In RockItCoin’s effort to empower individuals in the cryptocurrency space, we have extracted top industry stories for your Weekly Digest. Cryptocurrency continues to dominate the news and here are some key happenings you should know.
The Ethereum Foundation Confirms Date of “The Merge”
The Ethereum foundation and developers have confirmed that the long-awaited proof-of-stake update called “The Merge” is set to go live between September 10th and 20th. The update is set to occur at a Total Terminal Difficulty of 58750000000000000000000, which can be reached faster depending on the hash rate of the network. For investors, The Merge presents potential for major interest in the cryptocurrency and could cause an increase in price.
Head of Xbox says They “Absolutely Plan” to Enter Metaverse Gaming
In an interview with Bloomberg last week, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer made the statement that many gamers are still skeptical of the Metaverse and that “gamers have been in the Metaverse for over 30 years”. Online multiplayer video games are incredibly popular and continue to evolve as a cooperative virtual space for players to interact, much like the Metaverse. Even with their similarities, Spencer mentioned that Xbox “absolutely plans” to enter the world of Metaverse gaming. When asked about the possibility of play-to-earn gaming coming to Xbox, Spencer was cautious, since “it creates a worker force out of players”. It’s good news to hear that major gaming companies are interested in entering the crypto-friendly Metaverse!
BTC to Use 0.36% of Global Energy if it Hits $2M by 2040, According to Report
According to a new report by Arcane Research, Bitcoin could use as much as 0.36% of global energy (894 TWh) if it hits a very bullish $2 Million by 2040. The report also made predictions based on a neutral projection of $500,000 and a low projection of $100,000 that uses 223 TWh and 45 TWh respectively. The report also goes on to project how much miners will be spending to keep their operations up and running. The report says, “based on their energy consumption of 88 TWh and an average energy price of $50 per MWh, bitcoin miners [currently] spend around 50% of their income on energy”. As the Bitcoin blockchain experiences halvings, difficulty increases and miners will have to spend even more, as much as 71% of their income! It will be interesting to see how it plays out in the next few decades.
