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  CleanSpark, a sustainable bitcoin mining company, released its mining production update for the month of May. While bitcoin production marginally increased, operational capacity showed a large improvement from a month-over-month perspective. Currently the company holds 1,523 BTC ($46.1 million) in custody. CleanSpark Inc. (Nasdaq: CLSK), a sustainable bitcoin mining company, has released its mining and production update for last month via a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. In the month of May, CleanSpark produced 312 BTC currently valued at $9.4 million and year-to-date (YTD) has produced a total of 1,523 BTC worth $46.1 million. This is slightly up from the previous month’s 311 BTC produced. As of May 31, the company holds 550 BTC worth over $16.6 million in custody and converted 210 BTC at an average price of $32,639 per BTC for overhead. The converted BTC is worth $6.3 million at the time of writing, but generated the company $6.8 million at the time of sale. Currently,...

  Bitcoin is ultimately defined by its users, by the people actually running nodes and enforcing the protocol rules to verify the payments they receive over the network. This is a fundamental and inescapable property of the Bitcoin network, so long as users choose to engage in this activity. This does not however mean that users deeply understand how the protocol works, the different effects that proposed changes would make or the most efficient way on a strictly technical level to handle a problem or improvement. Users absolutely can understand these things if they take the time to do their research and actually learn about the protocol on a strictly technical level, but to assume you as a user understand these things simply because of the reality that users are the ultimate arbiters of how the protocol works based on what software they choose to run is pure hubris. Just because you drive a car does not mean you understand the deep and nuanced engineering trade-offs as well as the...

Bitcoin Pizza Day. The fabulous event that takes place once each year on May 22. I won't bore you with all the details. Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 BTC for two Papa John’s pizzas in what’s widely believed to be the first transaction of bitcoin for a physical good. Let's put some dollar value on this transaction. The two pizzas together were roughly valued at $41 at the time based on the amount of bitcoin paid. The bitcoin price hit an all-time high of $68,990. At 10,000 BTC, that's a $689,000,000 windfall at an all-time high. That's an astonishing $43,000,000 (approximately) per pizza slice (assuming 16 slices)! How many of you are willing to tell your partner or family that you could have made it, but you ate a $43-million-per-slice Papa John’s pizza instead to make history. "Fuhgeddaboudit!" Anyway, it's a joyous time in the community to come together and celebrate the strides Bitcoin has made. The day feels like our Festivus. We begin with the “airing of...

  Julius Baer Group, a Swiss private bank, will begin offering bitcoin and other cryptocurrency products to high-net-worth individuals. Julius Baer explained we are likely witnessing a bubble similar to the dot-com burst which birthed a new industry. The bank originally partnered with cryptocurrency bank SEBA in 2019 as the institution became more familiarized with the industry. Julius Baer Group, a private bank based in Zurich, Switzerland announced that it is creating a proprietary digital wealth management system focused on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies exclusively tailored to high-net-worth clients. The private bank noted its goal to position itself at the intersection where bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies meet the fiat world while acknowledging the volatility of the space. Julius Baer plans to keep a watchful eye on the growing asset class, monitoring its evolution and any opportunities that may present themselves. “It could well be that at this very instant we are wit...

  Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of crypto exchange FTX, has criticized the efficiency of Bitcoin (BTC) as a payment network, only to meet heavy backlash from the crypto community. During an interview with the Financial Times, Bankman-Fried fueled environmental concerns associated with the Bitcoin network’s mining consensus, proof-of-work (PoW), and claimed it's not scalable enough to accommodate millions of transactions. He advocated for the use of proof-of-stake mining consensus instead and claimed it is better suited for blockchain payment networks. He said: “Things that you’re doing millions of transactions a second with have to be extremely efficient and lightweight and lower energy cost. Proof of stake networks are." Bankman-Fried comments resonated with the recent calls for a complete ban on PoW by a group of billionaire lobbyists comprising Ripple co-founder and several other environmental groups. However, Bitcoin proponents have been actively fighting against the ongo...

