斷電、禁交易所，中國接連出招但比特幣似乎影響不大
儘管面臨中國政府多方圍剿，比特幣一度面臨重擊，但經過一個月，一切似乎和中國政府的盤算不盡相同。
為了讓中國數位人民幣業務順利開展，中國政府有計畫的一步步進攻比特幣，在多處政府連手斷電礦場後，比特幣全網算力腰斬，幣值也連續崩跌，許多人甚至就像中國政府期望的那樣，認為比特幣終究要走向泡沫化。
然而比特幣精巧的設計，反而讓中國政府無所施力。當比特幣價值增長，越來越多人覺得有利可圖而投入挖礦以獲取比特幣時，比特幣網路的挖礦難度也會隨之提升，迫使礦工必須要付出更多資源挖礦，這樣的機制有助於比特幣網路保持平衡。
相反地，當全網算力大幅下降，礦工大量退出時，比特幣的挖礦難度也會隨之下降，誘使更多人投入挖礦。在中國政府於 2021 年六月大舉斷電礦場後，比特幣全網算力腰斬，隨之而來的是難度迅速下降。
原先貢獻全網算力近 60% 的中國礦工退出後，比特幣挖礦難度在一週內下降了約 30%，簡單來說，雖然比特幣幣值因此下跌了 40%，但礦工要獲取比特幣所需付出的資源也下降了 30%。一來一往之間，中國政府斷電礦場的政策，反而是將原本由中國礦工壟斷的挖礦事業，拱手讓給海外礦工，而且消耗的電力還更少。
▲ 比特幣算力從谷底又慢慢回升。（ Source：Bitinfochart）
2021 年 5 月，比特幣全網算力來到歷史高峰 186MTH/s（每秒百萬雜湊值），在中國政府介入後，算力驟降至兩年來最低的 68MTH/s，然而經歷一個月，全球礦工們積極搶下中國讓出的機會，順勢搶購中國礦工便宜出售的礦機，目前算力已回升到 110MTH/s。
除了礦工，雖然中國政府明文禁止交易所，但中國用戶並未消失市場，幣安（Binance）與火幣（Huobi）依然提供中國用戶交易管道，想阻止這些去中心化交易所，光靠中國網路長城還不夠，恐怕還需要金融長城，禁止中國人民將人民幣兌換成他國法幣，才有可能禁絕交易所生存空間。
中國政府打壓無效，最有力的證據就是在過去一個月，這些與中國高度相關的亞洲交易所，包括幣安、火幣與 OKEx，依然是全球最活絡的加密貨幣交易所。相比之下，今年風光上市的美國交易所 Coinbase 交易量，都遠遠落後於這些中國政府認為不合法的交易所。
不可否認，中國政府對於挖礦和交易所的禁令，都對比特幣造成一定程度的衝擊，但短短不到兩個月，比特幣算力與幣值明顯恢復良好，超出許多人預期。過去兩週比特幣上漲超過 40%，幣值從跌破 3 萬美元到超過 4 萬美元，如今落在 38,994 美元，應該讓前陣子接手中國礦機的礦工樂不可支。
（首圖來源：Pixabay）
Bitcoin Price Rebounds After Testing Lower Supports Near $44K As Ether Booms
Bitcoin is up over $500 on a 4-hour basis after testing lower supports near $44,000 during Asia’s late morning trading hours.
The rebound from 24-hour lows of $44,248 follows a period of profit-taking, seen Tuesday, on the back of short-term fatigue, as CoinDesk reported. Bitcoin is currently changing hands for around $45,000 and is down 2.9% from a 24-hour high of $47,157, CoinDesk data shows.
Bitcoin continues to cool upon multiple attempts at the $50,000 price tag, evoking moments of price action gone by, though that may be less of a concern now given demand from bigger players, according to some.
Subscribe to , By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy
“In comparison to the bull runs in 2017 and 2018, the current movement takes a more mature trend,” said Cynthia Wu, head of sales at Singapore-based digital asset services firm Matrixport. “The market landscape has become much more institutionalized – where now you have proprietary traders in crypto hedge funds, crypto-offerings from foreign exchange brokers and institutions … that are transacting on an institutional scale.”
The ongoing price trend for bitcoin and the fusion of retail and institutional interest are a sign that the search for yield by investors, big or small, has extended into crypto and “will be around for good,” Wu added.
BTCUSD Daily Chart Source: TradingView
Bitcoin’s daily price action remains relatively flat with the weight of the previously discussed 200-day moving average bearing down on prices near $45,500, a sign a further sell pressure could be lurking around the corner.
Though the altcoin market continues to hold firm with most in the top 20 by market cap remaining in the green when viewing over a 7-day period.
“Overall, the markets have seen a positive trend continue this week; altcoins are up while bitcoin has coasted flat, said Byron Goldberg, Australian country manager at crypto exchange Luno.” “Interestingly, we are seeing ether slightly outperform bitcoin week-on-week.”
Over a 30-day period, ether is up 67.6% compared to bitcoin’s 46.3% over the same period, Messari data shows.
Goldberg points to Ethereum’s London hard fork as the likely catalyst for driving prices higher on the world’s second-largest crypto by market capitalization.
Indeed, futures premium on ether stands at 7.36% to bitcoin’s meagre 2.8%, meaning the crypto markets are likely anticipating ether to rise further than bitcoin over the next three months with a shift in institutional interest, Goldberg added.
Market Wrap: Bitcoin Buyers Could Take Profits as Volume Declines
Cryptocurrencies were mostly lower on Tuesday as declining volume suggests a pullback is near. Bitcoin was trading around $45,418 at press time and is down about 1.6% over the past 24 hours.
