Australian Bitcoin miner Iris Energy said it had increased its hash rate to more than 2.3 exahashes per second following the completion of phase two of its operations in Mackenzie, Canada. In a Monday announcement, Iris Energy said it had brought 41 megawatts of operating capacity in the British Columbia municipality online roughly two months ahead of schedule, adding 1.5 EH/s to its existing hash rate. In addition, the Bitcoin (BTC) miner expects to bring another 50 MW online in Prince George by the end of the third quarter of 2022, increasing its operating capacity to 3.7 EH/s. Iris Energy …

"In 2015, I quit my job at the tender age of 29 to do something I'd never done, which is to write a book with no idea of what would come afterward." Fast forward seven years later, Alex Tapscott is now a Canadian business author, known for his national bestseller Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin is Changing Money, Business, and the World. Aside from his writing ventures, Tapscott is also the founder and CEO of digital assets investment company NextBlock as well the co-founder of Blockchain Research Institute along with his father, Don Tapscott. But what drove the …

KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms in Canada and the United States, has revealed the opening of its first metaverse collaboration hub to help its employees and clients pursue growth opportunities in the digital era. KPMG is entering the metaverse with a new collaboration hub that will connect employees, clients and others with Web3. The company is making a collective $30 million investment this year in Web3 experiences, with the metaverse hub as the "signature piece." According to a Tuesday report by Fortune, the hub will be focused on education, collaboration, training, events and workshops with Cliff Justice, …

Digital asset investment products saw record outflows totaling $423 million last week, with institutional investors from Canada representing nearly all of the carnage. According to the latest edition of CoinShares’ weekly “Digital Asset Fund Flows” report, Canadian investors offloaded a whopping $487.5 million worth of digital asset products between June 20 and June 24. The total outflows for the week were partially offset by $70 million worth of inflows from other countries, with United States-based investors accounting for more than half of the inflows with $41 million. Outside of the U.S., investors from Germany and Switzerland accounted for inflows totaling …

The Ontario Securities Commission, or OSC, issued financial penalties against Bybit and KuCoin, claiming violation of securities laws and operating unregistered crypto asset trading platforms. In a Wednesday announcement, the Ontario regulator said it had obtained orders banning KuCoin from participating in the province’s capital markets and fining the exchange for more than $1.6 million. The OSC also announced that, as part of a settlement agreement, Bybit disgorged roughly $2.4 million and paid the regulator $7,724 as part of the costs of its investigation. Both firms allegedly failed to comply with Ontario securities laws, but only Bybit “responded to the …

The Canadian operations of Big Four auditor Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler, or KPMG, may have a role to play in institutions entering the crypto space, according to two team members. Speaking to Cointelegraph at the Collision conference in Toronto on Tuesday, Kareem Sadek and Kunal Bhasin of KPMG Canada’s crypto assets and blockchain services team said the company had added Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) to its balance sheet to show others it “had skin in the game.” According to Sadek, holding digital assets was just the first step moving deeper into the crypto space. “We thought it’s better to …

Canada's Purpose Bitcoin ETF (BTCC) witnessed its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings slashed by half in just one day, suggesting an alarmingly waning buying sentiment among the crypto's most-experienced investors. Purpose Bitcoin ETF has 51% of AUM slashed The fund's holdings dropped from $47,818 BTC to 23,307 BTC between June 16 and 17, its lowest level since October 2021. The 51% drop in BTC holding is also the biggest daily outflow ever. Interestingly, another Canadian crypto fund, dubbed 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin ETF, witnessed similar outflows, dropping from 23,917 BTC on June 1 to 12,668 BTC on June 17, suggesting the Purpose's massive …

Cryptocurrency derivatives exchange FTX has entered into an agreement to purchase Canadian crypto platform Bitvo. In a Friday announcement, FTX Trading Limited said it planned to acquire Bitvo as part of the crypto exchange’s effort to offer its products and services to Canadia-based users. The company added that the deal was “subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions,” but expected to close in the third quarter of 2022. "We are delighted to enter the Canadian marketplace and continue to expand FTX's global reach,” said FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF. “Our expansion into Canada is another step in proactively …

The Canadian restaurant franchise Tahini’s serves Middle East-inspired food with a Bitcoin-inspired twist. Since August 2020, when the price of Bitcoin (BTC) was under $20,000, the group has operated on a Bitcoin standard, with any profits it makes swept into BTC. The Tahini’s Twitter account has since argued that Bitcoin is the “most Islamic” thing Muslims can do with their wealth, and the group educates its customers on sound money. It has even become a niche bear market meme, with Michael Saylor famously saying he might apply to work night shifts at Tahini’s during January’s price correction: May apply for …

Despite May’s price correction, which took Bitcoin (BTC) as low as $23,800, institutional investors seem unwilling to lose confidence in the cryptocurrency. The Purpose Bitcoin ETF, launched in February 2021, has been seeing a consistent inflow over the last five trading days. The fund’s holdings have increased to 43,701.7 BTC as of Tuesday, according to Glassnode data reported by Jan Wustenfeld. That’s the highest level on record. The Canadian #Bitcoin Purpose spot ETF has seen persistent inflows over the last 5 trading days. Wed: 752 BTC Thu: 2.06k BTC Fri: 1.82k BTC Mon: 6 BTC Tue: 2.78k BTC Assets under …

The Chinese government has not managed to take down cryptocurrency operations as part of its crypto ban last year as China has re-emerged as one of the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining hubs, according to a new report. China became the second-largest Bitcoin hash rate provider as of January 2022, months after the local government banned all crypto operations in the country, according to the latest update from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) shared with Cointelegraph on Tuesday. Bitcoin miners in China accounted for 21.1% of the total global BTC mining hash rate distribution as of early 2022, …

Bitcoin (BTC) descending to $24,000 has cost its largest institutional investment vehicle more than the average hodler. According to data from on-chain monitoring resource Coinglass on May 13, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) is now trading at a nearly 31% discount. Grayscale CEO: Investors are "waiting for things to settle down" Amid ongoing market volatility this week, GBTC has seen its fledgling recovery fall flat on its face — for the time being. The so-called GBTC premium, long in negative territory and thus a discount in practice, has now reached its lowest ever. As of May 13, the discount was …