Bitcoin hashrate reaches new all-time high
On December 25, the difficulty of mining the first cryptocurrency reached a record 544.6 EH/s. On December 23, Bitcoin mining difficulty peaked at 72.01 T. This metric, which is related to the overall hashing power of the network, increased throughout the year with 20 of the 27 revisions.
After reaching an annual peak of $0.13 per 1 TH/s per day on December 17, the hash price dropped to $0.09, according to the Hashrate Index. This decrease of 34% occurred against the background of a decrease in the price of BTC from $44,000. On December 26, the price of digital gold dropped below $42,000. On December 17, the average commission size in the network of the first cryptocurrency also reached a yearly maximum, exceeding $37. However, at the time of writing, this figure has decreased and is about $6.
BNB returned to 4th place in the TOP by capitalization
BNB again took 4th place in the top market by capitalization, successfully ahead of Solana.
zkSync surpasses Ethereum in terms of transaction volume
The number of transactions per month in zkSync Era was amazing, surpassing even Ethereum thanks to the increased popularity of its analogue, known as Ordinals.
Over the past 30 days, an incredible 34.67 million transactions were carried out on the L2 network, while Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by capitalization, stood at 34.16 million. The Arbitrum network was also not left behind, with 31.43 million transactions during the same period.
This sudden increase in activity on the zkSync network is associated with the launch of "inscriptions". A record number of transactions was recorded on December 16, when an analogue of Ordinals was introduced on the L2 network, which attracted great interest from users.
Buterin proposed a solution to reduce the load on Ethereum
Vitalik Buterin presented his proposal to reduce the load on the Ethereum network by reducing the required number of signatures in each slot to 8192. Details of the proposal are available here. One of the key features of Ethereum that sets it apart from most other PoS systems is its commitment to supporting a huge number of validators. There are currently about 895,000, which equates to tens of thousands of unique members.
However, this approach requires the Ethereum network to process a huge volume of signatures in each slot. Currently this number is 28,000 and with the implementation of Vitalik Buterin's proposed SSF (StarkWare Fallback) this number will rise to 1.790 million.
Vitalik proposes to reduce this number of signatures to 8192, suggesting several methods to achieve this goal. This can be achieved through the creation of decentralized staking pools, the establishment of a two-tier system for stakers, or by rotating staking participants with a random selection of validators. These innovative approaches can significantly improve the efficiency and scalability of the Ethereum network.
Tether issued 1 billion USDT
On December 24, Tether issued an additional 1 billion USDT stablecoins on the Ethereum network, adding its “digital dollars” to the world of cryptocurrencies. The company's CEO, Paolo Ardoino, explained the operation in a message published on WhaleAlerts. According to him, it was a pre-authorized but not yet executed transaction.
The new USDT was intended to be used "as reserves to meet future demand and to fulfill network swaps," specifying that this is standard practice in the cryptocurrency world. From a traditional financial perspective, reserve replenishment is the process of maintaining sufficient inventory to meet customer demand for a particular asset. In the case of Tether, this means creating new USDT, which is nominally held in their treasury reserves. This mechanism allows for stability and liquidity for users and investors in the world of cryptocurrencies.
Trader earned $5.7 million from 30 Solana tokens
An unknown trader, operating with only 30 SOL (at the current rate - $2220), managed to earn more than $5.7 million in six days of his active trading maneuvers. On December 20, a user purchased 16 billion ANALOS coins for his SOL in the first minutes of trading on the Raydium liquidity pool.
Subsequently, this trading genius successfully sold 14.5 billion ANALOS to several wallets, gaining $3.45 million. At the same time, there are still 1.56 billion ANALOS left in four of his wallets, valued at $2.34 million. As a result, the overall growth of his capital increased by an incredible factor of x2570, surprising and delighting the entire cryptocurrency world.
FixedFloat wishes you a Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, dear users! May 2024 bring us promise in the world of blockchain, exciting advances in the crypto space, and innovations that will leave us in awe. Our FixedFloat team wishes you, our dear users, that your investments multiply and transactions are completed instantly and without any hitches. May every block and every network remain secure and your passion for cryptocurrencies continue.
Happy New Year, crypto-heroes! Together we will achieve great things in the exciting world of cryptocurrencies. May 2024 open the doors to many opportunities and successful deals!
