The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered crypto mining firm Marathon Digital Holdings to produce documents and communications for one of its mining facilities in Montana. According to a Nov. 15 filing with the SEC, Marathon Digital received a subpoena concerning an investigation concerning possible violations of the federal securities law related to its Hardin, Montana data center. In the third quarter of 2021, the SEC ordered the mining firm to produce documents and communications for the 100 megawatt facility, which it made arrangements to develop and stock with Bitcoin (BTC) miners in October 2020. Marathon Digital said it …

The Bitcoin (BTC) network successfully activated the Taproot soft fork following a 90% lock-in consensus from miners and mining pools between blocks 709,488 and 709,632. The milestone signifies the first major upgrade for Bitcoin since August 2017, which saw the launch of Bitcoin’s leading layer-two solution, the Lightning Network and Segregated Witness (SegWit). The Taproot upgrade aims to improve the scripting capabilities and privacy of the Bitcoin network. To do this, the soft fork introduces the concept of Merkelized Abstract Syntax Tree (MAST). According to a Taproot-dedicated website run by prominent Bitcoin developer Hampus Sjöberg: “[MAST] can help make smart …

The proof-of-work (PoW) consensus model is the mechanism that kicked off the revolution that launched Bitcoin (BTC) in 2009 and it was the model of choice behind many of the popular projects in the early fledgling years of the crypto ecosystem. As time progressed, other consensus models like proof-of-stake (PoS) rose in popularity, especially as the cost of running mining rigs, the constant need to update equipment and environmental concerns led to the PoW model falling out of favor with many. As a result, projects looking to employ a proof-of-work model have had to adapt to stay aligned with the …

Canadian Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms is planning to build its first data center in the United States following the purchase of a land plot in Washington State. In a Nov. 11 announcement, Bitfarms said it aimed to establish mining operations in the U.S. capable of 620 petahashes per second using 6,200 Bitmain rigs fully powered by hydroelectric energy. The firm has already purchased a 24 megawatt hydro power farm in Washington for $26 million, but plans to expand to 99 MW by developing additional farms in the area. Bitfarms CEO Emiliano Grodzki said the firm had chosen Washington for its …

In its third-quarter earnings release, Canadian cryptocurrency miner Hut8 announced that it surpassed its goal set earlier this year of holding 5,000 Bitcoins (BTC) in reserves through mining. Its Bitcoin balance now amounts to 5,053, for a total market value of $430 million. During the quarter, Hut 8 generated 50.34 million Canadian dollars (CA$) in revenue and CA$23.37 million in net income, up from CA$5.75 million in revenue and a loss of CA$0.90 million in the prior year's quarter. The company hosts a sizable fleet of Application-Specific Integrated Circuit, or ASIC, machines used for Bitcoin mining. In addition, it deploys …

The Russian State Duma has created a working group that will tackle the complicated issue of forming regulations for the cryptocurrency mining industry. According to an official announcement on Nov. 11, State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin instructed the legislature to create a group that will address regulatory gaps in the industry. The group was formed following a statement by Andrei Lugovoy, the First Deputy of the Representative Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption. Lugovoy — a member of the right-wing Liberal Democratic People's Party — said Thursday that deputies have already written a draft bill which they will introduce in the …

Major players in the Bitcoin (BTC) mining industry have their sights set on nuclear energy as pressure mounts to go green. Nuclear energy could present a “tremendous opportunity” to introduce “enormous amounts of clean, carbon-free” energy to the base load, said GRIID vice president Harry Sudok at the ‘Bitcoin & Beyond Virtual Summit’ on Nov. 10. GRIDD is an American company that procures low-cost, renewable energy to build vertically-integrated Bitcoin mining facilities. According to Sudock, past subsidy programs and discourse about renewable energy have largely focused on solar and wind power and neglected to consider the potential benefits of nuclear …

Now responsible for the second biggest contribution to the Bitcoin hashrate, Kazakhstan’s energy grid may be unprepared to handle the addition of many cryptocurrency miners from China and others looking to capitalize on low cost electricity. In a Nov. 10 report from Reuters, government officials in Kazakhstan estimate that unregistered crypto miners in the country could be consuming twice as much power as those registered to avoid paying taxes and other fees. Together, all crypto miners in the country could be using as much as 1.2 gigawatts, or roughly 8% of Kazakhstan's total power generation capacity. According to Murat Zhurebekov, …

Speaking at a COP26 press conference in Glasgow, Scotland on Wednesday, a panoply of experts from the tech-environmental sector spoke to global citizens across the world about improving coordination and support for climate action with blockchain technology. The GloCha United Citizens Organization for Action for Climate Empowerment has been launched at COP26 as a blockchain-based quasi-international organization located in Klagenfurt, Austria. It will now seek to utilize blockchain technology to advance climate change objectives in alignment with the UN SDGs. The UCO is rooted in the Action for Climate Empowerment Innovation Project, or ACE_AT, as well as Global Challenges Action …

United Kingdom-based crypto mining company Argo Blockchain will be funding part of the building and equipment of its planned 800-megawatt data center in West Texas through an offering of senior notes. According to a Nov. 8 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Argo plans to offer $57.5 million worth of 8.75% senior unsecured notes set to mature on Nov. 30, 2026. The company said it intends to use the proceeds for rigs at its Texas crypto mining facility as well as construction costs. Argo broke ground on the 200 MW crypto mining facility based in July, reporting the site …

Real-world use cases are one of the main adoption drivers for every crypto ecosystem, which also holds true for the Bitcoin (BTC) network. In the next seven days, the Bitcoin protocol will undergo a soft fork in the name of Taproot upgrade, which aims to improve the network’s privacy, efficiency and smart contracts capability. Taproot is Bitcoin’s first major upgrade since August 2017, which saw the introduction of Segregated Witness (SegWit) and resulted in the launch of Lightning Network. While the previous fork primarily sought to fix transaction malleability and improve Bitcoin’s network scalability, the Taproot upgrade aims to revamp …

U.K.-based crypto mining company Argo Blockchain’s plans to build an 800-megawatt data center in West Texas could cost anywhere from $1.5-2 billion. According to a Nov. 5 regulatory filing from Argo, the $2 billion cost estimate for the Helios mining facility built on a 320-acre land plot in Texas was based on “the type of mining machines to be installed in the facility, the mix of owned and hosted machines, the cost of raw materials, labour and power required to construct the facility, the timing of build-out and machine purchase, and other factors.” However, the firm added that this was …