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CleanSpark Orders Purchases of New Bitcoin Mining Rigs to Survive Bear Market

by Blockchain NewsJune 17, 2022

Nevada-based bitcoin mining firm CleanSpark, Inc, announced on Thursday that it has placed a purchase order for 1800 Antminer S19 XP units as it continues expanding its infrastructure.

Once fully deployed, CleanSpark expects the mining machines to add over 252 petahashes per second (PH/s) to the company’s bitcoin mining capacity.

As per the acquired contract, the company said that the Antminer S19 XP machines will begin arriving at CleanSpark’s facilities in August, and shipping will continue taking place through the next six months.

Besides that, CleanSpark disclosed that it has partnered with TMGcore Inc – a major developer of data centre hardware specializing in next-generation liquid immersion cooled technologies – to expand its immersion-cooled infrastructure for sustainable mining.

The new partnership with TMGcore includes 257 units of TMGcore’s proprietary immersion-cooled tanks that are designed to improve the performance of CleanSpark’s mining machines while significantly reducing their failure rates over long-term use.

CleanSpark plans to deploy the units in batches at its College Park, Georgia, and its facilities in other locations as determined. The partnership also provides CleanSpark with 2 megawatts (MW) of colocation capacity at TMGcore’s state-of-the-art immersion-cooled mining facility in Plano, Texas.

A Decline of Mining Profitability

The latest move seems that CleanSpark is taking advantage of the bear market and falling prices for Bitcoin mining rigs by purchasing new efficient miners.

It appears that the bearish market is hitting all sectors of the crypto space, including mining firms which are responsible for validating transactions and maintaining the network integrity of the Bitcoin network.

Currently, many Bitcoin miners are selling off their mined tokens as the reduced price of Bitcoin has slashed their profit margins. This happens coincidentally with wider capital markets that have become less friendly with major indexes officially entering a bear market, having lost 20% or more this year.

While the hard situation has forced some miners to close their businesses one by one, the survivors like Core Scientific, Marathon, Riot, Hut 8 and Bitfarms are not without casualties as news about their struggles has also emerged. Some of these firms started selling some of their mined Bitcoins that they normally hold on their balance sheets in order to pay for operational expenses.

However, the current difficult market condition is an opportunity for survivors to accumulate both Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining rigs. Firms that are prepared and acquire the latest generation equipment with locked-in power rates will benefit from current market conditions.

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Kraken to Trail Binance in Hiring Over 500 Staffs Amid Crypto Meltdown

by Blockchain NewsJune 17, 2022

Kraken exchange has made a very bold revelation that it does not intend to make any layoffs despite the growing concerns about the ongoing crypto-economic meltdown.

As shared in a recent blog post, Kraken said a lot of its staff have been asking what the current market outlook means for the staff, a question that the exchange said its response to was that this downturn is not the first of its kind.

Kraken explained that it believes so much in the potential of the digital currency ecosystem, and it has patterned its growth to fit the long-term pursuits, rather than immediate profit-making. The trading platform said it plans to fill more than 500 roles in the remaining months of the year.

“We have not adjusted our hiring plan, and we do not intend to make any layoffs. We have over 500 roles to fill during the remainder of the year, and believe bear markets are fantastic at weeding out the applicants chasing hype from the true believers in our mission,” the trading platform said adding,

“That’s why, despite a steep decline in crypto prices and an uncertain macro environment, we’ve taken this opportunity to align our internal culture around a set of shared values we feel will keep us agile, focused, and competitive as we execute on our mission in the years ahead.”

The exchange said it also has a flexible work culture where it supports any employee who cannot keep up with its defined corporate culture.

Hiring Peck Order Amongst Crypto Giants

Pecking order is currently being created amongst crypto trading platforms worldwide. Beginning with Gemini which said it will retrench 10% of its workforce, Coinbase exchange has also followed suit, noting it has laid off 18% of its global staff earlier this week.

Amidst this turmoil, exchanges like Binance have promised to hire an additional 2,000 staff as it looks to make the most of this current market downtime. That Kraken is joining this move is evidence that the melting industry as a whole is not impacting all companies equally.

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Tagged : Binance / CRYPTO MARKET / Kraken / News / RECRUITMENT

Huobi to Cease Operations in Thailand After SEC Revokes License

by Blockchain NewsJune 17, 2022

The Thailand subsidiary of the Huobi cryptocurrency exchange had its operating license revoked by the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for failing to comply with the system security requirements laid down by the regulator.

