Bitcoin Bounce Back despite AI Turbulence, but Wen USA BTC Stack 💰

🌤️ Release W5'25 | 881,650 | Bitcoin Dips but rebounds Above $100K—Mining Difficulty Drops 2.12%, and MicroStrategy Stacks Another 10,107 BTC with some new BTC-whales

The Paper News

Jan 31, 2025

Bitcoin dipped to $98K but bounced back above $100K, while difficulty drops 2.12%
Bitcoin mining firms lost heavily on Monday, with Galaxy Digital down 15.87%, MARA 8.53%, and Riot 15.47%, as Deepseek’s AI hype caused market turbulence.
Global Updates: Metaplanet raises $745M for 10,000 BTC; Arizona, Utah, and Illinois pass Bitcoin-related bills; Texas proposes Bitcoin Reserve; Czech National Bank aims for 5% in Bitcoin; France investigates Binance; UK may use seized Bitcoin for deficit; Kazakhstan urges crypto infrastructure improvements; LQWD adds 4 BTC; South Africa enables Bitcoin car purchases.
F2Pool censors OFAC-sanctioned transactions; Rosseti explores crypto mining; D.E. Shaw targets Riot; AgriFORCE buys 5 MW site in Ohio; DCG launches Fortitude Mining; Argo deploys 5,293 miners in Memphis; Bitfarms sells 200 MW Paraguay site for $85M;
OKX gets MiCA license for Europe; Robinhood launches Bitcoin futures; Nuvve invests 30% in Bitcoin; Ledger co-founder kidnapped for crypto ransom; Old Glory Bank accepts Bitcoin for Mini-IPO; CME Group launches Bitcoin Friday options.
EU Central Bank President Lagarde confirms Bitcoin won't be in reserves; Fed held rates at 4.25% - 4.50%
Scott Bessent confirmed as U.S. Treasury Secretary.
El Salvador updates Bitcoin Law, removing taxes and facilitation, but keeps no capital gains tax.
Tesla earned $600M from 9,720 BTC in Q4 2024, boosting income to $2.3B
Trump Media launches Truth.Fi to invest $250M in crypto.
Poland is the 5th-largest Bitcoin ATM hub.
What’s next for Bitcoin as it navigates regulatory shifts and increasing institutional involvement?

For this week’s Hash & Cash Index, BTC price rises to $104,575, marking a slight 0.55% dip from last week. Market cap stays as above the $1T, settling at $ 1.941B (-0.15% WoW). Hashprice sit at $61.58 USD/PH/day, a 1.26 % increase. The global hashrate decreases by 1.39% to reach 778.76 EH/s. The current epoch’s difficulty is locked at 108.11 T. We’re at block 649 of 2016 for this epoch. Block rewards decreases by 0.63%, settling at an average of 3.16 BTC per block. Fees in blocks settles to 1.10% showing an decrease of 32.51%. The average block time has increase to 9 minutes and 48 seconds. Source: Hashrate Index, Mempool, ONMINE.

🪄 Pool Power Tools 🎱

This week’s Pool reward index settles to 99.05%, an increase from last week 0.49% with 20 active pools chipping away 1003 blocks. The total miner reward over the last 144 blocks contracted to 454.90 BTC down 0.43% from last week , the dollar valuation of this rewards dip to $47M (-1.18% WoW). Average block fees are equal to 0.0340BTC/block down 28.42% Wow and estimated to be $3,559 per block. Transaction fee per Network transaction equate to 1.36k sats per transaction, costing around $1.43 per transaction on the Bitcoin network over the last 144 block. Source: Mempool, ONMINE

In this week’s 1008 block mining pool race, Foundry USA remains at the forefront, with a total reported hashrate of 239.52 EH/S, clinching 310 blocks. ANTPOOL continues to challenge, harvesting 181 blocks with 139.85 EH/S. F2Pool and ViaBTC are neck and neck in the hashrate hustle, grabbing 115 and 152 blocks, respectively. Luxor staying in the top ranks, with a hashrate of 16.23 EH/S and manages to secure 21 blocks over the last week. Source: Mempool, ONMINE.

