Instead of just providing the electricity and services needed or crypto mining data centers, energy companies are increasingly starting to mine for Bitcoins themselves. Thanks to the economies of scale they achieve by eschewing third-party operators, they can go up to the 90% margins enjoyed by Bitcoin miners in the crypto heyday of 2021.
Steam has now removed suspicious mods of the popular game Cities: Skylines after users complained of performance regressions upon installing a redesigned Harmony mod. Turns out that the redesigned mod was created by a notorious developer named Chaos, who put users' computers at serious risk of getting infected by trojans, keyloggers, and Bitcoin miners.
Adding to the worries of cryptocurrency investors, the credit rating agency Fitch has issued a statement defining Bitcoin mining as a potential threat to the stability of the American power supply system. Not only is crypto mining energy-intensive, Fitch says, but the plunge in Bitcoin prices could force farms to renege on their long-term electricity supply contracts.
The Russian Central Bank has come up with its own set of proposals to add to the Parliament's working group on crypto regulation that was formed back in December. The head of Bank of Russia's Financial Stability Department presented a report that essentially suggests a full ban on crypto payments, mining, and transactions in the country.
After the Chinese ban on crypto mining, Kazakhstan quickly became the world's second-largest Bitcoin hashrate country, only to see its status go down with the statue of ex-President Nursultan Nazarbayev today. Rising energy prices and rationing of electricity were only harbingers of things to come for the Bitcoin mining community in Kazakhstan, as they now face an Internet blackout and unprecedented mass protests that already caused the fall of the government there.
Asus announces the Mining RX 470 and P106 graphics cards, specifically designed for cryptocurrency mining, The cards should increse mining efficiency by up to 36%.
With a daily low of less than US$29,000 and a maximum price of no less than US$31,388.38, today is a very exciting day for Bitcoin investors. The value of this cryptocurrency is now 25% higher than a week ago, and the monthly growth is an impressive 63.95%. Considering these, the "US$100,000 in 2021" predictions no longer seem outrageous.
Police in the Malaysian city of Miri busted a Bitcoin mining operation that used over 1,000 ASICs. The authorities then proceeded to run a steamroller over the equipment and captured it on video. Bitcoin mining isn't illegal in Malaysia, but the perpetrators were charged with stealing RM8.4 million (US$1.9 million) worth of power from the city grid.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a group of scientists who attempted to use a supercomputer at a top secret nuclear facility to mine Bitcoin. Security was alerted when the would-be miners tried to connect the computer to the Internet.
Financial regulators have issued warnings that a massive price crash involving Bitcoin and other popular virtual currencies (VC) would lead to financial ruin for many investors. The lucrative VC market is currently worth hundreds of billions of dollars but is notorious for its series of soaring peaks and troughs.
One Chinese firm is reportedly relocating to North America after the Chinese Government's new restrictions on cryptocurrencies. It plans on setting up facilities in Texas (USA) and Alberta (Canada). A few other firms have already ceased operations in China following the announcement.
As the cryptocurrency market is slowly recovering from the drastic corrections that occurred in 2018, China is all set to outright ban all crypto mining activities due to lack of regulations and increasing energy requirements. Insider sources claim that China is most likely to "reboot" the crypto mining industry with strict regulations and oversight.
It appears neither Bill Gates nor Warren Buffett are the greatest fans of bitcoin. Both men have been recently reported saying rather disparaging things about the famous cryptocurrency, which may have prevented bitcoin from achieving a five-figure value for the first time since March. Regulation concerns are believed to have also contributed to the slight dip in price.
A Swiss technology company has started rolling out smart banknotes called Tangem Notes that offer a physical presence for cryptocurrencies. The "banknotes," which are actually plastic cards, have been launched for sale in a large store in Singapore and there are plans for a wider rollout throughout 2018 and 2019. Currently available Tangem banknotes are valued at 0.01 BTC and 0.05 BTC.
China's plan to crash the Bitcoin value appears to have backfired as the crypto coin is back to its values recorded before the crypto mining ban. On top of that, most of the Bitcoin hashing power was relocated from China to other states, helping the U.S. become the leading hashrate provider. The Chinese authorities are now issuing a call for public comments on the decision to add crypto mining to the list of "phased-out" industries.
The Chinese Government has announced that it will further crack down on Bitcoin. The statement doesn't mention any specifics, but we're probably looking at additional restrictions on mining farms and cryptocurrency exchanges.
As recently revealed by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Kazakhstan is now the world's second-biggest bitcoin mining location, mostly due to the cheap power available and the crypto miners relocating from China. However, this weighs heavily on the country's power grid, which relies heavily on coal-generated electricity.
Plans for “Bitcoin City” have been unveiled by El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele. The build would be financed by bitcoin-backed funds, covering public infrastructure, like an airport and local services.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a stern statement in regard to potentially unlawful online trading platforms. The statement includes a warning to investors that they should use “SEC-registered and regulated marketplaces” for virtual currency (VC) trading. The value of Bitcoin, and other VCs, dipped dramatically after the statement’s publication.
Cryptocurrency miners face a perfect regulatory storm from the looming financial regulation of digital assets on one side and the upcoming climate change bills on the other. Bitcoin mining in Kazakhstan became the second-largest globally after China banned its miners, but the country's energy infrastructure can't handle the load, and large mining platforms are relocating to the US. Here, however, Senator Elizabeth Warren has sent a letter demanding more info on the climate impact of Bitcoin mining, spelling
The Bitcoin mining network has demonstrated its resilience in the face of major country crackdowns, as the Total Hash Rate of miners completely recovered to pre-Chinese ban levels on Friday. Analysts are saying that the reason behind this quick recovery of the global Bitcoin mining network was due to a combination of factors. On one hand we had the swift reactions of mining companies which moved to more welcoming countries like Russia, Kazakhstan, or the U.S., and on the other there was the Fed's money prin
When China banned Bitcoin mining, panicked local firms went into a fire sale mode for their rigs. The bulk of the crypto miners went to Russia, followed by Kazakhstan, the US, Canada, Paraguay, and even Venezuela. The more expensive rig models ended up in more developed countries, whereas mining in Caracas seems to be a poverty alleviation strategy, made profitable on older power-hungry Chinese miner models by cheap electricity.
It is unclear what caused the drastic drop in hash power, but several hypotheses stipulate that Bitmain may have reallocated more hash power towards AI-driven activities, or the company may have rented out most of its hash power to other companies. Furthermore, Bitmain may have moved most of its miners abroad and does not currently count this "exported" hash power as its own so it would not be affected by the imminent Chinese ban on crypto mining activities.
The custom-made liquid coolant is safe for the environment and also helps improve mining performance, energy efficiency plus reduce maintenance costs for the Antminer S19j ASIC machines. 8 MW worth of mining equipment will be submerged by February 2022, with the remaining 12 MW worth expected to go online throughout the remainder of the year. Hashrate should reach 600 PH/s.
