Cryptocurrency & Mining - Page 17

AMD just launched its new Radeon RX 6600 XT graphics card, with the Navi 23 GPU and 8GB of GDDR6 memory offering some great 1080p performance... but wow, the crypto mining performance on the RX 6600 XT is pretty damn good.

I'm about halfway into my own ETH crypto mining article using the Radeon RX 6600 XT, but ahead of that I've just seen that VideoCardz is reporting from a report on Reddit that someone has got the Radeon RX 6600 XT mining ETH at 32MH/s at just 55W of power... which is insane. Quite possibly the best crypto mining GPU ever released.

For me, out of the box my XFX Radeon RX 6600 XT Speedster MERC 308 Black was pushing 29MH/s for a shave under 100W of power... already impressive. But then Dizzy Mining reduced the GPU clocks on his Radeon RX 6600 XT down to 1.2GHz, and the GDDR6 clocks up to 2.2GHz -- this pushed the ETH mining performance up to 32MH/s and the power consumption down to just 55W.

Uh, well this isn't good at all -- decentralized finance (DeFi) project Poly Network was hacked, with over $600 million in cryptocurrency stolen by hackers.

Poly Network was hacked and had $600 million taken from where it operates: Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Ethereum (ETH), and Polygon blockchains. Poly Network explained: "We call on miners of affected blockchain and crypto exchanges to blacklist tokens coming from the above addresses".

The team at Poly tweeted out that the $600 million in assets were sent to two addresses, including them in the tweet above. But that's where things get interesting...

The price of Bitcoin has been stuck for some months, and now the coin has finally broken through to a new high.

On August 6, Bitcoin broke through to achieve a multi-month high at $43,231, which is the highest the price has achieved since May 19. The rise in the cryptocurrency's price was predicted by some market analysts using metrics from what the market did just before the 2020 bull run. According to those analysts, whales and retail investors bought large chunks of Bitcoin around this time in 2020, driving up the price.

Those same whales and retail investors seem to be doing what they did in 2020 right now. Rekt Capital, a market analyst, said, "BTC has successfully claimed the 200 day EMA as support, a long-term gauge of investor sentiment towards BTC. BTC has also successfully claimed the 21 week EMA as support, a bull market indicator. The market is getting bullish." Other market analysts have predicted that Bitcoin may reach $150,000 by September this year. More on that story can be found here.

A big rumor has just hit: Exxon Mobil will reportedly announce that it has purchased around $5 billion in Bitcoin, and that it will begin accepting Bitcoin at all Exxon Mobil pumps through the Lightning Network starting in Q4 2021.

The rumor is coming from Oil and Gas News on Twitter, that tweeted: "BREAKING: EXXON MOBIL TO ANNOUNCE ~$5B #BITCOIN BUY AND PLANS TO START ACCEPTING BITCOIN AT ALL PUMPS VIA LIGHTNING NETWORK STARTING Q4 2021 - SOURCES".

This is just a rumor, and requires not a pinch but a bucket of salt... but let's say it did happen. Exxon Mobil accepting Bitcoin as payment at its pumps... it would have to be a truly game-changing decision. I don't think it'll happen as you'd hear this news from a more reputable source, but stranger things have happened.

Bitcoin recently saw a rise in price but has since corrected itself by more than 8.2% after it reached $42,230. Is the famous cryptocurrency out of steam?

According to a few market analysts, Bitcoin is hardly out of steam and is expected to reach new highs later in the year. Nunya Bizniz, an independent market analyst, posted some analysis on Bitcoin bullish trends over the two years it experienced its great halving, and from data, Bizniz predicted that the next Bitcoin peak will form on September 21, 2021.

For those that don't know what the great halving is, it's a pre-programmed event where Bitcoin's supply is halved every four years. Seeking Alpha financial markets contributor Ariel Santos-Alborna explained that "Both tops occurred in November and December, respectively, which could insinuate that the trigger for bear markets has more to do with taxes," and that a "more realistic" top for Bitcoin is between $88,000 and $150,000. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

There is nothing worse than forgetting your password to an account you need to get access to, but imagine being locked out of an account that is holding your $220 million in Bitcoin.

33-year-old software developer Stephen Thomas is experiencing that very thing as he cannot remember the password to his "Iron Key", which contains a stack of Bitcoin that he purchased back in 2011. So, what is an Iron Key? An Iron Key is developed by Kingston Technology and is a USB drive with AES-encrypted directories that only allows for ten attempts, and if ten attempts are incorrect, then the USB wipes all of its content.

The New York Times interviewed Stephen where he said, "I would just lay in bed and think about it: Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn't work, and I would be desperate again. It was actually a really big milestone in my life where I sort of realized how I was going to define my self-worth going forward. It wasn't going to be about how much money I have in my bank account."

The first music NFT has been sent to the International Space Station (ISS) and around Earth before coming back down to the surface.

