BT Daily News: These Are the Most Profitable Proof-of-Work Algorithms Since Ethereum Moved to Proof-of-Stake

1. These Are the Most Profitable Proof-of-Work Algorithms Since Ethereum Moved to Proof-of-Stake

Since the transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), ethereum cannot be mined and miners are now dedicating hashrate to different PoW chains. Since ethereum can no longer be mined, the most profitable PoW consensus algorithms are Kadena, Scrypt, and Cuckatoo32. Today’s Top 7 Mineable PoW Algorithms Include Kadena, Scrypt, Cuckatoo32, Blake2B-Sia, X11, Equihash, and SHA256.

SHA256 is the seventh most profitable consensus algorithm and a BTC miner leveraging an Antminer S19 XP with 140 TH/s gets around $2.60 per day. With Ethereum removed from the equations, people can still mine Ethash coins like ethereum classic (ETC), but the top Ethash mining devices produce little profit in comparison to when people could mine ether.

At the time of writing, Bitmain’s Antminer E9 with 2.4 gigahash per second of Ethash hashpower makes an estimated $0.45 per day. On September 12, the same machine mining ethereum (ETH) produced $53.45 per day, according to stats recorded by asicminervalue.com. Innosilicon’s A11 Pro ETH miner, with 1,500 megahash per second (MH/s), is not profitable and daily use leads to a loss of $3.03 per day. Five days ago, on September 12, the same machine produced $30.09 per day in profits.

2. Institutions Are Still 'Wait-And-See' With Ethereum

The Merge has finally happened, and while bitcoin remains the preferred cryptocurrency of institutions (and one nation-state, El Salvador), Ethereum’s new consensus mechanism – and the scalability that is supposed to go with it – may attract some interest away from its bigger, older brother as the biting cold of the crypto winter continues.

Still, institutions may be hesitant to jump all in on ether just yet. One reason is regulatory uncertainty. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler said proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies may be viewed as securities, though the regulator said he wasn’t talking about any specific coins. Nevertheless, his comments helped cause ether’s price to take a hit Thursday.

Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital assets research, likens ether’s performance versus USD after the Merge to what happened to bitcoin after significant changes.

“There are plenty of examples of big crypto developments, including bitcoin halvings, where the price traded in a range for weeks or months,” Sigel said on CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” program Thursday. “It just takes one major stakeholder to make a decision to buy after some stability in the network. That can take days, weeks, months – who knows?”

Sigel, who has a five-year price target on ether of $8,000, noted four times as much ETH was staked on the Ethereum network in the six hours after the Merge than in the entire history of the Beacon Chain prior.

“It seems pretty clear that those who are in the markets are now making the decision to commit and lock up that liquidity,” he said. “That’s probably a trend that will continue over time, so the early results are, I think, pretty encouraging notwithstanding the price action.”

3. What is the future of Bitcoin mining if energy prices continue to increase and the value of Bitcoin continues to decrease?

Historically, Bitcoin was seen as a hedge against potential economic downturn; operating outside of market cycles and offering investors an opportunity to diversify their portfolios. More recently, however, we have seen that Bitcoin – now considered an asset class by many – is inextricably linked with the macroeconomic environment.

There are also other factors to consider, such as halving, which will see rewards for miners continue to decrease. This should, in theory, see demand outpace supply, creating a more bullish market for Bitcoin in particular. It’s always difficult to predict the price movements of cryptocurrencies but, for Bitcoin at least, there are a number of factors that would indicate that, once the markets recover, we should see the price begin to go up.

Can Bitcoin miners stay profitable? This question rests on a double-edged sword. Inflated energy prices have the ability to cripple the industry; we only need to look at Compass Mining’s operations needing to shut down because of high energy costs in Georgia.

Profitability is now being squeezed on both sides; the price of Bitcoin is at a relatively low level, and electricity prices are on the rise. It becomes a case of “last man standing” as those miners under pressure are turning off their machines one by one. This decrease of competitors in the market is lowering the hashrate for Bitcoin too; a metric which measures the computing power active on the network, and a barometer to measure current mining difficulty.

A decrease in hashrate will, however, eventually lead to more participants in Bitcoin mining as rewards are easier to come by; thus, creating the bottom end of the cycle which should see an increase in participants which then should drive profitability back up.

4. Bitcoin better than physical property for commoners, says Michael Saylor

MicroStrategy CEO and Bitcoin (BTC) advocate Michael Saylor doubled down on his support for Bitcoin as he explained the issues related to transferring the value of physical properties such as gold, company stocks or equity and real estate during the Australia Crypto Convention.

Speaking about the underlying proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, Saylor highlighted that Bitcoin is backed by $20 billion worth of proprietary mining hardware and $20 billion worth of energy.

Saylor further underscored the high maintenance costs and taxes linked with owning and inheriting physical property over the long term, which in the case of Bitcoin, does not exist. Geopolitical tensions across the world also determine the type of assets one would be allowed to carry forward across jurisdictions.

5. Why bit eyes could be as prominent as bitcoin in the crypto market

Successful crypto projects usually go on to be highly valued and popular in the coin market, and Big eyes (BIG) could join the long list of crypto assets that have achieved this. Various cryptocurrency assets boast market prominence due to numerous factors like utility, value, real-life application, celebrity endorsement, innovative features, etc.

Crypto assets equipped with these factors are more likely to succeed and become prominent in the market. Bitcoin (BTC) leverages most of these factors for its success, and we look into why Big eyes (BIG) can replicate such a feat by reviewing the two crypto assets below.

Big eyes is a new cat-themed meme coin with well-defined utility. It is a DeFi-related meme project, which could contribute to its prominence in the coin market. Big eyes aim to change the common narratives surrounding meme coins by providing wealth-creating opportunities for users in the DeFi space. It is one of the first few projects hoping to achieve this.

The meme coin’s developers aim to implement effective marketing campaigns that will see it gain more prominence and attract potential adopters. The project will also protect one of the world’s ecosystems via charitable means. This could also positively affect its market prominence and make it a top meme coin in the market.

Big eyes (BIG) features make it a crypto asset with promising prospects, and analysts are optimistic about possible prominence and value increase soon. Don’t wait until it achieves Bitcoin’s prominence before scrambling for adoption. This could be a costly mistake.