Chinese BTC mining companies have moved to Ethiopia

After some consolidation last week bitcoin price rose last week, gaining 13%. The positive dynamics continued this week. Currently, the price of bitcoin on the eToro platform is $49.

The inflow of spot ETFs may be one of the reasons for the price increase. Since January 25, when Bitcoin was then trading around $40, we have seen 000 consecutive days of net buying in SEC-approved Bitcoin ETFs.

In the case of Ethereum, we saw the activation of the long-awaited “Dencun” update on the final Holesky testnet. Following the successful activation on Holesky, we now have a date of March 13 to roll out the update to the Ethereum mainnet. More about Decuna later in the newsletter. Currently on the platform eToro Ethereum price is $2630.

Ethiopia attracts Chinese miners with cheap energy

As Bloomberg reports, Ethiopia has become a major hub for displaced Chinese bitcoin miners due to low electricity costs and optimal climatic conditions for operating mining rigs.

Ethiopia's ability to provide electricity for bitcoin mining could rival that of Texas, the largest cryptocurrency mining center in the US, in a few years, according to a senior executive at Bitmain.

Several Chinese companies also helped with the $4,8 billion construction Grand Renaissance Dams (GERD), the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa, from which miners plan to draw energy.

At its peak, Chinese bitcoin miners accounted for 65%. up to 75 percent total "hash rate", i.e. the total computing power of the bitcoin network.

The Ethereum Dencun update will go live on the mainnet on March 13

Core developers Ethereum have set a date of March 13 (specifically Blockchain slot 8626176) to activate the Dencun update to the mainnet.

Dencun introduces a series of EIPs (Ethereum Improvement Proposals) and marks the beginning of "The Surge" era in Ethereum, aimed at increasing the scalability, security and performance of the network. The update is also expected to significantly reduce transaction (gas) fees on Layer 2 networks in the Ethereum ecosystem via EIP 4844 Proto-Danksharding.

Ethereum will be the cryptocurrency to watch in the coming months. Dencun may bring increased use of the Ethereum network, which in turn may have a positive impact on the price of Ethereum cryptocurrencies.

Not to mention May this year when the deadline for approval or rejection of Ethereum spot applications will be. Similar to what we saw with Bitcoin, when the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs seemed likely, the price of Bitcoin rose significantly.