📈 30 Second Cryptocurrency Price Summary Current Bitcoin Price: $48,996 Bitcoin price is hovering around the $49,000 mark to begin Wednesday, with price holding strong after its recent rise. Top-20 altcoins are also faring well, as Solana rises 3%, Shiba Inu gains 13% and Ethereum remains unchanged. Top Stories for December 22, 2021 🔥 Bitcoin mining profitability is on a downtrend due to the rising difficulty and looming deployment of new mining hardware, according to Arcane Research. The hashrate (computing power) of the Bitcoin network has been on a steady increase since July of this year, as Chinese miners relocated following the country's crypto crackdown. The world's largest miners also have significant amounts of new mining hardware scheduled for delivery in 2022, which will further increase competition over the issuance of new Bitcoins – limiting profitability unless price also increases. Internet browser Opera has announced that it will be integrating Polygon (MATIC), opening the blockchain's ecosystem to more than 80 million Opera users. The integration will enable users to access Polygon decentralized applications (DApps), as well as easily connect to blockchain-based games and metaverse applications. RadioShack, the former electronic goods business, is launching a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange, complete with a native RADIO token. The company is building the exchange with the help of the Atlas USV protocol, with the goal of encouraging widespread crypto adoption – and even onboarding other large brands. | 