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Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

Eco raises $26M in a16z-led round to scale its digital cryptocurrency platform – TechCrunch

Posted: March 7, 2021 at 1:17 pm

Eco, which has built out a digital global cryptocurrency platform, announced Friday that it has raised $26 million in a funding round led by a16z Crypto.

Founded in 2018, the SF-based startups platform is designed to be used as a payment tool around the world for daily-use transactions. The company emphasizes that its not a bank, checking account, or credit card.

Were building something better than all of those combined, it said in a blog post. The companys mission has also been described as an effort to use cryptocurrency as a way to marry savings and spending, according to this CoinList article.

Eco users can earn up to 5% annually on their deposits and get 5% cash back when transacting with merchants such as Amazon, Uber and others. Next up: The company says it will give its users the ability to pay bills, pay friends and more all from the same, single wallet. That same wallet, it says, rewards people every time they spend or save.

After a successful alpha test with millions of dollars deposited, the companys Eco App is now available to the public.

A slew of other VC firms participated in Ecos latest financing, including Founders Fund, Activant Capital, Slow Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Tribe Capital, Valor Capital Group and more than one hundred other funds and angels. Expa and Pantera Capital co-led the companys $8.5 million funding round.

CoinList co-founder Andy Bromberg stepped down from his role last fall to head up Eco. The startup was originally called Beam before rebranding to Eco thanks to involvement by founding advisor, Garrett Camp, who held the Eco brand, according to Coindesk. Camp is an Uber co-founder and Expa is his venture fund.

For a16z Crypto, leading the round is in line with its mission.

In a blog post co-written by Katie Haun and Arianna Simpson, the firm outlined why its pumped about Eco and its plans.

One of the challenges in any new industry crypto being no exception is building things that are not just cool for the sake of cool, but that manage to reach and delight a broad set of users, they wrote. Technology is at its best when its improving the lives of people in tangible, concrete waysAt a16z Crypto, we are constantly on the lookout for paths to get cryptocurrency into the hands of the next billion people. How do we think that will happen? By helping them achieve what they already want to do: spend, save, and make money and by focusing users on tangible benefits, not on the underlying technology.

Eco is not the only crypto platform offering rewards to users. Lolli gives users free bitcoin or cash when they shop at over 1,000 top stores.

Early Stage is the premier how-to event for startup entrepreneurs and investors. Youll hear firsthand how some of the most successful founders and VCs build their businesses, raise money and manage their portfolios. Well cover every aspect of company building: Fundraising, recruiting, sales, product-market fit, PR, marketing and brand building. Each session also has audience participation built-in theres ample time included for audience questions and discussion.

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A major Chinese bitcoin mining hub is shutting down its cryptocurrency operations – CNBC

Posted: at 1:17 pm

A visual representation of the cryptocurrency bitcoin.

S3studio | Getty Images

GUANGZHOU, China China's Inner Mongolia region plans to ban new cryptocurrency mining projects and shut down existing activity in a bid to cut down on energy-consumption.

Bitcoin is based on a decentralized network, which means it's not issued by a single entity like a central bank. Transactions, recorded on a public ledger called the blockchain, need to be "verified" by miners.

These miners run purpose-built computers to solve complex mathematical puzzles that effectively allow a bitcoin transaction to happen. The miners receive bitcoin as a reward and that is the incentive.

But because the computers are high-powered, they consume a lot of energy.

Bitcoin mining consumes an estimated 128.84 terrawatt-hour per year of energy more than entire countries such as Ukraine and Argentina, according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, a project of the University of Cambridge.

China accounts for around 65% of all bitcoin mining globally Inner Mongolia alone accounts for about 8%, due to its cheap energy. In comparison, the United States accounts for 7.2% of global bitcoin mining.

Not all cryptocurrencies work like bitcoin, however.

Inner Mongolia, located in northern China, failed to meet central government assessment targets regarding energy use in 2019 and was scolded by Beijing. In response, the region's development and reform commission laid out plans to reduce energy consumption.

Part of those plans involve shutting down existing cryptocurrency mining projects by April 2021 and not approving any new ones. They also involve reassessing other energy-intensive industries like steel and coal.

While the Chinese government has backed the development of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology, it has looked to crack down on digital currencies themselves. In 2017, Beijing banned initial coin offerings, a way to issue digital tokens and raise money. The government has also cracked down on businesses involved in cryptocurrency operations, such as exchanges.