The license had come into effect on May 17 and the trading platform has been given until July 1 to shut down operations.

The Thai outfit Huobi was first flagged in March last year for its inadequate system measures. It was then suspended in September on grounds that its customer asset retention platform, information technology system and trading systems were below standards. The suspension came with numerous extensions granted for the trading platform to fix the flagged issues, but no progress was made.

“The Minister of Finance, on the recommendation of the SEC, has ordered the revocation of the digital asset exchange business license of Huobi (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Huobi), which was later renamed to D. Esdaq (Thailand) Co., Ltd. since May 17, 2022, as the SEC has the resolution to recommend to the Minister of Finance. due to failure to rectify the work system and personnel to be ready and in accordance with the relevant rules and conditions as ordered by the SEC,” the regulator said in an announcement.

Huobi has heeded all of the instructions and it has put out a notice to its customers that it will stop existing as of July 1. The exchange has asked its customers to withdraw their funds prior to the deadline and shared a contact line for customers who would not have liquidated their assets before the set time.

Despite Thailand’s receptiveness to the digital currency ecosystem, it is swift in sanctioning erring outfits, just as it has done with Thai Huobi. The closure of its Thailand business will come off as yet another subsidiary of Huobi that will be buckling under intense regulations following its exit from China back in September last year.

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Tagged : #Huobi / Crypto / Exchanges / HUOBI THAILAND / SEC

BitBoy Crypto to Launch Class Action Lawsuit Against Celsius

by Blockchain NewsJune 17, 2022

Ben Armstrong, popularly known as BitBoy Crypto is taking the cessation of withdrawals by crypto lending platform Celsius more personally and has threatened to file a class-action lawsuit against the embattled lender.

Following his announcement on Wednesday stating;

“Today we will begin the process of bringing a Class Action Lawsuit against @CelsiusNetwork and Alex @Mashinsky,” BitBoy has reportedly been talking with a legal team with respect to the best approach to take in seeking legal redress for Celsius locking up his funds.

The crypto YouTuber, whose followers number in the millions, posited that he had loans that were due on Celsius and that he could not at the very least access his locked funds to service those debts. He said despite getting confirmation from his Celsius account rep, he had to send more funds to the platform to pay off those debts.

“Our account rep at @CelsiusNetwork is @ronald_loh. He told us we had enough money in our account to pay off a loan. But we can’t use money in our account. We HAVE TO SEND CELSIUS MORE MONEY TO PAY IT OFF.” he tweeted.

Amstrong said the only reason why Celsius will not let him use his funds is that the platform is insolvent. Insolvency is a term that is used for a firm that does not have the capacity to meet its debt obligations.

“So you may be asking yourself the question, “why would they not let you pay off the loan with money/crypto/stables that are already in your account?,” he said, “IT’S BECAUSE THEY ARE TOTALLY INSOLVENT. The money that shows in our account isn’t actually there. That’s the only reason we can’t use it. It’s not there. And these idiots have the audacity to think that we are going to send more?”

While the details of the approach to the class action or the plaintiffs joining him are still unclear, Celsius still has an active offer from Nexo to buy off its collateralized loans. Amidst the complexity being seen today, the next few weeks might be more challenging for Celsius, BitBoy, and the other parties involved.

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Tagged : BITBOYCRYPTO / Celsius / Lawsuit / Legal

Mark Cuban Says Crypto Startups With Good Fundamental Will Thrive

by Blockchain NewsJune 17, 2022

With the combined crypto market capitalization slumping far below the $1 trillion mark earlier this week, several crypto projects are facing a massive economic downturn in response.

Weighing on the current outlook of the ecosystem, Mark Cuban, an Ethereum maximalist and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, is backing projects with positive fundamentals in the crypto industry.

In an interview with Fortune, Cuban said events like the one the crypto industry is currently experiencing will expose and crumble companies being sustained by poor market fundamentals.

“In stocks and crypto, you will see companies that were sustained by cheap, easy money—but didn’t have valid business prospects—will disappear,” the Shark Tank investor told Fortune. “Like [Warren] Buffett says, ‘When the tide goes out, you get to see who is swimming naked.’”

