Alarmed by the rising energy needs of cryptocurrency mining, Sweden’s financial and environmental regulators have recently proposed an EU-wide ban on proof-of-work coin minting. The Swedish officials believe this would encourage a move towards a more energy-efficient extraction of bitcoin while supporting the transition towards climate neutrality in Sweden and Europe. A state-run power company…
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On October 21, the bitcoin mining pool operator Titan revealed a new decentralized hashpower routing protocol called Lumerin. The open-source project aims to commodify bitcoin’s hashpower “through smart contracts, making hashpower tradable.” Bloq’s Mining Arm Titan Announces the Lumerin Protocol The bitcoin mining operation Titan, a subsidiary of the company Bloq Inc., has announced its…
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The governor of New York state, Kathy Hochul, has been urged by a group of local companies to deny business permits to bitcoin miners. The letter specifically asks for the “denial of permits for the Greenidge Generating Station and the Fortistar North Tonawanda Facility.” The letter also calls for the New York government to assess…
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Bitcoin appears to meet the definition of an energy-backed currency proposed by the famed American inventor during the interbellum period. In 1921, American industrialist Henry Ford proposed the creation of an “energy currency” that could form the basis of a new monetary system — offering striking similarities to the peer-to-peer electronic cash system outlined in…
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Vitalik Buterin’s crypto holdings have doubled since January 2021 to surge above $1 billion. Vitalik Buterin, a co-founder of the world’s most popular smart contract platform, the Ethereum blockchain, has officially become a crypto billionaire. Buterin’s public Ether address that he described as his main wallet back in 2018, has hit $1 billion on its…
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In the latest Cointelegraph video debate, experts discuss pathways towards making Bitcoin more sustainable. In the latest Cointelegraph Crypto Duel, founder of Digiconomist Alex de Vries and CEO and founder of Blockchain for Climate Joseph Pallant debated the intensity of Bitcoin’s footprint and possible paths forward to reduce it. As pointed out by de Vries,…
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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is working to proactively solve a blockchain vulnerability. Ethereum developers recently proposed a network change called EIP-1559 — a proposal meant to combat the network’s rising transaction fees. Expected to take effect in July of this year, the move would send a part of every transaction fee to the Ethereum network…
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Bitcoin energy consumption has been at its highest historical levels since late 2020, according to Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index. The recent surge of Bitcoin (BTC) price has driven notable growth in the amount of electricity consumed by Bitcoin miners, spurring another wave of argument in the community over the ecology of the seminal cryptocurrency.…
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The U.S. exchange plans to roll out support in early 2021. U.S. digital currency exchange Coinbase has outlined plans for supporting Ethereum 2.0 staking rewards — possibly setting the stage for even wider adoption of the smart contract platform. In an official blog post, Coinbase says it plans to roll out Eth2 staking, trading and conversion…
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CoinDCX users to stake on ETH 2.0 with as low as 0.1 ETH, the exchange says. CoinDCX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in India, is preparing its platform to support ETH 2.0 staking in anticipation of Ethereum 2.0 launch. As the first phase of Ethereum 2.0 is expected to come on Dec. 1, CoinDCX…
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