#crypto miner hotspot

[ospreykaran]

Osprey Hotspot G1 (US, Europe, China)

Osprey Hotspot G1 is for PoC Helium network, mining HNT. It works with the Helium LongFi architecture, which integrates the leading wireless LoRaWAN protocol with the Helium Blockchain technology. All Osprey Hotspot G1 are compatible with LoRaWAN.

LongFi connects the LoRaWAN enabled IoT devices to the network, allowing any LoRaWAN device to send and receive data for the Internet of Things. LongFi provides roaming capabilities and micropayment transactions.

With the Osprey Hotspot G1, you can begin creating coverage for the Internet of things. Anyone can start delivering wireless network coverage over hundreds of square miles within a few minutes.

Complete set-up in minutes using a smartphone or remote dashboard

LongFi™ technology maximizes range and battery life

Low Power – uses as much power as a broadband router (12W)

Easily manage gateways from the mobile app

[chandni0867]

Unveiling the Future: Crypto Hotspot Mining and Helium Hotspot Miners

Delve into the world of crypto hotspot mining with Helium Hotspot Miners. These devices facilitate decentralized wireless network coverage while earning cryptocurrency rewards. Learn about their role in the emerging IoT ecosystem and how they contribute to the blockchain network's infrastructure. Discover the potential of Helium hotspot miners and their impact on decentralized connectivity.

For More:

[savvytechblog]

Unleashing the Potential: Mining Helium Crypto with IoT Devices

In the rapidly evolving landscape of cryptocurrency, a unique opportunity has emerged for individuals to not only participate in the blockchain revolution but also earn rewards through mining. One exciting avenue gaining traction is the mining of Helium (HNT) cryptocurrency using Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Let’s delve into this innovative world of crypto mining with examples of popular…

[criptox]

Golden Opportunity: Sustainable Bitcoin Mining in Bhutan

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The Rise of Bitcoin Mining in Bhutan: A Unique Opportunity

In recent years, the world of cryptocurrency has seen an unprecedented rise in popularity and adoption, with Bitcoin leading the charge. One of the most intriguing developments in this realm is the growing interest in Bitcoin mining in Bhutan, a small yet stunningly beautiful nation nestled in the Eastern Himalayas. This article explores the unique factors contributing to Bhutan’s emergence as a hotspot for crypto miners.

Why Bhutan?

Bhutan is often celebrated for its stunning landscapes and rich cultural heritage. But beyond its natural beauty, the country possesses several key factors that make it an attractive location for Bitcoin mining:

Abundant Hydropower: Bhutan is known for its vast hydropower resources, which provide a clean and sustainable energy source. This is crucial for Bitcoin mining, as the process requires substantial amounts of electricity. The ability to harness energy from its numerous rivers means miners can operate with significantly lower costs compared to places reliant on fossil fuels.

Cool Climate: Another advantage of Bhutan's geographical location is its cool climate. Bitcoin mining generates a lot of heat, and cooler temperatures can help reduce the cooling costs associated with mining operations, creating a more efficient environment for miners.

Sustainable Practices

One of Bhutan's core philosophies is Gross National Happiness, which emphasizes sustainable and responsible development. The government is keen on ensuring that any Bitcoin mining efforts align with its goals around conservation and minimizing environmental impact. This has led to a cautious approach in allowing mining operations, ensuring that they are compliant with regulations while contributing positively to the local economy.

The Economic Potential

Mining cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, has the potential to boost the country’s economy significantly. The revenues generated from mining can support various sectors, including infrastructure, education, and healthcare. Moreover, as Bitcoin continues to rise in value, the financial returns from mining could yield substantial profits, attracting foreign investment and expertise in the field.

Challenges Ahead

Despite the promising outlook, Bhutan is not without challenges. The country faces several hurdles, including:

Regulatory Framework: The regulation surrounding cryptocurrencies is still evolving. Policymakers must balance the growth of the sector with concerns about potential impacts on the economy and society.

Market Volatility: The inherent volatility of Bitcoin prices poses a risk to miners. Any substantial drop in value can make mining less viable and put the investments at risk.

The Future of Bitcoin Mining in Bhutan

As Bitcoin mining gains momentum in Bhutan, the potential for growth and innovation becomes ever more apparent. With a unique combination of abundant resources, a commitment to sustainability, and the cultural inclination towards happiness and well-being, Bhutan is poised to carve out a niche in the world of cryptocurrency. Its approach may not only set the stage for a thriving Bitcoin mining industry but also serve as a model for sustainable practices in other countries.

