Bitcoin and Ethereum suffer mid-week slump while heatwave sends Texas miners offline

Bitcoin has hit its lowest point in a week, dropping 1.95% to US$19,323 in the opening hours of Wednesday.

Ethereum likewise hit a weekly low, falling 2.99% to US$1,056.

Global market cap fell 1.92% to a total value of US$873.42bln, having reclaimed the US$1tln price point only four days prior.

There were few upwards movers this hump day, although decentralised exchange (DEX) Serum hit the top-100 club by adding 4.92% to its US$266mln market capitalisation.

Decentralised finance (DeFi) protocol Convex Finance rose 3.57% while play-to-earn project Gala Games added 1%.

Network tokens suffered a collective slump, with Tezos, Polygon, Cosmos, Kava and Fantom all being among the ten biggest losers this Wednesday.

Fan-engagement token Chiliz fell by 7.32%.

In the news, Bitcoin miners across Texas have powered down amid a heatwave across the Lone Star State causing daily temperatures in the high 30’s.

The move, which should free up about 1% of grid capacity,“is the right thing to do to be a good ‘grid citizen’,” Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council told The Verge.

Blockchain investments continue despite the raging bear market, with US-based venture fund Multicoin Capital announcing a US$430mln fund for early-stage and later-stage projects.