Weekly Market News Issue No.12

1. Mining Company Update

• Stock prices of several Bitcoin mining companies rise after Bitcoin halving
• Crypto mining company Argo mined 1,760 Bitcoins last year, generating $50.6 million in revenue

• Stock prices of several Bitcoin mining companies rise after Bitcoin halving

Golden Finance reports, according to data from Motley Fool, that within a week after the Bitcoin block reward halving, despite miners' income being halved, the stock prices of several Bitcoin mining companies have risen. Riot Platforms' stock price increased by up to 36.3%, while Marathon Digital and Cipher Mining rose by 20.1% and 20.3%, respectively. Analysts believe that the halving may eventually lead to industry consolidation, with well-capitalized mining companies acquiring less efficient competitor assets. Market share concentration among a few competitors may help improve profitability, especially when Bitcoin prices rise. Additionally, while an increase in market share can be positive, miners still need to profit from the spread between costs and Bitcoin prices.

• Crypto mining company Argo mined 1,760 Bitcoins last year, generating $50.6 million in revenue

Golden Finance reports that crypto mining company Argo Blockchain released its financial performance report for the year 2023, which included: mining 1,760 Bitcoins, generating revenue of $50.6 million; obtaining $7.2 million in power credits in Texas; an EBITDA of $8.3 million, with a mining profit margin of 43%; reducing debt by $13 million, with plans to repay another $12 million of debt in the first quarter of 2024.

2. Market Overview

• OP_CAT protocol set to launch on Bitcoin test-net Signet
• Bitlight Labs launched Bitcoin wallet Bitlight Wallet supporting RGB20 assets
• PenPad announced an investment from crypto investment firm Animoca Brands
• Stripe resumed accepting crypto payments after six years
• Anchorage Digital launched crypto settlement service Atla

• OP_CAT protocol set to launch on Bitcoin test-net SignetG

olden Finance reports that OP_CAT advocate and TaprootWizards co-founder Udi Wertheimer stated that the OP_CAT protocol will go live on the Bitcoin test-net Signet next Tuesday, allowing developers to build OP_CAT applications using CatVM and test them in real-time-on the official test network.

• Bitlight Labs launched Bitcoin wallet Bitlight Wallet supporting RGB20 assets

On April 27th, RGB protocol infrastructure developer Bitlight Labs announced the launch of the Bitcoin wallet Bitlight Wallet, which supports RGB20 assets. Through Bitlight Wallet, users can seamlessly import, store, display, and transfer Bitcoin and RGB assets in a non-custodial manner. Using the Asset Registry feature, users can create their own RGB20 assets. Bitlight Wallet also kicks off the first season of its BIT token airdrop campaign, where users can generate an invitation link on the Airdrop page and complete related activities to earn points.

• PenPad announced an investment from crypto investment firm Animoca Brands

On April 26th, Scroll ecosystem project PenPad announced that it has received investment from renowned crypto investment firm Animoca Brands. According to the product roadmap revealed by PenPad, the protocol will include PenPad Staking features, Vaults for asset management and appreciation tools, and the Shop product that links virtual assets with real-world assets (RWA). PenPad aims to upgrade to become a leading innovative Launchpad+Yield Aggregator platform within the Scroll ecosystem.

• Stripe resumed accepting crypto payments after six years

Golden Finance reports that financial technology giant Stripe announced its return to the cryptocurrency market. The company announced on Thursday that it will begin allowing customers to accept cryptocurrency payments, initially supporting the USDC stablecoin, and will be available only on Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon. This is Stripe's first acceptance of cryptocurrency payments since 2018 when the company abandoned support for cryptocurrency payments due to high volatility in Bitcoin prices.

• Anchorage Digital launched crypto settlement service Atla

Golden Finance reports that federally regulated bank Anchorage Digital has announced the launch of a new cryptocurrency settlement service, Atla. Atla will be able to settle transactions in US dollars and cryptocurrencies, including over-the-counter settlements, over-the-counter margin/collateral management, and over-the-counter clearing. Atla has already settled hundreds of millions of dollars in digital assets.