123-Year-Old Hydroelectric Plant Sees New Life Mining Bitcoin — Revenue 3x Higher Than Selling to the Grid
On Thursday local reports from Mechanicville, the city located in Saratoga County, New York, say that an old hydroelectric plant constructed back in 1897 was almost dismantled, but today the plant is mining bitcoins. The Mechanicville facility is considered one of the oldest renewable energy plants in the world, and it’s now making “more money with bitcoin than selling the electricity” to the grid.
Bitcoin’s price hits a 6-week high as market sustains short-term gains
Bitcoin (BTC) continues to sustain its short-term upside price momentum with investors looking out for signals to end the ongoing bear market. The gains have propelled Bitcoin to hit a new six-week high while pulling along the general cryptocurrency market. In particular, the flagship cryptocurrency was trading marginally higher on Friday, July 29, recording a price of $24,020 by press time with gains of almost 4% in the last 24 hours.
The U.K Law Commission has now proposed changes with an intention to clarify what exactly crypto property laws are. In the middle of the crypto regulations, U.K. Law Commission wishes to educate about how exactly property laws apply to cryptocurrencies in England and Wales. The Law Commission of England and Wales’ consultation paper had disclosed the proposal to position digital assets and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) under the U.K. property laws.
Investors lose life savings as Celsius goes bankrupt while CEL token loses 85% of its value in 2022
Investors in troubled cryptocurrency lending firm Celsius continue to incur losses after the company filed for bankruptcy, just weeks after freezing customer withdrawals. Following the freeze on withdrawals and the consequent bankruptcy application, investors have come out to share their experiences as the company’s troubles accelerate. For instance, some users have lost life savings invested in Celsius.
Here’s everything we know about Celsius Network’s bankruptcy filing.Celsius has officially made the decision to file for bankruptcy. This comes a day after Vermont's Department of Financial Regulation warned consumers that they believed the company was "deeply insolvent."Last month, Celsius hit pause on withdrawals and deposits, laid off some staff, and hired restructuring lawyers, according to reports.
Ethereum developers have doubled down on a mid-September target for the Merge during a conference call held on Thursday. The Merge is Ethereum’s highly anticipated transition from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. It’s expected to slash the blockchain’s energy use and, therefore, carbon emissions, by as much as 99%, addressing one of the primary critiques of the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
Crypto Winter Presses On: NFT Marketplace OpenSea Layoffs 20% Of Its Workforce
Co-Founder and CEO at popular non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea, Devin Finzer, announced a reduction in the company’s workforce. The platform will let go of 20% of its staff to adjust to the current decline in the crypto industry.
The executive shared a letter sent to OpenSea employees. Therein, the company pledged to provide its former employees with a “generous severance” package and healthcare coverage for the remaining of 2022 and 2023.
Cryptocurrency trading volumes have plummeted amid a dreadful first half of the year for the industry.Spot and derivatives volumes have declined across exchanges, falling more than 15 per cent since May to around US$4.2 trillion and reaching the lowest since January of last year. The month of June alone saw spot volumes drop nearly 28 per cent to US$1.41 trillion as Bitcoin tumbled, the lowest since December 2020, according to data compiled by CryptoCompare.
Paypal Allows Users to Transfer Crypto To External Wallets
In 2020, Paypal allowed its users to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. After a year, Paypal has now finally rolled out third-party crypto transfer support wherein users can hardware wallets or exchanges. The functionality will be fully ready for all eligible US customers in the coming weeks.
Goldman Sachs Survey: Insurers Begin To Consider Crypto Investing
Goldman Sachs released its survey consisting of 328 chief investment officers and chief financial officers representing $26 trillion of the global insurance industry. It has resulted in six percent of respondents being invested in crypto or considering doing so.
E-commerce giant, eBay, has already joined the NFT world with its launch of the first nonfungible token (NFT) drop with a series of tokenized collectibles featuring the National Hockey League Wayne Gretsky.
The Queen's Speech revealed the plans of the UK treasury to regulate stablecoins. In addition, Prince Charles also introduced a bill that would help discuss illicit finance, reduce economic crime and help businesses grow.
President nayib bukele hosts 44 countries to discuss bitcoin
President Nayib Bukele announced that 32 central banks and 12 financial authorities from 44 countries are to meet on May 16. This is to discuss financial inclusion, the digital economy, banking the unbanked, El Salvador’s Bitcoin rollout, and its benefits in the country.
Crypto Terra project's two main coins are in free fall. , or UST, plunged to as low as 26 cents Wednesday morning. LUNA, the sister token has lost roughly 99% of its value in the past seven days.
The CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, has announced that they will be starting to test digital collectibles on Instagram this week. This will be a step toward adding NFTs to the platform.
New NFT Collection of Bored Ape Yacht Club Broke the Ethereum Blockchain
Yuga Labs, creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club, got their new collection of NFTs that crashed the Ethereum blockchains due to high demand. The new NFTs are essential parts of virtual land inside the Bored Ape Yacht Club’s new personally owned metaverse, dubbed Otherside.
Goldman Sachs, the Wallstreet banking giant, has announced its first ever Bitcoin-backed lending facility. As Wall Street continues to embrace digital assets, this is really a significant big step for the investment bank.
Bank of England Plans for a Major Funding Drive to Regulate Crypto
The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) at the Bank of England plans to raise£321 million in an ongoing fundraising effort until February 2023. This is to achieve their plans for monitoring assets and assessing how they’re being adopted in the financial sector.
Earth Day Analysts: Bitcoin Mining Is Naturally Gravitating Towards Green Energy
The environmental sustainability of Bitcoin mining is one of the topics that are still in a global debate. The Bitcoin Mining Council’s report in January, by Q4 2021, the global bitcoin mining industry ran on an estimated 58.5% renewable energy.
German Bank Commerzbank Applies for Crypto Custody License
The banking giant in Germany, Commerzbank, has confirmed its application for a local crypto BaFin license in the first quarter of 2022. Commerzbank might be the first crypto custody bank in the country.
The government of Ireland has a new law drafted about banning political parties from receiving cryptocurrency campaign donations. The law aims to block possibilities of Russia interfering the European nation’s elections.
Hyundai Motor becomes the first automaker to issue community-based NFTs
Many large institutions and big names in showbusiness have jumped into NFTs. Hyundai Motors has now become a part of the NFT craze and the first automotive business to enter the community-based NFT market.
Austin Mayor Embraces Web3 Tech and Crypto Payments
Last week, Austin Mayor introduced two new initiatives related to the potential of blockchain technology and crypto payments that would benefit the city. The primary initiative is to ensure that the city will promote the benefits of blockchain technology, which encourages inclusion and diversity. The second initiative focuses on making sure that the City Manager handles the study on adopting Bitcoin and cryptocurrency-related policies.
The United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority announced that the crypto firms operating illegally in the UK must shut down their ATMs. On March 11th, their website notice stated that if those operators continue to function despite the warning, they will face enforcement action. It is mandated that crypto ATMs that offer crypto exchange services in the UK must be registered with the FCA and must comply with the UK Money Laundering Regulations.
Paypal CEO: Crypto and Digital Ledger Technology will redefine the Global Financial System
Paypal CEO Dan Schulman sees the potential of crypto and digital ledger technology that he thinks will “redefine a lot of the financial world going forward.” The Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are a global financial trend, says Schulman. He believes that bridging the gap between traditional and crypto-assets is the way to go forward.
Instagram Will Have NFTs Function Soon, Says Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, stated that META will soon add the Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) function to Instagram. Users might be able to display their NFTs on the platform in the coming months. He added that he hopes that IG users will be able to mint their NFTs on the platform.
Taiwan Expects to Complete Its CBDC Pilot by September
The Central Bank of Taiwan has advanced its research to develop the Taiwanese central bank digital currency (CBDC), expecting the second phase of its pilot programme to be completed by September. The CBDC feasibility study was already done in June 2020 and is now working on the technical aspect of the project, creating a prototype CBDC platform, simulating its use for retail payments. It is developing the digital new Taiwan dollar using a two-tier retail model coexisting with the country’s current banking and financial system. The final decision for the official CBDC launch will be after the pilot's completion.
The Lebanese district of Chouf has cheap and easily accessible electricity turned into a mining haven. Ahmed Abu Daher, a 21-year-old man, started a cryptocurrency mining business that helped the district thrive despite the countrywide devastation. He established mining operations in the Iqlimal-Kharrub area.
U.S. President Joe Biden to Sign Crypto Executive Order
The most awaited executive order for crypto will be finally signed by U.S. President Joe Biden this week. This is an order for the Justice Department, Treasure, and other agencies to look into the legal and economic outcome of developing a U.S. central bank digital currency. Last year, the White House mentioned that it was considering wide-range supervision of the crypto market, including executive orders in dealing with threats of ransomware and other cybercrime.
Iran to Continue Crypto Mining Operations Under Strict Conditions
Crypto mining in Iran seems like on and off last year, due to energy consumption issues. This year, the country lifted the crypto mining ban but only under strict conditions. According to the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade (MIMT), only mining farms with renewable energy resources will receive new crypto mining licenses.
