Professor Wang Yang, vice president for institutional advancement and chair professor at the Department of Mathematics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), criticized China’s cryptocurrency mining ban during a panel discussion in Hong Kong last week. He called the decision “very unwise” because it shifted businesses to the U.S., boosting American…
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Continuing raids in China on alleged underground gangs using cryptocurrency to facilitate foreign exchange transactions underscore the ineffectiveness of the Asian nation’s 2021 ban on crypto trading. Chengyi Ong, head of policy for the Asia-Pacific region at Chainalysis Inc., said the peer-to-peer nature of cryptocurrency activity renders the ban ineffective. China Remains a Significant Cryptocurrency…
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Marathon Digital Holdings and the Kenyan Ministry of Energy and Petroleum recently signed an agreement which sees the crypto mining firm committing to invest $80 million in Kenya’s digital infrastructure. Following the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing, the Kenyan government will establish a steering committee comprised of ministry officials and executives from Marathon. Joint Steering…
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The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority of UAE issued a new advisory on Thursday prohibiting the use of farms for cryptocurrency mining. Farmers caught engaging in such activities face fines of up to 10,000 UAE dirhams (approximately $2,722). The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority advisory explicitly stated that farms cannot be…
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The Venezuelan National Power Ministry announced a special operation to disconnect all bitcoin mining farms from the grid. Authorities have seized over 11,000 bitcoin miners as the government seeks to reduce the power usage from high-power customers siphoning energy from the national electric system. Venezuelan Authorities Seize and Disconnect Over 11,000 Bitcoin Miners Amidst Energy…
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Foundry, a digital assets mining and staking company, has announced that it plans to monetize what it has called the “epic satoshi,” the first satoshi of the halving block, via Ordinals. If the company mines it through its mining pool, it plans to distribute the proceeds to its members based on the hashrate on the…
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Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news during the last week. In this issue: Bitcoin hinders El Salvador’s credit talks with the IMF, the Paraguayan Senate issues a statement supporting bitcoin miners, and Venezuela unveils a crypto-linked corruption scheme. Bitcoin Reportedly Hurts El Salvador Credit Opportunities With…
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Anton Siluanov, the finance minister of Russia, is prepared to discuss the gray areas surrounding cryptocurrency mining and the use of its proceeding for payments. In a recent lecture, Siluanov stated that the government needed to agree “on what can be done with cryptocurrency,” and “what cannot be done,” recognizing that the issue had been…
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The Nasdaq-traded company specializing in bitcoin mining, Bitdeer, has unveiled its strategy to boost its overall hashrate by an additional 3.4 exahash per second (EH/s) through the deployment of its proprietary Sealminer A1 mining devices. These advanced rigs are slated for setup within Bitdeer’s mining facilities located in Texas and Norway, targeting the latter half…
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The Government of Paraguay will strengthen the measures directed to combat the illegal cryptocurrency mining operations in the country. In a recent meeting, ANDE, the National Power Administration, the Supreme Court, and the Department of Justice, agreed to deal with these crimes swiftly given the damages they cause to the Paraguayan power grid. Paraguay Prepares…
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