China is also pushing to become more environmentally friendly.President Xi Jinping said last year that the country is targeting peakcarbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by the year 2060.

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Govt open to evaluate, explore cryptocurrencies, says Anurag Thakur – Mint

Posted: at 1:17 pm

Union minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday said the government is open to evaluate and explore new technologies, including cryptocurrencies, for improving governance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is a strong advocate of embracing technology in various aspects of governance, the Minister of State for Finance said while addressing an event organised by Entrepreneurs' Organisation - EO Punjab.

"Let me say that we welcome innovation and new technology...blockchain is a new emerging technology. Cryptocurrency is a form of virtual currency. I firmly believe that we must always evaluate, explore and encourage new ideas with an open mind," he said.

A High-Level Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) was constituted under the Chairmanship of Economic Affairs Secretary on digital currencies and it has submitted its report. The government would take a decision on the recommendations of the IMC and the legislative proposal, if any, would be introduced in Parliament following the due process, he said while inviting suggestions and views on this issue.

Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of their units and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the government is still formulating its opinion on cryptocurrencies and will take a calibrated position.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das had last week said the apex bank has certain "major concerns" over the impact cryptocurrencies may have on the financial stability in the economy and has conveyed the same to the government.

The RBI had virtually banned cryptocurrency trading in 2018 and had directed all entities regulated by the central bank to cease dealing in virtual currencies. The Supreme Court had also asked the Centre in 2019 to frame policies for crypto, and in 2020, struck down the curbs imposed by the RBI.

The Reserve Bank had through various public notices on December 24, 2013, February 1, 2017 and December 5, 2017, cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including bitcoins, regarding various risks associated in dealing with such virtual currencies.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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Looking at ways to experiment with digital world and cryptocurrency: Sitharaman – Mint

Posted: at 1:17 pm

Speaking to CNBC TV 18 today, Nirmal Sitharaman clarified that the government is still formulating its opinion on cryptocurrency and will take a calibrated position. The remarks suggested that the Government may not impose a blanked ban on cryptocurrency.

Many negotiations and discussions are happening with the Reserve bank because the Supreme court order had very clearly told that the government has to take a call on the matter. We are taking with Reserve Bank. Im not sure before the Cabinet takes a call Im not sure I want to give any clue on what is in it. Obviously the RBI will be taking a call on what kind of official currency, cryptocurrency will have to be planned and how it has to be regulated," said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Supreme Court in March 2020 had quashed an RBI ban on payments related to cryptocurrency.

But also we want to make sure there is a window available for all kinds of experiments which will have to take place in the crypto world. It is not as if we are going to look inwards and say we are not going to have any of this. There will be a very calibrated position. Mixed messages are coming across the world. I dont think there is a complete go this way or that way in this matter. We will have to take a very calibrated position. The world is moving fast with technology. We cannot pretend we don't want it. At the same time, we have to recognise with fintech we led the way. Many countries are looking at us for fintech based steps and the kind of things we have done in the payment duniya," she said.

Sitharaman then summarised her remarks by stating that the government is open to experimentation. I can only give you this clue that we are not closing our minds. We are certainly looking at ways in which experimentation can happen in the digital world and cryptocurrency," she added

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Govt response to cryptocurrency will be ‘calibrated’; open to experiment: Sitharaman – Business Today

Posted: at 1:17 pm

In what can be a huge relief to cryptocurrency stakeholders in the country, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has hinted the Centre may not go for a blanket ban on digital currencies and that it's still formulating its opinion on the matter. She said the Centre was open to experimentation with new technologies and is not closing its minds for them.

As per the finance minister, the call on cryptocurrencies will be taken after deliberations with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and cabinet members are over. "A lot of negotiations and discussions are happening around the cryptocurrency with the Reserve Bank of India. RBI will be taking a call on what kind of unofficial cryptocurrency will have to be planned and how it has to be regulated. However we want to make sure that there is a window available for all kinds of experiments which will have to take place in the crypto world," she said at CNBC-TV18's IBLA townhall.

The finance minister has said the Centre's position on cryptocurrencies will be a "calibrated one". The FM clearly said the Centre is not averse to new technology, which is changing rapidly. "There will be a very calibrated position taken. A lot of mixed messages are coming from across the world. The world is moving fast with technology, we cannot pretend that we don't want it," she said.

