Tag: Cryptocurrency Mining

WEF Promotes Eco-Friendly Crypto Mining Firm Crusoe Energy

by Blockchain News

The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently shared a video promoting the efforts of Crusoe Energy Systems, a Colorado-based cryptocurrency mining firm that has been recognized for its eco-friendly practices. The video focuses on Crusoe’s innovative approach to reducing flaring, a process where large amounts of gas are wasted during oil production or from decomposition.

In the video, Chase Lochmiller, CEO and co-founder of Crusoe, explained that the company builds and operates modular data centers that are co-located with waste energy sources to use wasted methane streams to generate power. This enables the production of ultra-low-cost computing infrastructure by utilizing stranded energy sources that would otherwise go unused.

Despite the prominent imagery of what appears to be cryptocurrency mining facilities presented throughout the video, it never directly addresses what is actually happening. However, several crypto industry figures, including MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor, praised Crusoe’s efforts and recognized the environmental benefits of their approach to mining.

Kristine Cranley, a director at the advocacy group the Texas Blockchain Council, pointed out in a tweet that the video didn’t once mention “the b word”: Bitcoin. However, it’s worth noting that Crusoe Energy Systems did expand its Bitcoin mining assets through the acquisition of Great American Mining (GAM) in October 2022, adding over 10 megawatts to its mining output, along with approximately 4,000 application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) crypto-mining rigs.

Crusoe Energy Systems’ innovative approach to cryptocurrency mining has not gone unnoticed, as they recently partnered with the government of Oman in June 2022. Oman exports 21% of its gas production and seeks zero gas flaring by 2030. Crusoe will open an office in Oman’s capital city of Muscat and install its equipment for capturing gas waste at well sites to use as computing power for crypto mining.

It’s worth noting that the WEF has previously expressed concerns about the environmental impact of Bitcoin’s current consensus mechanism and has advocated for changing its code to proof-of-stake. Some users have suggested that the WEF’s failure to directly mention cryptocurrency mining in the video is due to their previous stance on the issue.

Despite the lack of direct mention of cryptocurrency mining in the WEF video, Crusoe Energy Systems’ approach to mining is an excellent example of how technology can be utilized to reduce waste and promote sustainable practices. Their innovative use of waste energy sources to power their mining facilities is not only beneficial for the environment but also serves as a reminder that the crypto industry can play a significant role in promoting eco-friendly practices.

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Argo Mining Crypto Production Rose to 219 BTCs in July

by Blockchain News

Argo Blockchain plc, a publicly traded cryptocurrency mining firm based in the UK, on Friday, announced its operational update for July 2022.

During the month of July, Argo revealed that it mined 219 Bitcoins as compared to 179 BTCs in June 2022.

The company further said its mining revenue in July amounted to £3.89 million [$4.73 million] compared to June’s £3.38 million ($4.35 million).

As of 31 July 2022, Argo said it held 1295 Bitcoins, out of which BTC Equivalents were 227.

Mining Hardware Machines Update

During the month of July, Argo stated that it completed its machine swap of about 10,000 S19s Antminers, which were hosted with Core Scientific, and finalized its strategic pivot to a self-hosted business model.

As a result of the completion of its machine swap, Argo said it now expects to generate better performance from its mining machines and have greater control of operations, including operational expenses.

Apart from that, Argo mentioned that in July it faced operational challenges with its 17 series machines. The company, therefore, conducted a comprehensive review of its entire mining fleet, with a focus on its S17 and T17 miners (collectively, the “17 series machines”).

As a result, Argo identified that it was not the only miner affected by the hitches associated with its 17 series machines. There were also high failures among the 17 series machines in other crypto mining firms in the sector.

Despite Argo removing the non-operational 17 series machines, its total hashrate at the end of July was around 2.23EH/s. This figure took into account the company’s continued installation of the S19J Pros ordered from Bitmain and the completion of the Core machine swap.

Peter Wall, Argo’s CEO, talked about the development: “We would like to thank Core Scientific for acting as an invaluable and reliable business partner in this transition period which represents a crucial step for Argo’s future development. The completion of the S19 machine’s swap marks a further consolidation of our infrastructure, allowing us to retain further control of our operations and adjust them in accordance with our needs at any given time. While there have been some challenges in operating the 17 series machines, we are pleased with the ROI we have achieved on this portion of our mining infrastructure.”