  Dear Wall Street friend,  I write this letter because I like you. I know we have our differences, especially in terms of how we view the financial institutions that dominated the last century of history, but I understand where you're coming from. You are a smart and communicative person, banks and managers have identified your potential, offered you a well-paid career and a financial education along the lines of the fiduciary system. Suddenly I appear with an obsessed gaze, telling you that an anonymous individual has created digital money that, in addition to being an unparalleled investment, is a technology that will revolutionize humanity and turn everything you've learned from your successful billionaire employers upside-down. At first glance, I must seem like a crazy person, but be patient and read this letter until the end. I write it from the bottom of my heart. This is not a definitive article to convince you that bitcoin is the best investment at your disposal or wh...

  Coinbase dropped an earnings report today and with it came new language in their 10-Q about the legal claims retail users have in the event of a bankruptcy event. Reacting to new regulations from the SEC, Coinbase had to add language that communicated that retail users of their platform could have their assets held on the exchange rendered as property of the bankruptcy estate, in the event of a bankruptcy. Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, just hit the Twittersphere with a lengthy thread reassuring the world that this clause was added to the disclosure because of the new SEC rule, they hope to give retail clients the same assurances that their Prime and Custody customers enjoy, and that nothing like this has been tried in the court of law and that it is unlikely that the government would deem user property as the property of Coinbase. Maybe your Uncle Marty is a bit crazy, but I don't find the argument very convincing. Especially when you consider the fact that the government...

 We’re going to climb a ladder together today. It’s perhaps one of the more important ladders you will ever climb: the ladder of financial sovereignty. Until last year when I began to learn about Bitcoin, I didn’t know that such a ladder even existed and I’m guessing you didn’t either. What this ladder symbolizes is one of the more important human freedoms available to us in the 21st century. This ladder is needed most in war-torn regions of the world like Syria or Afghanistan. [Hat tip to Alex Gladstein for his amazing articles that highlight the financial repression found in some of these regions.] This ladder is needed in regions of the world where the nation’s currency is rapidly losing value and where financial repression is out of control. This ladder is needed by those who don’t trust their government to act in their best interest. This ladder is for people who don’t trust central bankers to act in their best interest. This ladder is for people willing to accept 100% respons...

  In this week’s “Bitcoin Bottom Line” episode, co-hosts Steven McClurg and C.J. Wilson are joined by guest Nick Hansen, CEO of Luxor, and Josh Olszewicz, Valkyrie’s head of research. Luxor is one of the top 10 bitcoin mining pools in the world. They have a Hash Rate Index, and through that they are aiming to provide great data about the mining ecosystem. In addition, they have an ASIC Index. In addition to a suite of other products, they are just about to launch Energy Markets to track the value of energy over time, which they view as very integral to bitcoin mining. Wilson says, “Hash rate is worldwide, machines are getting better every couple of years, and now there are new innovations because companies like Luxor are getting involved with the firmware side.” He goes on to ask, “How do you see growth in bitcoin mining in the next couple of years?” Hansen explains that he doesn’t see the consistent hash rate all-time highs stopping, but the only thing that could reverse that tren...

  Seed phrases, a random combination of words from the Bitcoin Improvement Protocol (BIP) 39 list of 2048 words, act as one of the primary layers of security against unauthorized access to a user’s crypto holdings. But, what happens when your “smart” phone’s predictive typing remembers and suggests the words next time you try to access your digital wallet? Andre, a 33-year-old IT professional from Germany, recently posted on the r/CryptoCurrency subreddit after discovering his mobile phone’s ability to predict the entire recovery seed phrase as soon as he typed down the first word. As a fair warning to fellow Redditors and crypto enthusiasts, Andre’s post highlighted the ease with which hackers can use the feature to drain a user’s funds just by being able to type the first word out of the BIP 39 list: “This makes it easy to attack, get your hands on a phone, start any chat app, and start typing any words off the BIP39 list, and see what the phone suggests.” Speaking to Cointelegra...

