The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) published new initial coin offering (ICO) and cryptocurrency guidelines on its official website on May 30. The regulator detailed the prerequisites that a cryptocurrency business needs to follow in order to comply with both the Australian Corporations and ASIC Acts, but did not cover regulations enforced by other national institutions. Notably, the guideline specified that if a crypto asset is a financial product, then the issuer and firms dealing with it are required to hold an Australian financial services license. The report also notes that miners will be considered part of the clearing …

Privacy-centric cryptocurrency monero (XMR) plans to switch to a new proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm in October. The new algorithm follows an agreement with Arweave, which will fund an audit of the new algorithm, an Arweave spokesperson told Cointelegraph via email on May 23. Arweave, which has launched a permanent and decentralized internet, said that monero will implement the RandomX algorithm, thus replacing CryptoNight, if the audit is successful. Until now, monero developers reportedly hard-forked the network once every 6 months to ensure application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) resistance by implementing small changes to CryptoNight. However, this approach has been criticized for being …

Ethereum (ETH) core developer Hudson Jameson announced that a third-party audit of the Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)-resistant proof-of-work algorithm ProgPoW has been funded. The dev made the announcement during the latest bi-weekly Ethereum core developer meeting held on April 26. During the call, it was specified that the targeted funding amount of 50,000 units of decentralized, Ethereum-based USD-pegged stablecoin DAI had been reached. The funds were reportedly crowd-sourced through donations. Jameson noted that the audit is set to begin “this week or next week hopefully.” ASIC refers to mining hardware that uses single-purpose chips, which are tailored to more …

Chinese publicly listed construction company turned to cryptocurrency mining firm, Huatie HengAn, has reportedly been sold after its value decreased by over 90%. The development was reported by English-language local crypto-focused media 8btc on April 19. The firm has been reportedly sold for around 12 million yuan ($1.8 million), after its value decreased from 170 million Chinese yuan ($25.3 million) in under a year. Per the report, Huatie HengAn started as a subsidiary of the publicly listed parent company Huatie and claims to be mainly engaged in providing cloud computing services. Still, 8btc notes that its financial filings reveal that …

Bitmain, the largest manufacturer of mining equipment, recently revealed the Antminer Z11 device for mining Zcash and other cryptocurrencies based on the Equihash algorithm, as reported by Cointelegraph on March 19. The company claims that the new chip is three times more powerful than its predecessor, the Antminer Z9, which was released nine months ago. Introducing the #AntminerZ11 that packs 3X more hashing power than its predecessor! The Z11 mines #Zcash under the Equihash algorithm. Performing with a hash rate of 135 KSol/s and power consumption of 1418 W. Click here (https://t.co/woThhXNxjd) to learn more. pic.twitter.com/HzCLKR7dVc — Antminer_main (@Antminer_main) March …

Last month, reports surfaced on crypto mining research conducted by tech conglomerate Cisco with the following headline: “College kids are using campus electricity to mine crypto.” Indeed, many students don’t have to worry about paying power bills, as per their university housing contracts, which tend to cover electricity expenses. That “free” power allows them to host cost-efficient mining rigs, where the only expense is the actual hardware. It almost seems too good to be true: Mining students receive a passive income, which can potentially cover the purchase of a few textbooks — or even pay for the whole semester and …

Renewable energy will not solve Bitcoin’s (BTC) sustainability problem according to a blockchain specialist at Big Four auditing company PwC, Alex de Vries. De Vries presented his argument in a study published in sustainable energy journal Cell on March 14. The research cites estimates from de Vries’ website, according to which Bitcoin consumed anywhere from 40 terawatt hours (TWh) to 62.3 TWh throughout 2018. According to the paper, this is on par with the energy consumption of countries like Hungary (40.3 TWH) and Switzerland (62.1 TWh). De Vries quotes research published in 2014 that estimates that the energy consumption of …

Ethereum (ETH) network users have unanimously supported the ProgPoW algorithm, which is expected to make the platform resistant to application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners. Initially, opponents of the update prevailed over supporters by a margin of 96 percent, according to a Cointelegraph report on Feb. 15. The current scenario is exactly opposite, with 94 percent of voters favoring the implementation of ProgPoW, as evidenced by the Etherchain charts. What is ProgPoW? Simply put, ProgPoW is a version of the proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm, which is supposed to smooth the transition of the Ethereum network to proof-of-stake (PoS). As a part of …

On Feb. 14, California-headquartered gaming and computer hardware manufacturer Nvidia reported full-year revenue gains in 2018, despite being one of the companies worst hit by the cryptocurrency market dip and subsequent lack of demand for mining components. The firm’s main products include graphics processing units (GPU), among others, which became widely purchased by miners during the crypto boom of 2017 — as a result, the firm’s revenue started to correlate with the crypto market condition (at least to some extent), which resulted in a few shake-ups. 2017: Nvidia enjoys the crypto boom, becomes substantial part of the market In 2017, …

Chinese mining giant and ASIC hardware producer Bitmain has announced its next generation 7nm (nanometer) ASIC mining chip, according to a press release published on Monday, Feb. 18. The new mining hardware, BM1397, is designed for mining cryptocurrencies that use the SHA256 algorithm for their proof-of-work (PoW), such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). BM1397 requires less power for mining cryptocurrencies, representing a 28.6 percent improvement in power efficiency in comparison with the company’s previous 7nm chip, BM1391. The new chip will be used in new Antminer models — S17 and T17 — which will be revealed later this …

An online vote over the implementation of ProgPoW in the Ethereum (ETH) proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm shows a majority in favor of the change, according to the results updated today, Feb. 15, on the dedicated voting portal. ProgPoW is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)-resistant PoW algorithm meant to replace ETHhash, Ethereum’s current PoW algorithm. By defining the algorithm as ASIC-resistant, ETH developers mean that the algorithm would decrease — but not eliminate — the efficiency advantage of mining using ASICs over using generic hardware such as graphics processing units (GPUs). At press time, over 76 percent (628.000 ETH, equivalent to over …

Ethereum (ETH) core developers have delayed the decision to implement Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)-resistant proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm ProgPoW. According to an Ethereum core developer meeting on Feb. 1, the team wants to wait until the algorithm is audited by a third party. Ethereum core developer Hudson Jameson declared during the call that “there is a group forming or multiple groups forming to perform an independent audit on ProgPoW.” He explained that the audit is an attempt to establish how effective the algorithm would be in leveling the playing field for different kinds of hardware used to mine crypto, including GPUs, …