Archiv für den Monat: Februar 2023

Massachusetts Man Charged for Illegally Mining Crypto in School Crawlspace

Veröffentlicht am Februar 24, 2023 von admin

• A Massachusetts man, Nadeam Nahas, faces charges after illegally mining cryptocurrency in a school crawl space.
• He leveraged the school’s electricity to increase his profits while avoiding the expensive cost of electricity needed for Bitcoin mining.
• Illegal crypto-mining operations are fairly common, as perpetrators have been caught stealing equipment and tapping into power sources in various locations.

Massachusetts Man Charged with Crypto-Mining

A Massachusetts man is facing charges after engaging in an illegal mining operation on school property. Nadeam Nahas was set to be arraigned today but failed to appear and a default warrant was issued by the judge.

Discovery of Mining Operation

The town’s facilities director discovered computers and related equipment in a school crawl space in December 2021 and reported it to police. The IT director later determined that the configuration was used for cryptocurrency mining connected to the school’s electrical system, leading investigators to suspect Nahas as the perpetrator.

Illegal Crypto Mining Commonplace

Illegal crypto-mining operations are fairly common due to the potential for profit despite high costs associated with using legitimate electricity sources. Perpetrators have been found mining cryptocurrency on university campuses, mental hospitals, government buildings, airports and other locations by either stealing equipment or tapping into existing power sources.

Costs Involved with Bitcoin Mining

According to Visual Capitalist, it cost $35,404 USD to mine a single Bitcoin last year — more than double its current value at the time of writing this article. This makes illegal methods highly appealing as they allow miners to bypass these inflated costs while still profiting from their activities when done effectively.

Cryptocurrency Mined Unknown

It is not currently known which cryptocurrency was being mined by Nahas in this incident; however, Bitcoin is usually involved when it comes to both legal or illicit operations of this nature.

Binance Loses $2.3B in Reserves Following BUSD Debacle

Veröffentlicht am Februar 18, 2023 von admin

• The SEC issued a notice to Binance USD issuer Paxos on Feb. 13 to stop further BUSD minting.
• As a result, investors withdrew around $2.3 billion worth of BUSD from Binance within four days.
• Binance reserves decreased by 16%, falling to around 12.1 billion tokens in the same period.

SEC Intervenes in BUSD Production

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requested Paxos, the issuer of Binance USD (BUSD), to stop further minting of the stablecoin on Feb. 13, 2021. This news caused investors to withdraw around $2.3 billion worth of tokens from Binance within four days, causing a 16% decrease in the exchange’s holdings of BUSD, which fell to roughly 12.1 billion tokens during that time period.

CZ Responds To SEC Notice

In response to the SEC’s intervention, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), CEO of Binance said that „Paxos will continue to service the product and manage redemptions.“ On the same day as CZ’s statement, Paxos announced that it would cease all new production of BUSD starting from Feb 21, 2023 onwards. Following this announcement, the price of the native token for trading on Binance (BNB) dropped by 9%.

CryptoSlate Coverage Of Event

CryptoSlate covered this event with an article titled „Binance reserves lost $2.3B following BUSD debacle,“ authored by Zeynep Geylan and published on Feb 17th 2023 at 5:50pm UTC+0:00 . The article provided an analysis of how investors reacted to the news and discussed changes in market prices following this incident as well as CZ’s response and updates regarding further developments with regards to SEC-Paxos interactions surrounding this matter.

Implications For Market

This event highlights some potential implications for cryptocurrency markets going forward into future regulatory interventions such as increased volatility in prices for related assets due to investor reactions and uncertainty about how events like these could impact crypto adoption more broadly over time if similar incidents were repeated or expanded upon by authorities internationally or domestically in different jurisdictions around the world where cryptocurrencies are traded or used for payments or other activities online or offline .

Conclusion

Overall, this incident serves as a reminder that regulators are paying close attention to cryptocurrency projects and exchanges operating within their jurisdiction; thus companies operating within these spaces should be aware of their obligations under relevant laws & regulations when launching products and services related cryptographically secured digital assets like Bitcoin & Ethereum etc.. Additionally , this case can inform investors looking into entering crypto markets regarding potential risks they may face when investing in digital asset projects that are not compliant with international regulations or local laws depending upon where they are located geographically speaking .