The FM's remarks on cryptocurrency are in contrast with that of RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, who had recently said the RBI had reservations regarding digital currencies. He said the apex bank was working on its digital currency. The RBI does not want to be left behind in the technological revolution, and the benefits of blockchain technology need to be capitalised on, he said, adding "we've certain concerns regarding cryptocurrencies."

This stance is in lines with the central government, which has revealed it'll bring a new bill on cryptocurrencies (The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021). Notably, an inter-ministerial committee (IMC) on cryptocurrency has suggested a ban on private cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, in India. The same committee also pitched for the introduction of an RBI-regulated digital currency.

The RBI had virtually banned cryptocurrency trading in 2018. But the Supreme Court in 2019 asked the government to come up with cryptocurrency policies. In 2020, the SC down the RBI curbs on the cryptocurrency trade.

Also read: Centre, states must cut taxes on fuel, says RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das

Also read: What is Cryptocurrency Bill 2021; how it will impact bitcoin investors

Also read: Cryptocurrencies are neither currency nor commodity; will bring bill soon: Anurag Thakur

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Assigning value to every action: Why Decrypt created its own cryptocurrency for super readers – Digiday

Posted: at 1:17 pm

The correlation of being a reader who becomes a consumer is well proven. Like a beauty publisher might license its own lipstick line, a publisher covering blockchain might come out with its own cryptocurrency.

That logical progression of capitalizing on a readers interest is exactly the strategy Decrypt, a three-year-old publisher covering cryptocurrency, is launching this year.

Decrypt is incentivizing its users to read and interact with its content in exchange for the publications unique take on cryptocurrency: its utility token (DCPT).

The publisher is also capitalizing on readers affinity for games by turning engagement into a rewarded action. Users of the sites app, which launched nine months ago, can create an in-app wallet and earn tokens for taking actions on articles like reading (three tokens), reacting with an emoji (one token), or sharing (two tokens).

The tokens are closed within the publications environment and are not publicly tradable like security-backed cryptocurrencies, but they are exchangeable for items of value provided by Decrypt and site sponsors. These items include T-shirts, stickers, access to promotional events or premium content.

The token, which has been in beta for six months, is serving as an engagement tactic, similar to a rewards program. Currently, there are 51,000 people on the waitlist for DCPT, all of which joined organically by word of mouth, according to Decrypts new publisher and CRO Alanna Roazzi-Laforet, who joined from blockchain software company ConsenSys.

The publisher expects DCPT to help grow its audience. In 2020, the publications traffic increased by 350% in February 2021, Decrypt had more than 4.5 million unique visitors to the site, said Josh Quittner, CEO and founder of Decrypt.

Decrypt really wants to use the products that we speak about in the market, said Roazzi-Laforet.

This is an example of eating your own dog food, said Jacob Donnelly, who formerly managing director at crypto publication CoinDesk. He now runs a paid newsletter about building digital media companies called, A Media Operator, as well as serves as the general manager of B2B at Morning Brew.

Rewards systems for loyal readers are not a new strategy for engagement, but Decrypts token offering is a unique take on that model because of how endemic it is to its coverage, Donnelly said. They write about crypto, they write about blockchain. So having a wallet and a token baked in is interesting, he said.

Donnelly equated this to Bustle Digital Groups brand Inverse that has a newsletter incentive program, which enters subscribers into a drawing for a prize if they open newsletters regularly. Only Decrypt is taking it a step further by guaranteeing rewards once enough value is accrued.

Inadvertently, they are assigning value to every action on their platform. Thats very hard to do that if you talk to 99% of media companies, they still cant tell you the [lifetime value] of a reader, Donnelly said. This is a very interesting exercise but it works in a closed ecosystem.

Building a cryptocurrency is not just an engagement tactic, but part of the publishers advertising strategy.

Roazzi-Laforet said brands are able to sponsor each so-called season of the token, which is the period of time that 1 million tokens are released and then subsequently collected by users. The tokens are first-come, first-earned and the sponsors also contribute the rewards that the tokens are later exchanged for by the app users.

One of the big reasons were doing it is to get out from under the thumb of Google and Facebook, which are taking so much of the advertising dollars and forcing everybody to sort of march to their beat, said Quittner. We can be much more responsive to the kinds of advertisers that we want to affiliate with and get them the kinds of users and potential customers that theyre looking for in a way thats really ethical and doesnt compromise our users identity.

