Tom Baumann of the Climate Chain Coalition: Tom is the founder and co-chair of the Climate Chain Coalition, an open global initiative to advance collaboration on blockchain/DLT and digital solutions to enhance climate actions. “In general, digital solutions can be helpful tools to support a low-carbon economy. The World Economic Forum estimates that digital solutions can help achieve 15% of the Paris Agreement goals. These solutions can be used throughout the entire economy, creating smart grids and buildings, smart transportation, integrating with digital services and more. Digital tools could link sustainable production to sustainable consumption in a more efficient, equitable …

Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has detected more than 1,500 fraudulent entities targeting potential crypto investors and miners just in the first half of 2021. Kaspersky’s research shows that 0.60% of users from South African countries have already been targeted by malicious crypto miners. The report also suggests that the most common methods of duping unwary users involved false advertisements claiming to sell mining equipment and fake websites posing as crypto exchanges. Kaspersky’s data based on anonymized statistics revealed that 0.85% of crypto investors from Kenya and 0.71% Nigerians were targets of crypto-miner malware, while investors from Ethiopia (3.68%) and Rwanda …

A cryptocurrency mining company has reported profitable growth in Q2 reports as a result of global mining initiatives. According to its financial report, the company achieved net revenues of approximately US$445.1 million in the second quarter, an increase of 146 times from the previous quarter. With 95% of total revenue earned from mining pools, this avenue has become a key business line of the company. BIT Mining Limited (BTCM) is a global mining company based in Hong Kong. The company currently covers crypto mining, mining pools, and data center operations and has plans for expanded operations and node deployment across …

Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade reportedly dismissed claims by leading power company Tavanir that blamed illegal cryptocurrency miners for the ongoing power shortages in the country. According to a report by the Financial Tribune, Alireza Hadi, the ministry’s director of investment and planning, said that the figures announced by Tavanir “seem to be highly exaggerated.” Hadi questioned Tavanir’s claims that illegal mining activities consume 2,000 megawatts of power. “This amount would equal power used by 3 million pieces of hardware,” he said. While mining cryptocurrency has been legalized by the Iranian government, Tavanir blames unregistered miners for nationwide …

Earlier this year, the Chinese government took the momentous step to ban any crypto mining operations based within its borders, causing a massive exodus of hashing power — 168 exa hashes per second (EH/s) to nearly 86 EH/s as of June 23, representing a drop of nearly 40% — from China to surrounding countries. As a quick refresher, the hash rate refers to the total computational power needed to acquire a single Bitcoin (BTC). In other words, one can say that while central banks issue fiat currencies, miners are provided with new Bitcoin for solving pieces of complex mathematical code …

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has called on the government to mine cryptocurrency use spare power infrastructure. Lukashenko spoke at the opening of the Petrikovsky mining and processing plant on Aug. 27, urging workers to move into crypto mining in Belarus instead of pursuing low-paying farming positions abroad, Russian news agency RBC reported. The president said that Belarus has enough electricity resources to power cryptocurrency mining, pointing to abandoned industrial sites that could be used to generate revenue. Lukashenko stated: “We must understand, they are not waiting for us anywhere [...] Build something based on electricity. After all, start mining cryptocurrencies …

Authorities from Russia’s Zavolzhsky district have found a 34-year-old local man guilty of stealing cryptocurrency mining equipment worth more than 1.6 million Russian rubles (nearly $22,000). According to a report shared by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Yaroslavl Region, the state prosecutor confirmed that the Yaroslavl resident was found entering a friend’s garage unlawfully back in February 2021 and stealing their mining equipment that was intended to be used for earning cryptocurrency. The authorities found the Russian man to be guilty of committing a crime, citing large-scale theft of property and illegal entry. In court, the now-convict reportedly admitted to …

On August 10, the United States Senate voted to pass a $1 trillion bill to revitalize America’s infrastructure. From the standpoint of the crypto community, miners in particular, the Senate’s foray into crypto legislation has been a disaster. Unless the language defining brokers in the bill is clarified, it will singlehandedly thwart the growth of a domestic industry just as it is taking off. As written, the bill allows for multiple interpretations of the term “broker.” In the English language, there is no real controversy — or ambiguity — about what a broker does. According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, a …

An Afghan refugee who had planned to start a crypto mining business has been arrested in Turkey after illegally crossing the border. According to a Reuters report, Muhammad Ali’s goal was to mine Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH) in Afghanistan before the recent Taliban takeover, when he was forced to flee the country. He claimed that with the restrictions on personal liberties the group was likely to impose, smartphones with cameras could easily be deemed illegal, and internet access could be compromised. Ali, who previously had a YouTube channel where he discussed financial topics, reportedly left Afghanistan amid the Taliban …

Seychelles-based crypto exchange KuCoin is launching a mining pool aimed at providing revenue to proof-of-work miners after integrating their rigs. In a Wednesday announcement, the exchange said its KuCoin Pool product would allow miners around the world to contribute to the Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and share rewards. At the moment, miners are required to install and run the necessary hardware themselves to join the pool, but KuCoin said it would introduce mining in the cloud in the future. KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu also claimed the pool would be encouraging miners to participate in environmentally-friendly solutions — people …

Major publicly-listed Bitcoin mining firm, Riot Blockchain, has reported record revenues for Q2 2021. In its Aug. 23 quarterly financial report, the U.S.-based firm reported $31.5 million in mining-related revenues for the three-month period — up roughly 1,540% from its Q2 2020 revenue of $1.9 million. The surging mining revenues drove a record quarterly net income of $19.3 million. By contrast, the company suffered a $10.6 million net loss for the second quarter of 2020. Riot held $195.4 million worth of cash and Bitcoin holdings as of June 30, 2021. As of July 31, the firm’s unaudited BTC balance stood …

Iran will once again allow Bitcoin and crypto miners to operate in the country from the last week of September. According to a report by Iran’s Financial Tribune, Tavanir, the country’s power generation organization, made the decision known earlier in August. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Iran’s government banned Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto mining operations back in May. At the time, the decision was reportedly made to prevent miners from overburdening the grid during the hot summer months. Indeed, Bitcoin miners have been blamed for incessant blackouts and power shortages in Iran. Such has been the extent of the problem …