BTC.com — a major crypto mining pool that is operated by BIT Mining and owned by the NYSE-listed Chinese lottery service provider 500.com — has announced the successful relocation of its first batch of mining machines to Kazakhstan. BTC.com was founded by Jihan Wu and was operated by Bitmain and Bitdeer until its acquisition by 500.com this February. As of the time of writing, the pool is the world’s fifth-largest, validating 10.4% of blocks on the Bitcoin blockchain. The relocation comes after the company was notified by the state grid in western Sichuan province that the power supply serving one …
Authorities of the Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia have proposed closing down all local cryptocurrency mining facilities to reduce energy consumption in the region. The Inner Mongolia National Development and Reform Commission, or NDRC, released an official proposal to shut down local crypto mining operations in line with its energy-saving rules. Published Thursday of last week, the draft proposal suggests to “comprehensively clean up and shut down virtual currency mining projects” by the end of April. The authority also proposed a strict ban on new cryptocurrency mining projects in the region. The NDRC will collect public feedback on the …
A major cryptocurrency and blockchain association in Russia is launching a project to bring global crypto mining operations to the country amid a Chinese crypto mining crackdown. The Russian Association of Cryptoeconomics, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain, or RACIB, announced an initiative aimed at transferring global computing resources for crypto mining to the Russian Federation. More information on the project is expected to be released at a later date, a spokesperson for RACIB told Cointelegraph. In order to promote and implement the project, RACIB is closely cooperating with Russian government authorities and state corporations, forming a range of joint working groups …
Amid growing concerns over the energy sector in Kyrgyzstan, a former government official has argued that cryptocurrency mining is a major factor driving the energy crisis. Daniyar Akmatov, former director of the state investment protection organization, the Investment Promotion and Protection Agency, addressed the challenges in Kyrgyzstan’s energy sector at a roundtable in Bishkek, local news agency Tazabek reported on Wednesday. The former official said that crypto mining is causing issues for the country’s energy sector, alongside other factors like the devaluation of the Kyrgyz som and poor promotion of energy investment. “Consumption of electricity due to cryptocurrency mining has …
Five industry experts appearing before the United States House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee had different views on how lawmakers should address the energy consumption of cryptocurrencies. In written testimony released before a Thursday hearing on “Cleaning Up Cryptocurrency: The Energy Impacts of Blockchains,” former Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks argued that the energy consumption of Bitcoin (BTC) mining was “economically productive” given other assets including gold required roughly the same amount of energy for mining, with the “a host of other environmental concerns.” In addition, Brooks said that the traditional global banking system consumed roughly 2.5 times the …