Decrypt would not disclose how much these sponsorships cost, but Roazzi-Laforet did add that they can be wrapped into a larger sponsored content campaigns that include digital advertising or creating digital assets known as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). She would not disclose who the sponsors have been, but said they consist of both endemic brands and ones that want to reinvent themselves for 2021.

Decrypt launched in spring 2018 at a time when Bitcoin had lost more than $10,000 worth of its value.

It was a great time to launch. Crypto markets are volatile. When were in a big bull market, we have a huge amount of readership. Similarly, when theres a big pop of a bubble, people are reading because theyre really worried they want to know whats going on, said Quittner.

While there are thousands of different cryptocurrencies, Quittner added that changes to the value of the top 10 most valuable currencies drive the most spikes in traffic. When Bitcoin doubled from $30,000 per coin at the end of January to nearly $60,000 in February, traffic spiked along with it.

Ultimately what [Decrypt] is trying to do is create a habit with a reader, said Donnelly. And if you can incentivize that habit in some way, then the incentive ends up being far cheaper than the value of that engaged reader coupled with the fact that Decrypt is actually making money because they have sponsors.

‘Assigning value to every action’: Why Decrypt created its own cryptocurrency for super readers

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This Utah Startup Just Raised $100 Million To Solve Cryptocurrencys Looming Tax Problem – Forbes

Posted: at 1:17 pm

TaxBit cofounders Justin Woodward and CEO Austin Woodward have raised $100 million to build the ERP for cryptocurrency.

With bitcoins market capitalization approaching $1 trillion, and hundreds of billions more in value in a host of other coins and projects, boring old taxes are becoming a big headachenot just for consumers, but also the exchanges, businesses dabbling in the sector and governments getting involved.

While others speculate on the coins themselves in the new gold rush, entrepreneur Austin Woodwards happy to provide the picks and shovels. His startup, TaxBit, automates all those gains and losses for the customers of exchanges and power users alike. And with Utahs largest-ever Series A funding round in the bag, hes on track to build a buzzy business in the process.

The entire existence of this asset class that can be so disruptive to our financial sector is at risk because of tax and accounting compliance at scale, Woodward says. Theres no NetSuite, Oracle or SAP of cryptocurrency.

Founded in 2018, TaxBits raised $100 million in its Series A financing, led by investment firms Paradigm and Tiger Global. PayPal Ventures, Winklevoss Capital, the investment firm of the billionaire Winklevoss twins, Coinbase Ventures and others, including Bill Ackman and Qualtrics cofounder Ryan Smith, joined the round, which takes the Utah-based startups total funding raised to more than $107 million.

Initially a consumer-facing product, today TaxBit offers its software to a mix of individual practitioners and, more lucratively for the startup, the businesses that help them invest and trade: crypto exchanges, wallet providers, lending platforms and the like. TaxBits software is white-labeled, meaning that users of those tools will sometimes know theyre working in the startups software, sometimes not, often accessing it through the tax center sections or pages of the companies websites. TaxBit has processed more than one million tax forms to date, the company says.

TaxBit got its start as Woodward and his brother, Justin, began to explore the emerging crypto category while in their previous jobs. Justin was working in a federal judicial clerkship while attending law school at the University of Chicago; Austin was spending nights researching and dabbling in crypto assets while an early employee at Qualtrics, the customer experience company that is one of Utahs recent tech breakouts. Austin Woodward says one formative moment was when he was responsible for Qualtrics missing payroll in Australia because he sent a wire ten minutes late that took 48 hours to cleara problem, he believed, that crypto could solve, alongside others like transaction fees, cross-border payments and the ability for nonaccredited investors to buy small pieces of assets like real estate through tokens.

TaxBit cofounders Justin Woodward, Brandon Woodward and CEO Austin Woodward launched their startup from Justin and Austin's dad's basement.

When SAP bought Qualtrics, in a shock move, for $8 billion just days before it was supposed to go public in November 2018, Austin Woodward, whod worked closely on its S-1 filings for that process, saw his cue to work on a tax solution in crypto full time. (Qualtrics eventually went public, after all, in a spinout this past January.) With their cousin Brandon Woodward focused on front-end development and design, the Woodward brothers moved into their dads basement; their father was also their first financial supporter, cutting them an initial check to get going.

Soon, Album Ventures backed TaxBit in a pre-seed round, and as the business scaled to many thousands of individual users for its consumer-facing tool, it raised a $5 million seed round in December 2019. In January, the venture arms of Coinbase and PayPal invested in a strategic round alongside its previous investor, Winklevoss Capital. Scant weeks later, Paradigm, the crypto-focused venture fund founded by Sequoia veteran Matt Huang and Coinbase cofounder Fred Ehrsam, had come knocking, as did Tiger Global, a leading growth equity investor in the software world.

