Visa files a patent for cryptocurrency, and bitcoin hash rate falls by 30%

Visa has registered a cryptocurrency patent

The Visa payment system has filed a patent application for digital currency on the basis of the blockchain. It will be backed by fiat funds and controlled by a “central computer”.

The development of Visa can form the basis of the central bank digital currencies.

“Cryptocurrency systems have advantages over fiat currency systems. For example, cryptocurrency money transfers can also be faster than conventional fiat currency money transfers. Lastly, because some cryptocurrencies use blockchains, such cryptocurrencies are often trusted since blockchains are immutable records of transactions,” the application says.

The authors note that they do not see the reason for a complete transition to digital currency — it should be an addition to the existing payment ecosystem.

Shadow transfers in bitcoins take up 1% of the network

Elliptic’s researchers have calculated the share of transactions related to criminal or fraudulent activities in the BTC network. It turned out that it does not exceed 1%, and this indicator stays at the same level since 2016.

In 2012, the level of shadow operations reached 35% and has since been gradually declining. According to Elliptic’s analysts, this is due to the measures taken by exchanges and law enforcement agencies to combat money laundering.

A similar study was conducted by Chainanalysis last year — the result was the same: the criminal share of transactions did not exceed 1%.

Bitcoin hash rate dropped by 30%

The computing power of the bitcoin network decreased by 30% after halving, reports the portal CoinMetrics.

According to analysts, this is due to outdated devices switching off from the network. The hashrate will return to its previous level when miners massively switch to new equipment, according to CoinMetrics.

At the same time, the computing power of the Bitcoin forks has increased: from May 11, the Bitcoin Cash network hashrate increased from 1.4 to 2.4 EH/s, and Bitcoin SV’s hashrate grew from 1.1 to 1.9 EH/s. This may indicate that the miners switched to mining these tokens.