Some analysts are optimistic about the long-term recovery in crypto prices, although the pace of the upside will likely slow over the short term.
“While many of the technical and on-chain indicators confirm this rebound’s strength, it may still be early to say we are out of the woods,” Nathan Cox, chief investment officer at digital asset management firm TwoPrime, wrote Tuesday in an email to investors.
Latest prices
Related: Bitcoin Price Rebounds After Testing Lower Supports Near $44K As Ether Booms
Cryptocurrencies:
Traditional markets:
S&P 500: 4448, -0.7%
Gold: $1,785.01, -0.08%
10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.263%, down from 1.268% on Monday.
Traders are also monitoring the ongoing regulatory crackdown in several nations, which could damp bullish sentiment.
On Tuesday, the Shenzhen branch of the People’s Bank of China plans to “promptly clean up and rectify” 11 companies for providing illicit crypto trading activities, state-owned Shanghai Securities Journal reported.
Related: White Hats Just Defused a Potential $350M Heist on SushiSwap
In Spain, the National Securities Market Commission issued a warning notice for 12 companies, including crypto exchanges Huobi and Bybit, for providing investment services without being registered with authorities, CoinDesk’s Eliza Gkritsi reported.
And in South Korea, a crypto exchange subsidiary of Japanese tech giant LINE, is reportedly limiting its services next month, according to a report by Yonhap News.
For now, technical charts suggest bitcoin remains in breakout mode with support around $42,000. The loss of short-term momentum could trigger a brief period of profit taking.
Story continues
Bitcoin mining revenue rise
Miners are experiencing greater revenue as the Bitcoin blockchain’s hashrate recovers from July lows. This is a positive sign for the blockchain network and could point to further bitcoin accumulation by miners.
“Over the course of the last two months, hashrate has increased by around 25% from the lows, suggesting hashrate equivalent to around 12.5% of the affected miners have come back online,” Glassnode analysts wrote in a blog post.
The hashrate refers to the total combined computational power that is being used to mine and process transactions.
“In response, the Hash-Ribbons, which attempt to model where stress enters the mining market, have commenced another positive cross-over,” Glassnode wrote. “The Hash-Ribbons are formed by taking the 30-day and 60-day moving average of hashrate with the following signals,” as shown in the chart below.
Decreasing volume
Bitcoin’s trading volume on leading spot exchanges declined over the past week as the short-squeeze rally stalls.
“After the seven-day average real BTC trading volume pushed towards $7 billion last week, we’re now back to $5 billion,” Arcane Research wrote in a Tuesday report.
If bitcoin continues to trade higher on declining volume, “it can signify an exhausted market, and it will probably not be a sustainable move,” Arcane wrote. “We want to see a clear uptick in volume if the BTC price jumps up towards $50K again.”
Latest on Poly Network hack
The Poly Network cyberattack saga has dragged into its second week with the hacker or hackers yet to provide the key for the multi-signature wallet needed to complete the full return of the roughly $600 million that was stolen, with the exception of the $33 million worth of the stablecoin USDT that was frozen by Tether, reports CoinDesk’s Nelson Wang.
China-based Poly Network had previously offered $500,000 to the attacker or attackers as a reward for returning the money taken on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Ethereum and Polygon platforms in what is likely the largest-ever hack of a decentralized finance (DeFi) site.
In a message posted to the Ethereum blockchain at 1:45 p.m. UTC on Monday, the attacker, who the Poly Network is calling “Mr. White Hat” but who some others doubt is a true white-hat hacker, said that they were considering taking the bounty and using it to reward anyone else who can hack the cross-chain platform. A “white hat” attacker is one who tries to exploit vulnerabilities in a protocol to help expose and ultimately fix bugs or loopholes in the underlying code.
”MONEY MEANS LITTLE TO ME, SOME PEOPLE ARE PAID TO HACK, I WOULD RATHER PAY FOR THE FUN,” the attacker or attackers wrote.
Altcoin roundup
AUDIO Market Cap Surges Past $1B: Prices for AUDIO, the governance token of decentralized music streaming protocol Audius, nearly doubled in the past 24 hours, pushing its market capitalization above $1 billion for the first time. The price surge comes after Audius announced its partnership with popular video-sharing app TikTok. Data from TradingView and FTX shows that AUDIO’s price started pumping around 16:00 UTC on Aug. 16 and reached a high at $4.04 at approximately 6:00 UTC on Aug. 17. News of the TikTok tie-up first emerged at 15:00 UTC on Aug. 16.
Dfinity’s ICP Rebounds: The blockchain company Dfinity made headlines in May when its internet computer (ICP) tokens were officially released for public trading at a price of $630, giving the project a $45 billion market capitalization. The enthusiasm quickly evaporated as the token plunged 95% over the following month to as low as $27. Since then, the token’s price has doubled to more than $60, according to data from Messari, signaling renewed appetite from investors. Some traders are feeling fresh enthusiasm for the token thanks to a recent increase in developer activity taking place on the network. That’s despite lingering ill will among some investors and developers, including dissidents who have formed a splinter group as well as plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed in a U.S. federal court.
1inch Network Launches on Ethereum Optimism: 1inch Network, a platform that aims to find the best deals across multiple decentralized exchanges (DEXs), has expanded to the Optimistic Ethereum mainnet. The move to the layer 2 network makes 1inch Network the second decentralized finance (DeFi) app on Optimistic Ethereum, with the first being Uniswap, 1inch spokesperson Sergey Maslennikov told CoinDesk.
Relevant news:
Other markets
Notable winners of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
the graph (GRT) +4.69%
Notable losers:
eos (EOS) -6.86%
stellar (XLM) -6.56%
ethereum classic (ETC) -6.12%
Related Stories