Category: Mining

Apple has a clear message for cryptocurrency enthusiasts: Don’t mine it on our devices. It’s a new rule included in the latest version of Apple’s App Store policies, released last week as part of the company’s annual developer conference. The ban couldn’t be clearer. From section 2.4.2, “hardware compatibility,” emphasis ours: Design your app to use power efficiently. Apps should not rapidly drain battery, generate excessive heat, or put unnecessary strain on device resources. Apps, including any third party advertisements displayed within them, may not run unrelated background processes, such…

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Taiwan-based graphics card makers including Gigabyte Technology, Micro-Star International (MSI) and TUL are expected to see their shipments for April plunge over 40% on month, as many clients have suspended taking shipments in response to drastic slowdown in demand for cryptocurrency mining machines, according to industry sources. Channel distributors and larger mining farm operators have cut orders with makers of mining graphics cards and mining motherboards or asked them to suspend shipments due to the crypto mining craze waning abruptly from the beginning of April, the sources said. Quite a…

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Police in north China’s Tianjin Municipality have confiscated 600 bitcoin mining computers after the local power grid reported abnormal electricity consumption. Eight high-power fans were also seized, local police said on Tuesday, adding that it was the largest power theft case in recent years. The power company monitored recent sudden increases in line loss on one electricity line, up to 28 per cent at the peak. The phenomenon is usually closely related with increased load current. An investigation found that the junction box of the suspected power user’s electricity meter…

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Chinese tech giant Bitmain announced that they are releasing an Ethash ASIC miner. In the tweet, Bitmain says that the Antminer E3 is the “world’s most powerful and efficient EtHash ASIC miner.” The units will retail for $800 each and according to the tweet, are not available in China, nor can they be shipped to Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan. Orders are limited to one per person. Bitmain will only accept Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and US dollars for payment in this first batch of units. This release of new mining…

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Last year’s cryptocurrency mining ‘boom’ has led to a shortage in the GPU market. So much so that reports suggest using GPUs to mine cryptocurrencies is stopping us from finding aliens, as these are also used in observatories. New data shows crypto miners actually bought 3 million GPUs last year, worth roughly $776 million. This, according to a new report published by Jon Peddie Research (JPR) that found AMD is emerging as the primary cryptocurrency ‘mining rush’ benefactor over Nvidia. The numbers have a major impact on the market as…

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The wealth of bitcoin mining titan Bitmain has long been assumed to be north of “huge”. Thanks to its near-monopolization of the ASIC manufacturing business, Bitmain has effectively had a license to print money. This week, Bernstein analysts released a report into Bitmain’s operations. It estimates the Chinese firm to have made $3-$4 billion last year from mining cryptocurrency and for selling the equipment for others to do the same. Big Bucks for Bitmain Ask any serious cryptocurrency miner what brand of ASIC they use and you’ll be greeted by…

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Russian security officers have arrested several scientists working at a top-secret Russian nuclear warhead facility for allegedly mining crypto-currencies. The suspects had tried to use one of Russia’s most powerful supercomputers to mine Bitcoins, media reports say. The Federal Nuclear Centre in Sarov, western Russia, is a restricted area. The centre’s press service said: “There has been an unsanctioned attempt to use computer facilities for private purposes including so-called mining.” The supercomputer was not supposed to be connected to the internet – to prevent intrusion – and once the scientists…

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Electronics giant Samsung has begun manufacturing ASIC chips designed for Bitcoin mining, according to local media reports. The firm, which owns one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturing plants, completed the development of its ASIC chips last year and began mass production this month. Samsung is supplying its ASIC chips to an unnamed Chinese company that manufactures Bitcoin mining equipment, and it aims to target the Chinese market before potentially expanding into other regions. “We are in the middle of a foundry business that is being supplied to a virtual…

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Bitcoin power usage set to overtake Argentina’s electricity consumption. The global power needed to create cryptocurrencies this year could rival the entire electricity consumption of Argentina and be a growth driver for renewable energy producers from the US to China. Miners of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies could require up to 140 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2018, about 0.6 percent of the global total, Morgan Stanley analysts said on Wednesday. That’s more than the expected power demand from electric vehicles in 2025. “If cryptocurrencies continue to appreciate we expect global mining…

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