Research: Cryptocurrency miners bought 3 million GPUs in 2017

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crypto mining

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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Up to $4 billion made last year by Bitmain

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BITMAIN ASIC miners profit

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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Archos launches cryptocurrency hardware wallet Safe-T

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Safe-T

Cryptocurrency users are blessed with an increasing choice of hardware wallets. Ledger and Trezor, the two dominant players in the space, are facing competition from a number of new entrants. Ledger will soon be joined by a fellow French manufacturer in the form of Archos, a company best known for its audio accessories. Its Safe-T mini wallet will retail for $62. Manufacturing consumer electronics is a cutthroat business. Competition is fierce, margins are slim, and product life cycles can be short. Last year’s must-have accessory is this year’s bargain bucket;…

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Iran could have own cryptocurrency to avoid US sanctions

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Iran cryptocurrency

Iran says it is preparing to launch its own digital currency in a move that many believe can help reduce the country’s vulnerability to the impacts of US-led sanctions. Iran’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Azari Jahromi was quoted by the domestic media as saying that a plan was already on agenda to develop a platform for using cryptocurrency in the country. Jahromi said the project would be led by the Post Bank of Iran, adding that the Bank was preparing to announce a tender for developing the…

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Venezuela raised $735 Million in pre-sale of oil-backed Petro cryptocurrency

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Petro

Venezuela has announced that the pre-sale of its oil-backed cryptocurrency, the petro, has attracted $735 million on the first day. The government has also published a buyer’s manual and confirmed that buyers can use “hard currencies and cryptocurrencies, but not bolivars.” Petro Pre-Sale Starts The private pre-sale of Venezuela’s oil-backed cryptocurrency, the petro, was scheduled for February 20 at 8:30 am (Venezuela time 04:00 UTC), according to the petro’s whitepaper. However, at midnight local time on February 20, the government announced that the petro pre-sale had started and published a…

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Telegram raises USD 850 mln in ICO to private investors

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ICO Telegram 850mln

Telegram creators Pavel and Nikolai Durov have filed a “Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities” with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Feb. 13, reporting $850 mln raised under the SEC exemption Rule 506(c) from 81 investors for “the development of the TON Blockchain, the development and maintenance of Telegram Messenger.” The type of securities offered in the SEC filing are described as “Purchase Agreements for Cryptocurrency”, and are filed under the Rule 506(c) exemption that means that US citizens who invest must be accredited investors — those worth…

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Ripple signs deal with Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority

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Ripple signs deal with Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority

Saudi Central Bank provides sandbox for banks to try out Ripple tech. Ripple has signed an agreement with the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) to create a pilot programme to enable local banks to deploy xCurrent for cross-border payments, according to the San Franciso company. This pilot programme is the first of its kind to be launched by a central bank and will also provide interested Saudi banks with program management and training. “Central banks around the world are leaning into blockchain technology in recognition of how it can transform…

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Regal RA DMCC gets first Middle East license in cryptocurrencies

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regal assets dmcc

The report says that Regal RA DMCC, a gold trader in Dubai, is the first company in the Middle East to obtain a license to trade cryptocurrencies – according to the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre. The statement released says that the company will offer storage of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies in a vault located at the DMCC headquarters in Almas Tower, Dubai. The company is also working on an online trading platform and they currently view cryptocurrencies as a “commodity, not as a method of payment”. Meanwhile, in a…

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Thousands hijacked websites including government portals to mine cryptocurrency

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website hacked

Over 5,000 websites across the UK and Australia, including government sites, were cryptojacked to force visitors’ computers to mine cryptocurrency. More than 5,000 websites, including government portals in the UK and Australia, fell victim to malware that forces the computers of visitors to unsuspectingly mine cryptocurrency, various media reported. The massive cryptojacking was discovered on Sunday, when UK security researcher Scott Helme was notified by a friend. The latter’s anti-virus program raised the alert about a piece of malware after a visit to the website of the UK Information Commissioner’s…

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Russian scientists arrested for Bitcoin mining in nuclear facility

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Bitcoin nuclear mining

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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Scammers make $5,000 in ETH by impersonating celebs on Twitter

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celebs scammers

Online scammers have made over $5,000 worth of Ethereum in one night alone, showing how gullible some cryptocurrency users can be. Miscreants achieved this by creating fake Twitter profiles for real-world celebrities and spamming the social network with messages tricking users to participate in “giveaways.” Crooks deceived users into sending a small amount of Ethereum, promising they would receive the sum ten times over as part of the giveaway. All the messages followed the same pattern, even if the sums and Ethereum wallet addresses varied between the fake Twitter accounts.…

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Bitcoin Group SE closes 2017 with record in sales and earnings

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bitcoin de

Trading volume on Bitcoin.de increases to EUR 1.2 billion (previous year: EUR 85 million) Sales growth to EUR 12.6 million (previous year: EUR 1.1 million) Earnings before taxes increase to EUR 10.8 million (previous year: EUR 0.2 million) Number of customers on Bitcoin.de rises to more than 665,000 Start of trading of further cryptocurrencies and ICO tokens planned Bitcoin Group SE (ISIN: DE000A1TNV91) according to preliminary, unaudited figures has surpassed its sales and earnings forecast for the financial year 2017, which was announced on 21 December 2017. The company is…

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Bitcoin down to $6,190 and experts warn it may drop another 50%

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bitcoin market

Today’s collapse was fuelled by a flood of speculators looking to make a quick buck. Bitcoin plunged 20 per cent to a three-month low today, its latest sharp loss following a series of setbacks for the cryptocurrency that, with a collapse across global mainstream markets adding to the selling. The virtual currency fell to $6,190 for the first time since mid-November, according to Bloomberg News, and represents the latest hammering for a unit that saw a stratospheric 26-fold rise last year. Today’s collapse comes just six weeks after bitcoin hit…

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Seele ICO investors out of $2 million in ETH

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Seele

Potential Seele ICO investors were recently scammed out of nearly $2 million by impersonators posing as admins, who used the company’s Telegram channel to get them to send their money over before the token sale began. Seele, a blockchain project that describes itself as “blockchain 4.0,” with potential applications in IoT, game assets, fintech, and others, has a technical blurb on its homepage that claims Seele is “powered by an up-scalable Neural Consensus protocol for high throughput concurrency among large scale heterogeneous nodes and is able to form a unique…

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Bitcoin below $7K

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bitcoin under 7000

Bitcoin prices dropped below $7,000 for the first time since mid-November on Monday, signifying a continuation of the market weakness seen in the past week. CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index (BPI) hit a low of $6,888.45, representing a more than 15 percent decline since the start of the day’s trading. At press time, the price of bitcoin had recovered somewhat, trading at $6,993.10 per the BPI. All in all, the move marks a more than $1,200 decline from the opening of $8,186.65. As reported by CoinDesk today, the overall cryptocurrency market…

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