Cryptocurrency

Mozilla, the Firefox browser creator, has paused its policy to enable donations using cryptocurrencies after meeting harsh criticisms from the community. The environmental impact of cryptomining was one of the main concerns voiced. The foundation promised transparency as it deliberated the policy's alignment with the climate goals of the organisation.

AMD introduced the RX 6500 XT at CES 2022 targeting budget 1080p gamers, but the use of just 4 GB GDDR6 VRAM has come into question. AMD's Frank Azor clarified that the use of 4 GB VRAM was to deter cryptocurrency miners from subjecting gamers to an availability disadvantage. Azor said that AMD FSR and RSR combined with the RX 6500 XT's high boost clocks should enable smooth gaming at 1080p, though an 8 GB version down the line is not being ruled out.

A couple of enterprising Tesla owners have been using their electric cars to mine for cryptocurrencies or privacy tokens like Monero. According to them, the most profitable way to mine for crypto with a Tesla is to use a hacked firmware and hook graphics processing units directly to the electric motor. One Tesla Model 3 owner reveals that this way he was able to net up to $800 a month in Ethereum when the cryptocurrency was at its record price.

PayPal has indicated to the media that it is currently "exploring" the prospect of its very own stablecoin (a form of cryptocurrency pegged to the value of fiat or a commodity standard). This announcement follows the discovery of code to this effect allegedly discovered by a developer in one of the major payment service's mobile apps.

Investing in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum may indeed not be for the faint of heart, but the glorifying narrative conveyed by Matt Damon's latest and quite dramatic Crypto.com TV commercial has now been thoroughly ridiculed on social media.

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.

Samsung has announced that its upcoming TVs will support NFTs. The company is building a whole ecosystem to support creators and buyers to showcase and buy NFTs respectively. The first TVs with NFT support will start rolling out in the coming months.

Robinhood, the trading platform known for commission-free trading, has announced the beta program for its crypto wallets. The program will launch in mid-January, with over 1.6 million customers already on the waitlist.

Russia is drafting a comprehensive framework for cryptocurrency regulation to build on the digital asset legislation that it passed back in January. The government has formed a working committee in the Duma, the Russian Parliament, which held its first meeting with Bank of Russia financial experts and lawmakers to start working on a crypto regulation proposal to be presented in front of Parliament for voting some time in February.

Despite its prolonged weakness that has lasted for about a month now, the creator of a well-known price prediction model remains confident that Bitcoin could hit the US$1 million mark by mid-2025.

The 'Great Reset and the Rise of Bitcoin' will be a fresh documentary on the origins of cryptocurrency in general and Bitcoin in particular. Written, produced, and directed by storied crypto trader and investor Pierre Corbin, it will start with the creation of the Bitcoin protocol by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, and continue to the current state of Federal Reserve money printing that necessitates the rise of DeFi and digital assets like Bitcoin.

The cryptocurrency regulation requirements will only grow with time, and there are now services like the Astra Protocol that are offering automated compliance layer over digital asset trades. To continue its development, Astra has raised US$9 million in a private token sale from notable investors like Republic, DAOMaker, Fundamental Labs, Faculty, Richard Dai, and Wave GP Cardano. The Astra regulatory layer has built-in Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) compliance abilities.

RadioShack has been repurposed as a cryptocurrency platform by its owners. The company is joining forces with Atlas USV to create a system to swap cryptocurrencies into DeFi by leveraging Atlas USV's resources. RadioShack's new mission is to bring DeFi to the mainstream.

With overall US$7.7 billion of stolen crypto, this year may not set a new record in terms of crypto crimes, but it definitely represents an uptick regarding one certain type of scam which unfortunately has become increasingly prevalent in 2021.

Using Discord's webhooks interface, hackers gained access to the official channel of the new Fractal marketplace for in-game NFT trading, established by Twitch's co-founder Justin Kan. Instead of a link to a promised NFT Airdrop giveaway, Fractal's Discord channel subscribers got a malicious one that was used to grant access to their Solana crypto wallets. Ultimately, 373 Discord subs clicked on it and connected their wallets to the anonymous scam account only to see their SOL holdings emptied in record time. Fractal promised to compensate their losses and thanked the hackers for the free publicity.

Former CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, has once again been professing his strong belief in the future of Bitcoin. In response to a tweet from American rapper Cardi B, Dorsey reckoned that Bitcoin will replace the dollar. The tech sage has also been revealing a somewhat disparaging view of a blockchain-based Web 3.0.

