It takes a lot of electricity to mine bitcoins, and as more miners try to cash in on the crypto craze, the amount of energy required to win new coins increases accordingly. New research suggests the entire bitcoin network could consume as much as 7.7 gigawatts of electricity by the end of this yearâenough to power aâŚ
Life comes at you fast. On Tuesday, news broke that Facebook formed a blockchain division. Now it there is word that the company is looking into creating its own cryptocurrency.
We wonât really know what kind of consequences Facebook will face from the Cambridge Analytica scandal until its next earnings report, months from now. But Facebooks is taking a lesson from struggling iced tea and camera companies by throwing some love to the blockchain. Investors: Are you happy now?
Encrypted messaging app Telegram has already raised such a mind-boggling amount of cash from private investors that itâs scrapping its plans to carry out a broader initial coin offering available to the public, per the Wall Street Journal.
Investors are walking away from a $675 million deal to purchase New Yorkâs storied Plaza Hotel, in part by raising $375 million via an initial coin offeringâa largely unregulated form of investment vehicle in which investors are offered cryptocoins instead of traditional stock.
A flaw in ostensibly untraceable cryptocurrency Monero, which has picked up steam as market leader Bitcoin has stumbled in value, may make it possible to trace transactionsâand since the entire history of Monero is encoded in its blockchain in what is now known to be a semi-vulnerable method, transactions thatâŚ
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who also happens to be the chief executive of crypto-friendly mobile payments company Square, appears to be under the impression that Bitcoin will overtake the worldâs supply of fiat currency within ten years.
While the practical and financial viability of the Bitcoin blockchain is still an open question, new research shows that the whole thing could already be illegal in most countries. Researchers in Germany discovered that the ledger system that provides the backbone for Bitcoin contains hundreds of links to childâŚ
President Donald Trumpâs administration issued an executive order on Monday that essentially bans âany transactions within the United States involving any digital currency issued by, for, or on behalf of the Government of Venezuela,â effectively making it illegal to purchase or use the oil-backed Petro cryptocurrencyâŚ
Those looking to run advertisements for cryptocurrencies and related products may soon have to steer clear of Twitter, which Sky News reported on Sunday is âpreparing to prohibit a range of cryptocurrency advertisements amid looming regulatory intervention in the sector.â
Chalk it up to the incredibly high creep factor or a second consecutive year of flat sales, but clothing and outdoor equipment chain L.L. Beanâs foray into blockchain-connected attire has reportedly been cancelled. Whatâs more, the company is downsizing its workforce and eliminating bonuses for employees for theâŚ
John McAfee, the creator of the security software that bears his name, has gotten pretty weird over the many years of his ongoing âlunacy binge.â Just a handful of the times McAfeeâs name has popped up in the news in the past few years include allegations of rape, torture, and assassinations during his time as anâŚ
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, whose recent takes have included that Apple should just build a backdoor into the iPhone because the government might demand it anyway, is now warning that cryptocurrency is killing people.
Hey, remember initial coin offerings, the almost totally unregulated form of investment vehicle in which investors trade real cash or assets in exchange for virtual âtokensâ in cryptocurrency-backed startups? You know, that hot new crypto market that the Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort, warned everyone was rifeâŚ
Despite periodic crashes in the cryptocurrency markets, digital currency keeps on moving out of its formerly niche space and affecting the real world in unpredictable ways. Bitcoin-mining operations are now set to gobble more electricity than domestic residential consumption in Iceland, major credit card providers are âŚ
Thousands of websites including ones run by the U.S. and U.K. governments secretly hijacked browsers to mine cryptocurrency thanks to a compromised plugin, the Register reported on Sunday.
Despite massive blood-letting in the cryptocurrency markets over the past few weeks, the pace of brands just announcing some kind of ambiguous âblockchainâ venture in hopes they can send their stock prices skyrocketing has barely slowed down. Photo company Kodak is now selling crypto miners, while other bit playersâŚ
A short-lived and relatively unknown cryptocurrency project built on Ethereum called Prodeum disappeared this weekendâalong with the money a small number of hapless investors sunk into it. All that remained of its website was a white page with the word âpenisâ written on it.
It seems like everyone is getting into blockchain these days. After all, companies claim to like âtransparency,â âsecurity,â and anything to do with the rollercoaster ride that is bitcoin. But consider this: tuna.
BitConnect, an anonymously-run cryptocurrency lending and exchange platform long suspected of being a well-marketed Ponzi scheme, abruptly ceased operations on Tuesday after receiving cease-and-desist orders from authorities in Texas and North Carolina.