Two companies named Nanoracks LLC and Artemis Music Entertainment partnered to send a recording of composer Claude Debussy's piano masterpiece "Clair de Lune" ("Moonlight") to the ISS. Music has been created aboard the floating laboratory before, but this track is special since the companies decided to mint the track as a non-fungible token (NFT), which, according to Artemis Music representatives, makes it the first music NFT to reach orbit.

The music NFT was performed by Hong Kong-based pianist Wing-Chong at the end of last month. The original track was published in 1905 by Claude Debussy. On July 28, the music NFT was sent to the ISS, and then the digital file raced around Earth for 90 minutes, completing one lap of the planet, before coming back down to the surface to be minted as an NFT - marking this moment forever. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

A family has claimed that the Ethereum Foundation hasn't provided them with a key file that would give them access to nearly $7 million worth of Ethereum (ETH).

According to a GoFundMe fundraiser, Yukiko Williams claims that he and his family purchased 3,000 ETH during Ethereum's Initial Coin Offering (ICO) back in 2014. Williams goes on to explain that the Ethereum Foundation sent the family a JSON file that gives access to the wallet containing the stored ETH, but there were technical difficulties, and the family couldn't get access.

Williams states on the GoFundMe page listing, "During the 2014 Ethereum Initial Coin Offering (ICO) Event, we had purchased a total of 3000 ETH Coins because we believed it would become a leading blockchain platform. At the time of the transaction, the Ethereum Foundation was supposed to send over our JSON file, which will give us access to the Ethereum wallet that contained our coins."

Yesterday, reports surfaced about Amazon offering cryptocurrency payments to shoppers on its platform, and now Amazon has officially commented.

To give some context, on Jul 22, Amazon posted a job listing for a digital currency and blockchain product lead, leading people to believe that Amazon was in the midst of exploring the cryptocurrency space. Four days after the listing was posted, London's City A.M newspaper published a story that claimed an insider informed the newspaper that Amazon was "definitely" going to support Bitcoin payments and that it will launch a native token.

As you can probably imagine, the news caused the price of Bitcoin to skyrocket, gaining around 15% in less than three hours, per Wu Blockchain. Now, an Amazon spokesperson has told Reuters that the company isn't planning on accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment by the end of the year and that the "speculation that has ensued around our specific plans for cryptocurrencies is not true."

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has fired off two cryptocurrency-related memes, some of which are directed towards Dogecoin holders.

Elon Musk must have recently watched or re-watched The Matrix as the billionaire CEO has posted two Matrix-themed memes to his personal Twitter account. One of the memes, seen above, is directed towards Dogecoin holders, and it shows Neo from the Matrix asking a Shiba Inu-Morpheus if it's possible to make "a lot of money with Dogecoin?".

The Shiba Inu-Morpheus replies to Neo and says, "No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that Dogecoin is money". In other cryptocurrency news, Musk recently appeared at The B Word conference, where he said that Tesla is likely to accept Bitcoin as payment for its electric vehicles again, but there is a catch. Read more on that story here. As for SpaceX, NASA has just tapped Musk's space company to launch NASA's most recent alien-hunting mission, more on that here.

Amazon will reportedly offer cryptocurrency payments by the end of the year, with Bitcoin payments by the end of 2021 on the way according to the latest rumors.

In a new article, an anonymous insider tells CityAM that Amazon is pushing into cryptocurrency with full strength, this isn't just some short-term plan. The insider said: "This isn't just going through the motions to set up cryptocurrency payment solutions at some point in the future - this is a full-on, well-discussed, integral part of the future mechanism of how Amazon will work. It won't take long because the plans are already there, and they have been working on them since 2019".

It will begin with Amazon accepting Bitcoin, but then it'll be joined by Ethereum, Cardano, Bitcoin Cash and "about eight of the most popular cryptocurrencies" which I'm sure will include Dogecoin. Dogecoin is already accepted at Amazon's competitor, Newegg, and is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies. Jeff Bezos founded Amazon, and Elon Musk is his competitor in space -- but a huge fan of Dogecoin to the point that Musk is called The Dogefather. Their worlds collide in so many ways.

Las Vegas strip clubs are stepping up into the world of cryptocurrencies, with Crazy Horse 3 becoming the first major entertainment venue in a US city to accept Bitcoin.

Crazy Horse 3 has tapped the Lightning Network to handle its acceptance of Bitcoin, where customers can use Bitcoin to pay for VIP bottle packages, food, drinks, retail, admission, and even "dance dollars" for strippers and lap dances. You'll eventually be able to give strippers tips "in the near future".

Crazy Horse 3 publicist Lindsay Feldman of BrandBomb Marketing explained that Crazy Horse 3 is "committed to innovating the modern-day guest experience and as leaders of the Las Vegas entertainment industry. We are embracing the opportunity to accept Bitcoin as a way to deliver convenience, first-class hospitality, and an added level of anonymity for our guests".

