Items tagged with cryptocurrency
Just last week, Bitcoin crashed below $30,000, descending to its lowest point in a month, and dropping to less than half of its peak value from April of this year. And today? It is not only back above $30,000, it is fast approaching $40,000 on speculation that Amazon will soon begin accepting the volatile cryptocurrency for online purchases. At the time of this writing, Bitcoin is up nearly 13 percent in the past 24 hours, to $38,449. That's still well below its all-time high of $64,829, but for proponents of Bitcoin (and cryptocurrency in general), it is again trending in the right direction. It also highlights the wild swings that the world's most popular digital currency is prone to. It seems...
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What goes up must come down, but when it comes to cryptocurrency, and Bitcoin in particular, wild up and down swings feel like normal occurrences (it was just a short while ago when Bitcoin and Ethereum fueled a cryptocurrency explosion to a $2 trillion valuation). And that is what Bitcoin investors are hoping is occurring right now—just a normal downward swing, as the digital currency comes crashing below the $30,000 mark for the first time in a month. At the time of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at $29,694.34. That's down from around $31,000 yesterday, and less than half of where Bitcoin peaked at in April of this year, when it topped $60,000. Will it go back up? Probably, but for...
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Is cryptocurrency a capitalistic scam, only benefitting the wealthy? That is what Jackson Palmer, co-founder of Dogecoin, seems to think after reemerging on Twitter to explain his take on the current state of crypto. On July 14th, Palmer addressed the frequent question of whether he will return to cryptocurrency after leaving Dogecoin behind. While his simple answer is “no,” there is much more behind this than meets the eye. First of all, Palmer believes that cryptocurrency is “an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially...
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As Bitcoin prices skyrocketed earlier this year, all cryptocurrencies were under the microscope by people around the globe. Specifically, energy-consumption concerns arose as miners built out massive mining operations to execute the “proof-of-work” system that makes cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin tick. However, none of that matters if you are stealing electricity, as the Ukrainian Security Service discovered earlier this month. Now, Malaysian police have found this problem for themselves, but they are sending a message with it. For serious cryptocurrency miners, custom-built computers for mining are called an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). These are significantly better...
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Though cryptocurrency has drawn some ire worldwide, there is some serious market potential, and it would be foolish for tech companies to ignore potential financial gains. Take, for example, a cryptocurrency called Chia, which utilizes unused storage as part of a proof of space and time blockchain. The faster, the better, so SSDs were selling out incredibly quickly overseas. Now, it seems PNY is playing to the crowd and is launching a Chia-optimized SSD. As mentioned, Chia is a proof of space and time cryptocurrency, which relies on unused storage on drives to be used for “plotting.” Plotting is a write-intensive process that records hashes which are then compared to a challenge broadcast...
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It appears that illegal electricity theft and cryptocurrency mining go hand in hand, as the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) reported that it has shut down a massive crypto-farm stealing electricity. Comprised of thousands of consoles and hundreds of graphics cards, the farm was seized from an old warehouse professionally rigged for the illicit activities. In the city of Vinnytsia, a group of crypto miners has been accused of “theft of water, electricity or thermal energy through its unauthorized use,” by the SBU. According to the report, “electricity meters that did not show a real energy consumption” were used to steal upwards of $259,000 in electricity monthly for the...
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Back in June, China made the decision to crack down on cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, leading to tumbling prices and a mass exodus of miners. This is now beginning to have rippling effects beyond cryptocurrency as Chinese miners are beginning to dump GPUs on the secondhand or used marketplace. On Twitter, a video recently posted by user Wolfie Zhao shows popular Chinese secondhand market Xianyu inundated with GPUs that were used for mining. However, since China has effectively put a stop to mining, these graphics cards, which have been in short supply, are now generally useless. Not just ASICs, Chinese miners been dumping stacks of GPUs too on Xianyu, one of the largest marketplace apps for...
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The founder of McAfee Antivirus, John McAfee, was found dead this afternoon in a Barcelona prison. McAfee had been held in the Spanish jail since early October 2020 following an indictment filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for failing to file tax returns and tax evasion. McAfee, who was 75, had just learned that a Spanish court had approved his extradition to the United States to face the charges. In March 2021, the SEC charged McAfee and his partner, Jimmy Watson, Jr., with seven additional charges involving a cryptocurrency "pump and dump" scheme. The pair was accused of "promoting investments in initial coin offerings (ICOs) to his Twitter followers without disclosing...
