Marathon Mines First OFAC Compliant Bitcoin Block

Marathon, one of the biggest bitcoin mining dedicated companies in the U.S. and Canada, has mined the first OFAC compliant bitcoin block, only accepting transactions that comply with the directives of this government office. This has caused a stir in libertarian circles, that argue this can be the start of censorship in the bitcoin blockchain … Read more

Ripple’s Chris Larsen Believes Bitcoin Dominance Could Fall Over Proof-of-Work’s Energy Consumption

Ripple Labs cofounder Chris Larsen has a bone to pick with bitcoin and crypto networks that leverage proof-of-work (PoW). Larsen’s latest write-up explains that the crypto industry needs to reconsider PoW because of the effects on the environment. The Ripple executive believes that other types of consensus algorithms have been effective at being secure while … Read more

Bittorrent Creator Bram Cohen’s Crypto Project Chia Sparks Hard Drive and SSD Shortages

On May 3, tokens stemming from the Chia network, a smart transaction blockchain created by the Bittorrent creator Bram Cohen, will start trading and transactions will be fully enabled. Rather than leveraging the proof-of-work consensus algorithm, Chia will utilize a model called proof-of-space which relies on storage. With Chia’s transactional launch pending, the project has … Read more

BTC Hashpower Swells: Bitcoin Network Touches 185 Exahash, Hashrate Climbs 18,400% Since 2016

During the last week, the Bitcoin network’s hashrate has jumped to a record high of 185 exahash per second on March 14, 2021. The hashpower has relentlessly continued to rise, climbing a whopping 18,400% in five years since January 21, 2016. Bitcoin Price Jumps Over 1,500% in a Year, Hashrate Climbs 18,400% in Five Years … Read more

Bitcoin Energy Consumption Is Far More Efficient and Greener Than Today’s Banking System

While bitcoin and a variety of digital currencies have swelled in value, a number of critics have spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) in regard to the energy consumption proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrencies leverage to produce new units of currency. Just recently the software engineer Stephen Diehl expressed his dissatisfaction over the environmental cost of bitcoin. … Read more

Proof-of-Work and Yield Farming: Binance and Poolin Launch Tokens Backed by Bitcoin Hashrate

There’s a new type of token gaining popularity in the crypto space with the launch of coins that are backed by a specific amount of proof-of-work (PoW) hashrate. On January 6, 2021, Binance launched a new project called the bitcoin standard hashrate token (BTCST), a coin that represents 0.1 terahash (TH/s). Furthermore, the mining operation … Read more

Mining Rig Makers Race to Create Next-Gen Ethereum Miner Before Staking-Only Kicks In

The Ethereum network’s 2.0 transition has pushed the protocol to become one of the largest staking networks in the world with 1,683,905 ether locked into the contract worth $1 billion today. According to reports from China, while proof-of-work ethereum miners have two years left to mine the leading crypto asset, ten Chinese mining rig manufacturers … Read more