🚫 F2Pool is censoring OFAC-sanctioned transactions, risking Bitcoin's censorship resistance

🧰 Hard-Ware & Hosting Index ⚙

🇷🇺 Rosseti, Russia's largest power grid operator, explores crypto mining at underutilized power centers and plans to coordinate mining infrastructure across the country.

📈 D.E. Shaw targets Riot amid its 600 MW AI pivot.

🌾 AgriFORCE acquires a 5 MW bitcoin mining facility in Ohio.

🇨🇳 Zhan Ketuan faces setbacks as US sanctions disrupt Bitmain and Sophgo.

⛏️ DCG is launching Fortitude Mining, a spin-off of its Foundry unit, to focus on Bitcoin and high-return proof-of-work assets.

⚙️ Argo Blockchain partners with Merkle Standard to deploy 5,293 S19J Pro Antminers in Memphis, Tennessee, by February.

📊 Bitcoin miners now use 20% of Paducah Power’s electricity, helping lower rates by 3.18%, with usage projected to reach 33% by 2025.

🌟 KBW rates Bitdeer, CleanSpark, and Core Scientific as outperformers, highlighting their diverse Bitcoin mining models and setting price targets of $26.50, $19, and $22, respectively.

💰 Bitfarms sells its 200 MW Paraguay site to Hive Digital for $85M to focus on US expansion.

🚨 32 publicly traded Bitcoin mining firms saw significant losses on Monday, with Galaxy Digital down 15.87%, MARA Holdings dropping 8.53%, and Riot Platforms losing 15.47%. The declines were driven by market turbulence fueled by the hype around Deepseek’s AI, impacting both mining and non-mining stocks like Microstrategy and Coinbase.

Top five publicly listed mining firms by market cap according to bitcoinminingstock.io metrics.

🔌TSMC dominates the semiconductor foundry market with a 62% share, making Taiwan the leader with over 70% when including UMC, VIS, and PSMC. Samsung follows with 10%, while the U.S. (GlobalFoundries, 6%) and China (SMIC, 5%) contribute smaller shares.

⚡ After eight consecutive increases, Bitcoin mining difficulty dropped 2.12% at block height 880,992, easing miners' workload, but the hash price fell to $58.15 as Bitcoin dropped below $100,000.

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Adjustments Since September 2024 (Source: CloverPool)

Data from Hashrate Index shows that miner revenue (hashprice) dropped by 3.8% on January 27, from $60.3 to $58 per PH/s per day.

🚀 Grayscale launches MNRS ETF, offering exposure to 23 Bitcoin mining firms and related industries.

On January 30, the fund revealed that Marathon Digital (MARA), Riot Platforms (RIOT), Core Scientific (CORZ), CleanSpark (CLSK), Iris Energy (IREN), and Hut 8 (HUT) make up nearly half of its allocation, with percentages of 16.66%, 11.92%, 9.2%, 4.79%, and 4.37%, respectively.

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🏦 Bitcoin Products 🔍

💎 MicroStrategy buys 10,107 BTC for $1.1B, raising its holdings to 471,107 BTC.

💼 MicroStrategy's oversubscribed stock offering raised $584M to buy more Bitcoin, increasing shares from 2.5M to 7.3M at $80 each.

🏦 Nasdaq seeks in-kind redemption for BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF to boost efficiency.

🇯🇵 Metaplanet plans to raise $745M to buy more Bitcoin, aiming for 10,000 BTC by 2025.

🇺🇸 The US Senate officially appoints pro-crypto Scott Bessent as the 79th Treasury Secretary.

🇺🇸 Scott Bessent confirmed as U.S. Treasury Secretary.

🇺🇸 Arizona advances SB1025, allowing up to 10% of public funds to be invested in Bitcoin and creating a state Bitcoin reserve, making it the first state to do so.

🇺🇸 Utah House committee passes HB 230, allowing the state to invest up to 5% of public funds in qualifying digital assets like major cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.

🇺🇸 Illinois considers Bitcoin reserves with HB1844; Bitcoin held for 5 years before transactions.

🇫🇷 France investigates Binance for money laundering and tax fraud, allegations the exchange denies.

🇫🇷 The French Senate approves the 2025 budget, including a tax on “unproductive wealth” targeting assets like Bitcoin.

🇨🇦 LQWD Technologies adds 4 Bitcoin, bringing its total to ~161, supporting its Lightning Network strategy.