EU Parliament Delayed the Vote on Crypto Regulations
Two weeks ago, the European Union parliamentarians introduced rules to ban crypto services reliant on environmentally sustainable consensus mechanisms such as proof-of-work (POW). It was later reported that the parliament delayed the vote that was supposedly taking place on February 28. This is due to the concerns of misinterpreting it as a de facto ban over queries regarding the industry’s energy demands.
Aside from the foreign government aid to finance Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, the government also raised over $13 million in cryptocurrency after the crowdfunding launch on February 26th. More than 18,000 contributors have given crypto donations after the launch. Overall, the country has raised $20.9 million since the invasion began.
eBay CEO Disclosed that the company soon adds crypto payment options
E-commerce giant, eBay, is now working on adding cryptocurrency payments, said the CEO Jamie Lannone. On the CEO’s interview with The Street, he dropped a hint that the announcement will be on March 10, on investor’s day. As of now, eBay is still not accepting crypto, however, further discussions will be made in the upcoming event.
Australia’s Federal Advisory Committee Provides Key Factor For Easing Crypto Adoption
The Australian Federal advisory committee has proposed four key ways to support a safer adoption and lessen cyber security threats. Australia’s Department of Home Affairs released a study in which the Cyber Security Industry Advisory Committee came up with strategies for the government to have room for transforming the digital economy. It suggests creating guidelines to ensure safe crypto adoption in Australia.
Sony Partners Manchester City’s Football Club to recreate Etihad Stadium in Metaverse
Sony Group Incorporation partners with Premier League Title Holders Manchester City to develop new forms of digital content and services that combine the physical and virtual worlds. Sony will manage a proof of concept (POC) that will leverage the technology of multiple Sony group companies and Manchester City’s global IP. They are virtually recreating the Etihad Stadium- the iconic home of the football club. POC targets to make a global online fan community and establish a connection between fans and the team.
Kookmin Bank: South Korea’s First Bank to Launch the country’s First Crypto ETF
South Korea’s largest bank, Kookmin bank, announced its preparatory committee for digital asset management. They have formed a committee to decide strategy capabilities regarding digital assets and artificial intelligence investment funds. The bank is expected to launch crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and future products.
Brazil’s Crypto Regulation Bill Heads to a Senate Vote
Brazil has already taken steps towards crypto regulation. The Senate is set to vote on a crypto regulation bill. Unanimously approved by the Senate's Economic Affairs, greater chances of passing a vote on a Senate floor is clear. Once passed to the Senate and lower house, it will be sent to the President to be signed into law.
Mexican Senator to Propose a Bill to Make Bitcoin as a Legal Tender in the Country
Mexican Senator, Indira Kempis, discussed her plan to propose a bill of making Bitcoin a legal tender in Mexico. With the inspiration of El Salvador’s rising financial inclusion, she stated that Bitcoin can give benefits to the Mexican people. The senator’s last visit to El Salvador gave her a perspective that Bitcoin can revolutionize a nation within the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Russian Finance Ministry Wants To Legalize Crypto Mining in the Country’s Specific Areas
Russia’s official stance on cryptocurrency is still uncertain. The Central Bank and Finance Ministry of Russia have different views on cryptocurrency. The Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina strongly demands a complete ban on crypto activities. On the other hand, the Finance Ministry also takes a stand in allowing cryptocurrency. With the government creating the regulatory regime of digital assets, the Finance Ministry proposed to allow mining operations in areas with a “sustainable surplus in electricity generation”.
The largest bank in the US, JP Morgan, has become the first lender that has opened an office in the blockchain-based 3D virtual world of Decentraland called an “Onyx Lounge”. The bank also released a whitepaper discussing business opportunities in the metaverse. It also highlighted that the bank can operate in the virtual world just like in the real world since the virtual worlds have their currencies and population.
Uber might hop on the bitcoin bandwagon soon! The ride-hailing and food delivery company had conversations about enabling riders and eaters to pay in crypto. Due to its concerns about high transaction fees in exchanges and the environmental impact linked to mining, they still need time to understand the implications of crypto adoption. They are currently looking at the option of crypto as payment but there’s no disclosed time as to when they will officially add bitcoin as an option.
YouTube to Launch Creator Tools To Integrate NFT Technology
Suggestions about Youtube expanding into NFTs have been going on for weeks. In a blog post by the YouTube chief product officer, Neal Mohan finally announced their plans to integrate the technology into its creator tools. To expand monetization, the online video sharing platform will launch these new tools that allow creators to sell content as NFTs so their fans can “own” videos.