Cryptocurrency & Mining - Page 9

The Ukrainian government has announced it will give rewards to anyone who can provide information on Russian politicians' cryptocurrency wallets.

The announcement comes from the Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, who took to Twitter to say that the Ukrainian cryptocurrency community is ready to provide a "generous reward for any information about crypto-wallets of Russian and Belarusian politicians and their surroundings." Fedorov goes on to add that "War crimes must be pursued and punished!".

This isn't the first time the Ukrainian government has been involved in cryptocurrency, as it recently requested and received millions in donations to provide aid in its effort against the Russian invasion. According to Artem Afian, a Ukrainian lawyer that is managing the effort of locating cryptocurrency wallets held by politicians, the rewards will come from private donations and will be given in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and some other cryptocurrencies.

The Pixelmon NFT project recently revealed art work of the NFTs it has been working on, and now the community is an in uproar with some individuals claiming the creators are scammers.

The Pixelmon NFT project was a highly anticipated project within the emerging space as the creators claimed they are building a game where players can train, trade, fight and evolve their Pixelmon NFT. The Pixelmon Twitter account has amassed more than 211,000 followers and many of the community members were very excited to see the reveal of the first generation of Pixelmon NFTs called "Pixelmon - Generation 1". Each of the Generation 1 NFTs was at a mint price of 3 Ethereum.

The above video showcases gameplay the Pixelmon creators posted to their Twitter account on February 8, which is now being compared to the recent artwork reveal that has sparked this backlash. A large Twitter thread showcased screenshots of conversations between the creators about using purchased Unity Engine assets and transactions with the developers' team wallet that revealed an individual going on a large NFT spending spree after receiving millions of dollars in funding.

BIOSTAR announces its new iMiner A588X8D2 pre-built mining system, packed with 8 x AMD Radeon RX 580 graphics cards with 8GB of VRAM each.

Inside, the BIOSTAR iMiner A588X8D2 pre-built mining system features an Intel G4900 processor, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, and the 8 x AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB graphics cards. You can use Windows, Linux, or HiveOS and pull a total ETH hash rate of 232MH/s.

BIOSTAR explains: "Designed and pre-assembled by BIOSTAR, the new iMiner A588X8D2 system brings plug and play mining capability to the next level. Packed with blockchain-grade high-end hardware, the iMiner A588X8D2 comes with 8 AMD RX580 graphic cards that dish out an ETH hash rate of 232 MH/s (±5%). Powered by Intel's G4900 processor and an 8Gb DDR4 RAM, the system can run Windows, Linux, or HiveOS".

The NFT space is plagued with projects that end up scamming investors, and recently a famous porn star was added to the list of projects that have ripped off investors.

A YouTube investigator that goes by the name Coffeezilla exposed the porn star turned influencer Lana Rhoades that created the NFT project called "CryptoSis," which features collections of cartoon images of Rhoades. The actress told her audience that purchasing these NFTs would be an investment, and that she will be working hard to "increase the value of CryptoSis's, and make it a lucrative investment for holders that they can sell for more than they paid to mint".

It should be noted that if Rhoades said that her NFT project was purely artwork and not going to make any buyers profit on their purchase, then it wouldn't be a scam. But since Rhoades has failed to provide on the promises she has made to her community/the public roadmap for the project, as well as withdrawn $1.5 million in Ethereum from the project's wallet, it only seems reasonable to assume that Rhoades has taken investors' funds and disappear.

Non-Fungible Token (NFT) scams are plaguing the industry, with it seeming like someone is falling victim to a scam at least every week.

It was only recently that a notorious Twitch streamer scammed his community out of $500,000, and now reports indicate that a senior student at Shanghai's Tongji University has also fallen victim to a similar amount of money. Niq Chen, the senior student at the university, spoke to the South China Morning Post and said that he purchased the NFTs from a project called "LuckyCot 3D", and they consisted of around half of his total NFT collection.

Chen reports receiving a link, which turned out to be a phishing scam. Once Chen clicked on the link, his collection of NFTs worth around $548,000 disappeared, with the scammer then immediately selling an NFT to a private individual whose identity wasn't disclosed. After realizing what had happened, Chen attempted to purchase the stolen NFT back, but the buyer of the stolen asset said that what he received was "a good deal".