🇿🇦 South Africa’s 6DOT50 enables car purchases with Bitcoin and 7 other cryptocurrencies at 1.4K+ dealerships via BTS and Serti.

🇬🇧 UK government could use £5B seized Bitcoin to help cover a £22B deficit.

🇺🇸 Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick introduced Senate Bill 21 to create a "Texas Bitcoin Reserve" as a 2025 priority.

🇨🇿 Czech National Bank aims to invest 5% of its reserves in bitcoin and may lower rates next week.

🇰🇿 Kazakhstan's president urges swift improvements to crypto infrastructure, as just 5% of investors use regulated platforms.

The Bitcoin Treasury Index for this week steady reflecting a stable grip on holdings, with 75 companies increasing their trove to precisely 2,957,646.35 BTC. Government also join the bitcoin standard with 7 countries holding 529,192.0 BTC. The value locked in these treasuries for Companies and Government tells a different story swelling to a robust $309.85B and $55.44B, respectively. A total of 14.084% all Bitcoins are held in corporate treasuries, while government holds 2.520 % of all Bitcoins, reinforcing the sentiment of a consolidating market among institutional & Government participants. Source: NewHedge, ONMINE.

🏛️ Lawmakers in Kentucky and South Dakota plan to introduce bills to establish a Bitcoin reserve in the coming weeks.

🏛️ The Arkansas Senate committee rejected a bill to ban crypto mining near military facilities, voting 5 to 1.

📜 Cboe BZX files rule change to allow in-kind creations and redemptions for ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF and 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF.

🌍 OKX becomes the first global exchange to secure a MiCA license, enabling regulated crypto services across Europe.

🚀 Robinhood is launching Bitcoin futures, competing with CME Group and Coinbase Derivatives Exchange.

💡 Nuvve plans to invest up to 30% of excess cash in Bitcoin to address financial challenges.

🚨 Ledger co-founder David Balland and his wife were kidnapped for crypto ransom in France.

🚀 Old Glory Bank now accepts Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies for Mini-IPO share purchases.

💡CME Group is launching Bitcoin Friday options on February 24 to help traders manage short-term price risk.

📢 U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis stated that holding a public hearing on the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is one of her top priorities.

💬 EU Central Banks President Christine Lagarde confirms Bitcoin won't be included in the reserves of any of the 27 central banks in the General Council.

🎬 End Notes 🎤

🚗 Tesla gained $600 million from its 9,720 BTC holdings in Q4 2024, boosting its GAAP income to $2.3 billion, thanks to new accounting rules allowing market value recording.Tesla first bought crypto in February 2021, building up 42,902 BTC, but sold 75% of its holdings in July 2022, netting $936 million from more than 30,000 BTC.

Tesla’s share price has risen 103.79% in the last 12 months, reaching an all-time high of $479 on December 17.

🇺🇸 Trump Media launches Truth.Fi to invest in Bitcoin, crypto, ETFs, and SMAs with up to $250 million.

🇸🇻 El Salvador continues to evolve its relationship with Bitcoin: the country, known for being the first to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, has recently amended its Bitcoin Law. The updates include: repealing Bitcoin tax payments and removing state facilitation of transactions; however, the country still benefits from no capital gains tax on Bitcoin exchanges.

🇵🇱 Poland becomes the 5th-largest Bitcoin ATM hub with 219 machines, surpassing El Salvador.

Poland has added 24 crypto ATMs as part of its ongoing installation spree, which started in October 2024 and will last for four months. Meanwhile, other countries like Canada, Spain, and Australia, the current leaders, are also seeing a steady rise in the number of active crypto ATMs month after month, according to Bitcoin ATM Radar data

📊 Large bitcoin investors have increased their holdings by 2% since December 2024, now holding 16.4 million BTC. Despite this accumulation, overall demand has weakened, with growth dropping from 279,000 BTC in December to 75,000 BTC in January. Realized profits have also declined, reducing selling pressure. Without a rebound in demand, sustained price rallies are unlikely.

The report highlights that large investors have increased their holdings from 16.2 million BTC in November to 16.4 million BTC by January. Meanwhile, small investors reduced their holdings from 1.75 million to 1.69 million BTC in the same period.