In conclusion, Bhutan's entry into Bitcoin mining is exciting, filled with prospects yet tempered by the challenges it faces. The journey ahead promises to be an interesting one as it seeks to balance progress with its deep-rooted philosophy of conservation and happiness.

``` Golden Opportunity: Sustainable Bitcoin Mining in Bhutan

[wemineae]

Best Kaspa Miners in Dubai

Dubai, renowned for its technological prowess and vibrant cryptocurrency landscape, is quickly becoming a hotspot for Kaspa miners. As the demand for crypto mining machines surges, finding the best equipment for Kaspa mining in Dubai can significantly influence your success. This blog highlights the top Kaspa miners in Dubai for 2024, exploring their features and benefits to help you make an informed choice.

1. Goldshell KD6

The Goldshell KD6 is a leading option for those involved in Kaspa mining in Dubai. Its notable features include:

Hash Rate: Up to 26 TH/s

Power Consumption: Approximately 2630W

Efficiency: 101 J/TH

This miner is engineered for high performance and efficiency, making it a top choice among Dubai’s mining community. Its robust build and performance make it suitable for both personal and commercial mining setups.

2. iBeLink BM-K1

The iBeLink BM-K1 stands out for its energy efficiency and compact design. Key details are:

Hash Rate: Up to 15 TH/s

Power Consumption: Around 1500W

Efficiency: 100 J/TH

This model offers an affordable yet high-performing solution for Kaspa mining in Dubai, making it a popular choice for miners looking to balance cost with performance.

3. Antminer K7

Bitmain’s Antminer K7 is a formidable contender in the Kaspa miners in Dubai market. Its specifications include:

Hash Rate: Up to 63 TH/s

Power Consumption: Approximately 3500W

Efficiency: 55 J/TH

With its high hash rate and efficient power usage, the Antminer K7 is designed to optimize mining operations, providing a significant boost to those engaged in Bitcoin mining in Dubai and other crypto ventures.

4. MicroBT Whatsminer K1

The Whatsminer K1 by MicroBT is known for its stability and performance. Its features include:

Hash Rate: Up to 20 TH/s

Power Consumption: Around 2200W

Efficiency: 110 J/TH

This model strikes a good balance between power consumption and high hash rates, making it ideal for a wide range of mining operations in Dubai.

5. Innosilicon K5

The Innosilicon K5 offers an efficient and compact mining solution. Key details include:

Hash Rate: Up to 10 TH/s

Power Consumption: Approximately 1200W

Efficiency: 120 J/TH

Its energy efficiency and smaller footprint make the Innosilicon K5 a valuable choice for those looking to set up a home-based mining operation.

Conclusion

In the ever-evolving world of Kaspa mining in Dubai, selecting the right crypto mining machines can greatly impact your success. From the powerful Goldshell KD6 to the cost-effective iBeLink BM-K1, the market offers a range of options to suit different needs and preferences. Each of these top Kaspa miners in Dubai provides unique advantages, ensuring that you can find the perfect fit for your mining setup.

By choosing the right equipment, you can optimize your mining operations and take advantage of the burgeoning crypto opportunities in Dubai. Explore these options to stay ahead in the competitive landscape of Bitcoin mining in Dubai and beyond.

[ailtrahq]

bitcoin’s rise in exchange supply has not been able to impact the king coin’s value. A notable Market player expected BTC to fall below $25,000 before September ends. Between 6 and 7 September, about 5000 bitcoin [BTC] were sent into exchanges, data from Glassnode showed. To assess this behavior, Glassnode offers a metric called the total Bitcoin exchange balance. By definition, the bitcoin BTC&category=&m=distribution.BalanceExchanges&s=1691362800&u=1694127599&zoom=" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="nofollow external noopener noreferrer">exchange balance is the total amount of coins held on exchanges. Read bitcoin’s [BTC] Price Prediction 2023-2024 bitcoin: Ready to nuke? As of 6 September, bitcoin’s exchange balance was 2,304,401. But at press time, the amount had increased to 2,308,388. Most times, an increase in exchange balance suggests a rise in the participant’s motive to take profits. So, it is possible that the press time condition could lead to a BTC nuke in the short term. Source: Glassnode Coincidentally, this same value was almost the same that bitcoin miners sent into exchanges in June. Of course, the aftermath of the decision at that time was not favorable for the king coin. However, bitcoin seems to have been able to weather the storm.  