📔 Weekly Journal: Volcano Power 🌋⚡︎
[6 min read] Your guide to getting ahead on the digital frontier (& the weekend!). Today, the usual market news as well El Salvador's a Bitcoin mining project powered by geothermal energy launches.
Welcome to this week’s Weekly Journal 📔, your guide to the latest news & innovation in emerging technology, digital assets, and our exciting path to the Metaverse. This is week 49 of the 520 weeks of newsletters I have committed to, a decade of documenting our physical and digital lives converge.
New subscribers are encouraged to check out the history & purpose of this newsletter as well as the archive.
Enjoy your weekend! 😎
Ryan
Here’s what you’re getting today:
📈 Market update: Crypto market falls back to support levels.
🗞️ Interesting news: El Salvador’s “Lava Pool” goes live, US staking fund launches, and Japanese heavy hitters plan new digital currency.
👓 Read of the week: Bitcoin Mining Landscape Overview.
🎥 Video of the week: Edward Snowden at Bitcoin Amsterdam.
🤖 AI: Big film studios embrace Web3
✅ Weekly poll: Help choose the emerging tech topic for Wednesday’s showcase.
🤑 DCA with me: Follow my regular $50 weekly investing in an emerging asset class.
Market Update
🔥🗺️ 7-day heatmap below shows a rough week, back to support levels:
🎭 Crypto Fear and Greed Index is based on volatility, social media sentiments, surveys, market momentum, and a few other bits and pieces. Currently still in the Fear zone.
Interesting news 🗞️
Digital Assets News 🌐💱
🌋 El Salvador, the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, is partnering with Volcano Energy and Luxor Technology Corporation to launch a Bitcoin mining project powered by geothermal energy. This project, called the Lava Pool, aims to build Bitcoin infrastructure in the country. El Salvador initially faced opposition but has since attracted international investment, including Google Cloud opening an office. The Lava Pool project began with Bitcoin-backed "volcano bonds" and aims to create a local Bitcoin mining community. The government will receive 23% of miners' proceeds for funding geothermal facilities, fostering economic growth and Bitcoin adoption.
🏠 The value of USDR, a stablecoin supported by tangible assets and created by Tangible, experienced a significant drop of nearly 50% as it disassociated from its peg to the U.S. dollar. This detachment resulted from a surge in redemptions depleting its available DAI reserves. Tangible intends to enhance liquidity by selling real-world assets and utilizing insurance funds. Some skeptics suggest this incident might be a deliberate "rugpull," while Tangible attributes it to the effects of redemptions and panic-driven selling. This event has prompted concerns regarding the sustainability of stablecoins backed by tangible assets.
🥩 CoinList introduced a staking fund tailored for accredited U.S. investors, enabling them to generate returns by participating in the staking of diverse digital assets like Ethereum and Near. In the future, the fund will expand its offerings to encompass other blockchain networks, including Flow, Sui, and Mina. This presents investors with a chance to secure passive income through staking activities, even if they don't possess the actual assets.
🇯🇵 A consortium of Japanese firms, including Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, are gearing up to roll out a digital currency by July 2024, specifically designed for trading clean energy certificates. Additionally, GMO Aozora Net Bank is set to unveil a digital currency named "DCJPY," which will be employed by Internet Initiative Japan, leveraging blockchain technology and bank deposits for support. The Bank of Japan is also in the preliminary stages of investigating the development of a digital yen.
👓Read of the Week
This week’s read is a deep dive: Bitcoin Mining Landscape Overview. Shout out to El Salvador making waves in the Bitcoin mining arena as it launches the innovative Volcano Mining Pool, fueled by renewable geothermal energy. In Texas, cryptocurrency mining company Riot rakes in $2.5 million from the Energy Reliability Council of Texas for grid stabilization. Meanwhile, Bitcoin mining's hashrate continues its upward trajectory, reaching new heights. This article explores these developments, shedding light on El Salvador's ambition for economic independence, Texas's growing role as a cryptocurrency hub, and the dynamics of Bitcoin mining profitability in the face of increased hashrates and market fluctuations.
🎥 Watch of the week
I enjoyed this recent talk by Edward Snowden at Bitcoin Amsterdam.
TLDW: He covered various topics, emphasising the importance of the crypto and Bitcoin community. He discussed the concept of hacking, defined as understanding and exploiting the rules of a system, and its relevance to the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency. Snowden highlighted the significance of not focusing solely on price speculation but also on the tech and its capabilities. He expressed concerns about the world's current state, emphasizing the need for privacy solutions and decentralised systems. Snowden encouraged the audience to build tools and solutions that don't require permission and to reclaim individual freedom. He also mentioned the government's attempts to regulate stablecoins. Overall, Snowden's talk calls for action within the crypto community to shape a better future.
AI 🎨🤖🎵✍🏼
Web3 is revolutionising the film industry by introducing new funding, distribution, and viewing experiences. NFTs are a game-changer, allowing filmmakers to monetize digital content like posters, scenes, or entire movies. Acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh's NFT-backed film lends credibility to this concept. Web3 crowdfunding, with its transparency and community engagement through smart contracts and DAOs, is surpassing traditional methods.
Warner Bros. is embracing NFTs as part of its new home-entertainment strategy, offering limited-time NFT bundles based on the 1978 film "Superman: The Movie." These NFTs, known as the Superman Web3 Movie Experience, contain the film in 4K Ultra HD format, extras, and artwork by DC artists. They aim to engage NFT enthusiasts and DC fans while creating a revenue stream. The bundles cost $30 for the Standard Edition and $100 for the Premium Edition, with early access for previous NFT buyers. This initiative follows the successful release of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" NFT bundle, as Warner Bros. explores a new model for digital content ownership and distribution through blockchain technology.
Weekly Poll ✅
Help choose what you would like to learn about on Wednesday for my weekly emerging tech showcase:
That’s all for the free version this week! If you have any organisations in mind that could benefit from learning about emerging technology, be sure to reach out. Educational workshops are one of many consulting services I offer.
DCA With Me 🤑
Dollar Cost Averaging is an investment strategy in which an investor regularly invests a fixed amount of money into a particular asset/asset class at regular intervals, regardless of its current market price. By doing so, the investor can reduce the impact of market volatility and potentially earn a better return over time. Motto = time IN the market beats trying to time the market
To experiment with this, I invest $50 NZD into a Digital Asset every week. Each week I will choose an asset that seems underpriced in the short term and has positive long-term potential. My timeframe is 3-5 years. I don’t give financial advice but if you want to follow along with me you can use my easycrypto.co.nz referral link to support this newsletter. Let’s dive into this week’s pick:
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