Decentral Block Post

Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies have suffered in 2022 due to the crypto bear market. Nonetheless, their stocks collectively saw a sharp rebound on July 6, raising hopes that investors have started to buy the dips.

One of the intraday winners was Bitfarms (TSE: BITF), which surged by over 24% to close at $1.29.

Similarly, Marathon Digital Asset Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA), Core Scientific (NASDAQ: CORZ), and Cathedra Bitcoin (CVE: CBIT) rose by over/around 12.5%, 16.22%, and 15%, respectively.

Bitcoin miners' revenue down 70% from peak

The rallies come as a breather in what has been a bad year for mining stocks. A nearly 60% year-to-date plunge in the BTC price and a rise in "mining difficulty" have pushed the miners' daily revenues lower by over 70% from their November 2021 peak of $62 million.

The outcome is bad for all the mining stocks, including the ones mentioned above. For instance, BITF is still down 86% from its peak in pre-market trading on July 6 despite a 24% rebound in the previous session.

Despite the Chinese government banning all kinds of cryptocurrency transactions last year, some firms apparently still use stablecoins like Tether (USDT) to pay their employees.

Beijing’s Chaoyang District People’s Court has ruled that stablecoins like USDT cannot be used for salary payments, the local news agency Beijing Daily reported on July 6.

The Chinese court stated that virtual currencies like USDT cannot circulate in the market as a currency, which requires all employers to only pay their workers using the official currency, renminbi (RMB).

The ruling came as part of a court case involving a staff member at a local blockchain firm suing his employer for not agreeing to pay his wages in RMB. The plaintiff argued that instead of paying him in RMB, the firm had paid his salary and bonuses in the USDT stablecoin.

Citing China’s blanket ban on crypto enforced in September 2021, the court pointed out that digital currencies like USDT do not have the same legal status as legal tender. The court noted that the plaintiff's request to pay wages and bonuses in the form of RMB fully complies with local laws and the court supports it.

An average crypto asset holder in Great Britain would be young, male and hodler. And they would consider crypto to be a ‘fun investment.’ Such are the findings from the fresh research, conducted by Her Majesty Revenue and Customs (HMRC) with the help of research agency Kantar UK and published on Tuesday. 

Taking a quantitative approach, the research sought to establish the prevalence of owning crypto assets, the types and amounts held, and the platforms individuals use to buy crypto assets. It consisted of a survey with a representative sample of 5,916 United Kingdom adults, including 713 crypto asset owners.

The report revealed that 10% of the U.K. citizens hold or have held crypto, with 55% never having sold any (equivalent to 5% of the adult population). Only 7% are currently holding more than £5,000 (almost $6000 by press time) in value, while 52% of current owners have holdings of up to £1,000 ($1200).

Related: UK government seeks public input on DeFi taxation

Other significant findings come as no surprise — crypto owners tend to be younger than the general population with 76% of them 45 years, and mostly they are male (69%). A vast majority of them hold cryptocurrencies (79%), while the second most popular type of asset is utility tokens (20%).