In the last 24 hours, the coin rose above $26,000, helping the crypto Market cap grow by 1.19%. One metric that may have helped stabilize the Price is the exchange outflow. The exchange outflow describes the amount of bitcoin sent from exchange wallets into non-exchange wallets. On the other hand, the exchange inflow is the amount of BTC sent from external wallets into exchange wallets. At press time, the exchange outflow was 3,929 while the exchange inflow was 2,978, meaning there were more investors willing to HODL than those willing to sell. Source: Santiment Prepare for the worst and hope for the best But does this mean bitcoin would have a much better September than August? AMBCrypto had a quick chat with Gracy Chen, Managing Director at crypto exchange Bitget, on the matter. For Chen, BTC’s performance this month depends on a number of factors, some of which she highlighted in our discussion. The Bitget MD said that the Federal Reserves’ decision on the Interest rate could impact the BTC value. She noted that there could be Rate cuts since the agency seemed committed to pushing the Interest rate to 2%.  Is your Portfolio green? Check out the BTC Profit Calculator As per the coin’s prediction, Chen mentioned that Trading momentum could reduce due to the fatigue in the Market. Due to this condition, she expected bitcoin to decrease to $24,800, but there could be a recovery after. She said, “In September, unless there are significant negative factors in the Market, it’s predicted that due to exhausted Market hotspots and reduced Trading momentum, BTC might test its previous low of $24,800 again. After that, a rebound is expected, with key levels to watch at $27,500, $28,000, and $29,000.”

[dentistfory]

The First Kaspa FPGA Miner – Osprey Electronics E300 14 GH/s kHeavyHash Miner

12 Dec 2022

It seems that the first FPGA miner (not an ASIC) for mining KASPA (KAS) and its kHeavyHash algorithm might be out now – the Osprey Electronics E300. The device is apparently capable of 14 GH/s hashrate on the kHeavyHash algorithm with power usage of 250-500 Watts depending on settings with future support for ERG and RXD claimed. According to the manufacturer of these devices the E300 is based on Xilinx UltraScale+ VU35P FPGA technology and each miner comes with 3 Hash Boards + 1 Control Board, with each hash board having one Xilinx VU35P (872K LUT, 224Mb on-chip RAM, 8GB HBM2, 420 GB/s Bandwidth) and the control board is based on Xilinx Zynq 7010. The price of the miner on the official website is $4999 USD and it is currently listed as out of stock.

Do note that we have not seen or tried the E300 KASPA FPGA miner ourselves, so we cannot confirm its actual existence and there is very little information about it online. The photos on the Osprey Electronics website of the device do seem to be from an actual AntMiner S9 with the company’s logo on it. There are some screenshots from the miner’s interface that show it mining KAS on woolypooly.com from early November as well as an official video showing the miner interface. The same company apparently also makes a Helium (HNT) hotspot miner as well called Osprey hotspot G1 that has slightly more online presence. The official Discord channel does have some more information and things going on around the development of the device, so you might want to check it out if interested and want to ask some more questions. The great thing about FPGAs is that they can be reprogrammed to mine other algorithms or dor other things, unlike ASIC miners that are designed specifically for one task. – Visit the official Osprey Electronics E300 product page… Publihsed in: Mining Hardware Related tags: E300, ERG FPGA, ERG FPGA miner, Ergo FPGA, Ergo FPGA miner, FPGA miner, KAS FPGA, KAS FPGA miner, Kaspa FPGA, Kaspa FPGA miner, Osprey Electronics, Osprey Electronics E300, Osprey Electronics E300 FPGA, Osprey Electronics E300 FPGA miner, Osprey Electronics E300 miner, Radiant FPGA, Radiant FPGA miner, RXD FPGA, RXD FPGA miner Check Some More Similar Crypto Related Publications: Source link Read the full article

[chandni0867]

Osprey Hotspot G1 (US, Europe, China)

Understand how Helium's network uses LoRaWAN technology for IoT connectivity and rewards in cryptocurrency, versus traditional Ethereum mining devices focused on blockchain transactions. Learn about their unique functions, benefits, and how they contribute to the expanding digital landscape. Osprey Hotspot G1 is for PoC Helium network, mining HNT. It works with the Helium LongFi architecture, which integrates the leading wireless LoRaWAN protocol with the Helium Blockchain technology. All Osprey Hotspot G1 are compatible with LoRaWAN.

LongFi connects the LoRaWAN enabled IoT devices to the network, allowing any LoRaWAN device to send and receive data for the Internet of Things. LongFi provides roaming capabilities and micropayment transactions.

For More:

[carmen-12-scuito]

Bobcat miner 300 just arrived now in stock

Limited in stock

come place your recommendations now 📥

Shipping to any destination ✈

[shougaishaikujihunntouki55]

現実的な副業、新しい収入源、安心の学生。インスタグラム

広告：やるなら今！…

[ibnuljawad69]