  Puerto Maldonado in Peru's Madre de Dios province feels like a frontier town. Dusty streets, ramshackle buildings, new construction and the hustle and bustle of people who want to make it. Tourists are bussed through the town to the many ecotourism companies that bring people from all over the world to experience the Amazon. Puerto Maldonado is perched on the bank of the Tambopata River, a tributary to the Amazon. The Tambopata River received some fame in ecotourism circles when the clay-licking macaws were featured on the cover of the January 1994 National Geographic issue. The industry has boomed ever since. Typically, tourists are quickly moved to boats on the Tambopata and make their way to private lodges for the ecotourism operations. Some of these are partnerships with local indigenous groups, while others are outright owners of private land on the banks of the river. Walking through the streets of Puerto Maldonado, you'll see streets with that frontier feel … and you...

  Bitcoin key management is probably one of the scariest aspects of interacting with your money for a new user with any sizable amount of value. It’s also one of the most important aspects. One of the core aspects of bitcoin that truly differentiates it from the forms of digital value that preceded it historically is the ability to control and custody your own funds, to not have to depend on some central authority or record keeper to maintain possession of and retain the ability to transfer or spend it. Without the ability to hold your own private keys, it would not be possible to truly use bitcoin in a self-sovereign way without third parties. This opens up a door of massive potential and possibilities, but also a door to massive responsibility and risk. As has commonly been reiterated many times over the years, there is no Bitcoin customer support. There is no help desk to call, no one to hold your hand and undo mistakes you might make, there’s just you. This is the most difficul...

  Fort Worth will vote on a bill intended to strengthen the bitcoin mining industry of Texas tomorrow. The Texas Blockchain Council is set to donate three bitcoin miners to the City Council. The donation will signal the start of a 6-month trial period in which the City Council of Fort Worth will begin mining bitcoin. Fort Worth, Texas is set to vote on a bill that encourages bitcoin mining technology and sees the City Council receive three bitcoin miners donated from the Texas Blockchain Council, per a report from MSN. The bill seeks to position Fort Worth as “crypto-friendly" and "welcoming to the industry." The city also aims to lure in "businesses contributing to the development of this evolving technology,” according to the report. The three bitcoin miners being donated are valued at $2,100 each and will be given to the City Council completely free for a six-month pilot period. The machines being donated were not specified in the report, but should the pilot pro...

  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine took most of the world by surprise; it should not have. It is the logical and material result of a war of ideas that has been waged by a small group of Russian intellectuals and political leaders over the past several decades — a war which the West has ignored at its own peril. Fortunately, Europe and America already have a response to this attack doing its work in the world: Bitcoin. It is in our best interests to embrace the Bitcoin monetary network as a new social institution that instantiates liberal values in open-source software. For too long, the West has ignored the political theory — indeed, the political theology — behind Vladimir Putin’s particular brand of Russian nationalism. Putin subscribes to an ideology elaborated over the past several decades by Aleksandr Dugin, a philosopher who argues that Russian collective identity needs to assert its supremacy on the world stage in the form of a Greater Russia, which must in turn become the poli...

  Riding on Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” protests, Republican Senator Ted Cruz triumphantly took to the stage to embrace Bitcoin in a recent, highly publicized CPAC event. In a typically pro-Republican tirade, Cruz blasted his political opponents from Justin Trudeau and Elizabeth Warren to the Chinese Communist Party for opposing Bitcoin because of a desire to control the financial freedom and civil liberties of people. Of course, the Canadian trucker story played conveniently to Cruz’s right-wing leanings. The Freedom Convoy protests united around a common opposition to the Liberal Trudeau government’s vaccine mandates. It was also heavily associated with right-wing political figures such as Tamara Lich, a member of the far-right Maverick Party. The political pressure proved too much for many, even leading private crowdsourcing platform GoFundMe to cancel a fundraiser after it raised over $10 million for the truckers. BITCOIN IS APOLITICAL The only problem with Cruz’s anti-leftist sp...