In a discussion that took place on a Discord server focused on SHIB, ShibaSwap developer Eric M said that Shibarium, Shiba Inu's Layer 2 scaling solution, will arrive "soon" but did not mention an accurate date. However, he revealed that Shiba does not have to wait for Ethereum 2.0's deployment to release Shibarium.

Parler, a social media platform that aims to serve as an alternative to platforms like Facebook, has announced its move into the NFT market. According to Parler's CEO George Farmer, the platform is looking to become an early-adopter of the Web 3.0 movement to break free from Big Tech's influence.

A crypto mining farm has seen an untimely end thanks to a fire in a town in northern Thailand. A report claims that “72 servers” were destroyed, although images issued by local emergency services make it difficult to work out whether the burned-out bitcoin farm was utilizing much-wanted GPUs or ASIC miners.

Some of the trends that could define 2022 in terms of blockchain tech include NFT 2.0 along with music NFTs, the expansion of the crypto gaming metaverse, Ethereum 2.0 and its layer 2 zk rollups, DAOs and the evolution of DeFi, Web 3.0 and the decentralization of the very infrastructure of the Internet.

In the midst of a GPU supply crisis that's seen consumer GPU prices soar by 300 percent or more, crypto influencer @jaxson_davidson shared a video in which he shows off a mining farm with hundreds upon hundreds of GeForce RTX 3070 Founders Edition GPUs, all apparently sourced off-market, directly by him from NVIDIA, raising questions about the underlying reasons for today's GPU price inflation.

Crypto fans among gamers who like the STALKER franchise might be disappointed to hear that the developer studio behind the upcoming STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl edition has ditched the plans to introduce an NFT-driven "STALKER metaverse." Citing a backlash against the environmental impact of the blockchain technology, and accusations of profiteering from a fad, the Game World studio said it is abandoning the NFT plans, even though they considered them just a way for an independent game shop to stay afloat.

Financial market sources familiar with the Russian central bank have told Reuters that the bank is preparing to outlaw all investments in cryptocurrencies. Reportedly, the central bank is considering this due to cryptocurrencies posing a risk to financial stability. The Bank of Russia's hostile attitude towards cryptocurrencies is nothing new.

The first non-fungible token of the former first lady of the United States will go on sale this holiday season. Named Melania's Vision, it uses watercolor art by Marc-Antoine Coulon. Its goal is to embody the "cobalt blue eyes" of Mrs. Trump and to deliver "an amulet to inspire" the collector.

Crypto messiah Elon Musk has once again made headlines by announcing that Tesla would give Dogecoin payments a try, which apparently delighted many crypto investors and holders of the well-known meme coin in particular.

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.

Peter Molyneux, the troubled developer of Fable and Godus, announced Legacy, a new blockchain-based business sim game. Legacy lets players own NFTs and earn LegacyCoin, a new cryptocurrency that lies on the Ethereum blockchain.

EVGA has reportedly outed a firmware update for GeForce RTX 3080 Ti LHR models that addresses the "power lock" issue on these cards while mining. With the new firmware installed, miners found that their 3080 Ti LHR cards delivered up to 91 MH/s in Ethereum workloads.

XFX recently launched the BC-160, a cryptocurrency mining-oriented card built around the Navi 12 GPU. The BC-160 is currently available exclusively in China and delivers a hashrate of over 70 MH/s in Ethereum, thanks to its fast HBM2 memory.

While its long-term momentum remains weak, Shiba Inu continues to climb in popularity thanks to its adoption as a payment option by Flexa. The services of this crypto payment company are supported by merchants like GameStop, Lowe's, Nordstrom, and more, with a total of over 40,000 stores across the US.

A mining farm was recently spotted on Flexpool that appears to incorporate GeForce RTX 4090 Ti and AMD Radeon RX 7000 GPUs. While there's no way to verify if the parts are indeed next-gen AMD and NVIDIA hardware, the farm's 4.3 TH/s hash rate suggests that high-performance parts are at work.

India is currently working on a comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation to regulate the digital assets market in the country which may lead to an outright Bitcoin ban. The final say will be on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Twitter account was hacked to announce India accepts Bitcoin as legal tender immediately after his comments that India should "jointly shape global norms for emerging technologies like social media and cryptocurrencies so that they are used to empower democracy, not to undermine it."

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 printing spree that left investors with tons of cash they had to park somewhere.

It is highly likely that such a proposal will be met with great opposition from the Bitcoin mining community, as this would effectively shave off important revenue growth from the big mining firms that have been recently listed on the big stock exchanges. Additionally, the proof-of-stake consensus is not as secure as the proof-of-work one, and miners are open to using green energy sources.