Ordinal Punks NFTs Called Out as ‚Sketchy‘

Veröffentlicht am Februar 11, 2023 von admin

• Ordinal Punks NFTs are being called out as ’sketchy‘ due to inadequate infrastructure and a lack of transparency.
• Despite this, demand for Bitcoin NFTs is still on the rise, with clone collections such as ‘Bitcoin Punks’ becoming increasingly popular.
• However, it is advised to stay away from FOMO due to the lack of smart contracts and the ‘square peg, round hole’ approach used by these collections.

Ordinal Punks NFTs Called Out As ‚Sketchy‘

An anonymous Twitter account expressed its concerns about Ordinal Punks NFTs questioning whether it was „the biggest NFT scam of all time?“ On Feb 9th, CryptoSlate reported on the rising popularity of Ordinal Punks and the sale of three NFTs including #94 which reportedly sold for 9.5 Bitcoins ($215,800).

What Are The Concerns With Ordinal Punks?

Given that the Bitcoin chain was not originally designed to accommodate NFT functionality there is no infrastructure to verify information or even facilitate sales in a click-and-buy process. Furthermore details about Ordinal Punks are restricted to people’s accounts rather than openly accessible data derived from on-chain information. Citing the Director of Research at PROOF Collective who got this information from a „Google doc,“ TheNorweigan said Ordinal Punks have a current price floor of 55.4 ETH ($85,500) but questioned whether they were worthy of being classed as blue chip given everything was happening OTC, scams were prevalent and there was extreme information asymmetry.

Demand For Bitcoin NFTs On The Rise

Despite this @seanbonner tweeted that Bitcoin Punks (a clone of Ethereum’s CryptoPunks) is taking off right now and suffering from similar drawbacks due to using an inappropriate undeveloped NFT infrastructure on Bitcoin however people are still trying to snap one up in Discord due to FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).

Advice To Steer Clear Of FOMO

@seanbonner advise against falling for FOMO due to there being no market so you have to rely on OTC sales or wait until someone wants to sell which could take months and ultimately leave you without any profit. He also warned that there is no liquidity meaning if you buy one it can be hard to find someone else willing or able to buy it off you at anywhere near the same price leaving you locked into your investment with no way out other than waiting for someone else crazy enought o pay what you paid for it – or more – if you’re lucky!

Conclusion

In conclusion whilst demand for Bitcoin NFTS remains high caution should be exercised when considering buying into collections such as Ordinal Punk & Bitcoin Punk given their questionable legitimacy and lack of infrastructure/transparency making them vulnerable targets for scams & manipulation leaving investors exposed & unable to easily exit their positions without losses if they need/want too.

Craig Wright to Face Off with Bitcoin Developers in Court

Veröffentlicht am Februar 5, 2023 von admin

• Craig Wright is suing 15 Bitcoin developers to obtain 111,000 BTC worth $2.5 billion.
• The U.K.’s Court of Appeal ruled that developers may owe duties to owners of a blockchain and granted the lawsuit permission to move forward.
• If Wright wins, the developers could be required to write software patches that would help his company recover the full amount.

Craig Wright’s Lawsuit Against Bitcoin Developers

Craig Wright is suing 15 Bitcoin developers in an attempt to obtain 111,000 BTC worth $2.5 billion. This lawsuit is being pursued in the U.K., and the U.K.’s Court of Appeal recently ruled that developers may owe duties to owners of a blockchain, granting the lawsuit permission to move forward.

Potential Outcome

If Wright wins this case, the developers could be required to write software patches that would help his company recover the full amount of crypto he claims was stolen from him years ago due to a hack. This outcome could also have a broad impact on blockchain development as a whole.

Wright’s Relationship with Cryptocurrency Community

Wright has had a tumultuous relationship with the cryptocurrency community due to his claims that he is Satoshi Nakamoto —the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin— and has leveraged this role in various legal cases over time with varying success levels.

Developers‘ Reactions

The lawyer representing several of these developers appealed against this case stated they are „incredibly nervous“ about its potential outcome as they could potentially end up having to pay money themselves if it turns out in favor of Wright’s case against them.

Conclusion

The trial for Craig Wright’s lawsuit against multiple Bitcoin developers is set to go ahead, which will determine whether or not these developers are made liable for any damages or losses suffered by Wright as result from a hack he experienced years ago and could have widespread implications for blockchain development as well as those involved in it directly such as these defendants in this case going forward into trial soon..