Crypto mining operations based in the United States are committed to increasing their hash power with more hardware despite Bitcoin’s (BTC) three-month downturn. The Marathon Digital Holdings and GEM Mining companies in the U.S. told Cointelegraph this week that they each expect the size of their respective operations to grow through 2022 by at least doubling the number of machines at their facilities. Marathon Digital’s VP of corporate communications Charlie Schumacher told Cointelegraph in an interview that it is moving forward with plans to deploy 199,000 new machines throughout 2022 to secure what is “arguably the future of the global …

Lord Fusitu’a, a former member of the Tongan Parliament, has shared a timeline for the country’s plan to adopt Bitcoin (BTC). A Tongan nobleman, Fusitu’a had previously disclosed the four-step plan, a copy of the Salvadoran Bitcoin playbook. Step one is remittance, two is legal tender, three is Bitcoin mining and four is moving national treasuries into Bitcoin, effectively upgrading the nation onto a Bitcoin standard. During a Twitter spaces conversation, Fusitu’a shed light on steps two and three, providing a timeline for when these changes could come into place. Lord Fusitu’a told Cointelegraph: “Let’s say the [legal tender] bill …

Blockchain company Bitfury announced the launch of a new crypto-mining data center in Ontario, Canada. The new crypto mining center adds to the list of existing Canadian sites currently operating in Drumheller, Alberta and Medicine Hat. Bitfury partnered with Hut 8 Mining, a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Bitcoin (BTC) mining company, to set up mining operations across North America. The new crypto mining facility in Ontario is expected to operate at 16 megawatts (MW) by the end of this month. According to the announcement, Bitfury has plans to add 12MW capacity in the coming months, which will bring up the total …

The Kazakh Ministry of Energy announced that it has discovered and terminated 13 cryptocurrency mining operations. The government executed the shutdown as part of its efforts to regulate the Bitcoin (BTC) mining sector, which has grown increasingly popular in recent years. As per the official statement, the miners were using a lot of energy, with a total power consumption of 202 megawatts. According to the Kazakhstan government, efforts to identify and disconnect mining farms from the electrical networks will continue. Following the discovery of illicit mining operations, authorized bodies will take operational and investigatory actions. As the planet's second-largest Bitcoin …

Kazakhstan, one of the world’s top Bitcoin (BTC) mining locations, is likely to lose its BTC hash rate share leadership in the next hash rate distribution update, according to industry experts. According to Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI), Kazakhstan was housing over 18% of the world’s BTC hash rate as of August 2021, following only the United States. Kazakhstan’s BTC mining power increase was partly driven by the massive Chinese miners’ exodus triggered by China’s cryptocurrency crackdown. Prior to falling to zero as of August 2021, China’s BTC hash rate power accounted for more than 75% back in 2019. …

At first glance, the pint-sized Republic of Georgia is an unlikely suspect for Bitcoin (BTC) mining activity. An underdog for mining, the country boasts abundant hydropower while ranked seventh worldwide for the World Bank's ease of doing business index –ahead of the United Kingdom and Germany. Nestled on the Black Sea at the intersection of Europe and Asia, Georgia hosts Bitfury’s industrial mining operations as well as smaller, solo miners that tap into enormous amounts of hydroelectric power. The country packs a punch for Bitcoin mining. While the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption index puts Georgia’s hash rate at 0.18%, a …

Computer chip manufacturing giant Intel Corporation shared details of a new mining chip that will be coupled with a high-performance 3,600 Watt miner with the ultimate goal of improving Bitcoin (BTC) mining efficiency. Intel revealed its second-generation BTC mining setup during the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 2022, a conference dedicated to the electronics and chip manufacturing industry. According to the company, Bonanza mine (BMZ2) is an ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient Bitcoin mining ASIC that can deliver 40 Terahashes per second (40 TH/s) performance. As Cointelegraph previously reported, Intel’s patent related to “high-performance Bitcoin Mining” dates back to November 2018, which …

The Bitcoin network has hit yet another all-time high in mining difficulty after a steady climb since last July’s lows. On-chain analysis tool CoinWarz indicated on Feb. 18 that mining difficulty reached a new high of 27.97 trillion hashes (T). This is now the second time in three weeks that Bitcoin (BTC) has hit a new ATH in terms of difficulty. On Jan. 23, difficulty reached 26.7 T when hash rates were at 190.71 EH/s (exahashes per second). Higher difficulty means there is more competition among miners to confirm a block and extract a block reward. As a result, miners …

Bitcoin (BTC) mining generates a lot of “waste” heat. As energy prices spiral out of control in Europe, miners have come up with creative ways of recycling the heat generated by solving valid Bitcoin blocks. Whereas in Norway, a miner is drying wood from the local timber mill, across the North Sea in the Netherlands, a miner is heating greenhouses to grow produce and bloom “Bitcoin flowers.” In a win-win partnership between a Dutch farmer and a Bitcoin miner, Bitcoin Bloem mines Bitcoin and bud flowers in greenhouses in the province of North Braband, southeast of Rotterdam. It works like …

Bitcoin miners are selling off coins from their stockpiles and shares in their companies after the profitability of mining took a dive since November. With Bitcoin (BTC) currently holding around $43,500, about 33% below the all-time high (ATH) of about $69,000 reached that month, miners are selling at a less-than-opportune time. However, electricity and equipment bills must be paid. Data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode showing that Bitcoin miners have become net sellers, after being net hodlers for months. Since Nov. 9, the return from mining one BTC has decreased by an average of 50.5% for the two most popular …

International oil and gas giant ConocoPhilips is dipping its toes into Bitcoin (BTC) mining as a way to eliminate the wasteful practice of flaring. According to a report from CNBC, the company is currently operating a pilot scheme in the oil-rich region of Bakken, North Dakota. Instead of burning excess gas, a byproduct of oil-drilling known as flaring, the company is selling it to a third party Bitcoin miner to be used as fuel. Speaking on the environmental impacts of “routine flaring”, a representative from the company stated that the decision to move into Bitcoin mining reflected the company’s overarching …

Amid the Russian government continuing working hard to come up with cryptocurrency regulations, a federal ministry has made another proposal regarding the crypto mining industry. Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development has greenlighted the concept of crypto mining regulation in the country, proposing to allow mining operations in areas with “sustainable surplus in electricity generation,” local news agency Izvestia reported Tuesday. As part of the proposal, the ministry suggested introducing lower fees for setting up mining farms and data centers in specific Russia’s areas as well as offering reduced energy rates for such facilities. The ministry also wants to establish a …