The Great Lockdown, Preserving Privacy, Bitmain’s Rebates

The coronavirus-led economic crisis, now called the Great Lockdown, shows no signs of letting up.

“For the first time since the Great Depression both advanced economies and emerging market and developing economies are in recession,” Gita Gopinath, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist, said. The crypto industry is far from insulated, today major Bitcoin miner manufacturer Bitmain announced it will pay rebates to customers hit by the market downturn, while an aspiring crypto exchange has folded.

You’re reading Blockchain Bites, the daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news, and why they’re significant. You can subscribe to this and all of CoinDesk’s newsletters here.

To combat the spread of the virus, technologists are working fervently to develop contact tracing tools to monitor how the virus moves through communities, often sacrificing cherished principles like privacy and autonomy. Here’s the story:

Not All That Glitches
Gold has left bitcoin behind on a month-to-date basis following a rise to seven-year highs early on Tuesday. The biggest cryptocurrency by market value, often touted as “digital gold,” is trading near $6,900 at press time,  representing a marginal gain on the day, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is changing hands near $1,717, up 0.5 percent on the day, having hit a 7.5-year high of $1,730 during the Asian trading hours. The yellow metal is now up 9 percent on a month-to-date basis, while bitcoin is lagging with just a 5 percent gain.

Miners’ Anticipation
As the latest Bitcoin halving approaches, miners are upgrading equipment, optimizing arrangements, conserving power and more in the race to dominate. On this week’s episode of “Bitcoin Halving 2020: Miner Perspectives,” Kristy-Leigh Minehan and Pavel Moravec give an in-depth explanation of what miners are doing to maximize profits and increase operational efficiency. 

CoinDesk Research
March 12 changed how investors look at crypto markets and assets, shook out some participants and left others unmoved. The CoinDesk Quarterly Review is a Q1 analysis of how the narrative has changed for crypto blue-chips like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which assets outperformed, and how the participants in crypto markets are shifting in the wake of Q1’s defining event.

CoinDesk Research Webinar
March 12 changed how investors look at crypto markets and assets, shook out some participants and left others unmoved. The CoinDesk Quarterly Review is a Q1 analysis of how the narrative has changed for crypto blue-chips like Bitcoin and Ethereum. On Wednesday, April 15 at 2pm ET, CoinDesk Research hosts a webinar to review and discuss our analysis. Sign up here.

Blockchain Bites is CoinDesk’s daily news roundup of the most important stories in blockchain tech from this site and around the web. You can subscribe here.