A Week in Review: Bitcoin mining difficulty skyrockets， new Satoshi emails revealed， & other news

We’ve selected the hottest materials of the past week for you to stay up-to-date with the latest crypto news:

#1\xa0Bitcoin mining difficulty surpasses 80 trillion ahead of halving

Bitcoin mining difficulty, which measures how difficult it is to solve the complex cryptographic puzzles used in the mining process,passed 80 trillion on Feb. 16. The network’s hash rate reached 562.81 exahashes per second and the mining difficulty hit a record 81.73 trillion, according to BTC.com. Bitcoin mining difficulty has steadily risen since January 2023 and is expected to reach 100 trillion in the next few months. Bitcoin’s mining rewards will be cut in half in April in what’s known as the Bitcoin Halving.

#2.\xa0Newly released Satoshi emails reveal a treasure trove of early Bitcoin lore

A litany of insights into the early days of cryptocurrency were recently revealed when Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto’s earliest collaborator, Martti Malmi,published 120 pages of email correspondences between the twoon GitHub on Feb. 23. The emails were initially introduced as evidence in a London court case involving the Crypto Open Patent Alliance and Craig Wright, who has claimed to be Nakamoto. For historians and Bitcoin lore enthusiasts, the emails include many fantastic quotes and a general air of Satoshi-ness.

#3.\xa0FTX to add over \\$1B to cash stack after court approves Anthropic sale

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTXhas been given the judge’s nod to sell over \\$1 billionworth of its shares in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic. The decision was reached after FTX made concessions to some customers who objected to the sale. The customers had claimed the Anthropic shares didn’t belong to FTX, saying they were purchased with misappropriated customer funds, citing evidence presented during FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial. However, they agreed to the sale with the condition that they were later allowed to claim money from it for FTX users. Funds from the sale will be added to the \\$6.4 billion banked to pay creditors for the bankrupt exchange.

#4.\xa0Prediction of the week -\xa0Bitcoin pre-halving ‘pullback’ calls for \\$45K BTC price support retest

Bitcoin is due a pullbackaround its next block subsidy halving, but the timing remains unclear. In his latest YouTube video on Feb. 20, popular pseudonymous trader and analyst Rekt Capital predicted BTC price action copying the 2016 and 2020 bull runs.

Bitcoin has ranged within a narrow corridor for over a week, with \\$52,000 acting as a resistance zone. While this has taken its toll on sentiment — as well as altcoin price performance — seasoned market observers remain optimistic.

“In the past, a macro downtrend break always precedes upside going into the halving,” Rekt Capital explained. “Then we have a pre-halving retrace and then a post-halving reaccumulation period and then parabolic price action toward new all-time highs.”

“We’re going to have the same thing in this cycle as well,” he continued.

The zone of interest when it comes to the pre-halving pullback lies at around \\$45,000, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirms.

#5.FUD of the week -\xa0Concerns mount over Ethena USDe’s promise of 27% yield following mainnet launch

Ethena’s USDe stablecoincaused widespread concerns in the crypto communityafter it launched on the public mainnet on Feb. 19. The USDe Ethereum-based synthetic dollar currently offers a 27.6% annual percentage yield, according to Ethena Labs’ homepage. The yield raised concerns about the protocol's sustainability, notably higher than Anchor Protocol's 20% before Terra's UST collapse in May 2022. In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, the protocol's founder, Guy Young,addressed the criticism, stating that concerns around the USDe stablecoin yield are a natural sign of a maturing industry recovering from the collapse of the Terra-LUNA ecosystem.

#6.\xa0FUD of the week -\xa0Former US President Trump no longer anti-Bitcoin, says can ‘live with it’

Former United States President Donald Trumphas changed his tune on Bitcoin (BTC). From making anti-Bitcoin statements and calling it a scam during his tenure as president, Trump now says BTC is something he can live with and acknowledges its growing demand. During a recent interview on Fox News, Trump was asked about his views on the rise of Chinese digital currency and whether the right way to counter it is through a decentralized currency network, such as Bitcoin. Trump, in response, said the U.S. dollar is still the top currency for him but, at the same time, acknowledged the growing popularity and adoption of Bitcoin.

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