Bitcoin news you need to know (including the best-kept secret)

Here's what happened in bitcoin during October 2022.

Top Events

• The largest listed bitcoin miner, Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ), has halted interest payments on its ~US$1 billion debt outstanding as it anticipates running out of cash by the end of 2022.

• Roughly 70% of all Ethereum blocks produced and almost 100% of relay nodes are compliant with The Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") sanctions on Tornado Cash. Effectively, the Ethereum blockchain is being censored by the US government.
  

• Bitcoin ownership in Canada increased sharply last year. 13% of Canadians now hold Bitcoin, and over 25% of Canadians between 18 and 34 hold some amount. Slowly, then suddenly.

Lightning Network Metrics

The Lightning Network is the best-kept secret in the tech industry, but if public capacity (the total volume of P2P payments the system can handle) continues to double every year, it won't be a secret for long.

• Public Capacity: 5,164 BTC (+120 BTC)

• Channels: 8,015 (-2,402)

• Nodes: 17,175 (-603)

Lightning Network Updates

• ​LQwD Fintech Corp (TSXV:LQWD) surpassed over 200 BTC of payments routed through their collection of Lightning Network nodes.

• Block’s (ASX:SQ2) Cash App now lets any user receive Bitcoin over the Lightning Network using only a QR code.

• ​A new Lightning Network startup accelerator called Wolf has opened applications for their first. This cohort will spend 8 weeks building in NYC starting April 2023.

Bitcoin Mining

• The network hash rate continues to surge (hash refers to the number of calculations the network is doing per second to mine bitcoin, that itself is driven by the amount of mining equipment deployed). Over a two week period, the equivalent of 5 billion laptops of computing power was added.

• How bitcoin mining is bootstrapping renewable energy in rural Kenya.

• The Australian-founded bitcoin miner Iris Energy (NASDAQ:IREN) is one of the lowest-cost producers in the sector. They can mine a bitcoin for about $US8691 according to the AFR – How Iris Energy can mine more bitcoin than its US competitors

Best Articles and Podcasts

• Bitcoin is the most ESG compliance investment in history, according to MicroStrategy’s (NASDAQ:MSTR) Michael Saylor – Michael Saylor's Deep-Dive on Bitcoin Energy Misconceptions

• An interesting take on the drivers of the bitcoin price compared to securities from Horizon Kinetics – What Drives the Bitcoin Price: Volatility vs. Information Efficiency

Macro and Politics

• Australia is the wealthiest country in the world, when you look at median wealth per capita. Whatever seems to happen in the current macro environment is good for us.

• There has been US$92.15 trillion in wealth destruction across global stocks and bonds so far in 2022. Truly remarkable.

Meme

Aussie home prices are on track for a 15% annual loss.