin.com’s mining map, there is a large concentration of the Bitcoin network’s hashrate located in the United States. At the time of writing, data shows that 66.22 exahash per second (EH/s) or 35.4% of the global hashrate resides in the U.S., while 17.87 EH/s or 9.55% is located in Canada. Between Canada and the United States, the countries command 44.95% of the global hashrate.

Pool operators located in the U.S. include Binance USA, Btc.com, SBI Crypto US, Viabtc US, Poolin US, Slushpool US, Antpool US, F2pool USA, and Foundry USA. The 30-day statistics showing hashrate distribution show that the aforementioned pools command the top eight largest mining pools worldwide. Metrics indicate that Foundry USA found 755 blocks and captured the top pool position last month with 16.87% of the hashrate.

Following Foundry USA’s 30-day stats was Antpool’s 659 blocks found or 14.72% of the BTC hashrate. F2pool found the same amount of blocks as Antpool last month and captured 14.72% of the network hashrate as well. Binance Pool came in fourth this past month with 11.55% of the hashrate or 517 blocks found. Lastly, the fifth-largest mining pool during the last 30 days was Poolin as it captured 511 block rewards or 11.42% of the global hashrate.

Bitcoin Mining Operations Are Located in Florida, New Jersey, California, Virginia, Ohio, Colorado, Washington, Texas

Chainbulletin’s mining map shows that F2pool has an operation in Florida and California, Btc.com has operations in Virginia, Colorado, and Washington. SBI Crypto US is located in Oregon and Foundry USA has a pool located in Ohio. Slushpool US has operations in Colorado, California, and New Jersey, while Antpool has operations in Texas. Furthermore, lots of smaller American bitcoin mining facilities are pooled together with larger U.S. mining pools.

Many of these companies have bitcoin mining operations overseas as well. For instance, Huobi, Btc.com, and SBI Crypto have operations in Germany. Slushpool and Antpool have operations in Amsterdam and Slushpool and SBI are also operating in Japan. Okex has a bitcoin mining operation in Hong Kong, and Slushpool and Pooling have facilities in Singapore. Slushpool also has a residence in Russia according to Chainbulletin’s mining map data.

Despite the increased mining difficulty last week and the significant drop in BTC’s price, bitcoin miners worldwide have managed to keep the tempo high. At the time of writing, the global hashrate is running at 194 exahash per second (EH/s) in terms of computational power. 24-hour metrics show that Foundry USA has an even larger share of hashrate with 22.76% of today’s global hashrate or 42.42 EH/s.

What do you think about the concentration of bitcoin miners located in the United States today? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.