Author: The Guardian
As many people do when discussing the complex world of cryptocurrencies, Vladimir Putin kept it simple: “Of course, we also have certain competitive advantages here, especially in the so-called mining.” After events this weekend, when Russia was hit by severe financial sanctions, the Russian president might be considering capitalising on those advantages. Putin was speaking in January, days after the country’s central bank proposed a blanket ban on cryptocurrency trading and mining. In the case of bitcoin, the cornerstone cryptocurrency, mining is the energy-intensive process by which computers verify new bitcoin transactions – putting them on a virtual ledger known as a blockchain…
Critics say the enormous electricity consumption needed to sustain cryptocurrency is fueling the climate crisis and now threatens a partial resurrection of coal in the US. Environmentalists in Montana called it the “death watch”. Following years of financial losses one of the handful of remaining coal-fired power plants in the state appeared doomed, its likely fate offering a small but noteworthy victory in the effort to avoid disastrous climate change. But then a bitcoin mining company stepped in to resurrect it. The Hardin generating station, a 115-megawatt coal plant located a dozen miles from the historic site of the famous battle of…
The City watchdog has raised concerns about a deal to give the cryptocurrency platform Binance access to the UK payments network just months after it ordered the company to stop all regulated activities in Britain. The Financial Conduct Authority said it had limited powers to object to the arrangement with Paysafe, a London-based payments provider, despite its concerns about Binance offering complex and high-risk investments to consumers. The FCA had ordered Binance to stop all UK regulated activity last June over worries about weak consumer protections, amid a wider crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry’s potential role in fraud and money laundering. Some of the…
Case may be first time government has brought a case not on the basis of an alleged theft, but on the couple’s alleged efforts to conceal their identities The prosecution of a New York husband and wife arrested last week on suspicion of stealing $3.6bn in bitcoin in what has been described as “the heist of the century” may test US authorities’ ability to crack down on cybercrime. It may also test the bounds of believability as more and more colorful – and downright bizarre – details emerge of the couple at the heart of the saga which seems to…
Anthony Welch and partner try to woo cryptocurrency investors to regulation-free island on Vanuatu archipelago. For the past 12 years Anthony Welch and his partner Theresa have been living a Robinson Crusoe life alone on a South Pacific island mostly untouched by humanity. Welch, a retired British property investor, hopes the tranquility will soon be shattered by 21,000 cryptocurrency investors he is trying to convince to move to his island and form a regulation-free “crypto utopia”. Under Welch’s plan, the 3,000 square metre (32,000 sq ft) island, which is part of the Vanuatu archipelago between Australia and Fiji, would be transformed from…
The January snow lay thick on the Moscow ground, as masked officers of the FSB – Russia’s fearsome security agency – prepared to smash down the doors at one of 25 addresses they would raid that day. Their target was REvil, a shadowy conclave of hackers that claimed to have stolen more than $100m (£74m) a year through “ransomware” attacks, before suddenly disappearing. As group members were led away in cuffs, FSB officers gathered crypto-wallets containing untold volumes of digital currency such as bitcoin. Others used money-counting machines to tot up dozens of stacks of hundred dollar bills. The cybercriminals behind…
The cryptocurrency consumes more energy than Norway. As countries consider copying China’s ban, experts disagree on whether a greener version is possible. When bitcoin mining company Bit Digital started shipping its energy-intensive computers out of China in early 2021, eyebrows were raised. “A lot of people thought we were being overly paranoid,” says chief strategy officer Sam Tabar, who helped relocate all of the company’s machines to the US and Canada. But the company’s paranoia paid off. China’s bitcoin mining ban last summer, driven partly by environmental concerns, sent the industry spinning into chaos. The announcement sparked a fire sale of the…
The US-focused shakeout in financial markets has at least given us clarity on one point: bitcoin is not “digital gold” or a “store of value”, to mention two grand claims made about the cryptocurrency when its price was going up. At $37,000, the late-afternoon level on Tuesday, bitcoin has fallen by 22% since the start of January and by 45% since recording an all-time high in early November. The crypto crew may have convoluted explanations for this setback, but the simplest one is best: bitcoin has always primarily been an instrument for pure speculation; when high-risk assets are out of…
When the Australian cricketer announced his foray into digital art, the response was mixed, to put it charitably. So it has come to this. The coda to a long and storied history of Australian cricket memorabilia, from Don Bradman’s baggy green to Channel Nine’s deep vault of autographed ephemera: Steve Smith is becoming an NFT. In an Instagram post at the tail end of last week, the Australian vice-captain announced a partnership with Glorious Digital, a New Zealand NFT studio launched by All Blacks great Dan Carter. The studio plans to release a range of digital collectibles this month, with collaborators like Crowded House’s Neil…
Digital tokens seen as new wealth stream as TV rights and sponsorship level off but not everyone is happy at the new signings. When FC Barcelona took to the pitch for the 2021 Spanish Super Cup final, the trophy wasn’t the only prize at stake. Thousands of blaugrana fans were also keeping an eye on the market for FCB’s “fan token”, the club’s very own cryptocurrency. Socios, the web-based platform that pioneered fan tokens, had promised to “burn” 20,000 tokens for every goal Barcelona scored – and 40,000 if they lifted the cup. In theory, success on the pitch would increase the scarcity of the currency,…