 Financing Deal

Moreover, during the month of July, Argo said it sold 887 Bitcoins at an average price of around $22,670. The firm said it used the proceeds to reduce obligations under a BTC-backed loan agreement with Galaxy Digital and to fund operating expenses and growth capital.

As of 31 July 2022, Argo mentioned it had an outstanding balance of $6.72 million under the BTC-backed loan, a huge reduction from the maximum outstanding balance of $50 million in Q2 2022.

Helios Power Activities

During the month of July, Argo’s electricity costs at its Helios facility in Texas continued to rise higher than anticipated in the past. Electricity costs have increased around the world, mainly because of higher natural gas prices stemming from the war in Ukraine, as well as increased demand for electric-powered air conditioning during an unusually hot and dry summer.

In the middle of July, Argo said ERCOT (The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc) – a US organization that operates Texas’s electrical grid –issued a conservation alert urging all residential, commercial, and industrial electricity users to reduce electricity consumption during specific afternoon hours when electricity demands were at its highest.

As a result, Argo and major large-scale Bitcoin miners in Texas, proactively shut down their mining operations and reduced usage by over 1,000 MW, thereby reducing strain on the grid during peak demand.

Image source: Shutterstock

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Paraguay Senate Passes Bill to Regulate Crypto Mining and Trading

by Blockchain News

The Senate of Paraguay, a South American nation, on Thursday, approved a bill to regulate cryptocurrency mining and trading in the country. 

The passage of the law is part of an approval made in December last year, but was modified in May by the Chambers of Deputies (the lower house of Paraguay’s bicameral legislature) and therefore returned to the upper chamber (the Senate) for further considerations.

Both chambers have now approved the bill and so it must be submitted to the executive branch, which has the power to approve or veto it.

The proposal modified by the Chamber of Deputies and accepted by the Senate designates the Ministry of Industry and Commerce as the main law enforcement authority to penalize individuals or firms conducting mining or offering crypto services without obtaining legal authorization.

The bill further delegated powers to the Secretariat for the Prevention of Money or Asset Laundering to be in charge of supervising the entire investment process conducted by crypto firms. Besides that, the bill designates The National Electricity Administration to be responsible for enabling the energy supply while the National Securities Commission is tasked with overseeing commercial activities involving digital assets. This involves licensing and overseeing crypto mining companies operating within the country. The proposed law does not make any cryptocurrencies legal tender.

The bill states that individual and corporate mining firms are expected to request for approval to use industrial electricity consumption and then apply for a business license. The proposed legislation also creates a registry for any individual or firm seeking to offer cryptocurrency trading or custody services for third parties.

The new legislation also expects crypto exchanges to register their businesses as virtual asset service providers with the anti-money-laundering agency of Paraguay.

Expanding Crypto Legal Framework

The latest Paraguay’s bill appears to build on previous legislations. In July last year, Paraguay became the second country to propose a bill to make Bitcoin legal tender after El Salvador announced the crypto as legal tender last June.

However, the bill was quite different from that of El Salvador. A leaked draft of Paraguay’s crypto bill showed that the country had no intention of making Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency legal in the country.

Instead, the nation’s focus was on creating a regulatory framework, especially when it comes to taxation. The aim of the legislation was to create a legal certainty, financial and fiscal in the businesses derived from the production and trading of digital assets.

Unlike El Salvador, Paraguay has had a lot of the same concerns that some other nations have had with crypto entities — that of taxation. The nation wanted to ensure that crypto companies are brought under its tax regime and to have traceability for such transactions and investments.

Image source: Shutterstock

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Hackers Are Now Using Compromised Cloud Accounts To Mine Crypto

by NEWSBTC

Attackers are exploiting poorly configured cloud accounts to mine crypto, Google warned users in a recent report.

Cryptocurrency mining is a computationally intensive activity. And Google Cloud customers can access it at a cost. However, miners are now hacking Google Cloud accounts for mining purposes.

In the report titled “Threat Horizons,” Google’s cybersecurity team assessed various threats to Cloud users, providing details of the breaches.

