This week in crypto we have seen major Bitcoin developments in El Salvador and Paraguay along with the visible impact of China’s crypto crackdown on various mining companies and the Bitcoin network hash rate. While the price is still consolidating under $40K institutions are still betting big on the crypto ecosystem, with one of the top venture capital firms announcing its third crypto fund worth billions. Let’s dive deep into some of the key stories from this week.
El Salvador to airdrop $30 BTC
El Salvador, the small Central American nation that created history on June 9th by making bitcoin a legal tender along with the US dollar is now taking a step further to ensure Bitcoin adoption in the country. President Bukele had addressed the whole nation this past week announcing a free Bitcoin airdrop program where each registered adult would receive $30 worth of BTC in their mobile crypto wallet. The government is also partnering with different mobile carriers to expand its national crypto wallet program.
What made the event more significant was the fact that the president of the country on national tv and radio network explained how a Bitcoin wallet works. The President also announced that the new Bitcoin law will come into effect from September 7.
Impact of China’s Crypto Crackdown
China’s crypto crackdown over the past two months has led to a complete disintegration of its Bitcoin mining hub status as many large mining farms exited the country. The large exodus finally starts to show the effect on the Bitcoin network as its hashrate fell to new lows. A majority of these miners have decided to move to North America and Kazakhstan for a better future, but many beleive to resume an earlier scale of mining would take another couple of months.
The exodus of Chinese mining farms is also seen as a great happening for the Bitcoin network as many criticized centralization in Bitcoin mining due to Chinese dominance. MicroStrategy CEO Michale Saylor has called the recent crackdown a trillion-dollar mistake.
a16z Launches Third Crypto Fund Worth $2.2 Billion
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a venture capital firm from Silicon Valley announced their third crypto fund a couple of days back expected to be worth $2.2 billion. The firm was already managing two other crypto funds estimated to be over $800 million. The total AUM of crypto has reached over $3 billion.
a16z is admired for its early eye of potential multi-billion dollar firms. It was one of the early investors in Coinbase, Facebook, and Pinterest.