Cuban’s assertion is playing out vividly with companies like Celsius currently unable to meet up with its withdrawal obligations when it suspended this aspect of its operations just before the start of the week. The past month has seen numerous projects like Terra crumble, while legacy companies like Coinbase, BlockFi, and Gemini have announced plans to downsize their operations to cut costs.

To Cuban, these are not new, however, he maintained that there is light at the end of the tunnel as projects with good fundamentals usually survive this comprehensive onslaught.

“Disruptive applications and technology released during a bear market, whether stocks or crypto or any business, will always find a market and succeed,” he said.

Cuban is one of the Wall Street investors whose influence in the digital currency ecosystem is very strong. Known as a staunch advocate of Dogecoin (DOGE), Cuban is one of the investors who are in the space for the long haul. As a show that he understands the dynamics in the crypto world, he has a number of NFTs and investments in blockchain companies.

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Tagged : Blockchain / Crypto / Cryptocurrency / Industry Expert / MARKCUBAN / Warrenbuffett

Likvidi Launches Platform to Help Farmers Access Carbon Credit Markets

by Blockchain NewsJune 17, 2022

Sustainable finance company Likvidi on Thursday announced a strategic investment and partnership deal with Israeli startup Albo Climate.

Through the partnership, the two firms have launched ‘Veriforest’, a new global digital registry forestry platform, to enable small landowners (small-scale farmers) and medium sized forest administrators (firms owning lands and forests) to access the carbon offset markets.

The carbon credit market has been inaccessible to such landowners due to high transaction, monitoring, and reporting costs that have discouraged their participation.

The global digital registry forestry platform, therefore, removes barriers preventing small landowners and midsize forest administrators from accessing the carbon offset markets. The platform will make it possible for millions of such landowners to commit themselves to sustain their land’s legacy for future generations.

Albo Climate applies AI to satellite imagery to map, measure, and monitor carbon sequestration and scale-up carbon removal.

Agriculture and forestry activities are sources of GHG emissions. The good news is that forest landowners can generate carbon offsets through new afforestation, and reforestation projects, among others. This ensures that land use has a positive impact on livelihoods, food supply, the economy, environmental restoration, development goals, and climate targets.

To do this, Likvidi and Albo have launched the global technology-enabled platform for carbon sequestration (removal). This global platform provides entry to the international carbon market for small-scale forest landowners who are realizing agroforestry projects for carbon sequestration through biomass growth, majorly through trees, which is measured with the help of satellite monitoring.

The platform supports the initiation and development of such agroforestry projects and facilitates the subsequent trade of the so-called ‘carbon removal units (CRUs)’ that are generated from the sequestered carbon.

The launch of the new platform is set to enable landowners to get a real-time value assessment of how much income their forest properties could generate in the voluntary carbon market.

Landowners who choose to enrol their forest or land properties on the digital registry platform would lock in multi-year payments for the resulting carbon offsets from buyers seeking to offset carbon emissions. There is no cost to landowners to use the digital platform.

Veriforest combines blockchain with Albo’s satellite and AI capabilities to accurately monitor the carbon sequestration of forestland which will make carbon credits more tangible than ever before.

Veriforest has therefore created an end-to-end solution that offers tokenized carbon credits for offset to individuals and firms.

The new partnership means that forested areas can now be quickly and accurately assessed for carbon storage and credit issuance and logged in the Veriforest registry platform. The Veriforest solution can scale to meet the massive demand for measurements of carbon-related data and can bring carbon credits to market faster than existing traditional methods.

Albo Climate CEO Dr Jacques Amselem talked about the development and said: “It’s a pleasure to work with our fellow passionate technologists at Likvidi and to be able to bring our satellite imagery analysis products to enhance the Veriforest solution that Likvidi is building. We look forward to years of partnership ahead.”

Israeli startup Albo Climate has built a revolutionary technology for the estimation of carbon stocks and sequestration. It’s AI technology uses proprietary Deep Learning algorithms to analyze satellite imagery and validate carbon credits for forestry projects anywhere across the world. Satellite-mounted sensors are able to scan vegetation and pick up information not visible to the naked eye.

Albo’s technology uses AI (artificial intelligence) and ground truth datasets to produce an in-depth profile of carbon storage over a huge area. The analysis has applications for both small- and large-scale projects.

Image source: https://mondovisione.com/media-and-resources/news/likvidi-launches-digital-forest-carbon-registry-powered-by-albo-climates-satel/

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Tagged : ALBOCLIMATE / Blockchain / Forest / LIKVIDI / News