Paul Krugman is the Nobel prize winner and warns of an impending cryptocurrency winter for blockchain-based projects. This includes Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency networks. The NYT opinion piece, published Dec. 1, discusses the true utility of this technology and the signs that point to a possible future decline.

Krugman doubts the utility of this technology, when there are many centralized options that work quite well. Krugman expressed his doubts about this technology by saying:

Why bother? What’s the point?

Krugman believes this, along with the recent collapse of FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide, could lead to a complete abandonment blockchain and crypto technology. Krugman compared it with the Fimbulwinter which, according to nordic mythology, is a winter that precedes extinction.

Signs of Fall

Krugman says that there have been many signs that this abandonment is coming in recent months. Krugman cites as an example the recent write-offs that Maersk and the Australian Stock Exchange made about their blockchain-based projects.

Krugman also criticizes Bitcoin’s reason d’etre in open. He states that banks rarely steal assets from customers, but crypto institutions are more likely to succumb to temptation. Extreme inflation that damages money’s value usually occurs only amid political chaos.

Krugman also criticizes Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work (PoW), estimating the environmental damage it has caused in the tens to billions of dollars. He added that there was no apparent benefit other than producing ‘worthless tokens’.

This opinion is however different than the one he shared on May 2021. He stated at the time that he didn’t believe in Bitcoin’s fundamentals, but he believed that the market could survive indefinitely. He said that cryptocurrency was like the housing bubble or the subprime mortgage crisis.

Over the past 12 months, Foundry USA has been a formidable force in bitcoin mining. Foundry USA is operated and owned by Foundry. This consulting, mining, and staking firm is based in Rochester. According to a press release, the company was established by Digital Currency Group (DCG). The mining arm was officially launched on August 27, 2020.

According to archive.org snapshots, the first recorded sighting was February 14, 2021. A report published Jan. 26, 2021 by Cointelegraph indicates that Foundry was in the top ten standings for mining pools. According to the report, Foundry had allocated 2.74 EH/s for the Bitcoin chain and held 1.85% of all 147 EH/s.

Foundry’s hadhrate was equated with 1.13% of global aggregate, or 1.78 EH/s. This archived snapshot was taken on February 14, 2021. Foundry was the 15th largest mining pool worldwide on that day. Foundry found five blocks out of 444 blocks that were mined over a three-day period. Twelve months ago Foundry held the fifth-largest position in total hashrate, with approximately 11.51% of network and 18.44 EH/s as of Nov. 6, 2021.

Foundry’s pool found 51 BTC blocks rewards in a span of three days. This is out of 443 rewards. Foundry’s hashrate, which is the amount of hash that Foundry has generated in the past 12 months, has grown by 357.37% compared to statistics recorded today. After discovering 130 blocks of the 415 blocks it had mined over a three-day period, records show that Foundry’s hashrate was around 84.34 EH/s on November 6, 2022. According to the three-day statistics, Foundry’s hashrate percentage is around 31.33%.

Year-long data recorded on October 15, 2021 also shows 52 258 Bitcoin blocks were mined over a 12-month period. According to archive.org snapshots, F2pool was the most popular mining pool at that time. It discovered 8,187 out of 52,258 Bitcoin blocks. Foundry discovered 1,978 blocks of 52K, which is approximately 3.79% of total hashrate on Oct. 15, 2021. The Year-long data of Nov. 6, 2022 shows that 53,495 blocks have been mined within 12 months.

Foundry USA has captured 11,109 blocks in the last 12 months. This equates to 20.77% aggregate havehrate over a 12-month period. F2pool and Binance Pool were also top-ranked mining pools over the past 12 months. Viabtc was next. Although Foundry’s block rate has been impressive this year, all time statistics show that the pool had found 13,462 blocks out of 762,026 Bitcoin blocks by November 6, 2022 at 4:30 PM (ET).

Statistics show that the greatest number of blocks have been found by unknown miners (or stealth miners) with 226,055 blocks. F2pool is the champion with the most Bitcoin blocks out of all the known mining pools. F2pool has snatched 74,545 Bitcoin blocks from the 762K currently available. F2pool is closely followed by Antpool and Btc.com. Braiins Pool, formerly known as Slush pool, and the now-defunct Btc Guild.

It’s hard to get rid of the greenback with interest rates in the U.S. rising the way they have thanks to the Federal Reserve’s hawkish policies. Despite the recent pullback, bitcoin continues to outperform other currencies around the world.

Bitcoin is not only outperforming emerging market currencies. It also affects the economic powerhouses in developed countries like Great Britain and China.

According to a Fortune magazine article, Bitcoin has outperformed the trend of falling currencies like the British Pound and Chinese Yuan. It has grown 6.3% in the past seven days, flirting with $20,000 and even growing as high as $6,000. Global markets have been affected by macro conditions such as rising inflation and fiscal uncertainty. Although Bitcoin has generally complied with financial swings over the past week, its strong performance in the last week has shocked traders and highlighted the turbulent times.

As Bitcoin matures, Bitcoin has shown less volatility in the past. Influx of institutional capital has helped to keep Bitcoin relatively stable compared to its early adoption years.