🚀Bitcoin and AI tokens are recovering after DeepSeek’s shock, with BTC gaining nearly 2.5% in the 24 hours leading up to January 28, 2025, pushing the market cap above $3.614 trillion; DeepSeek launched over the weekend, quickly becoming the most downloaded app on Apple’s US App Store, triggering a sell-off in US tech stocks and AI tokens; the $6 million open-source AI chatbot caused a market correction, but tokens like Internet Computer Protocol, Bittensor, and Akash Network are bouncing back.

💥 In a groundbreaking move, Bitcoin miners came together for the first-ever hashrate fundraiser, raising 3.146 BTC (~$330,300)! 350 miners teamed up, solo-mining block 881,423 with a whopping 1.12 EH/s of collective hashrate. Talk about mining for a cause!

📌 On January 29, 2025, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates at 4.25% - 4.50%, pausing further cuts and creating uncertainty about future policy. While prolonged high rates could pressure risk assets and signal a bearish outlook, Bitcoin showed resilience, rising 3% despite initial market hesitation. Investors remain cautiously optimistic, though sustained rate holds may limit BTC’s long-term upside.

😊 February is looking exciting for Bitcoin! After dipping below $100,000 earlier this week, BTC bounced back fast, surpassing the $100K mark from a low of $98K—talk about a quick rebound! CoinCodex predicts Bitcoin could skyrocket to $132,451 this month, marking a 28.87% increase! The average price is expected to sit around $117,045, with the lowest price hitting $103,813. Let’s buckle up for an epic ride!

Disclaimer: The predictions and potential ROI shown are for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Please conduct thorough research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. OnMine is not liable for any losses resulting from the use of this information.

🤑 Top Tea 🫖

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse opposes Bitcoin only reserve for US - CryptoSlate
Bitwise files Dogecoin ETF proposal, Cboe files Solana ETF applications for the third time - CryptoSlate
Donald Trump Vows to Propel Bitcoin to New Heights - Bitcoin Magazine
Preston Pysh Explains Why SAB 121 Beats a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve - Bitcoin Magazine
Bitcoin Mining in South America with Erick Vera - The Mining Pod
Iren Business Update - IREN
BRICS to Introduce Bitcoin Reserve? Us Expert Says Its Possible - Watcher Guru
No Rate Cut: Powell’s Steady Hand Defies Political Pressure; Crypto Gains Amid Equity Retreat - Bitcoin News
Elon Musk's DOGE Saves Federal Government $1B Daily—Now Gunning for $3B - Bitcoin News
Robert Kiyosaki: Historic Market Crash Coming in February—Bitcoin Will Explode - Bitcoin News
Trump crypto order may disrupt Bitcoin’s 4-year cycle: Bitwise - Cointelegraph
Fed chair calls for Congress to move on crypto ’regulatory apparatus’- Cointelegraph
Hong Kong flags over 30 HashKey-branded crypto scam platforms - Cointelegraph
India eyes becoming semiconductor powerhouse with new tie-ups - Coingeek
South African Reserve Bank gov hits out at US ‘crypto regulatory capture’ - Coingeek
Fed Chair Jerome Powell says banks can serve crypto clients if risks are managed adequately - CryptoSlate
Coinbase gains approval to expand service offering in Argentina - Cointelegraph
Ordinals BLOODBATH & DeepSeek - The Mining Pod
You’re not bullish enough on Rare Sats - The Mining Pod
Hive’s $85M Yguazú, Paraguay Acquisition w/ Frank Holmes + Aydin Kilic - The Mining Pod
'Bitcoin Didn't Win This': Top Satoshi Candidate Reacts to El Salvador's U-Turn - U Today
Standard Chartered Sees Bitcoin Surging to $130,000 in Near Future - U Today
TRUMP Coins Soars 80%, Now Usable for Donald Trump Merchandise - Watcher Guru
January Could Become Bitcoin's Second-Best Month in the Last 10 Months - Coindesk
South African Court Sets Bail for Man Accused of Sending Bitcoin to Terrorists - Watcher Guru
Trump repeats tariffs threat to dissuade BRICS nations from replacing US dollar - Reuters
Silicon Valley wants in on memecoin craze - Blockworks
Why TradFi firms could turn to bitcoin margin loans: Maple CEO - Blockworks

Bitcoin’s Substack