Sotheby's auctions are some of the most famous auctions in the world, selling off precious items such as this rock that may be from outer space to NFT collectibles.

Recently there was going to be an auction for a collection of 104 CryptoPunk NFTs that were, at the time, estimated to be worth around $30 million. The auction for the collectibles was meant to be hosted by Sotheby's, but leading up to the auction going live, the seller pulled out, leaving Sotheby's and the NFT community confused. The seller, which goes by the pseudonym '0x650d' took to Twitter to make light of the situation by writing "nvm, decided to hodl".

Following the initial tweet after the rug pull, the seller followed up with a meme that suggests he doesn't agree with Sotheby's trying to take NFTs mainstream by selling them and approves of "taking punks mainstream by rugging Sotheby's". It should be noted that this event isn't technically a rug pull since investors didn't lose any money. To more accurately describe it would be a stunt by the seller in an effort to highlight Sotheby's "high fees charged by auction houses like Sotheby's", according to Haralobos Voulgaris, a quantitative researcher for the Dallas Mavericks who described '0x650d' as a "clown".

Reports indicate that the English Premier League (EPL) football club Manchester City is going to construct the very first stadium in the metaverse.

A report from inews reveals that Manchester City has signed a three-year partnership with Sony, which will provide virtual reality experts that will assist the club in recreating Etihad Stadium in virtual reality. While the project is still in its very early stages, the virtual experts have already visited the stadium to digitally map it so the recreation process can begin in virtual reality.

Manchester City believes that recreating the beloved stadium in virtual reality will bring in additional revenue streams as fans from all around the world will be able to enjoy a live game and the atmosphere of the stadium from the comfort of their own home. Additionally, the club is considering that fans could meet professional players within the metaverse, as well as purchase products that are otherwise not available in real-life.

A community of cryptocurrency enthusiasts is attempting to raise billions to purchase a professional football team.

Reports indicate that the National Football League (NFL) team, the Denver Broncos, is currently in the sale process with a group called "BuyTheBroncos", which consists of fans that wish to purchase the professional team and change it into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). According to the website, if the purchase is successful, the team would change into a "cooperative", and Broncos memberships would make "you an owner of the Broncos and, thus, able to participate in the governance."

A report from CNBC revealed that Sean O'Brien, a former Cisco employee, is leading the effort to buy the Broncos. However, O'Brien has reportedly attempted to purchase two sports franchises in the past and failed both times. ESPN has valued the Broncos at nearly $4 billion, and as the Colorado Governor Jared Polis tells CNBC, "the challenge will be it'll take a lot of money... but you know what, if your imagination is big enough, then it can happen. And anything I can do to make it happen, I'd be happy to."

A new report has revealed that Indian authorities have arrested eleven individuals for a cryptocurrency scam that allegedly stole $5.36 million from investors.

According to the Times of India, authorities in Nagpur have seized gold, a collection of "high-end vehicles" that are estimated to be worth around $134,000, a laptop, multiple cell phones, a gun with ammo, and $25,000 in cash. The report states that police raided the building and arrested four individuals that were later identified as Nishid Wasnik and his wife, Pragati, Gajanan Mungune, and Sandesh Lanjewar.

The following day the remaining seven alleged accomplices were arrested, and all were charged under the IPC, Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, and Information Technology Act. Three of the arrested individuals have been on the run for over a year for a scam that dates back to 2017.

Law enforcement has been contacted by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) regarding tweets from the CEOs of two cryptocurrency exchanges.

The OSC recently contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) about tweets that were published by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Kraken CEO Jesse Powell. The tweets from both the CEOs reportedly have criticized the Canadian government's decision to implement the Emergencies Act in response to the recent Ottawa convoy protest.

An Ontario Superior Court judge ruled that millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency owned by Ottawa protesters to be frozen, which included banks that were holding crypto assets for some protesters. The ruling prevents protesters from "selling, removing, dissipating, alienating, or transferring" any crypto assets.

An artist recently exploded a Lamborghini Huracan to create a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) collection that will soon be available to purchase.

