While Kazakhstan’s government is catching up with the tremendous volume of crypto mining in the country by introducing new taxes and regulations, the local central bank intends to explore the possibilities that crypto offers. During the press conference held on Tuesday, the chairman of the Kazakhstan National Bank, Galymzhan Pirmatov, stated that the nation aims to extract the profit from technologies the cryptocurrency market could provide. He emphasized the attractiveness of innovations and made reservations about the risks to macroeconomic stability. The official doesn’t think that the bank is late to the game: “I don’t think that the National Bank …

The “long waves” of TerraUSD’s May 7 collapse, which we noted two newsletters ago, are extending even further. Last week brought some notable reactions to the stablecoin’s depegging in the East Asia region. A Chinese state-owned media outlet, the Economic Daily has signaled that the Chinese government may introduce even tighter regulations on cryptocurrencies and stablecoins due to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem. It might even mean a complete ban on stablecoins to prohibit ownership, transfer, purchase and sale of the assets, some experts believe. What China plans, Japan does — as a new law will limit the issuance …

As the heated up discussion around the ethical aspects of using fossil fuels in crypto mining remains one of the key topics for the industry, an unexpected partnership between a Denver-based mining company and the government of a gas-rich Middle Eastern country sets a horizon for a positive role of crypto in cutting the fossil fuels waste. On Wednesday, June 1, Bloomberg reported that Crusoe Energy, an operator repurposing wasted fuel energy to the computational power of crypto mining, would start its work in Oman, a nation that exports 21% of its gas production and seeks zero gas flaring by …

Kazakhstan, one of the global leaders in crypto mining with a recent history of hostile measures against the industry, is taking a step toward a comprehensive fiscal framework for mining operators. On Thursday, May 25, the lower chamber of Kazakh parliament, Mejlis, passed in the first reading the amendments to the national tax code, regulating the fiscal burden on crypto mining. These amendments suggest graded tax rates tied to the electricity prices consumed by mining entities. For example, the cheapest grade of electricity prices, 5 to 10 tenges ($0,012–0,024) for Kwh, would come with an additional burden of 10 tenges …

The hash rate of the Bitcoin (BTC) network hit a new ATH, even when the price of the top cryptocurrency struggled to get past the $40,000 mark. The network's hash rate hit a new record high of 258 EH/s on Thursday before settling around the 220 EH/s mark. The recent rise in the BTC network hash rate signifies the growing number of miners on the blockchain. The Bitcoin network hash rate has grown more than 400% since the Chinese crypto mining ban last year when it fell below 70 EH/s. The Bitcoin network managed to recover from the significant hash …

Over the last couple of years, the world has been grappling with the lack of semiconductors, which are the substances that conduct electricity between metals and isolates. The most famous semiconductor is silicon. If correlating this concept to electronic devices, then the key semiconductors are processors and other microcircuits that are present in almost all devices that people use every day, from smartphones to cars. In 2021, semiconductors hit a world record in terms of sales. Electronics production also boomed, with hundreds of millions of complex semiconductors being devoured by gaming consoles. The number of GPUs produced grew to unseen …

Bitcoin (BTC) mining in Norway is 100% renewable and “flourishing” according to a report by Arcane Research. “A green oasis of renewable energy,” Norway contributes almost 1% to the global hash rate and is almost entirely powered by hydropower. The report compiled data from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index and data from Coinshares to conclude that Norway contributes 0.77% to the Bitcoin total global hashrate. By way of comparison, Norway’s population of 5 million contributes a tenth of that–or 0.07% of the global population. Crucially, according to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), Norway’s electricity mix is …

The energy usage and environmental impact of Bitcoin (BTC) mining have been frowned upon and been under the scanner by various international financial institutions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) mentions how Bitcoin mining consumes “vast amounts of computing power and electricity.” Bitcoin mining is an energy-consuming process, as it is a proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain network that involves providing cryptographic proof to the network that a quantified amount of a specific computational effort has been used. The information used to verify this is stored in a block to be accepted into the network by other participants. Elon Musk, one of the …

The Guangdong province’s Development and Reform Commission has reportedly busted an illegal crypto mining farm secretly operating in an electric vehicle charging station. The secret crypto mining farm was busted in the city of Guangzhou, where law enforcement agencies have constantly been making inspections around cities to enforce and eradicate any form of mining operations in the region, reported a local publication. The covert mining operation used over 190 crypto mining machines estimated to be worth 5 million yuan ($7,91,450), which were seized on the spot. The authorities claimed that even though mining operations consume a lot of energy, they …

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 …

The Bitcoin (BTC) network has recorded a new hash rate all-time high of 248.11M TH/s as of Feb. 12, 2022, further securing the decentralized ecosystem through a growing network of global BTC miners. The hash rate correlates to the computing power required by a miner’s computer equipment to confirm a transaction. The recent spike in BTC’s network hash rate ensures further security against attacks by deterring bad actors from confirming fraudulent transactions. As evidenced by the above screenshot, the network hash rate jumped 31.69% — from 188.40 EH/s to 248.11 EH/s — in just one day. Moreover, the Bitcoin network’s …

All things have their humble beginnings; in 2010, the first Bitcoin (BTC) mining project was created in Prague, Czechia, and was simply called Bitcoin.cz. Soon afterward, founder Mark "Slush" Palatinus decided to move on to other ventures, such as creating the world's first cryptocurrency hard wallet, Trezor. As a result, Braiins, a company doing embedded Linux development and research, took over the mining pool and renamed it accordingly. Fast forward to today, Braiins (Slush Pool) has grown to become one of the biggest Bitcoin mining pools. There are now over 15,000 users in the space, with its total hash rate …