China’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies upended the world of Bitcoin last year, triggering a mass exodus of “miners” — who use power-hungry computers to mine, or create, new Bitcoins — to new locations around the world. Now, research has found that the exodus likely made cryptomining, which already uses more electricity […]
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EU should ban energy-intensive mode of crypto mining, regulator says
Miners have pushed into countries with plenty of wind and solar power following China’s crackdown © Akos Stiller/Bloomberg A top EU financial regulator has renewed calls for a bloc-wide “ban” on the main form of bitcoin mining and sounded the alarm over the rising proportion of renewable energy devoted to […]
Bitcoin network hashrate hits all-time high after China crypto ban
Whinstone CEO Chad Harris takes CNBC on a tour of the largest bitcoin mine in North America. Bitcoin mining has totally recovered from the Chinese crypto crackdown that took more than half the world’s miners offline virtually overnight earlier this year. The recovery is measured by looking at hashrate, a […]
Court upholds California ban on high-capacity magazines | Business & Finance
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a ruling by two of its judges and upheld California’s ban on high-capacity magazines Tuesday in a split decision that may be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court. “The statute outlaws no weapon, but only limits the size […]
Europe must ban Bitcoin mining to hit the 1.5C Paris climate goal, say Swedish regulators
Faced with a sharp rise in energy consumption, Swedish authorities are calling on the European Union to ban “energy intensive” crypto mining. Erik Thedéen, director of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, and Björn Risinger, director of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, said cryptocurrency’s rising energy usage is threatening Sweden’s ability […]
China’s Bitcoin Ban Is a Lesson in Crypto Regulation for Central Banks Everywhere
Illustration by Matt Chase Text size About the author: Eswar S. Prasad is a professor at Cornell University and the author of The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance. China’s sweeping crackdown has roiled the cryptocurrency world. China had become a key player in […]