Memecoin sends BTC fees to the moon, miner profits top $50B and more: Hodler’s Digest, April 30-May 6

1 year ago

Memecoin hype drives Bitcoin transaction fees to multi-year highs

The ongoing trading frenzy of memecoins similar Pepe has triggered an unwanted effect for Bitcoin (BTC) — raising its transaction costs to their highest constituent successful 2 years. On May 3, the full magnitude of fees paid connected the Bitcoin blockchain reached $3.5 million, jumping astir 400% from precocious April. Bitcoin’s BRC-20 token modular has go the latest inclination successful the crypto ecosystem amid the emergence of memecoins. A full of 8,500 antithetic tokens person been minted utilizing the BRC-20 standard. Gas fees connected the Ethereum blockchain person besides precocious been skyrocketing to caller multi-month highs.

Bitcoin miners earned $50B from BTC artifact rewards, fees since 2010

Amid an ongoing statement implicit miner costs and susceptibility to Bitcoin terms dips, caller figures suggest that miners are firmly successful the black successful the agelong term. Calculations from on-chain analytics steadfast Glassnode suggest that since 2010, fees and artifact reward subsidies person netted miners billions. Miners’ full all-time income is astir 40% higher than their estimated costs, coming successful astatine $50.2 cardinal versus $36.6 billion, respectively.

‘Godfather of AI’ resigns from Google, warns of the dangers of AI

Artificial quality pioneer and erstwhile Google worker Dr. Geoffrey Hinton shared his concerns astir the technology that helium helped make implicit the past respective years. According to the neural networks expert, AI could airs a menace to humanity successful the aboriginal arsenic it learns unexpected behaviors from the monolithic amounts of information it analyzes. He is besides acrophobic astatine the continuing AI arms contention to make lethal autonomous weapons systems, arsenic good arsenic an accrued fig of fake photos, videos and substance flooding the internet.

Balaji pays retired his brainsick $1M Bitcoin bet, 97% nether terms target

A chaotic Bitcoin terms wager betwixt erstwhile Coinbase main exertion serviceman Balaji Srinivasan and pseudonymous Twitter idiosyncratic James Medlock has been settled 45 days up of clip for $1.5 million. Medlock offered to stake anyone $1 cardinal that the United States would not acquisition hyperinflation connected March 17. The ex-Coinbase enforcement accepted the bet, predicting the U.S. dollar would deflate owed to ostentation and, arsenic a result, BTC would scope $1 cardinal wrong 90 days. In the deal, Medlock netted $500,000, portion different $1 cardinal went to 2 organizations.

Microsoft axes Bing hold list, giving users escaped entree to GPT-4

Microsoft precocious announced a fig of caller AI-powered features for its Bing chatbot and Edge web browser, including afloat entree to the GPT-4 exemplary — the aforesaid underlying motor that powers the ChatGPT Plus subscription service. The caller features won’t necessitate immoderate purchases oregon subscriptions, though users volition request a escaped Microsoft relationship to instrumentality vantage of the Bing chatbot’s afloat suite of functions. By contrast, OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus work costs $20 per period for entree to the aforesaid GPT-4 model.

Winners and Losers

At the extremity of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is astatine $29,618, Ether (ETH) astatine $1,991 and XRP astatine $0.46. The full marketplace headdress is astatine $1.22 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the apical 3 altcoin gainers of the week are Pepe (PEPE) astatine 961.32%, FLOKI (FLOKI) astatine 35.36% and Rocket Pool (RPL) astatine 10.15%.

The apical 3 altcoin losers of the week are Sui (SUI) astatine -70.87%, Immutable (IMX) astatine -10.68% and Cronos (CRO) astatine -10.06%.

For much info connected crypto prices, marque definite to work Cointelegraph’s marketplace analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“Even successful the U.S. wherever that [CDBC] was for rather immoderate clip a taxable of not large interest, present determination is engagement, and for the close reason. The aboriginal has arrived.”

Kristalina Georgieva, managing manager of the International Monetary Fund

“I spent my ain wealth to nonstop a provably costly awesome that there’s thing incorrect with the economy, and that it’s not going to beryllium a ‘soft landing’ similar Powell promises — but thing overmuch worse.”

Balaji Srinivasan, erstwhile main exertion serviceman astatine Coinbase

“There’s going to beryllium precise fewer radical implicit the adjacent 10 years that don’t person immoderate engagement successful this [crypto] sector.”

Lisa Cameron, subordinate of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

“It’s this uncertainty that permeates everything. You conscionable don’t cognize what’s coming adjacent oregon wherever it’s going to travel from oregon wherefore oregon however successful the U.S.”

Oliver Linch, CEO of Bittrex Global

“I console myself with the mean excuse: If I hadn’t done it [co-developed modern artificial intelligence], idiosyncratic other would have.”

Geoffrey Hinton, artificial quality pioneer known arsenic the “Godfather of AI”

“Well, I deliberation we person both, and I deliberation it’s somewhat naive to accidental that this [banking crisis] is conscionable constricted to First Republic.”

Bob Michele, main concern serviceman of J.P. Morgan Asset Management

Prediction of the Week

Bitcoin terms sets caller May precocious supra $29.5K arsenic traders oculus breakout

Bitcoin eyed a reclaim of further mislaid ground connected May 5 arsenic $30,000 remained successful play. The BTC/USD brace had dipped with United States equities astatine the Wall Street unfastened the time prior, but the weakness was short-lived arsenic $29,000 enactment returned.

Popular pseudonymous trader Alan, besides known arsenic Trader Tardigrade, was optimistic astir upside continuation, which could mimic its breakout from precocious 2020. “#Bitcoin has entered the signifier of ‘Storing of power,’” helium told Twitter followers alongside a comparative chart, adding that the infinitesimal was the mentation for an “incoming Bull Run.”

FUD of the Week

Argentina’s cardinal slope halts cryptocurrencies from outgo apps

Argentina’s cardinal slope banned outgo providers from offering crypto transactions, alleging it intends to trim the country’s payment-system vulnerability to integer assets. Cryptocurrencies are not regulated successful Argentina, which means each coins and tokens are taxable to the decision. Argentina’s fintech enclosure urged the authorities to reconsider the decision.

FBI, Ukraine prehend 9 speech domains connected wealth laundering allegations

Nine integer currency exchanges allegedly aiding and abetting cybercriminals had their domains seized by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation and Ukrainian instrumentality enforcement. The seized domains included 24xbtc.com, 100btc.pro, pridechange.com, trust-exchange.org and bitcoin24.exchange. Each website reportedly offered anonymous crypto speech services, skirting galore of the rules and regulations required from a licensed firm.

Darknet hackers are selling crypto accounts for arsenic debased arsenic $30 a pop

Cybercriminals from the shadowy parts of the net are reportedly selling hacked, verified crypto accounts connected the darknet for arsenic debased arsenic conscionable $30 apiece. Hacked accounts tin beryllium utilized to illegally evade Know Your Customer measures connected fashionable cryptocurrency exchanges. But cryptocurrency accounts aren’t the lone items connected the database — relationship accusation for recognition cards with balances of up to $5,000 are sold for conscionable $110, portion login credentials for online slope accounts with balances of up to $2,000 are sold for $60.

Best Cointelegraph Features

How to power the AIs and incentivize the humans with crypto?

Some experts judge that AI needs to beryllium controlled by decentralized networks. Others accidental tokens tin beryllium utilized to incentivize humans to hole the information sets.