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In May, China began a cryptocurrency crackdown that kicked off a mass exodus of digital miners from the country. Since then, this crackdown has continued and even been reaffirmed as of late with several major mines' shutdown. This has put cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum into a tailspin, and it is hard to tell where this will end. In the past two months, Bitcoin has lost over 40% of its value, and some investors are rightfully concerned. With this loss, analysts report that Bitcoin has formed a "death cross," which means the average price over the last 50 days fell below its 200-day moving average. According to Investopedia, this is sometimes viewed as a signal that a massive sell-off...
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While a push toward privacy is great for the average person, it is also simultaneously great for criminal gangs. Using secure messaging systems, these gangs can secretly communicate plans for drug shipments or killings worldwide. However, if law enforcement is inside these messaging apps, then the criminals can be caught easily. It appears the FBI did exactly that by running a “secure” messaging system leading to the seizure of hundreds of millions in drugs, weapons, cars, cash, and cryptocurrency. This sting operation saga started in 2018, when law enforcement agencies took down Phantom Secure, which made custom encrypted devices for criminals. In this operation, AP News reports...
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Though cryptocurrency mining is becoming less profitable by the day, those who still have the hardware may as well use it. However, it sucks up a lot of energy and dumps a lot of heat, which suspiciously looks like a marijuana grow house, as it turns out. Earlier this month, police in London were tipped off to a building within the Great Bridge Industrial Estate, Sandwell. Using drone surveillance, police saw a characteristic heat signature and people regularly going in and out. Therefore, when the police raided the location on May 18th, they were expecting a cannabis farm, but that is not what they found. Upon entry, they saw shelves full of up to 100 application-specific integrated circuit...
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China is one of the largest cryptocurrency mining countries in the world, in part due to its sheer population, cheap electricity, and easy access to electronics. This year, Bitcoin and other large cryptocurrencies took off alongside new coins like Chia, which saw immense popularity in China. Now, the Chinese government has cracked down on cryptos overall, and miners are pulling out of the country, leading to a sharp price slump across the board. Will this trend continue, or will cryptocurrencies recover in traditional fashion? Last Friday, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He announced a crackdown on Bitcoin mining and trading to “fend off financial risks.” This announcement came just...
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It has been a tumultuous week for cryptocurrencies as many of the major coins have taken a nosedive off a cliff, such as Bitcoin sitting at $34,000 at the time of writing. As this is happening, many crypto exchanges, like Binance and Coinbase, are feeling the pressure and may be struggling for it. Citing issues like network congestion and partial outages, these companies temporarily paused transactions, either by choice or involuntarily but have now restored some service. Earlier this morning, Coinbase faced “intermittent downtime” on its platforms, tweeting that some customers were “experiencing some issues with logging in, seeing their balances, and trading.” The initial...
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Hey, good news everyone—the GPU shortage is over! Just kidding, you still can't find a graphics card in stock (not from a first-party seller at a fair price, that is). I know, I know, what an insensitive intro, my apologies. However, there is actually some good news, related to GPUs. Ethereum is aiming to become much more power efficient, and a key change to its operations could dramatically reduce the demand for graphics cards. That is the big upside in theory, anyway. Ethereum is embarking on a transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) model. What exactly does that mean? Well, the main benefit outlined in a blog post announcing the change is a massive 99.95 percent...
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Over the past two weeks, Colonial Pipeline has been battling a ransomware attack that crippled fuel flow to the eastern seaboard. This was supposedly not intended to be as catastrophic as it was, but the hacking group behind the attack, DarkSide, has quite a bit of experience in ransomware. The group has reportedly extracted approximately $90 million in Bitcoin from 47 different cryptocurrency wallets, with many more victims opting not to pay the ransom. Ransomware is becoming a highly profitable business model for hackers, and even more so when “Ransomware as a Service” (RaaS) is implemented. DarkSide is an example of this model, wherein there is a ransomware developer who oversees...
