15
UAE Ranks No.1 in Cryptocurrency Ownership

According to Insider Monkey, the United Arab Emirates holds the largest ownership of crypto with 27.67%. The use of cryptocurrency is legal in the country, and government regulations are also favorable towards blockchain technology. Almost 28% of the total population in the country owns crypto.

Vietnam comes in second place with 18.73%. The rapid digitization of the economy explains the surge in crypto ownership across the country.

Third place goes to Saudi Arabia with 17.53% crypto ownership while Ukraine comes in fourth with 15.72%. The fifth place goes to the United States with only 13.7%.

10
Bitcoin Could Nosedive by Over 60%, Warns Crypto Analyst Nicholas Merten

A widely followed crypto analyst is warning that Bitcoin plummet on account of one potential factor, reports The Daily Hodl.

In a new strategy session, DataDash host Nicholas Merten tells his 512,000 YouTube subscribers that Bitcoin could decline by more than 60% from its current value if Apple’s market cap continues to decline.

According to Merten, a plummeting Apple market cap will cause Bitcoin, as well as other equities, to collapse along with it. Apple reached a $3 trillion market cap in July but has declined to $2.79 trillion at time of writing.

We can’t live in some fantasy world where if Apple is contracting from a $3 trillion company to a $1.5 trillion company that that is not going to have some impacts on Bitcoin. And I got to tell you… that that will have a bigger impact on Bitcoin than any halving event, any Bitcoin ETF, any narrative you can think of.

If that scenario plays out, I’m not saying it’s a guarantee, but I think it’s a likely scenario. If that plays out, you can easily see Bitcoin coming down here to new lows at around $10,000 to $12,000… 

There’s a reason when Apple drops $200 billion in market cap we got to listen to that. Those small percentage declines, while they seem small, are magnified when you consider Apple’s valuation and the weighted impact it’s going to have on other equities like Microsoft, the FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google) stocks, and even the broader stock market as a whole and even cryptocurrencies, from Bitcoin to your favorite altcoins.

05
Bitcoin futures data hints at $22K as next logical step

A Bitcoin price correction down to $22,000 is becoming increasingly likely, as BTC derivatives have begun to exhibit bearish tendencie, Cointelegraph reports. 

The price chart of Bitcoin leaves little doubt that investor sentiment has worsened since Grayscale’s much-hyped legal victory against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 29 and the SEC’s subsequent postponement of multiple spot BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF) requests.

The central question remains whether the prospects of an ETF can outweigh the growing risks.

03
Ex-SEC chair: approval for a spot Bitcoin ETF is ‘inevitable’

Former SEC chair Jay Clayton suggested that U.S. securities regulators will likely approve a Bitcoin ETF during an interview with CNBC on Sept. 1, CryptoSlate reports. 

Clayton nevertheless said he was not surprised that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had postponed decisions on various pending Bitcoin ETFs.

He went on to explain that “the job for the SEC is a challenging one.” Clayton explained that when cryptocurrency first emerged, the securities regulator had to handle offerings that were clearly not compliant with securities laws. But now, the SEC has to deal with broader crypto offerings, including some that have “clearly shown promise.”

Clayton declined to say whether he would approve a spot Bitcoin ETF if he remained in charge of the SEC but stated that Bitcoin is not a security.

Clayton also expressed optimism about upcoming ETF approvals in light of the fact that the SEC has previously approved Bitcoin futures ETFs

29
Bitcoin trading volume is at its lowest in more than four years

Bitcoin’s trading volume hit its lowest level in almost five years this month as investors keep waiting for reasons to jump back into the market, CNBC reports. 

An analysis of CryptoQuant data from both spot and derivatives exchanges shows the total volume of bitcoin held on all exchanges fell earlier this month to its lowest level since 2018 and has struggled to rebound.

As of Aug. 26, bitcoin trading volume on all exchanges sat at 129,307 BTC, according to CryptoQuant. Earlier in the month, on Aug. 12, it fell to 112,317 BTC, its lowest level since Nov. 10, 2018. It’s now off the March high of 3.5 million BTC by about 94%.

20
CoinGecko: Mining 1 BTC in Lebanon is 783x cheaper than Italy

Published on Aug. 17, CoinGecko’s report revealed that only 65 countries are profitable for solo Bitcoin miners, based solely on household electricity costs. Among these, 34 countries are in Asia, while Europe only has five. 

However, solo Bitcoin miners find themselves at odds with the worldwide average of household electricity costs. 

“The average household electricity cost to mine one Bitcoin is $46,291.24, which is 35% higher than the average daily price of 1 BTC in July 2023 ($30,090.08),” the report stated.

The report identified Italy as the costliest country for household Bitcoin mining at $208,560.33 per Bitcoin. As of the time of publication, this indicates that the cost of mining one Bitcoin in Italy is the equivalent to the value of approximately eight Bitcoins.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s household electricity rates allow individual miners to generate one Bitcoin for just $266.02. Based on this data, this is approximately 783 times cheaper than the cost to mine a Bitcoin in Italy, priced at $208,560.33.

Iran followed, with a production cost of $532.04 per Bitcoin. However, despite Iran legalizing Bitcoin mining in 2019, the country has since banned legal operations on several occasions, citing stress on energy grids during winter.

Source: Cointelegraph