They bring a ton of energy to solving crypto tax, says Huang. For the pitch, the whole team got on a Zoom call on a Saturday night, and Austin was almost jumping through the Zoom screen.

Why raise $100 million so fast? Austin Woodward, TaxBits CEO, says the money is to invest in the companys enterprise tools and international expansion, with the United Kingdom coming first. Eventually TaxBit hopes to offer something like a traditional enterprise resource planning tool for corporations, helping them manage crypto transactions for optimal tax results much like other software tools do for foreign currencies. Governmentsboth the tax-collecting agencies and municipalities that offer crypto as paymentcould also prove natural clients. That means hiring from about 40 employees to more than 100 by years end, Woodward says, and building out a sales and marketing team that largely comprised the founders and vice president Michelle OConnor, a veteran of crypto exchange Uphold, until now.

We were called the TurboTax of crypto really early in this, and that was glamorous to us for whattwo weeks? Woodward says. And then we realized we dont want to be your tool you log into on April 14 because you have to, just to file stuff.

TaxBits story so far reminds at least one person of Qualtrics own trajectoryits cofounder and chairman, Smith, now the owner of NBA franchise the Utah Jazz and an investor in TaxBit following the raise. Like the Woodwards, Smith built Qualtrics with his brother and father from home for years, only raising capital when the business was well-launched. This is my way of getting into crypto, Smith says. When building a startup like Qualtrics, you wonder how many people are paying attention. Austin was definitely paying attention.

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Measure to attract more cryptocurrency mining facilities in Kentucky passes the House – The Lane Report

Posted: at 1:17 pm

FRANKFORT, Ky. The House of Representatives passed a measure Wednesday that positions Kentucky as an attractive location for future economic investment by companies engaged in the cryptocurrency mining. The bill, HB 230, would allow cryptocurrency businesses to qualify for exemptions particularly the sales tax levied on electricity.

House Majority Floor Leader Steven Rudy of Paducah is the bills primary sponsor and Representative Chris Freeland of Benton serves as the primary co-sponsor.

Cryptocurrency is a new, interesting and highly sophisticated industry thats getting a lot of international attention, Rudy said. Mining for cryptocurrency is highly technical and it is a highly sophisticated industry. Available jobs in this industry can be lucrative and increasing rapidly. As we look to building our economy, we have to be in the right position to welcome the jobs of tomorrow.

Essentially, cryptocurrency is a digital currency that is exchanged between peers without the need of a third party. It enables consumers to digitally connect directly through a transparent process, showing the financial amount, but not the identities of the people conducting the transaction. The network consists of a chain of computers, which are all required to approve a cryptocurrency exchange and prevent duplication of the same transaction. Because of its transparency, this type of transaction has the potential to reduce fraud.

The cryptocurrency procedure uses digital safeguards to ensure the security of transactions. In addition, each transaction must be confirmed in a digital public ledger, called a blockchain, through a process known as mining. Cryptocurrency exchange is somewhat similar to the online payment systems, PayPal and Venmo, except the currency being exchanged is not traditional money.

In 2019, Core Scientific, one of the largest block chain hosting providers in the United States, opened a facility in Calvert City. The facility in Calvert City brought an industry with new innovation and jobs to my district, Representative Chris Freeland R-Benton added. As this industry continues to grow, this effort has great potential for our commonwealth.

HB 230 now moves to the Senate for consideration. To review co-sponsors and specific details of the measure, please visit the Legislative Research Commission website or follow thelinkhere.

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Nvidia Wins Lawsuit Over $1 Billion in Cryptocurrency Mining-Related Sales – Tom’s Hardware

Posted: at 1:17 pm

On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Nvidia misled investors over $1 billion in sales to cryptocurrency miners.

The lawsuit claimed that roughly 60-70% of Nvidias sales in China, its largest market, were to miners in 2017 and 2018. That alone might not have been an issue, but the company was accused of keeping the extent of the mining industrys influence on its success a secret from investors by attributing those sales to its Gaming division.

Nvidia didnt share information specifically related to cryptocurrency mining until the first quarter of 2018, and that was to warn investors that it expected those sales to decline by 66% the following quarter, largely because of the crypto market bust. The disclosure caused a 7.85% drop in the companys share price despite record profits.