Get Paid To Host a Little Hotspot & Earn Money From Home/Business

Now you can get paid a MONTHLY INCOME just for having this hotspot (a crypto miner) in your home or business. The Helium Miners are like little money machines.

They work in the background - 24 / 7 - and earn you money every 2 weeks.

Besides making money from your own hotspot (crypto miner), now you can ALSO get paid to GIVE AWAY these little money machines - and when you do, YOU GET PAID an ongoing, passive income EVERY MONTH off of THEIR machines.

This is an incredible opportunity and you start by first claiming your own FREE Helium miner/hotspot.

Here's everything you get:

GET YOUR HELIUM MINER/HOTSPOT FOR FREE

FREE TRAINING TO MAXIMIZE EARNINGS

AFFILIATE PROGRAM - SHARE WITH OTHERS FOR ROYALTIES ON THEIR MINING

EXCLUSIVE FACEBOOK GROUP WITH THE LATEST UPDATES

Not only will you get your Helium Miner for FREE,

but you will ALSO be able to SHARE THE OPPORTUNITY with others

and earn ROYALTIES on THEIR MINING ACTIVITY - ALL OF IT.

Imagine making money on ALL THE MINING OF THE PEOPLE YOU SHARE THIS WITH

AND ON ALL THE PEOPLE THEY SHARE IT WITH.

That's a GAME CHANGER.

Now you can build TRUE, LIFETIME WEALTH by owning your own piece of the IoT network.

When you claim your hotspot today, not only will you get incredible training on how to mine more HNT / income, but you will also get your own WEBSITE that you can send people to...

This website gets them excited and shows them the power of GETTING one of these little money machines for themselves. You will see this website when you scan the QR or go to the website: http://schr.io/claimhotspot

This is a WIN, WIN, WIN deal and now you can join us.

Again, this is NOT AVAILABLE if you go to the Helium Network website...

This is a special, proprietary AFFILIATE TEAM that has gotten approval from Helium Network...

...in fact, our machines are PROGRAMMED to pay out the right affiliate commissions to everyone.

Get ready for true ongoing, passive income.

Get paid to mine crypto from home or business. All you need is an internet connection and a spot to place your device. (for example, a window sill or attic)

No personal data is transferred, this device only "pings" other nearby devices using radio waves and is part of the "Internet of Things" network. (smart devices)

Get started FREE or learn more!

http://schr.io/claimhotspot

[moneydiscoveries]

iHub Global - How It Works + Reserve your own FREE Helium Hotspot

What is iHub Global? iHub Global is a crypto mining organization and non-profit association formed by Rick Cotton that enables crypto lovers to mine Helium tokens through their organization and afterward makes benefits via crypto mining. Clients can either keep the Helium or exchange it back for $ or £. What is the iHub Global Helium Miner? iHub Global gives clients a FREE Helium excavator to mine Helium at no additional expense for the client. This is a little gadget that can be connected and left running. Join to get your FREE iHub Global Helium excavator here 👉 https://bit.ly/3zaNrGU

[wumblr]

i don’t think it’s a coincidence 1% of america is without electricity while bitcoin hit 50k

World’s Largest Bitcoin Mine Lures New Clients to Texas Hotspot (Jan 2020)

How Texas’s wind boom has spawned a Bitcoin mining rush (Feb 2020)

Peter Thiel-backed Bitcoin mining company starts operations in West Texas (Feb 2020)

Texas crypto miner Layer1 Technologies sells power back to the grid for 8x the price (Sep 2020)

“While some mining farms have stopped operations due to power outages, others are selling electricity back to the grid at a premium“ (Feb 2021)

these articles are mostly about two companies (bitmain and layer1)

[cryptoevent]

Is the cryptocurrency epicenter moving away from East Asia? – Cointelegraph Magazine

It probably came as little surprise last year when crypto intelligence firm Chainalysis declared East Asia “the world’s largest cryptocurrency market,” accounting for 31% of all cryptocurrency transacted during the previous 12 months. The region has a broad base of retail users along with a solid foundation of crypto traders and institutions, and China alone was at the time mining around two-thirds of all the Bitcoin in the world. 

In July 2021, Fidelity Digital Assets surveyed 1,100 institutional investors in the United States (408), Europe (393) and Asia (299) between December 2, 2020 and April 2, 2021. The study reinforced this idea, with the firm reporting that digital asset adoption rates are substantially higher in Asia (71%) than in Europe (56%) and the United States (33%). In March 2021, a Statista consumer survey of 74 countries on cryptocurrency ownership and usage determined that the Asian nations of Vietnam and the Philippines are ranked second and third globally, respectively.

