Tik tok, the 800,000th block
40,000 blocks to go until the next bitcoin halving
The Bitcoin network has crossed the 799,750th block as of publishing. By Monday, we will enter a new epoch following the 800,000th block, and there will be just 40,000 blocks to go until the network hits the 2024 halving.
It has been relatively quiet in bitcoin mining news since our last issue. Still, we noticed the Vanguard buying Riot and Marathon stocks excitement (or perhaps over-excitement) across social media and publications.
Indeed, The Vanguard Group Inc has increased its stakes in Riot and Mara to above 10% of each of the two companies through multiple funds it manages. It would be more interesting if those funds are actively managed. But more likely they are passive ones.
Public data shows the top 10 funds owning each of the two mining stocks are either index or exchange-traded funds with a majority of them being managed by BlackRock and Vanguard, such as the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM), Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI), or the Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund (VSMAX). It’s more like the subscribers of Vanguard’s index funds and ETFs got a tad bit more exposure to the two mining stocks, as opposed to Vanguard itself being bullish on mining companies.
For instance, the Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund held $123.3 billion in total net assets as of June 30, spreading across 1,447 U.S. public equities with a median market cap of $6 billion. The fund held $57 million and $50 million in Mara and Riot equities, which ranked the 766th and the 827th largest portfolio by market value, respectively. When combined, the two accounted for 0.085% of the fund’s total net assets.
Regulation News
Arkansas senator seeking repeal of controversial new crypto mining law - KATV
Hardware & Infrastructure News
Samsung's First 3nm GAA Chip Found in Cryptominer - Tom’s Hardware
Bitfarms Expands Operations in Paraguay After Securing 2 Hydropower Contracts - CoinDesk
CleanSpark Announces Completion Of Georgia Expansion, Surpasses 8 EH/s - Bitcoin Magazine
TeraWulf to increase bitcoin mining capacity with new Bitmain hardware - The Block
Financial News
Argo Blockchain Raises $7.5M in Share Sale; Stock Slumps - CoinDesk
Crypto Insurer Evertas Buys Bitcoin Mining Cover Specialist Bitsure - CoinDesk
Vanguard’s $600 million ‘investment’ in bitcoin miners isn’t what you think - Blockworks
Corporate News
HIVE CEO anticipates $100M annual revenue from GPU computing - Blockworks
Feature
'Unsubstantiated': Expert Refutes Greenpeace Bitcoin Mining Pollution Claims - Decrypt
As SPAC IPOs have grown scarce, Bitdeer's success bucks a trend - Blockworks
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