Cryptocurrency market continues to see noteworthy developments. In the last 24 hours, news has emerged that Iceland’s Prime Minister wants to shift renewable energy away from crypto miners, a venture capital firm has raised $100 million for crypto initiatives, and more. We have compiled three significant developments that have marked the past 24 hours for you.
Iceland Sets Sights on Restricting Bitcoin Miners
As the Northern European country refocuses on food security and energy stability, Iceland is reported to want to prevent further corn cultivation and Bitcoin mining. Cheap hydroelectric power has led Bitcoin miners to flock to Iceland, making it one of the world’s largest producers of energy and Bitcoin hash rate per capita.
Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir stated in an interview with the Financial Times on March 23rd that she wants to reallocate renewable electricity obtained from crypto miners to power other industries and homes for the country’s 375,000 citizens. It is reported that Icelandic Bitcoin miners use more energy than households, leading to electricity shortages.
Increase in Venture Capital Funds
With the cryptocurrency market on the rise again, venture capital firms are returning to crypto after a break last year, and Hack VC is one of them. According to Bloomberg on March 23rd, the venture firm has raised $100 million for a fund aimed at supporting crypto ventures.
Just last month, Hack VC raised $150 million for a similar fund focused on crypto and artificial intelligence. Additionally, in February 2022, Hack VC created a $200 million early-stage fund focused on crypto startups. With Bitcoin reaching its all-time high twice in March, the crypto market has seen an uptick this year, leading to a revival of VC funds.
Vitalik Buterin Shares Insightful Remarks
Ethereum‘s co-founder Vitalik Buterin has introduced a conceptual Ethereum staking framework known as rainbow staking, aimed at addressing the centralized staking ecosystem of the blockchain network. During a talk at ETHTaipei on March 21st, Buterin acknowledged that liquid staking has become a centralization risk for Ethereum.
Many looking to stake Ethereum are instead using a liquid staking protocol like Lido, which has no minimum deposit and offers users 1:1 tokens for use on the chain. Buterin shared the following statement on the matter:
“Essentially, you’re trying to clearly separate these two and potentially require both heavy and light stakers to sign a block for it to be finalized.”
