🥴 BTC mining industry uses more energy than the entire country of Sweden - report

🥴 BTC mining industry uses more energy than the entire country of Sweden - report 👊 Square Enix doubles down on blockchain gaming 🧸 Crypto ATMs are thriving despite the bear market

GM, vEmpions.

2023 is finally here! Now that we've all survived the rollercoaster year of 2022, it's time to take a look back and appreciate how far we've come. From volatile markets to revolutionary developments, it's been one wild ride.

Let's take a moment to give ourselves a pat on the back for weathering all the ups and downs. Forget about the FUD and hodl tight! We made it! 💪🏼

As we open up this new chapter of our crypto journey, let's make sure to keep that same resilience and grind it takes to succeed. Here's to 2023 being an even wilder, more profitable ride!

Cheers to all the frens for sticking together through it all.

🥴 BTC mining industry uses more energy than the entire country of Sweden - report

👊 Square Enix doubles down on blockchain gaming

🧸 Crypto ATMs are thriving despite the bear market

BTC mining industry uses more energy than the entire country of Sweden - report

Last year, Bitcoin mining somehow managed to outdo Sweden in terms of electricity consumption - and that is quite a feat, or depending on how you see it, quite a waste. This is an awful lot of electricity to power a network that has just 93 million transactions each year.

According to research from Digiconomist, BTC mining consumed a whopping 161 TWh of electricity in 2022.

The study also found that the average electricity used for each Bitcoin transaction was a staggering 1,738 kWh. That means that if you wanted to buy a cup of coffee with Bitcoin, it would require the same amount of electricity that could power your whole average street for about a month. You don't have to be a genius to see that this is definitely not the most efficient way of buying a cup of coffee. And even though Digiconomist mentioned that this figure could improve over time as the network becomes more efficient, it's still a mind-boggling amount of energy.

So what are we to make of this energy-guzzling behemoth? Is it an amazing technological breakthrough that has revolutionized the way people transfer money, or is it a colossal waste of resources? Well, you can make up your own mind. But hopefully, as technology improves, this can be addressed and BTC mining can become more energy efficient in the future. Until then, let's just hope that those transactions are worth all that energy.

Square Enix doubles down on blockchain gaming

Square Enix, the company behind Final Fantasy, is putting the pedal to the metal when it comes to blockchain games. At least, that's what their Jan 1 letter from President Yosuke Matsuda suggests.

According to him, the company is "doubling down" on blockchain game development despite turbulence in the crypto market - and it's easy to see why. After all, of the 15 paragraphs in the letter, seven were devoted to blockchain gaming.

But for Matsuda, it's not just about the money. He believes that blockchain games are a part of the future and that any “confusion” in the market should be seen as an opportunity to learn and grow. Square Enix has made some significant moves in the blockchain gaming space this past year - from Final Fantasy collectibles on Enjin to its investment into Gumi Games - and it looks like they're just getting started. So with big companies doubling down on blockchain, why are we still worried? The mass adoption seems right around the corner, so it's just a matter of time before we're all playing games on the blockchain.

Crypto ATMs are thriving despite the bear market

The bear market doesn't seem to be affecting the crypto ATM industry at all. While the digital asset market is still struggling, these ATMs seem to have found a way to turn lemons into lemonade. It's almost as if they can smell an opportunity and are taking advantage of it!

The number of Bitcoin ATMs has grown by an incredible 506% since January 2020, when there were only 6362 machines. That's a staggering 38,601 Bitcoin ATMs in the world today! It looks like these ATMs are here to stay, despite the bear market. That's according to data from Coin ATM Radar, the ATM-tracking app. It's clear that crypto ATM owners are leveraging their services and capitalizing on a growing market of digital asset users.

A report by Grand View Research suggests that the crypto ATM market could be worth over $5 billion by 2030. That's a huge jump from the current market value, and the report also finds that retail stores accepting digital assets as payment are a crucial factor driving this growth. Walmart's recent rollout of 200 Bitcoin ATMs certainly supports this idea.

It looks like crypto ATMs might be the saving grace for digital asset holders in spite of the bear market. With more businesses investing in and utilizing these services, it'll be interesting to see how the market develops in 2023 and beyond.