Decentral Block Post

Despite the myriads of state and federal regulatory hurdles faced by crypto businesses in the region, the United States plays a major role in preserving the Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto ecosystem. With China moving out of the picture following a permaban on crypto, the United States maintains the top position in terms of hash rate contribution and ATM installations worldwide. 

Prior to cracking down on BTC mining, China historically represented over 50% of the total hash rate up until Feb 2021. With China out of the competition, the US picked up the slack to become the highest BTC hash rate contributor — representing 37.84% of the total mining power by Jan 2022.

Distribution of Bitcoin mining hash rate from September 2019 to January 2022, by country. Source: Statista

As shown above, Chinese miners resumed operations in September 2021. However, the miners in the US continued to dominate the space while increasing their hash rate contribution month-over-month. 

Crypto ATM distribution by continents and countries. Source: CoinATMRadar

In addition, the US is home to the highest number of ATM installations, representing nearly 88% of the total crypto ATM installations worldwide. Over 90% of the overall crypto ATMs installed over the past several months are in the United States. Data from Coin ATM Radar confirms that the trend continues to July as the US saw the installation of 641 out of the 710 Bitcoin and crypto ATMs installed in the first 10 days of the month.

Further strengthening North America’s position in the crypto ecosystem, Canada represents the second-largest network of crypto ATMs after the United States. Outside of the Americas, Spain houses the highest number of crypto ATMs, 210 or 0.5% of the total active ATMs.

The decline in Cardano (ADA) price this year has prompted some of its richest investors to accumulate the token.

Cardano sharks in buying spree

Notably, addresses holding between 10,000 and 100,000 ADA, also called "sharks," have added 79.1 million tokens (~ $37.7 million as of July 9) to their reserves since June 9, according to data from Santiment.

Cardano shark addresses. Source: Santiment

Meanwhile, Cardano "whales" that hold between 100,000 and 1 million ADA have stopped selling.

Holding a larger amount of ADA makes sharks and whales powerful enough to determine the token's upcoming trends via increased volatility or decreased liquidity. Additionally, they can force "fishes," or investors holding fewer ADA tokens, to copy their trades.

The recent buying spree among the Cardano sharks hints that they have been positioning themselves for a sharp price rebound, especially as ADA trades nearly 85% below its September 2021 record high of $3.16.