Last week was one for the books, as Bitcoin dropped $16,000 in a violent flush. Plus, Bitcoin miner Bitdeer (NASDAQ: BTDR) encountered a legal hurdle at its Ohio site and IREN (NASDAQ: IREN) prepared to join the MSCI USA Index. We also break down the historic six-out-of-seven negative difficulty adjustments, the first since 2011, and tackle the so-called “ontology of time” and quantum resistance.
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Bitcoin price pukes $16,000 in 12 hours
Bitcoin lost $16,000 within a matter of 12 hours last week, marking the fourth largest daily drawdown in its history at roughly 21%. The asset dropped to the $60,000 range before rebounding, a move characterized by on-chain analysts as a classic capitulation event that flushed out leverage. Fidelity Director of Global Macro Jurrien Timmer suggested $60,000 remains a support zone, potentially signaling the end of this specific downward move, though volatility remains high.
Bitdeer hits legal snag at Ohio site
Bitdeer (NASDAQ: BTDR) hit a legal snag regarding its Clarington, Ohio data center, a flagship location for its expanding AI/HPC business line. Co-tenant at the location American Heavy Plate Solutions filed suit against the miner and the Monroe County Port Authority, alleging the construction disrupts shared utilities and rail lines guaranteed in their lease. The site has about 570 MW allocated, making it a critical component of the company’s future infrastructure plans, and the news caused the stock to sell off as investors reacted to the potential delay in deployment.
Historic negative difficulty adjustments
Network difficulty experienced a historic anomaly with six out of the last seven adjustments being negative, a trend not seen since the collapse of the Silk Road in 2011. The most recent negative adjustment of 1% helped hashprice recover to roughly $35 per petahash per day alongside the price rebound, according to Hashrate Index. This rare string of downward adjustments provided a brief respite for miners, though the next adjustment is expected to be upward by approximately 11% as hashrate resilience continues.
IREN to join MSCI USA Index
IREN (NASDAQ: IREN) is set to join the MSCI USA Index on March 2nd, following the close of trading on February 27th. The inclusion places the miner alongside top constituents like NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), validating its pivot toward owning infrastructure for AI/HPC workloads. The listing follows the December announcement of an $9.7 billion deal with Microsoft to develop their full-stack cloud capabilities.
BIP 360 merged and quantum discussions
BIP 360 for quantum resistance was officially merged into the BIP repository this week, formalizing a proposal for a quantum-resistant output type known as Pay to Merkel Root (P2MR). This step forward coincides with increased attention from institutional players, as Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) has voiced support for hardening the network against future quantum threats.
