Bitcoin miners have enjoyed a record month of revenues in March, topping February’s previous high, as the price of the world’s largest crypto asset holds above $55,000.

Data collected by The Block Research shows that bitcoin miners have earned more than $1.5 billion in revenue this month, the highest total recorded.

With the month not yet over, miners' revenues have already surpassed the $1.36bn recorded in February.

The mining revenues come amid a sharp recovery for prices in March. Having traded as low as $43,000 per coin, they went on to rally more than 40% to trade above $60,000 by mid-March, before consolidating. The price currently sits at $55,159.

The vast majority of the funds earned in March, totaling $1.36 billion, were in the form of per-block subsidies, according to the research.

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Cryptoasset firm Dragonfly Capital launches $225m fund

Cryptoasset investment and research firm DragonFly Capital has announced the launch of a new $225 million fund to invest in projects across the crypto space.

Following the success of the original $100 million fund kickstarted in late 2018, the Dragonfly Fund II will target four potential areas: decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, non-fungible token projects, Ethereum Layer 2-based businesses, and centralized finance (CeFi) platforms. 

The San Francisco-based venture capital fund has been an early backer of notable projects such as ByBit, Compound, Celo, and Maker, among others.

First ever tweet by Dorsey sells for $2.9m as NFT

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's first ever tweet sold last week for $2.9m (£2.1m) to a Malaysia-based businessman.

Sold as an NFT to buyer Sina Estavi, the tweet - which said "just setting up my twttr" - was first published on March 21, 2006, and was auctioned off by Dorsey for charity.

The tweet was bought using ether, the second largest crypto asset by market cap, with Dorsey saying he would convert the proceeds to bitcoin and then donate them to the Give Directly's Africa Response fund.

It is the latest sign of the explosion in demand for NFTs which has emerged this year.

Earlier this month, the first digital-only art auction was held by Christie's auction house and netted $69m for the artist Beeple.

Fidelity in race to launch first US bitcoin ETF

Fidelity Investments has entered the race to launch an exchange-traded fund that tracks the price of bitcoin in a move that further cements the crypto asset into mainstream finance.

The proposed ETF, called Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, will reportedly aim to match an index that takes spot prices from various bitcoin markets, including popular exchanges, according to a filing from Fidelity.

The ETF, which is yet to be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, would be a major milestone for crypto assets, further opening up the market to wealth managers and family offices.

Tesla to use bitcoin like dollars

Tesla has announced that it will both accept payment for its cars in bitcoin and hold that bitcoin on its balance sheet, rather than convert it to dollars, in a move likely to build more momentum for the crypto asset.

“Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as Bitcoin, not converted to fiat currency,” Tesla chief Musk said in a tweet. That means when someone buys a Tesla with Bitcoin, the price of the car could well rise — or fall — over time. Tesla’s move is effectively turning one-time payments into big-ticket items (namely cars) into investments as the value will change over time.

The move by Tesla, the 9th largest company in the world by market cap, to hold bitcoin as part of its treasury function is a significant development for the asset class.

Buyers outside the United States will have the option to use Bitcoin “later this year,” Musk added.

Cardano outlines a roadmap for smart contract integration

During the Cardano 360 event, last week (25th March 2021) IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson unveiled the roadmap for the Alonzo hardfork, which will bring smart contract functionality to Cardano.

Initially, we’ll see an Alonzo testnet, which could go live as early as April, allow the writing and deployment of smart contracts for the first time on the Cardano blockchain. 

Following quality assurance and user acceptance testing in the testnet environment, which is forecast to be complete at the end of June, we could see the Alonzo hardfork occur on the mainnet in early Q3.

This upgrade will be significant for Cardano as developers can start building projects on the network, positioning itself as a real ‘competitor’ to the likes of Ethereum for the long term.