Cryptocurrencies represent significant potential for their ability to equalize the playing field. With this form of digital asset, anyone, regardless of their place of birth, has equal rights to participate in the financial market. Unfortunately, the ones that are believed to use these assets the most are coincidentally those who have the least heard voice when it comes to sharing their benefits — a sad reality since many in this target group live in developing nations. Therefore, with a properly designed economic system, the world might achieve tremendous wealth, effectively wiping out all the poverty in the world. The resulting …

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of crypto exchange FTX, has criticized the efficiency of Bitcoin (BTC) as a payment network, only to meet heavy backlash from the crypto community. During an interview with the Financial Times, Bankman-Fried fueled environmental concerns associated with the Bitcoin network’s mining consensus proof-of-work (PoW) and claimed it's not scalable enough to accommodate millions of transactions. He advocated for the use of proof-of-stake (PoS) mining consensus instead and claimed it is better suited for blockchain payment networks. He said: “Things that you’re doing millions of transactions a second with have to be extremely efficient and lightweight and …

A group of eight organizations focused on the environment have called on different government agencies under the Biden administration to implement new approaches in response to proof-of-work (PoW) and other crypto mining operations. In a letter to the United States Office of Science and Technology Policy on Monday, the Environmental Working Group, Earthjustice, Greenpeace, the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, the Seneca Lake Guardian and the Milwaukee Riverkeeper urged the White House to enact policies aimed at curbing “the electricity use and climate pollution associated with digital currencies that rely on [PoW].” Specifically, the …

On April 26, the State of New York put itself at the forefront of the regulatory struggle with crypto, as its Assembly voted for a two-year moratorium on crypto mining operations that use energy generated by fossil-fuel power plants. Depending on how one looks at it, this development could either signal a new alarming legislative trend or a trigger that would accelerate the digital asset industry’s movement toward a more sustainable path. Moratorium with further evaluation The lower chamber of the NY state legislature, the Assembly, passed a bill that would put a two-year hold on any new mining operations …

Up until April 25, Bitcoin (BTC) bulls had been defending the $38,000 level, but bulls were caught off-guard by the recent drop. As Bitcoin plunged from $46,700 to $37,700 between April 5 and 26, most of the bullish bets for the upcoming $1.96 billion monthly options expiry became worthless. Regulatory concerns continue to pose a threat to Bitcoin and on April 26, the New York State Assembly passed a bill banning new proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency carbon-based mining facilities in the state. Fortunately for Bitcoin, mining equipment is portable so there's no real risk to the Bitcoin network's security but the …

The New York State Assembly passed a bill late on Tuesday that would place a two-year ban on all new proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency mining facilities in the state that use a carbon-based fuel to power their operations. The bill, sponsored by Anna Kelles, would not only impose a two-year hold on approval of any new Bitcoin mines, but the proposed moratorium would also prevent the renewal of permits issued to existing PoW cryptocurrency miners using carbon sourced energy if they seek to increase the amount of electricity consumed. Thrilled that my bill with Senate champion @kevinparkernyc A7389C/S6486D just passed in …

Proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain Kadena has launched a $100 million grant program to encourage Web3 development on its platform, potentially opening the door to more use cases for the layer-1 protocol. The grant program is an extension of Kadena Eco, an initiative designed to grow the Kadena ecosystem through the development of gaming, metaverse, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3 projects. Stuart Popejoy, Kadena’s founder and CEO, said his firm will be deploying “treasury resources” to strengthen the long-term sustainability of the protocol. Web3 participants need to recognize its potential to revolutionize participation in various fields. https://t.co/pf6seKA2hc — Cointelegraph …

Ethereum's long-awaited transition away from proof-of-work (PoW) mining has recently suffered another delay and is expected to occur in the second half of 2022. Ethereum developer Tim Beiko stated on April 13 that "it won't be June, but likely in the few months after. No firm date yet, but we're definitely in the final chapter of PoW on Ethereum." An automated increase in mining difficulty designed to make PoW mining less attractive is set to become active around May. Known as the "difficulty bomb," it will eventually make blocks "unbearably slow," forcing the upgrade to a proof-of-stake (PoS) network. Such …

The European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs recently approved a draft of its comprehensive Markets in Crypto Assets, or MiCA, crypto regulation package. The new framework covers a wide range of crypto-related subjects, such as the status of all major currencies and stablecoins and the regulation of crypto mining and exchange platforms. Stefan Berger, a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is the Parliament’s rapporteur for the upcoming MiCA regulation — the person appointed to report on proceedings related to the bill. In the associated negotiations, the German politician vehemently opposed, among other things, a ban on …

The much-dreaded prospect of a ban on cryptocurrencies that use proof-of-work (PoW) consensus is making its way into a key European digital asset directive appears to have blown over. March 24 marked the last day when the European Parliament could stop the current draft of the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) from proceeding to further consideration. The proponents of outlawing operations with PoW-based digital assets could not muster enough support to challenge the bill's current version, meaning that MiCa will safely pass on to be reviewed in tripartite meetings between the European Parliament, European Commission and European Council. On March …

Last week, Bitcoin (BTC) dodged a regulatory bullet in the European Union when proposed cryptocurrency legislation was altered to not include a ban on proof-of-work- (PoW)-based crypto assets. Policymakers had raised a number of concerns about the relative anonymity of crypto transactions and their environmental impact. Some experts including Tim Frost, founder and CEO of Yield App, believe that the “climate change” angle reflects a hidden attempt to ban Bitcoin. But, why? The proposed EU regulation on Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) can be seen as a hybrid approach, which sometimes treats crypto assets as securities and at other times …

Earlier today, members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs in the European Parliament voted against a version of the Markets in Crypto Assets, or MiCA, bill that could have effectively banned the proof-of-work-based cryptocurrencies within the EU. This comes as a huge relief for the crypto industry, whose representatives had previously warned about the threat of a hardline regulatory scenario. MiCA is a regulatory framework that contains 126 articles, as well as a detailed plan of their implementation by the EU’s and member states’ institutions. The draft was introduced by the European Commission back in 2020 …