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Ransomware attacks have been on the rise lately, and both organizations and consumers need to protect themselves as best they can before the problem worsens over time. As it turns out, one of the most popular and widespread operating systems, Windows 10, has ransomware protection, and it is super simple to turn on so you too can be protected. Ransomware has become one of the most prevalent and profitable forms of cyberattack, with hackers around the globe locking up files in exchange for cryptocurrency or cash. These locked-up files could include family photos, personal documents, or even trade secrets, all of which could be priceless. However, as we saw with Colonial Pipeline doling out $5 million...
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Gigabyte yesterday jumped the gun when it comes to its announcement of Lite Hash Rate (LHR) GeForce RTX 3060 graphics cards. While NVIDIA’s beta 466.24 driver released late last month confirmed that new GPU revisions were on the way, there was no mention of the LHR terminology at that time. Today, however, NVIDIA officially confirmed that its new LHR GPUs will now ship in late May. While the cryptocurrency limiter was first introduced on the GeForce RTX 3060, the new LHR series will extend to the GeForce RTX 3080, GeForce RTX 3070, and GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. All these new LHR cards will have software/hardware controls implemented to slash the Ethereum hash rate in half compared to previous...
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Gigabyte today made its new Lite Hash Rate (LHR) GeForce RTX 3060 cards official. We've heard about upcoming GPU revisions for the GeForce RTX 30 Series with a second-generation Ethereum limiter onboard, but Gigabyte is among the first to post actual product pages confirming the change. NVIDIA's GeForce 466.24 driver confirmed that this change was on the way, stating, "This driver updates the hash limiter for the GeForce RTX 3060 12GB and is required for product shipped starting mid-May." Gigabyte's LHR series is currently limited to its GeForce RTX 3060 family, which includes the following cards: Aorus GeForce RTX 3060 ELITE 12G GeForce RTX 3060 GAMING OC 12G GeForce RTX 3060 VISION OC 12G GeForce...
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Officials from the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are currently probing Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, for illegal activity including money laundering and various tax offenses, according to a report. Details of the investigation are not clear, though it appears the agencies are looking into both Binance's users and some of its employees. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao founded the popular cryptocurrency exchange in 2017. It initially operated out of China, but later relocated to the Cayman Islands because of China's ban on cryptocurrency trading platforms. Binance is also said to have an office located in Singapore. In response to...
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Meme coins have been on the rise, with Dogecoin taking off and other cryptocurrencies attempting to follow suit. This has caused some trouble for the rest of the cryptocurrency world as fees have gone up and the legitimate cryptocurrency market is diluted. Now, one of the cofounders of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, has donated $1 billion in meme coins to a COVID-19 relief fund for India, which may have rippling effects. While Buterin donated quite a bit to other charities, the big donation of the bunch is 500 Ethereum, and a whopping 50 trillion SHIB worth roughly $1.14 billion at the time of the transaction was sent to the India Covid-Crypto Relief Fund. The founder of this fund, Sandeep Nailwal,...
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Graphics cards based on NVIDIA's CMP HX GPUs are finally starting to trickle into the marketplace. So far, we've seen entries from ASUS and Gigabyte. Now, MSI is looking to get in on the action with its CMP 30HX Miner XS. Based on previous leaks, the CMP 30HX Miner XS features NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1660 Super GPU. The card looks like a dead ringer for MSI's GeForce GTX 1660 Super Ventus. The big difference is that the GeForce GTX 1660 Super Ventus has a single HDMI port and three DisplayPort connectors. Given that the CMP 30HX Miner XS doesn't need video outputs since it's dedicated to mining for Ethereum, the I/O plate only features exhaust vents for the coolers. The CMP 30HX Miner XS has 1408...
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It seems as though enthusiasts just can’t catch a break these days. Finding a current-generation (or even previous-generation) GeForce RTX 30 Series or Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics card in stock is near-impossible. And things on the console gaming side aren’t much better, as both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 are in short supplies. Phison is forecasting that SSDs are next in line for a price hike in the coming months to make matters worse. Phison chairman KS Pua cites the red-hot Chinese Chia cryptocurrency as why consumers could see a 10 percent increase in SSD prices as we head into the summer months. As Chia heavily relies on large amounts of fast, temporary storage for...
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