But the past is not always a prelude to the future, and there is no guarantee that East Asia will remain the world’s center of gravity for crypto adoption. China’s attachment to crypto is tenuous at best, and Beijing’s rollout of its digital yuan could cause reverberations throughout the region. 

When asked about the crypto prospects of East Asia, Kim Grauer, head of research at Chainalysis, tells Magazine that the region has recently experienced “a major decline in cryptocurrency adoption compared with other regions globally,” further adding: 

“This drop-off is driven by a decline in Chinese activity beginning 6 months ago, which coincided with various crackdowns there including the mining ban and the halting of derivatives trading by major exchanges. We hypothesize that much of this activity has migrated to DeFi, but that hasn’t picked up enough that it makes up for the losses in the derivatives market yet.”

China’s dominance in Bitcoin mining made it “a natural marketplace for crypto,” says Lennard Neo, head of research at Stack Funds. But as reported, many rigs are moving elsewhere, including to Canada, Kazakhstan, Russia and the United States. 

Asked if Asia is likely to maintain its crypto dominance, Eloisa Cadenas, CEO of Mexico-based financial services firm CryptoFintech, tells Magazine: “It is a difficult question to answer because, when we think of Asia, we automatically focus our attention on China which, as we know, has taken quite restrictive measures in relation to Bitcoin, crypto assets and of course, mining.” 

        China’s digital yuan is likely to have a big impact on the region, Cadenas says. Indeed, she anticipates that other Asian countries will try to replicate the digital yuan model, and “It is likely that there is also an intention to block or restrict the market for crypto assets in such a way that only the CBDCs of each country can proliferate.”

If that happens, the mass center of crypto adoption could move elsewhere — to Latin America or Africa, opines Cadenas. These are two regions where, according to her, there is “a greater possibility of adoption, since the economic, social and political context is different.” 

Asia’s crypto crown could indeed be in play now, as Latin America and Africa aren’t the only contenders. Here’s who could potentially fill the void if and when Asia falters:

North America

Traditional “reticence” on the matter of digital assets is the result of three principal factors, according to another report by Fidelity Digital Assets: price volatility, concerns around market manipulation, and the lack of fundamentals to gauge appropriate value. But U.S. respondents appear to be coming to grips with digital assets, despite these shortcomings.

“The strength of concerns [in the U.S.] decreased notably vs. last year across most factors,” reported Fidelity Digital Assets. “Price volatility concern fell 13 points, concerns around market manipulation fell 6 points and lack of fundamentals fell 8 points.”

Elsewhere, some of the United States’ top legacy banks — including State Street, BNY Mellon, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs — have been making forays into the crypto space.

On the mining front, the U.S. was already the number-two mining nation before China’s May crackdown on crypto mining, albeit a distant second. Back in September 2019, China contributed 75.53% of the global Bitcoin hash rate. But more recently, China’s portion of the hash rate has ebbed to 46.04%, while the U.S. has broadened its share to 16.85% globally. Henri Arslanian, crypto leader and partner at advisory firm PwC, tells Magazine: 

“The United States is probably the one country that has a lot of momentum now. The regulations are becoming clearer, there are numerous large crypto companies and there is a lot of capital flowing into crypto both from institutional investors and retail.” 

Meanwhile, north of the U.S. border, Canada has been innovating on the crypto front. The Purpose Bitcoin ETF, North America’s first crypto-based exchange-traded fund, launched in February and has been a big hit by most accounts. It was followed in April by an Ether ETF, with strong volumes reported. 

Many believe that it’s only a matter of time before Canada, with its vast hydroelectric resources, becomes a major player in crypto mining, particularly as more miners seek out renewable energy sources to power their rigs.

Latin America

The Latin American region could become a crypto adoption hotspot, and not only because El Salvador declared Bitcoin legal tender in June when it issued its Bitcoin Law — a historic move in the view of some.

Many regional economies are sustained by remittances — i.e., money sent home from workers abroad. They account for 23% of El Salvador’s gross domestic product, for instance. In Honduras, remittances also exceeded 20% of the gross national product in 2019, according to Pew Research Center. By comparison, Mexico saw only a 3% share of its GDP driven by remittances, but its gross numbers are high — $42.9 billion in 2020, according to the World Bank, which is a number behind only China and India. Crypto and blockchain technology potentially offer a more efficient way to transfer overseas payments.

