Bitcoin blockchain celebrates 13 years

Yesterday, January 3rd marked the 13th year since the creator of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, mined the first (genesis) block of the bitcoin blockchain, and for the first time mined 50 bitcoins in 2009. Thirteen years later, bitcoin shows no signs of slowing down, reaching a new all-time high computing power (hashrate) of 207.53 exahashes per second (EH/s).

The bitcoin hashrate, which correlates with network strength based on the number of active miners, recorded a temporary drop after China banned citizens and companies from engaging in crypto mining and trading activities. As a direct consequence of China’s blanket ban on cryptocurrencies, which caused a temporary sharp shortage of miners, the hashrate fell to 58.46 EH/s.  

At the time of writing this text, the bitcoin network hashrate stands at 190.64 EH/s, which is 8.14 percent lower than the all-time high.

The amount of bitcoin held by public corporations significantly increased last year, as recently reminded by on-chain analyst Willy Woo on Twitter.

In a tweet, analyst Willy Woo claimed that public companies holding bitcoin on their balance sheets have gained a larger market share than spot ETFs as a way to access exposure to bitcoin in public capital markets.

This is more noticeable than MicroStrategy’s ‘Bitcoin for Corporations’ conference held on February 3rd and 4th, 2021. The goal of the webinar was to explain the legal considerations for companies looking to integrate bitcoin into their business and reserves.

MicroStrategy Michaela Saylora is a leading business intelligence firm and is known for being particularly proactive regarding bitcoin investments, holding nearly 6 billion dollars in crypto assets.

Last Thursday, Saylor’s company purchased an additional 1,914 bitcoins worth 94 million dollars. The company has realized over 2.1 billion dollars in profit from its initial bitcoin purchase in August 2020.

Woo referred to a chart of bitcoin shares within exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the treasuries of public companies available for public ownership through capital markets, based on collected data.

Spot ETFs hold bitcoin, unlike futures, where companies gain exposure through contracts from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). 

Data shows that the crypto asset management firm Grayscale achieved the largest market share with a majority of 645,199 bitcoins by the end of 2021, accounting for 71 percent of the broader market as the shares of all spot ETFs and corporations combined amounted to 903,988 bitcoins according to the chart.

MicroStrategy is the largest corporate investor, holding 124,391 bitcoins worth approximately 5.8 billion dollars, according to the Bitcoin Treasuries page. The second-largest Tesla owns about 43,200 bitcoins worth around 2 billion dollars at current prices.  

In 2020, the amount of bitcoin held by public companies increased by 400 percent in 12 months to 3.6 billion dollars. Whether 2022 will surpass the previous two years remains to be seen.