Its not hard to see why some Nvidia shareholders were upset about the news. But it wasnt exactly a secret that GeForce-branded graphics cards were popular with miners, either, despite the fact that they were originally developed for PC gaming. That appears to be why Gilliam sided with Nvidia by dismissing the lawsuit.

Gilliam essentially said in the filing that the plaintiffs failed to provide adequate evidence that Nvidia misled investors throughout 2017 and 2018. The company acknowledged that some of the sales of GeForce products were to miners, even if it didnt provide exact figures, and that appears to have satisfied Gilliam.

Mining remains a lucrative business for Nvidia the company estimated that between $100 and $300 million of its Q4 2020 revenues were from sales to miners. That variance shows two things. The first is that Nvidia still cant determine exactly how much of its sales can be attributed to people mining cryptocurrency.

The second is that mining remains a relatively small aspect of Nvidias business. The company reported $5 billion in revenues, $2.5 billion of which came from the Gaming division, last quarter. Even if the $300 million attributed to miners is a conservative estimate, the vast majority of Nvidias revenues came from elsewhere.

That probably wont be particularly comforting to enthusiasts competing with cryptocurrency miners over the short supply of available graphics cards (and gaming notebooks) for their builds. It should help Nvidia shareholders understand the mining industrys effect on the company, though, so its still a win of sorts.

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Cryptocurrency theft on the rise – Finextra

Posted: at 1:17 pm

Last year, the cryptocurrency sector witnessed increased mainstream adoption but it was accompanied by hackings and theft that resulted in the loss of millions of dollars.

According to data researched by Trading Platforms UK, the value of cryptocurrency hacks and thefts between 2019 and 2020 increased by 38.38% from $370.7 million to $513 million. Over the last five years, the value was highest in 2018 at $950 million.

Elsewhere, the value of blockchain fraud and misappropriation declined between 2019 and 2020 by -57.77% from $4.4 billion to $1.3billion. Cumulatively in 2019, the value of both cryptocurrency theft and blockchain fraud was $4.5 billion, while last year, it dropped to $1.9 billion, signifying the cryptocurrency sectors maturity and improved ability to detect fraudulent activities.

Hackers shifting from exchanges to DeFi projects

The increase in the value of cryptocurrency theft comes even as the sector continues to mature with exchanges, wallets, and other digital assets custodians investing in their security mechanisms against hacking. Most custodians have also established relationships with law enforcement making it easy to trace any fraudulent activity almost instantly. However, the rise in crypto theft value is an indicator that hackers are also innovating new means to outpace the current security measures.

Most hackers largely shifted their attention from exchanges and wallets taking advantage of the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) explosion. The sector attracted interest from more investors based on the immense potential to revolutionize the finance sector. Notably, DeFi protocols are permissionless hence they do not have regulatory compliance and anyone can access their code. This nature ultimately attracted hackers.

Besides easy access, DeFi applications are also vulnerable to external exploits. The projects success largely depends on composability hence the more projects that are linked, the more value they can offer. Therefore, the ability to attract more investors opens the door for hackers.

Contributing factors to blockchain fraudAt the same time, the blockchain fraud from last year saw scammers take advantage of the Covid-19 situation. Some scammers impersonated legitimate organizations and prominent people to obtain information and cryptocurrency payment. Some of the payments were disguised as helping people impacted by the pandemic.

One high-profile case was recorded on July 15, 2020, when selected Twitter accounts for prominent people like Elon Musk and organizations were compromised to promote a Bitcoin scam aimed at giving back to society. To date, the value of the scam has not been determined. The scam was further enabled due to the lack of a paper trail that gives scammers more opportunity to embezzle funds.

Worth mentioning is that regulatory bodies are already taking action to curb crypto-related fraud. This explains the drop in value of blockchain fraud in 2020. With fraud involving practices such as money laundering regulatory bodies have increased their oversight of virtual assets.

For example, there is a proposal in the United States that requires transactions between exchanges to include personal information about the sender and the receiver of funds similar to international bank wire transfers. Interestingly, the blockchain infrastructure can significantly help improve the existing monitoring system and detect, deter and document possible fraud.

Overall, most blockchain and cryptocurrency projects are still in their experimental and speculative stage. This means that there might exist some vulnerabilities. However, as the sector continues to mature, the loopholes might be sealed from hackers and scammers.

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