The trend in Latin America “is toward retailers and unbanked users because with cryptocurrencies you can create cheaper financial products that, eventually, could promote greater financial inclusion,” CryptoFintech’s Cadenas tells Magazine.

There is also evidence that El Salvador’s dramatic action may be encouraging other countries in the region to devise their own crypto strategies. Paraguayan legislators introduced a cryptocurrency bill to the nation’s Congress in July, for instance.

“Where El Salvador has led, we can expect other developing countries to follow,” said Nigel Green, CEO and founder of financial service company deVere Group. “This is because low-income countries have long suffered because their currencies are weak and extremely vulnerable to market changes and that triggers rampant inflation,”

        There isn’t much CBDC fervor in the region either, which means that Latin American countries are less likely to clamp down on crypto for competing with a government’s digital currency. “What I do see [in Latin America] is financial institutions creating alliances with crypto-asset companies to facilitate operations through crypto-assets, mainly with stablecoins,” Cadenas says.

Stack Funds’ Neo perceives some similarities between Latin America and Asia. The latter was historically home to a number of “restricted” currencies that were subject to government controls — such as the Chinese yuan, Indian rupee, Indonesian rupiah, Malaysian ringgit and Philippine peso — making them difficult to convert. These restrictions encouraged investors to turn to crypto “as a hedge against these limitations,” explains Neo. Similar tendencies may be emerging in Latin America where citizens increasingly appear to “prefer crypto over fiat [currencies], which are exacerbated by political turmoil.”

In its “2020 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report,” Chainalysis cites Venezuela — which ranked third globally out of 154 countries in its Global Crypto Adoption Index — as a stellar example “of what drives cryptocurrency adoption in developing countries and how citizens use it to mitigate economic instability,” adding that “Venezuelans use cryptocurrency more when the country’s native fiat currency is losing value to inflation, suggesting that Venezuelans turn to cryptocurrency to preserve savings they may otherwise lose.” Chainalysis saw the same pattern in other Latin American countries, as well as those in Africa and East Asia. 

Cryptocurrency adoption in the region may not all go according to plan, of course. Eric Anziani, chief operating officer of cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, tells Magazine that “El Salvador officially accepted Bitcoin as legal tender, but this news is a two-edged sword. If the experiment is successful, then it will promote crypto in the region; otherwise, it could make local governments look at cryptocurrencies with greater skepticism.”

Europe

As in North America, institutional interest in crypto is growing in Europe. Today, nearly 80% of institutional investors “believe digital assets should be part of a portfolio,” according to Fidelity Digital Asset’s July report. And while “this belief is strongest in Asia,” it is also strong and growing in Europe: “More than three-quarters (77%) of European investors share this belief, up from two-thirds the prior year.”

The European Commission’s proposed Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation, undergoing its first reading in the European Parliament, is expected to create a harmonized European crypto-asset market that “will definitely attract more and more large institutional investors — hedge funds, pension funds etc. — that have been wary of investing in this asset class due to regulatory concerns,” says Patrick Hansen, head of blockchain at Bitkom, an association of German companies in the digital economy. 

When MiCA is implemented, a crypto firm receiving authorization from any one of the 27 European Union countries will be able to share its services across all the other EU states. Hansen also foresees greater mainstream adoption in the region and among its 450 million residents.

On the flip side, the European Central Bank is moving ahead with plans to introduce a digital euro that could be used by the 19 countries in the eurozone as “an alternative to third-party payment services and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin,” reported Deutsche Welle, mainly because “Central bankers fear the widespread use of foreign or unregulated currencies could destabilize the economy.” 

In other words, Europe’s crypto-wary central bankers could still have something to say about crypto adoption in the region.  