Related Reading | Data Shows Crypto Hacks And Fraud In 2021 Are On Track For A New Record

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The report also provided cybersecurity threat intelligence to cloud users. The aim is to enable them “better configure their environments and defenses in manners most specific to their needs.”

Crypto Miners Hacking Google Accounts

In the report, the cybersecurity team analyzed 50 recently compromised Google Cloud accounts. And out of those, 86% were related to crypto mining. “Malicious actors were observed performing cryptocurrency mining within compromised Cloud instances,” Google wrote.

Related Reading | Ethereum Miner Revenue Outpaces Bitcoin In 2021

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The report also stated that in the majority of these incidents, the hackers downloaded crypto mining software to the compromised accounts within 22 seconds. The attacks were scripted, and it would have been impossible to manually stop them. Additionally, in 10% of these incidents, the hackers scanned other publicly available resources on the Internet to identify vulnerable systems. While in 8% of the instances, they attacked other targets.

However, as reported by the cybersecurity team, the crypto mining hacks were not the only attacks.

“The cloud threat landscape in 2021 was more complex than just rogue cryptocurrency miners, of course,” wrote Bob Mechler, Google Cloud Director of the office of the Chief Information Security Officer, and Seth Rosenblatt, Google Cloud Security Editor, in a blog post.

Other Threats To Google Cloud Users

Another threat the team identified was a phishing attack by the Russian group called APT28, or Fancy Bear. The attackers targeted 12,000 Gmail accounts in a mass phishing attempt. They attempted to trick users into handing over their login details. Google, however, said it had blocked all the phishing emails, and no user was compromised.

The report also pointed out an attack by a North Korean government-backed group. This hacker group posed as Samsung recruiters, sending fake job opportunities to employees at South Korean information security companies. They attached a malicious link to malware stored in Google Drive. Google said it also blocked it.

Another threat to cloud users is ransomware attacks, whereby hackers encrypt users’ data until they pay. In the report, Google mentions the formidable Black Matter ransomware group. And although the group announced that it was shutting down earlier this month, Google is still cautious. “Google has received reports that the Black Matter ransomware group has announced it will shut down operations given outside pressure. Until this is confirmed, Black Matter still poses a risk.”

Total Crypto Market Cap on TradingView.com

Total crypto market at $2.4 Trillion | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap from TradingView.com

Google attributes some of these attacks to users’ poor security practices. And also vulnerabilities in third-party software that the users install.

The report also recommends a few ways to prevent these attacks. One of which is enabling two-factor authentication.

Featured image by Dreamstime, Chart from TradingView.com

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Kazakhstan expects at least $1.5B in economic activity from crypto mining within 5 years

by Cointelegraph

A report from the Data Center Industry & Blockchain Association of Kazakhstan, or NABDC, estimates that cryptocurrency mining could bring $1.5 billion in revenue for the country over the next five years. Currently, corporate digital currency mining activities generate about 98 billion tenge ($230 million) per year in the country. Alan Dordzhiev, the president of the NABDC, issued the following statement as quoted by local news outlet kapital.kz:

The figure of 98 billion tenge is just an economic effect from companies that are officially involved in mining. If we take into account the “gray” miners, then this figure can be safely multiplied by 2.

In context, “gray miners” refers to individuals carrying forth their own crypto mining operations — often with disputed legal status. The association called for greater regulation to combat illegal mining to prevent a possible electricity shortage. Grey area miners consume approximately 500 MW of electricity in the country, as estimated by Dordzhiev. Earlier this month, Kazakhstan’s Department of Energy proposed a draft order to impose limits on the amount of electricity consumed by the crypto mining industry.

According to data from The University of Cambridge, Kazakhstan contributed to 18.10% of the world’s Bitcoin (BTC) mining hash rate — the second largest in the world, after China began cracking down on mining activity. That puts it just behind the 35.40% hash rate share for the U.S. and above Russia’s 11.23%. Based on numbers from GlobalPetrolPrices, the average cost of commercial-use electricity in Kazakhstan is $0.054 per kWh, well below the global average of $0.124 per kWh — due to the country’s enormous fossil fuel reserves.