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Bitcoin hashrate sank 12% over the day, returning to December values, after updating historical highs. The drop in computing power is associated with real and hypothetical threats to mining in the two largest geographic locations of miners.
Unrest in Kazakhstan poses a real threat to the operation of mines in the coming days due to the disconnection of the Internet throughout the country.
The network is jammed by the power structures at the direction of the president during the state of emergency imposed to suppress the protests. Kazakhstan ranks second in the world with a share of 18.10% of the hash rate according to the University of Cambridge, but part of the lost capacity is compensated by the commissioning of new ASIC miners.
Disconnecting the Internet is a temporary measure and miners will return to work with the normalization of the situation in the country. However, the hash rate may decrease due to hypothetical problems in the United States, which ranks first with a share of 35.40% of world BTC production.
The House of Representatives instructed the Energy Trade Committee to investigate the impact of mining on the country’s ecology. The first hearings on this case will be held at the end of January. The Special Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation has already selected a list of witnesses from 70 environmental organizations. They documented the work of miners in coal-fired power plants, the rise in carbon dioxide emissions and mining.
The very fact of the beginning of the hearings may affect the Bitcoin rate, the negative will grow as the evidence of the negative impact of mining is growing. The companies may have to stop a number of construction projects and postpone the supply of equipment.
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