Norway will revoke electricity subsidies for crypto miners

Summary:

• A number of BTC transactions keeps growing despite a heavy sell-off in the price

• Sweden hopes to lure crypto miners based in Norway following a revocation of electricity subsidies

• The Ohio state is going to accept Bitcoin payments for 23 types of taxes

The cryptocurrency market drew a lot of attention in several past days as it saw massive downward pressure which pushed the Bitcoin price to the lowest since September 2017. We have not seen any corrective moves to the upside since then suggesting that bears could prevail in the nearest future. We think that at this stage a differentiation between Bitcoin itself (and other cryptocurrencies as well) and blockchain technology deserves more attention as it could matter in the future.

Bitcoin users keep doing payments irrespective of the price level

A number of daily transactions made via Bitcoin has rise in recent weeks despite a sharp decline in the Bitcoin price. Source: Bitcoin.com, XTB Research

While the most famous digital currency saw a heavy decline in the past days, the same cannot be said about a number of transactions Bitcoin users made each day. Basically, one may notice that when the Bitcoin price was moving nowhere, a number of daily transactions grew notably. What’s more, even as the price moved down significantly in recent days, Bitcoin users did not follow this move. This is the important signal for the future of blockchain technology implying that regardless of the Bitcoin price level payments made in BTC keep on speeding up.

Norway to revoke electricity subsidies. Will Sweden benefit from it?

Local media outlets in Sweden suggest that the country could benefit from a decision made by the Norwegian authorities to revoke electricity subsidies for cryptocurrency minders from January 2019 onward. Revelations say that as of January next year miners operating in Norway will have to pay the equivalent of $0.019 per kWh, it looks like the negligible amount but it also means an increase from $0.00056 per kWh - it undoubtedly matters. As a result, Sweden expects a wave of inquiries from mining companies seeking to domicile in Sweden. According to Julie Hvideberg, the head of Bitmain - one of a number of mining companies running their business in Norway, the government (Norwegian) is pushing the crypto industry out of Norway. She adds that “we are a global company and can move to Sweden or Denmark, but our Norwegian partner loses a big contract.”

Bitcoin slumped in the past days and it looks that the price could continue doing so at least until $3000. This level could constitute the first point where bulls could try to regain control. Source: xStation5

Ohio - the first US state accepting cryptocurrencies

The Ohio state has recently reported that it starts accepting payments in Bitcoin for 23 types of taxes this week, hence Ohio has become the first state in the United States accepting virtual currencies. The website of the office of Ohio Treasurer said that “Beginning this week, Ohio businesses will be able to go to the website Ohiocrypto.com and register to pay everything from cigarette sales taxes to employee withholding taxes with Bitcoin.” There are three steps to follow: registering on the website, entering tax payment amounts and tax period dates, and then using “your compatible cryptocurrency wallet to pay the invoice with Bitcoin.”