The artist goes by the pseudonym Shl0ms and proposed in September 2021 that he should blow up a Lamborghini and out of the exploded parts, create an NFT collection. Shl0ms received financial backing for the idea and also put some of his own money from past art projects into its creation. The artist then purchased a used Lamborghini Huracan for just under $250,000 and hired a federally licensed explosives engineer to assist in the destruction of the vehicle.

So, why explode a Lamborghini for an NFT collection? Shl0ms said, "the Lambo is a pretty potent representation of people simply engaging with crypto because it's a way for them to make money off other people as quickly as possible." Adding that NFT technology has massive potential and that there are many good things that can be done with it, "but there are so many terrible things being done with it."

The digital world is slowly crossing over with real life, and while the process will take many years, it will be done in incremental steps.

Solana-based NFT marketplace Neon recently received a $3 million seed round last month to launch what could be considered as an "incremental step", the very first NFT vending machines. The marketplace rolled out the first NFT vending machine on 29 John St in Manhattan, New York, in December 2021, but now reports indicate that the vending machine is ready for purchases and is open 24 hours a day. The NFT vending machine will allow buyers to purchase Solana NFTs with US dollars.

Jordan Birnholtz, the co-founder and CMO of Neon, spoke to Decrypt and said that he came up with the idea of selling NFTs via a vending machine halfway through 2021 and thought "that there is literally no simpler way to buy something than a vending machine". Additionally, Birnholtz explains that the vending machines were created to showcase how simple it is to purchase an NFT and how powerful of a tool they can be to support digital artists.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has revealed that Tesla charging stations will accept Musk's favorite cryptocurrency as payment.

Elon Musk responded to a tweet from the founder of Tesla Console, Ryan Zohoury, that featured an image of Tesla charging stations in Santa Monica, California, that showcased an almost full parking lot of Tesla vehicles. Musk said that a "futuristic diner / drive-in theater planned for Hollywood area!", and that it will be possible to pay in Dogecoin cryptocurrency.

This isn't the first time Musk has said that Dogecoin is a viable payment, as in December 2021, Tesla began trialing Dogecoin as a payment by allowing individuals to purchase some Tesla merchandise with the cryptocurrency. Reports also indicate that Musk has hinted or teased that in the future, people will be able to pay for SpaceX's Starlink internet with Dogecoin.

The co-founder of one of the world's leading cryptocurrency exchanges has said that the next bull run for Bitcoin won't be for a few more years.

In a recent report from CNBC, who spoke to Du Jun, the co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, Jun said that the Bitcoin bull run likely won't begin until late 2024 or around the beginning of 2025. In an interview with CNBC, the Huobi co-founder said that the bull market echos with a process called the "Great Halving," which happens every four years. This process relates to the Bitcoin mining network, which validates transactions on the network and gives miners, or validators, Bitcoin as a reward.

Every time the Great Halving happens, it halves the amount of Bitcoin that is rewarded to miners. In 2016 the halving happened, and the following year Bitcoin hit an all-time high. The last halving occurred in 2020, and throughout 2021 Bitcoin reached its current all-time high of $69,000. Du Jun believes if this cycle is still happening, we are currently at the early stages of a bear market and that we won't likely see a bull run until 2024.

Another NFT scam project can be added to the ever-growing list of projects that have turned out to be rug pulls.

YouTube investigator Coffeezilla has put together a short video that outlines the recent events surrounding the NFT project created by famous porn star turned influencer Lana Rhoades. The project is called "CryptoSis" and features collections of cartoon images of Rhoades, which the actress told her audience would be a valuable investment as she will be working hard to "increase the value of CryptoSis's, and make it a lucrative investment for holders that they can sell for more than they paid to mint".

It should be noted that if Rhoades said that the "CryptoSis" NFT project was purely artwork and not an investment, then it wouldn't have been a scam. Rhoades, on multiple occasions, said via social media that the value of the project would increase with every new collection drop, leading buyers to believe that they were making a long-term investment that would pay off when she would complete the outlined roadmap for the project.

Intel has made its BonanzaMine official, with its new Bitcoin ASIC miner very different to other Bitcoin ASIC miners on the market from the likes of Bitmain, and others.