Africa

When focusing on retail adoption, regions in the developing world such as Africa can’t be overlooked, Monica Singer, ConsenSys’ South Africa lead, tells Magazine. “Nigeria has one of the highest numbers of retail users of Bitcoin,” for instance — at least on a per capita basis. It ranks first among 74 countries in Statista’s March consumer adoption survey. She further adds:

“In countries where there is no trust in the fiat currency, and the population is young and mostly all have access to the internet, it is a natural progression that they will use cryptocurrencies to transact, in particular for remittances.”

Three African nations — Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa — made the top 10 in Chainalysis’ 2020 global crypto adoption index. “Remittances are an early use case for this developing cryptocurrency economy,” notes the report, adding that many of the region’s countries are also plagued by severe currency devaluation and instability, making them ripe for Bitcoin and its fixed, anti-inflationary supply.

Still, many African countries have restrictive policies with regard to currencies not backed by central banks, which could impede adoption, Singer tells Magazine. In early 2021, Nigeria’s central bank effectively banned commercial banks from providing account services to crypto exchanges.

    The dominant mood is optimism, though, as epitomized by Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson’s keynote address at Blockchain Africa in which he compared Africa’s emerging economy to China in the 1980s — both offering case studies of new technologies leapfrogging legacy systems. Indeed, Hoskinson predicted: “There’s a great potential for that to be African nations — not Germany, not France, not England, not the United States, not China or Japan.”

East Asia 

Of course, there are good reasons that nothing much may change at all — and East Asia remains crypto’s adoption epicenter. Asian countries have embraced digitalization, while their appetite for crypto was whetted by their early exposure to pioneering crypto firms. Indeed, by the end of 2020, six of the 10 largest crypto “unicorns” were Asia-based — including Bitmain, Binance, OKEx, Huobi, BitMEX and FTX. 

Moreover, many East Asian nations that have embraced e-payments are used to public market investing and encourage STEM subjects in their school systems. Charles d’Haussy, managing director of the Asia-Pacific region at ConsenSys, tells Magazine that Asia’s “new wealth,” as well, is keener to embrace new asset classes, compared with “established wealth in the Western World which is more drawn to traditional asset classes.” For these reasons, he concludes that “Asia has a head start and will remain a leader [in crypto] for the decades to come.”

Even without China, Asia may be deep enough with regard to crypto adoption that it won’t lose its leadership position. Winston Ma, adjunct professor at New York University School of Law and author of The Digital War: How China’s Tech Power Shapes the Future of AI, Blockchain and Cyberspace, tells Magazine:

“Asian investors are used to inflation risk in their economies and high volatility in trading markets, and they embraced digital assets to hedge against the fiat money printing across the globe.”

“The lead may shift from China to Southeast Asian countries, as well as other countries with less restrictive regulations and laws with regard to crypto,” Yu Xiong, international associate dean at Surrey University and chair of business analytics at Surrey Business School, tells Magazine. In addition, Hansen notes that crypto-favorable regulatory frameworks have emerged in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.

Meanwhile, on the institutional front, “Regulatory clarity and tax treatment of crypto markets relative to their other options — stocks, derivatives, etc. — will matter a great deal more than it does for retail investors,” says Gina Pieters, assistant instructional professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago. Here again, East Asia often seems further advanced than other regions. Pieters adds:

“Japan’s tax treatment of gains from crypto investment is much simpler than USA tax treatment, and so all else equal it would not be surprising to see higher adoption in Japan by institutional investors compared to the USA.”

Overall, if one were to categorize the competition, it would be the history, culture, professional traders, exchanges and first-mover advantage of Asia pitted against the youth and economic needs of Latin America and Africa, the investment capital and entrepreneurial vitality of North America, and the wealth, size and regulatory harmonization of Europe. 

Who will prevail? 

The case could be for Latin America or Africa, where the need is the greatest and a clear solution seems at hand. But, of course, it’s really anyone’s guess.