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has discussed if Tesla will ever accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for its electric vehicles.

Musk appeared at a cryptocurrency conference organized by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, where he answered questions regarding cryptocurrency and Bitcoin. Musk was asked if Tesla would accept Bitcoin as payment for its vehicles, to which Musk said that if Bitcoin's renewable energy usage was at 50% of above, then Tesla "will most likely resume accepting Bitcoin".

Here's what Musk said, "It looks like bitcoin is shifting a lot more toward renewables and a bunch of heavy-duty coal plants that were being used...have been shut down, especially in China." Not long ago, Beijing started its crackdown on Bitcoin mining, which caused Bitcoin miners to flee to the United States to resume production with renewable energy in mind.

Elon Musk has confirmed that he personally holds major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin -- and that's about it -- outside of owning stock of the companies he created in SpaceX and Tesla.

The billionaire announced the news during The B Word conference, during a video call on Zoom with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and others. During the chat, Musk talked about the fact that he personally holds Bitcoin, and so do SpaceX and Twitter.

Not only that, but Musk doesn't pump and dump -- Musk explained: "If the price of bitcoin goes down I lose money. I might pump but I don't dump. I definitely do not believe in getting the price high and selling or anything like that. I would like to see bitcoin succeed".

Elon Musk has confirmed that he personally owns Bitcoin, telling the world during The B Word conference.

Musk said during The B Word conference: "I own Bitcoin, Tesla owns Bitcoin, SpaceX owns Bitcoin". The confirmation comes months after back in March 2021 when Tesla started accepting Bitcoin as payment for its cars, where at the time Musk said: "Tesla is using only internal & open source software & operates Bitcoin nodes directly. Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as Bitcoin, not converted to fiat currency".

Musk also confirmed that the only publicly traded stock that he owns is Tesla's and that he also holds Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin cryptocurrencies. He said: "The only significant thing I own outside of Tesla is SpaceX".

The world of cryptocurrency was meant to usher in a full disconnect from central banks and the BS between you and your money, but the European Union has other plans.

The European Commission, which is the executive branch of the European Union, is reportedly planning to ban anonymous cryptocurrency wallets. The news is coming from Reuters, which reports that the EU's big (brother) push will see service providers requiring a customer's name, address, and their age -- as well as the name of the recipient -- for any and all cryptocurrency transfers.

The EU is of course saying this is for your safety, as it's part of the European Commission's fight against terrorism financing and money laundering. The new law that the EU will push through would make Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transfers completely traceable.

It seems the gigantic crackdown on cryptocurrency mining operations in China is going to the next level, with Chinese Bitcoin mining outfit, Optimum Mining Host, moving 1 million Bitcoin mining rigs from China to Canada.

Moving 1 million anything from one place to another is a gigantic operation no matter what it is, which is why the company is getting Black Rock Petroleum Company to help out. Moving all of that hardware out of China is going to be hard -- for many reasons, not just a logistics reason -- with the 1 million rigs being moved out of China and into Alberta, Canada spread out across 3 locations.

The new Alberta, Canada relocation will have the 1 million Bitcoin mining rigs will be spread across three Natural Gas producing sites. The first 200,000 machines will be hosted by the Quirk Creek Gas plant which is operated by Caledonian Midstream Corporation.

I was in the middle of writing my news for the day, while it was around 4:20AM at the time when I noticed it (Elon must be checking over my shoulder) and I notice Dogecoin is trending on Twitter. I check the price, it has spiked 10% or so -- time to see if Elon has tweeted about Dogecoin.

Elon Musk didn't tweet about Dogecoin but he did change his Twitter profile picture, which now has Musk with a pair of aviators looking all dapper -- with Dogecoin reflected in the glasses. The price of Dogecoin had fallen to around $0.17 in the last 24 hours -- most of the crypto market has been suffering -- with this news popping it close to $0.19 at the time of writing.

Anonymous has just released a new video, announcing a brand new cryptocurrency out of nowhere: introducing Anon Inu.

In their video, Anonymous takes a few swings -- starting with China and the CCP squeezing Bitcoin, miners, crypto owners, and everyone in between. The CCP is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency, the digital Yuan, and once this is done there will be no other currencies accepted within its borders.

You can read all about Anon Inu here.

One of the co-creator of Dogecoin has dropped some bombs about reentering the cryptocurrency market on his personal Twitter account.

Jackson Palmer took to his Twitter account to talk about if he is planning on making a "return to cryptocurrency". In the tweets, Palmer states that after studying cryptocurrency for many years, he believes that cryptocurrency is "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 enforced scarcity."

Palmer continues to explain that he believes the cryptocurrency industry is controlled by a group of wealthy individuals that he describes as a "cartel". On top of that, Palmer says that the system has evolved into something that has begun to incorporate many aspects of the centralized financial system, which is the exact opposite of what the cryptocurrency industry set out to replace/avoid. For more information on this story, check out this link here.