Bitcoin mining difficulty crosses 80 trillion ahead of halving, new Satoshi emails unveil Bitcoin lore, and FTX to sell $1 billion in Anthropic shares.
Bitcoin mining difficulty, which measures how difficult it is to solve the complex cryptographic puzzles used in the mining process, passed 80 trillion on Feb. 16. The networks hash rate reached 562.81 exahashes per second and the mining difficulty hit a record 81.73 trillion, according to BTC.com. Bitcoin mining difficulty has steadily risen since January 2023 and is expected to reach 100 trillion in the next few months. Bitcoins mining rewards will be cut in half in April in whats known as the Bitcoin Halving.
A litany of insights into the early days of cryptocurrency were recently revealed when Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamotos earliest collaborator, Martti Malmi, published 120 pages of email correspondences between the two on GitHub on Feb. 23. The emails were initially introduced as evidence in a London court case involving the Crypto Open Patent Alliance and Craig Wright, who has claimed to be Nakamoto. For historians and Bitcoin lore enthusiasts, the emails include many fantastic quotes and a general air of Satoshi-ness.
Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has been given the judges nod to sell over $1 billion worth of its shares in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic. The decision was reached after FTX made concessions to some customers who objected to the sale. The customers had claimed the Anthropic shares didnt belong to FTX, saying they were purchased with misappropriated customer funds, citing evidence presented during FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Frieds criminal trial. However, they agreed to the sale with the condition that they were later allowed to claim money from it for FTX users. Funds from the sale will be added to the $6.4 billion banked to pay creditors for the bankrupt exchange.
