AI’s Hungry for Power, Authorities Seize 900 Bitcoin Mining Rigs, Nigeria's Crypto Exchange Licensing, Polychain Invests $6.7M in Corn

In a world of endless crypto chatter, we’ve cut through the noise to bring you the week’s highlights. Because really, what better way to wrap up your week than the end-of-week Digest by  HODL FM.

Yo, what happened?

• Top Gainers and Losers of the Week: Polygon, Klatyn, and BitTorrent led the gains, while Zcash, Litecoin, and Kaspa posted the biggest losses.
• Power-Hungry AI Systems Threaten to Devour Bitcoin Mining
• Authorities Crack Down on Bitcoin Mining Facility in Malaysia, Seizing 900 Rigs
• Nigeria SEC to Issue Crypto Exchange Licenses Soon
• Polychain Invests $6.7M in Bitcoin-Centric Ethereum Layer 2 Yield Network, Corn

Previous Digest: Telegram's New Rewards, Solana ETF Challenge, Airdrop Scandal & Wild Grok Image Creations

Top Gainers and Losers of the Week: Rising Stars and Sinking Ships

And the winners and losers of the week are: 

Weekly Top Gainers

Polygon

Ethereum scaling solution, Polygon (MATIC),  climbed up by 32.7% over the last one week from $0.4050 to $0.5345.The network is a lightweight, easy-to-use and well-structured scaling solution that allows fast transaction processing speeds and low gas fees on Ethereum.

Klatyn

Klatyn (KLAY), the cryptocurrency that powers the global layer 1 public blockchain, Klatyn climbed up by 32.16% over the past one week from $0.1288 to $0.1698. The Klatyn blockchain was launched in June 2019 by GroundX.

BitTorrent

BitTorrent (BTT) rose over the last one week by 27.67%, climbing from $0.0000007359 to $0.0000009349. BTT is the native utility token that powers the BitTorrent ecosystem, a peer-to-peer file sharing platform launched in 2001 and later acquired by Tron blockchain in 2018, making it increasingly decentralized.

Weekly Top Losers

Zcash

Zcash (ZEC) dropped by 4.55% over the last one week to $40.55. Zcash is a privacy-centric blockchain that focuses on anonymity.

Litecoin

Litecoin (LTC) dropped by 3.31% over the past one week to $64. The Litecoin network is one of the earliest blockchains to launch after the success of Bitcoin, and was built as a lightweight alternative for Bitcoin, think of it as what Silver is to Gold.

Kaspa 

Kaspa (KAS) shed 2.22% over the last one week to $0.162. Kaspa network is a blockchain that follows the ethos of Bitcoin, including the proof-of-work consensus.

AI Gets Hungry for Power: Bitcoin Mining on the Menu

New research suggests that AI systems might already be guzzling more energy than Bitcoin mining. So, while AI is busy plotting world domination, it’s also running up a bigger power bill that’s giving Bitcoin a run for its money. Apparently no one warned us that teaching machines to think could be such an energy hog?

Bitcoin miners might be tempted to celebrate the news, hoping they’ve finally got their big break from being the villains of energy consumption. But hold your applause—turns out, AI is stepping into the ring, ready to be a formidable Bitcoin opponent as the new power-hungry bad guy. and it’s eyeing the same electricity and equipment that makes it possible to mine BTC.

AI companies have such fat pockets, you'd recommend them for a gym membership. And this gives them enough leverage to easily outbid Bitcoin miners for the same electricity.

And why not? 

When AI can rake in up to 25 times more revenue per kilowatt hour, miners are starting to get the hint. Some are even making the jump, turning their Bitcoin data centers into AI powerhouses. The very karma Bitcoin dished out to energy-hungry gamers and graphics editors has come full circle—now it's the miner’s turn to feel the bite. 

After all, should you not cash in on the next robo cop instead of a mining rig?

Bitcoin through the lens of a meme

Sad Day for Miners in Malaysia After Authorities Seize 900 BTC Rigs

Malaysian authorities just gave 985 bitcoin mining machines the ultimate “off” switch, smashing up about 1.98 million ringgits’ worth of hardware. That’s $452,500 in a crypto dream meant to secure the largest decentralized network and make a dime on the way, all in the name of cracking down on power theft.

According to the Malaysia Gazette, Perak Tengah decided to take a steamroller to 985 bitcoin rigs on Monday, all thanks to a court order. Those machines, seized in operations stretching from 2022 to this past April, met their end in the most dramatic way possible, they were flattened and crashed. 

As staunch Bitcoin HODLers who tune into HODL.FM, we might feel for the miners—but apparently, mining Bitcoin is all fun and games until someone’s electricity goes missing and instead of their meme coin, the  electricity bill shoots all the way to the moon.

Last month, Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir, the deputy minister for energy transition and water transformation, revealed that crypto miners in Malaysia made away with at least RM3.4 billion ($777 million) worth of electricity between 2018 and 2023.

Just last week, the Sepang district police decided to make an example out of seven individuals who were allegedly running a Bitcoin mining operation powered by stolen electricity. 

Nigerian SEC to Hand Out Crypto Licenses

In Nigeria’s crypto scene, the SEC is gearing up to hand out licenses to exchanges, officially giving a nod to the digital asset market.

During a chat with Bloomberg, Nigeria’s SEC Chief Emomotimi Agama couldn’t hide his excitement about the upcoming regulatory shakeup. “As a crypto and fintech enthusiast,” he said, “I can tell you without doubt that this is going to happen sooner than you think”

More: Binance Repression in Nigeria is a Threat to Web3

Despite facing regulatory roadblocks, including a central bank ban on crypto transactions through banks, Nigeria surged to the second spot on the Global Crypto Adoption Index in 2023, a big leap from 11th place in 2022, according to blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis.

SEC Chief Emomotimi Agama outlined the commission's goals, emphasizing the need to establish a platform for formal engagement in cryptocurrency activities, allowing the authorities to collect all necessary information. 

He also issued a cautionary note, making it clear that the SEC would not tolerate any use of cryptocurrency to manipulate the national currency, signaling a strict stance on maintaining financial integrity.

Meme of the week

Polychain Invests $6.7M in Corn to Boilster Bitcoin Yields, Not Snacks

Polychain Capital has just announced a $6.7 million investment into an exciting new Bitcoin-centric, yield-generating network. The recipient? Corn, a fresh Ethereum layer-2 network that cleverly uses a tokenized version of Bitcoin, BTCN, for gas fees and economic incentives.

Launched on August 19, Corn is on a mission to enhance the utility of Bitcoin and open up new yield-generating opportunities. 

According to Chris Spadafora, the founder of both Corn and BadgerDAO, this is just the beginning of unlocking even more potential for the world’s first and largest cryptocurrency. 

Corn aims to establish a network-wide "Crop Circle," creating a unified ecosystem that brings together users, applications, and tokenholders through the tokenized BTCN.

To ensure a sustainable yield-generating protocol, Corn plans to generate revenue primarily from native token emissions and transaction fees, according to Spadafora.

See you next week!

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