WhatsApp has started a new pilot program that allows those located in the United States to transfer cryptocurrency via its service. The initiative only involves a small pool of users and one coin in its present form, as well as a wallet originally intended for use with Meta.

The verdict in the Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit, sometimes called the "Satoshi Nakamoto trial," is in, and Mr. Wright has to pay US$100 million in intellectual property damages to the plaintiff. Filed by the heirs of the deceased David Kleiman, the lawsuit aimed to prove that the alleged Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto was a collective of Mr. Kleiman and Mr. Wright hence they are entitled to their fair share of the 1.1 million bitcoins their undertaking mined. None of those bitcoins had to be accessed during the trial, as the focus was on the intellectual property of the joint venture, so the verdict couldn't definitively solve the Satoshi Nakamoto conundrum.

Alesia Haas, the CEO of Coinbase Inc., is testifying before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services alongside five other crypto exchange representatives for the first time. In prepared testimonies, the cryptocurrency platform execs urged Congress to be careful while regulating and taxing digital currency like any other asset, as they risk creating "unnecessarily onerous and chilling laws and regulations." The first Congressional hearing of crypto exchange execs is still ongoing, and you can watch the live stream here.

Hackers once again gained access to the crypto wallets of a well-known crypto exchange and were able to steal a considerable amount of Shiba Inu coins and a multitude of other cryptocurrencies which are based on the Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain blockchains.

Nothing had already revealed that the new, black versions of its inaugural ear (1) TWS buds would be sold through its own website from December 13, 2021. However, the OEM has also now stated that the new variants will also be available through a range of new and existing retailers, both online and physical, a few days beforehand.

The security researchers from Red Canary have identified another threat to your software cryptocurrency wallet of choice, and it is hiding in a popular Windows activator. The fake KMSPico installers work as intended for Microsoft Windows or Office activation, but they can also lodge into several popular crypto wallets and grab their credentials. Since KMSPico is piggybacking on Microsoft's own Windows Key Management Services (KMS) option, the security firm claims that even IT departments use it, potentially introducing crypto wallet malware to the unsuspecting machines they activate Microsoft software on.

The recently slumping crypto markets are causing a lot of concern for crypto investors, who fear that the frantic growth of digital currencies like Bitcoin may have peaked and that further corrections or even a full-grown crypto crash are in the cards.

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 further regulatory trouble for miners.

According to a report by Jon Peddie Research (JPR), AIB graphics card shipments increased by 25 percent over 2021, despite the apparent global silicon shortage. This raises questions about the impact of crypto mining and scalping on cards meant to reach the consumer market.

BadgerDAO has warned customers that it recently suffered a hack, affecting multiple cryptocurrency wallets linked to the company. In total, it is estimated that US$120 million (~€106 million) worth of cryptocurrency, including bitcoin and ethereum, has been stolen by the bad actor.

Maxine Waters (D-CA), the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, has scheduled a December 8 Congressional hearing titled the "Digital Assets and the Future of Finance: Understanding the Challenges and Benefits of Financial Innovation in the United States." The hearing will see crypto platform execs testify before Congress for the first time. Witnessed include the Coinbase CFO and five others who will appear amidst a regulatory oversight push by SEC's Chair Gensler. He again demands that cryptocurrency exchanges register with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Nothing has announced another pair of earbuds, albeit not successors to the Ear (1). Instead, the company has unveiled its eponymous earbuds in black. The Nothing Ear (1) black will be orderable using fiat money or cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Q421 transaction volume for BTC is projected to be the highest ever, but it would still be 260% lower than Mastercard's and 560% lower than Visa's. Reports are estimating that the BTC network could grow to support 800 million users by 2030.

Spanish outlet El Chapuzas Informaticos recently discovered that Sapphire was selling RDNA2-based GPUs under its GPRO brand off retail channels. These are sold exclusively to high-volume crypto mining clients at a time when consumer GPU prices remain sky.

A new report has claimed that the English Premier League (EPL) is investigating connections between its member clubs and crypto businesses. In addition, it seems the Premier League is forging ahead with a potential partnership with an NFT platform that would provide extra income by producing digital player cards for fans to collect.

An obscure cryptocurrency named Omicron is now surging for obvious reasons, all the while Bitcoin and Ethereum experienced a Black Friday market crash. The Omicron crypto is gaining attention for the simple fact that it shares a name with the latest World Health Organization COVID-19 "variant of concern" designation for the B.1.1.529 mutation first found in Africa. The aptly named OMIC coin price has surged 700% on historically high volume ever since B.1.1.529 became Omicron.