The new Intel Bonanza Mine System has a huge 300 x BonanzaMine ASICs that push out an impressive 40 THash/s, while chewing through 3600W of power. Intel's new Custom Compute Group team within the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics (AXG) business division made the custom silicon platforms that are optimized for specific clients' needs... in this case, a Bitcoin ASIC miner.

All of the required components are built into an individual self-contained computer that's known as the Bonanza Mine System, with 4 x hash boards, an Intel FPGA control unit, 4 x fans, and a programmable PSU. The 4 hash boards are behind the dual-fan cooling system, the control unit at the top, and the PSU is found vertically on the left of the system.

OpenSea, the world's largest marketplace when it comes to NFTs, has announced via its Twitter account that it's currently investigating a "phishing attack".

Since the attack was announced, numerous updates have been posted by OpenSea and its co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer, who said that the marketplace is communicating with more than a dozen individuals who were affected by the attack and that it appears the exploit doesn't have to do with the OpenSea website.

OpenSea has since published an update, writing that it has narrowed down the victims of the attack to 17 and that the attacker doesn't seem to be active as the malicious account hasn't seen any movement for the past 15 hours. Finzer wrote that the rumors regarding this attack being worth $200 million are false as the attacker has "$1.7 million worth of Ethereum in his wallet from selling some of the stolen NFTs".

Back in 2016, the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex was hacked, and 120,000 Bitcoin worth about $72 million at the time was stolen.

Recently, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the arrest of a couple living in Manhattan for conspiracy of laundering the stolen funds. The couple Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan were linked to the 2016 heist, and the price of their stolen Bitcoin increased from $72 million to nearly $5 billion over the years of the investigation. The DOJ announced that it had seized $3.6 billion of the stolen funds, with the DOJ's Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco saying during the announcement, "Today's arrests, and the department's largest financial seizure ever, show that cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals."

Now, Netflix has ordered a documentary series to be created on the couple accused of laundering billions of dollars as it's alleged that they attempted liquidating the stack of Bitcoin by creating multiple fake identities and accounts that purchased physical gold, NFTs, and more. Due to the transparent nature of the blockchain, vigilante hackers were able to track down the wallets containing the stolen Bitcoin, which resulted in publications such as Cointelegraph tracking any activity of these wallets. The latest movement out of a stolen wallet was as recent as February 1, 2022, when 10,000 Bitcoin worth $383,540,711 at the time was transferred to an unknown wallet.

A famous investor that has been a business partner of Warren Buffet has said that the price of Bitcoin is "going to zero" and described the cryptocurrency market as a "venereal disease".

Famous investor 98-year-old Charlie Munger, who is the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and Daily Journal chairman said during an interview with Yahoo that he doesn't regret not investing into the emerging cryptocurrency market. Munger says that he didn't invest into crypto and that he is proud he avoided it, describing it as a "venereal disease". The famed investor goes on to say that cryptocurrencies are regularly used for illegal activities such as extortion and tax evasion.

Munger says that he "admires the Chinese" for banning cryptocurrencies and that the US was "wrong" in its decision to allow them. Munger was asked to comment on the price of the largest and most famous cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, where he said that the price of the digital currency "is going to zero" over the next 100 years. Munger has been a long advocate for the banning of cryptocurrencies and wished they were banned "immediately". Lastly, Munger warned investors to not treat the stock market as a "gambling parlor".

YouTuber Coffeezilla has performed an investigation into several NFT projects and found that the owners are working together to pump their project's value artificially.

Before the launch of the NFT project "Squiggles," a 60-page dossier was published that accused the owner of the project of being a "puppet owner" for a group of three individuals Gavin, Gabe, and Ali. The dossier not only accuses the three individuals of being behind Squiggles but also being behind past NFT scam projects such as League of Divine Beings, Vault of Gems, Sinful Souls, Dirty Dogs, and more.

Screenshots also revealed the owners communicating about conducting a fake giveaway by sending money to a friend's account. This fake giveaway was for marketing purposes to generate hype for one of the projects, in an effort to raise awareness and artificially increase the project's value. After being exposed for being behind several NFT scam projects, the team of scammers hired individuals to appear as the owners of new projects, and one of these projects was Squiggles.