This has led to an asset that is more in line with traditional markets. Bitcoin is showing more correlation with stock markets, especially this year, though it’s still far from its early volatility days.

Tweeted Sven Henrich (founder of NorthmanTrader), “You know that we have reached a unique moment in history when #Bitcoin suddenly becomes less volatile than fiat currencies,”

We are at a moment in history where #Bitcoin is suddenly less volatile than fiat currencies.

– Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) September 26, 2022

How to Get Actively Managed Bitcoin Exposure

The ProShares Bitcoin ETF is an option for investors who wish to have exposure to bitcoin but avoid investing through a cryptocurrency exchange. This fund tracks the price movements of bitcoin on a regular market exchange and provides exposure to futures.

BITO played a significant role in bringing bitcoin to its November record high. It was the first U.S. exchange-traded fund (ETF), to concentrate on the most popular cryptocurrency. Although crypto purists might be skeptical of a futures ETF it is possible for investors seeking alternative exposure.

The fund is actively managed giving investors peace of mind knowing that their investments are in the capable hands of experienced portfolio managers. Bitcoin is a volatile asset. Active management can adjust portfolios as needed to market conditions.

Vocal Bitcoin opponent and founder of SchiffGold fund chairman, economist Peter Schiff has taken to Twitter for comment about the prolonged fall in Bitcoin on Tuesday.

He acknowledged that Bitcoin is not scarce but that it doesn’t matter right now.

Bitcoin dominance is hard to sustain, and its scarcity is not helping

It crashed Tuesday by 5.61%. The price fell to $18,630, the lowest level in two months. Peter Schiff tweeted that there was not only a prolonged Bitcoin crash but that BTC dominance is also on the decline.

This metric is now at 38.1%. It’s the lowest level since June 2018, when it was the crypto winter.

Schiff believes that Bitcoin’s loss of dominance in the crypto market can be attributed to its competition with almost 21,000 other cryptos. BTC’s dominance is being lost to altcoins, which Schiff has described as “intrinsically less” as well as Bitcoin.

#Bitcoin is not only crashing but also its dominance has dropped to 38.1%. This is its lowest level since June 2018. It is now competing with nearly 21,000 other digital tokens that are intrinsically worthless, NFTs, and #crypto equities. Even though Bitcoin is rare, there are many alternatives.

Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff). September 6, 2022

He also acknowledged that Bitcoin was a rare asset. However, in current circumstances, this doesn’t matter because altcoins have an even greater supply than BTC. Many Bitcoiners, including Schiff’s son Spencer, tried to convince Schiff that he was wrong.

Schiff earlier admitted that cryptocurrency’maybe has future,’ but Bitcoin won’t be. David Gokhshtein, an influential investor, admitted that Peter Schiff correctly predicted BTC’s future.

Peter Schiff was probably right about #bitcoin.

– David Gokhshtein (@davidgokhshtein) September 7, 2022

“$20,000 is false bottom”

Fund manager and gold bug Schiff shared his opinion on Tuesday that $20,000 was likely to be false bottom for the benchmark cryptocurrency.

He said that BTC was trading at that level for almost two weeks, as the market was offering naive investors an opportunity to get on the bandwagon. He advised that investors should abandon the’sinking boat’ before it is too late.

Curiously, the crypto’s flagship cryptocurrency went further down the day after the tweet.

Mike McGlone asserts that Bitcoin is still a bull market

Mike McGlone (senior commodity strategist at Bloomberg) shared a screenshot and a quote from a Bloomberg report on Tuesday. The Bloomberg report stated that BTC was joining the ranks of global stores value along with gold, U.S. Treasuries, and gold.

It was also noted that the previous deep crashes of the flagship crypto in 2015 and 2018-19 were similar to the current one and that the price rose to historic heights.

Bitcoin currently trades at $18,785 per coin via Bitstamp as of the writing.

The National Power Administration proposes a new method of charging cryptocurrency companies for electricity used in mining operations in Paraguay. The company submitted a new proposal to the National Power Administration. It would allow the collection of these payments in advance in U.S. Dollars and an annual adjustment. The proposal also created a new billing group to handle these activities.

Alfredo Arguello , head of East Regional Management Division, stated that the team was able to identify irregularities in several cryptocurrency mining operations that resulted in a loss of over $400,000 per month. Arguello stated that some of the irregularities were bypass connections, direct connections, and modified energy meters.

The company has decided to stop power supply to these entities until a new power billing scheme is approved. This issue is currently being debated in the Paraguayan Senate.

Laws on Cryptocurrency are Ready

Due to the low electricity prices, cryptocurrency mining in Paraguay has seen a boom. Many companies have expressed interest in Paraguay’s establishment of operations after the Chinese mining ban. This forced many mining operators out of the country to seek new lands.

In July, the Senate passed an act that will provide clarity for these operations. Paraguayan President has yet to approve the law. It states that energy for mining operations will continue to be subsidized but at a 15% higher rate than other industries.

Felix Sosa (president of the National Power Administration) stated that this was the reason:

We believe it must have a cost structure that makes it financially viable to install electrical energy supply.

Sosa also stated that he will propose to veto this bill because of the proposals it makes about power billing to these businesses.