Tag Archives: Bitcoin

Newswise: Bitcoin mining has “very worrying” impacts on land and water, not only carbon, UN-led study reveals

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Newswise: Bitcoin mining has “very worrying” impacts on land and water, not only carbon, UN-led study reveals. “As bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have grown in market share, they’ve been criticized for their heavy carbon footprint: Cryptocurrency mining is an energy-intensive endeavor. Mining has massive water and land footprints as well, according to a new study that is the first to detail country-by-country environmental impacts of bitcoin mining.”

404 Media: Inside a $30 Million Cash-for-Bitcoin Laundering Ring in the Heart of New York

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404 Media: Inside a $30 Million Cash-for-Bitcoin Laundering Ring in the Heart of New York. “The records provide rare insight into an often unseen part of the criminal underworld: how hackers and drug traffickers convert their Bitcoin into cash outside of the online Bitcoin exchanges that ordinary people use. Rather than turning to sites like Coinbase, which often collaborate with and provide records to law enforcement if required, some criminals use underground, IRL Bitcoin exchanges like this gang which are allegedly criminal entities in their own right.”

New York Times: Across U.S., Chinese Bitcoin Mines Draw National Security Scrutiny

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New York Times: Across U.S., Chinese Bitcoin Mines Draw National Security Scrutiny. “When a company with Chinese origins broke ground last year on a crypto-mining operation in Cheyenne, Wyo., a team at Microsoft that assesses national security threats sounded the alarm. Not only was the site next door to a Microsoft data center that supported the Pentagon — it was about a mile away from an Air Force base that controlled nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles.”

Governor of Hawaii: Attorney General Warns Of Fake FBI Bitcoin Phone Scam Involving “Spoofed” Department Of The Attorney General Phone Number

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Governor of Hawaii: Attorney General Warns Of Fake FBI Bitcoin Phone Scam Involving “Spoofed” Department Of The Attorney General Phone Number. “Scammers are calling Hawaiʻi residents pretending to be Federal Bureau of Investigations (‘FBI’) agents. The callers are lying and telling potential victims that they owe unpaid fines and are going to be arrested unless they immediately make a payment in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency, or using other methods.”

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project: LockBit Gang Using Musk’s Internet Services, Laundering BitCoin in Hong Kong, China

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Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project: LockBit Gang Using Musk’s Internet Services, Laundering BitCoin in Hong Kong, China. “A security strategist who spent months undercover on the darkweb published a report on Monday that offers insight into one of the world’s most notorious ransomware groups, claiming its members are using internet services owned by billionaire Elon Musk and laundering money through Hong Kong and China.”

Swiss bankers warn: Three quarters of retail Bitcoin investors are in the red (The Register)

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The Register: Swiss bankers warn: Three quarters of retail Bitcoin investors are in the red. “Somewhere between 73 and 81 percent of retail Bitcoin buyers are likely to be into the negative on their investment, according to research published Monday by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). In other words: the Bitcoin they bought is now worth less. Bitcoin is down 73 percent in the past year, and up 155 percent in the past five years. Losses are only realized upon sale.”

Deutsche Welle: El Salvador takes risks for Chinese investments

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Deutsche Welle: El Salvador takes risks for Chinese investments. “This week, FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms in the world, announced it had filed for bankruptcy. The news caused a sharp drop in the price of bitcoin over the past days — and caused all eyes to turn to El Salvador. The president of the Central American nation, Nayib Bukele, made bitcoin legal tender in 2021 and also invested a large part of the country’s fiscal reserves in it.”

Crypto trading and Bitcoin prices: evidence from a new database of retail adoption (Bank for International Settlements)

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Bank for International Settlements: Crypto trading and Bitcoin prices: evidence from a new database of retail adoption. “We study the drivers of crypto trading app adoption using a novel database on the daily use of crypto exchange apps for 95 countries over 2015–22. We make this database available as a resource for researchers, policymakers and practitioners. We answer the following questions: do more people join crypto markets when the price of Bitcoin rises? If so, who are these new users? And what country characteristics matter more for crypto adoption?”

The Conversation: One year on, El Salvador’s Bitcoin experiment has proven a spectacular failure

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The Conversation: One year on, El Salvador’s Bitcoin experiment has proven a spectacular failure. “When [Nayib] Bukele announced his plans in July 2021, Bitcoin’s value was about US$35,000. By the time the legislation came into effect, on September 7 2021, it was about US$45,000. Two months later, it peaked at US$64,400. Now it is trading at around US$20,000.”

Rolling Stone: Will This Be the First Country Bankrupted by Crypto?

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Rolling Stone: Will This Be the First Country Bankrupted by Crypto?. “Today, despite efforts to mitigate financial disaster — including bitcoin-backed ‘volcano bonds,’ and a plan for a tax-free crypto mining hub called ‘Bitcoin City’ — the value of bitcoin has plummeted, and the country is on the brink of defaulting on its debt. The International Monetary Fund has repeatedly warned El Salvador to drop bitcoin if it wants to save its economy.”

CNN: Russian accused of money laundering and running $4B bitcoin exchange extradited to US

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CNN: Russian accused of money laundering and running $4B bitcoin exchange extradited to US. “A Russian national accused of running a multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency exchange that allegedly profited from various hacking and extortion schemes has been extradited from Greece and is on his way to the US, according to the suspect’s lawyer.”

New York Times: A Poor Country Made Bitcoin a National Currency. The Bet Isn’t Paying Off.

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New York Times: A Poor Country Made Bitcoin a National Currency. The Bet Isn’t Paying Off.. “… nearly a year after the country’s president, Nayib Bukele, shocked the financial world by making its most popular digital coin a national currency, his bet appears to be backfiring, highlighting the gap between the utopian promises of cryptocurrency’s proponents and economic realities. The government’s bitcoin holdings have lost about 60 percent of their presumed value during the recent market plunge.”

The Verge: New York denies air permit to Bitcoin mining power plant

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The Verge: New York denies air permit to Bitcoin mining power plant. “Bitcoin miners in New York state faced a regulatory blow today as the state denied air permits for a gas-fired power plant used to mine Bitcoin. It’s the latest step that New York has taken to crack down on crypto mining as it tries to meet its goals on climate change.”