Samsung’s production wing, Samsung Foundry, has launched a new production process of its 7-nanometer (nm) Low Power Plus (7LPP) process node, which could reduce its energy consumption by up to 50 percent, according to an official press release Oct. 18. The new process, based on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology, makes the new 7LPP chips more dense (area efficient) and energy efficient. This could have positive implications for crypto miners usings Samsung’s hardware, as energy costs prove to be a critical factor in the industry’s profitability. As mining hardware develops at a rapid pace, chips continue to become smaller and …

A four-way partnership between major Japanese companies will conduct research into the possible use of blockchain in distributed electricity supply, a press release announced Monday, Oct. 15. Kansai Electric Power Co. (Kepco) will work with Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, IT service management company Nihon Unisys, and the University of Tokyo on the project, which looks at allowing solar power suppliers to sell excess energy to consumers. “Due to the widespread use of renewable energy such as solar power generation, the current power supply system has been changing from a conventional large-scale intensive type to a self-sustained distributed type, and in the …

Reddit users have alleged that American Express (Amex) has sponsored crypto-skeptical content on Twitter, according to a popular forum thread opened Tuesday, Oct. 16. The tweet in question was allegedly circulated through Bloomberg’s Twitter network “TicToc” on Oct. 11, and was reposted as a screenshot to Redditor u/Alexsayzz’s thread titled “Anti-crypto propaganda... promoted by American Express,” which has had 4,100 upvotes and drawn 437 comments as of press time. As the screenshot reproduced below indicates, the tweet appears to have the hallmarks of a promoted post, and is recorded as having 42,000 views at the time the screenshot was taken. …

Australian firm Vicinity has announced it will trial a blockchain solution for its energy network. The company revealed this Thursday, September 25 in an official press release. Vicinity – with more than $42 billion in real estate assets under management – has partnered with Australian energy tech company Power Ledger. The newly announced trial is a part of Vicinity’s $75 million solar energy program that is about to start in Castle Plaza – the company’s mall located in Adelaide, South Australia. The new blockchain platform delivered by Power Ledger will reportedly allow Vicinity to manage energy distribution in real time, …

Iceland’s crypto industry is expected to move away from crypto mining and shift to “pure blockchain businesses.” This is according to forecasts made by a number of local industry insiders who talked to the news site Red Herring September 23. Halldór Jörgensson, chairman of Reykjavik-based Borealis Data Center, told Red Herring that demand from local crypto and blockchain facilities is “shifting more towards the pure blockchain business,” rather than focusing on Bitcoin mining. According to Jörgensson, the frenzy around Bitcoin (BTC) mining has declined to a level that is “not as crazy as it was a year ago,” when the …

A Singapore blockchain startup is launching a fleet of blockchain-enabled electric vehicles that mine crypto as users travel. The company intends to reduce carbon emissions and to reward people for doing so. Cars and climate change Road vehicles such as cars, trucks and motorcycles are the largest contributors of CO2 emissions in the transport sector, overshadowing that of trains, planes and boats. In the United Kingdom, the transport sector is the U.K.’s biggest contributor to CO2 emissions, and at present, there is a scramble not only in the U.K. but worldwide to put more electric vehicles on the roads. CyClean …

A group of major global banks, trading firms, and a leading energy company have launched a joint venture that will oversee a new blockchain-based platform for financing the trading of commodities, Reuters reports September 19. The Swiss-based venture, dubbed komgo SA, has been established by a host of international financing, trading, and production institutions that include ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Agricole Group, Gunvor, ING, Koch Supply & Trading, Macquarie, Mercuria, MUFG Bank, Natixis, Rabobank, Shell, SGS, and Societe Generale. The venture will digitalize trade and commodities finance processes through a blockchain-based open platform, and has been developed in …

A developer known as “Daniel Jones” on Twitter claims to have completed a solar-powered, off-grid crypto transaction using shortwave radio and blockchain, The Next Web reports Tuesday, September 18. The project was reportedly devised in response to the CallForCode challenge, which challenges tech innovators to improvise with existing tools in order to find relief solutions for natural disasters. The off-grid transaction was completed on the open-source blockchain network ‘Burst’ and involved just a portable hard drive, a solar battery pack and a shortwave radio, as one of the project devs revealed in a Tweet September 15: “It is with great …

It's no secret that Bitcoin (BTC) mining is an expensive business, and in more ways than one. Not only has it become less profitable since July 2016's halving of mining rewards to 12.5 BTC, but competition among miners and an increasing hashrate have resulted in ever-higher energy consumption, with all the damage to the environment that implies. Yet, as energy-intensive as Bitcoin mining is, a question still remains: Is there a seasonal variation in the cryptocurrency's energy consumption? Even if consumption is rising on the whole, does something different happen during the summer months? Well, data hasn't been collected on …

Chinese holding company Wuhan General Group (China), Inc. has entered negotiations to transform a U.S. Defense Department facility into a crypto mining farm, according to a press release published September 11. Per the press release, in case of a successful outcome to the negotiation, the company will receive the first order of rigs in late October, with more to come in the following months. In converting the facility, Wuhan General Group is reportedly planning to benefit from low electricity rates in the U.S., a cool climate, and high-speed Internet, which is crucial for mining operations. The 55,000 square foot data …

French electric utility company ENGIE and consulting firm Maltem Consulting Group have jointly established a blockchain development firm designed for commercial customers, according to a press release published September 7. The new project called Blockchain Studio received seed funding totalling €1.9 million (around $2.1 million). Blockchain Studio has created a software suite for commercial enterprises comprised of two fundamental tools. One tool is focused on the development of smart contracts and enables its application by users without technical background. The other tool manages the creation of cloud-based or server-based blockchain infrastructure. According to the announcement, the company is planning to …

The U.S. Senate has held a hearing on the energy efficiency of blockchain and similar technologies, according to an announcement published August 21. The hearing on energy and natural resources, held by the U.S. Senate Committee in Washington, DC, focused on the application of blockchain and related technologies, as well as the cybersecurity possibilities of using such technologies in the energy industry. In particular, the committee considered the issue of the possible increase in electricity prices following the rising power demand in blockchain applications. The hearing also touched on the methods of evaluating whether blockchain can improve the cybersecurity of …