The team at BitOoda, a global digital asset financial technology and services platform providing “next-gen” risk management solutions, “best-execution” brokerage and expert market analysis, has published their Weekly Hash (3/8/21) Report.
The report covers custody battles that are heating up in the crypto space, along with PayPal acquiring Curv. The update also covers other positive news flowing into the blockchain ecosystem that has helped Bitcoin (BTC) gain 12.6% in the past week.
As noted by BitOoda:
“Bitcoin gained 12.6% week on week (WoW), rising from $45,359 to end at $51,086 at midnight UTC on 3/7. PayPal announced the acquisition of crypto custodian Curv, further deepening its involvement in digital assets. Newsflow from Goldman, Morgan Stanley and Citi added to positive sentiment as well.”
Bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency, is trading at well over $53,000 at the time of writing.
The report from BitOoda further noted that the total BTC earnings “per PH/s are ~6.31mBTC, down from ~6.68mBTC / PH/s last week on lower Tx fees, despite an increase in block rewards following a downward reset in Difficulty. (1mBTC or milliBTC = 1/1000 BTC.)”
Transaction Fees (Tx fees) “fell 207 bps WoW to 7.1% of miner rewards, as we see reduced congestion in the ‘Mempool,’ which currently holds roughly 50k pending transactions.” Meanwhile, the target Bitcoin network hashrate (or amount of computing power securing the network) declined 1.3% to 153EH/s, the report confirmed.
Bitcoin mining revenue increased to $323 / PH/s per day and $353/MWh, “as increases in spot price offset declines in Tx fees,” the report added.
The BitOoda North American Hash Spread increased 10.5% (week-over-week) WoW from $300 to $332 “as higher revenue more than offset an increase in power price.”
As explained by the company, the BitOoda Hash Spread is “the difference between the cost of power per MWh and the Bitcoin mining revenue per MWh.” According to BitOoda, this “gives miners a quick sense of the surplus generated by their business to cover personnel, overhead, depreciation, and profit.” EIA data shows “a weighted average around the clock U.S. wholesale industrial power price of $20.97 / MWh, leading to an aggregate spread of $332 across 5 power markets.”
The report also mentioned that the older-generation S9-class devices, which have proven to be far more “sensitive” to cryptocurrency price fluctuations, saw their Hash Spread “gain ~7% to $78 / MWh.” S17-class devices (the bulk of the current installed base) “see a hash spread of about $237 / MWh.”
BitOoda added:
“We estimate that the Bitcoin mining network currently consumes about 6.8GW of power. In our view, the rotation of Hashpower into next-gen equipment continues to drive overall mining efficiency gains. As we have previously noted, luck may also play a role in this estimate.”
BitOoda pointed out that today’s (as of March 8, 2021) Hashrate of ~156 EH/s “implies ~148 MWh power consumption per Bitcoin mined using S19 rigs, and substantially more if using older-generation equipment.” As explained by the company, this leaves a considerable “margin of safety” for Bitcoin miners, who are able to absorb the power price and BTC price changes, even as BitOoda believes that total Bitcoin network Hashrate should keep increasing (if the current trends continue).
The report added:
“The 148 MWh of power consumption per BTC mined translates into $3,038 in power expense mining with S19 class rigs, based on our current average North American power price. It costs $10,806 using S9 rigs, still a 75%+ margin, excluding labor.”
In other crypto mining industry news, Seetee.io will be establishing Bitcoin mining operations that aim to transfer “stranded” or “intermittent” electricity “without stable demand locally—wind, solar, hydro power— to economic assets that can be used anywhere.”
“https://t.co/8LQdre50ey will establish (#Bitcoin) mining operations that transfer stranded or intermittent electricity without stable demand locally—wind, solar, hydro power— to economic assets that can be used anywhere.”
This is the way 😉
— Bitcoin Archive (@BTC_Archive) March 8, 2021
Norway’s Aker ASA is the business entity that’s establishing a division that will be dedicated to investing in Bitcoin and blockchain or DLT.
Seetee AS will initially have a capital of 500 million Norwegian crowns (appr. $58.6 million) and intends to keep its liquid assets in Bitcoin, Aker confirmed.
Seetee will be working with Canada-based Blockstream, and will initially focus on BTC mining while seeking to fuse blockchain or DLT with Aker’s industrial operations.
Oeyvind Eriksen, CEO at Aker ASA, remarked:
“These technologies have the potential to reduce frictions in our day to day lives, enhance the security of our digitally driven economies, and unlock new business models for innovation.”
Aker, a holding firm that’s controlled by Norwegian billionaire entrepreneur Kjell Inge Roekke, generates most of its revenue from the oil and gas sector. Recently, Aker has significantly increased its investments in IT and renewable energy projects.