BlackRock filed its S-1 and might have just paved the way for a June launch of Ethereum ETFs.
US Bitcoin mining has consumed around $2.7 billion worth of electricity in 2024 alone, and it's only April.
Another alleged scam targeted Iggy Azalea after Caitlyn Jenner and Rich the Kid, highlighting the increasing risks in the memecoin space.
DMM Bitcoin, a major Japanese exchange lost $305 million worth of Bitcoin last week, in the second-largest hack.
Last week marked the first seven days or so since the 8 spot Ethereum ETF applications were approved in the US.
A lot has happened since then.
Last week, we had a few more Worldcoin suspensions and even a complete ban in Spain. We had the alleged serial scammer, Sahil Arora target music star, Iggy Azalea after reportedly launching and pulling the rug on a Caitlyn Jenner memecoin.
We also had a report that shows that Bitcoin mining in the US has taken a ridiculous amount of money in terms of power expenses in 2024 alone.
Here are some of the major happenings in the past week, delivered in bite-sized sections to keep you up to date.
The spot Ethereum ETFs have been approved.
However, this doesn’t mean that they are ready or even legal to trade at the moment.
The issuers including Fidelity, Grayscale and 21 Shares, among others, still need to submit what is known as “Form S-1 filings ”.
These filings are the last step to having the Ethereum ETFs legal to trade because they detail information about the incoming ETF including how it will be structured, how it will be traded, and what risks the investors might be undertaking.
Last week, we saw the largest of these ETF issuers, Blackrock update its Form S-1 for its iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) with the SEC on 29 May, which is nearly a week after the agency approved its 19b-4 filing.
According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, this is a very bullish sign, and we might see these Ethereum ETFs begin trading this June, after “one more round of fine-tune comments from [the SEC’s] Staff”.
With this being said, Ethereum might be headed for a lot more volatility this month.
According to recent insights from Paul Hoffman, an analyst at Best Brokers, IS Bitcoin miners have spent around $2.7 billion on power for mining operations in the first few months of 2024 alone.
Hoffman says that currently, around 450 Bitcoins are mined daily.
This amount of Bitcoin costs the mining facilities a whopping 384,481,670 kWh of electrical power, which consumes around 140,336 GWh yearly.
Hoffman mentioned that this state of energy consumption is a lot more than the annual electricity consumption of most countries, except the 26 most power-consuming ones.
The rising cost of mining Bitcoin in the US
Before the halving, Hoffman says that it was still economically feasible to mine Bitcoin in the U.S. by using grid power entirely.
However, the halving has brought some difficulty along with it, and it is starting to become more and more infeasible to mine Bitcoin in the US with current power sources.
Over the last week, celebrities including Caitlyn Jenner and American rapper, Rich the Kid—have come out to accuse one Sahil Arora, of being a serial memecoin scammer.
According to these accusations from Jenner and Rich the Kid, Arora launched memecoins named after celebrities and then pulls the rug on investors shortly after.
Last week, we saw the latest victim of this trend, Australian musician Iggy Azalea.
Arora reportedly launched IGGY, a memecoin named after the musician, and shortly after, $IGGY reached a market cap of approximately $3 million.
Soon after distanced herself from Arora’s $IGGY, launched her own token called $MOTHER, and clarified that she had never spoken to him.
This marks the third celebrity memecoin scam in May, and investors would be wise to stay away from the celebrity memecoin scene—for now, at least.
At the time of writing, the $MOTHER crypto has soared to a market cap of $70.1 million, according to data from DEXScreener.
Last week, DMM Bitcoin, one of Japan’s biggest crypto exchanges suffered a major hack, when Bitcoin worth a staggering 48 billion yen (approximately $305 million) went down the drain.
In a press release, DMM Bitcoin mentioned that around 4,502.9 BTC were stolen in the hack, and then transferred around 500 Bitcoin each to 10 different wallets, as tracked by LookOnChain.
So far, DMM Bitcoin has assured its users that it would provide an equal amount of Bitcoin to cover the losses.
At the time of writing, spot buys remain suspended, but Japanese yen withdrawals can still go through, amid possible delays.
Disclaimer: Voice of Crypto aims to deliver accurate and up-to-date information, but it will not be responsible for any missing facts or inaccurate information. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile financial assets, so research and make your own financial decisions.