1.
Russian Deputy Energy Minister Evgeny Grabchak said on Saturday that the legal vacuum in the field of cryptocurrency mining needs to be eliminated as soon as possible, according to TASS. He also noted that it would be more effective to identify mining sites and release energy capacity for miners at a regional rather than a federal level, which needs to be regulated through regional development plans.
2.
Australian bitcoin miner Iris Energy (IREN) has secured $71 million in equipment financing from institutional bitcoin broker NYDIG. Iris Energy had an average operating hashrate of 844 petahash per second in February and plans to reach 10 EH/s by early 2023.（CoinDesk）
3.
Greenpeace, along with other climate groups, and co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple (XRP), Chris Larsen, has launched a new campaign aimed at changing Bitcoin (BTC) to a more environmentally friendly consensus model.
“If only 30 people — the key miners, exchanges and core developers who build and contribute to Bitcoin’s code — agreed to reinvent proof-of-work mining or move to a low-energy protocol, Bitcoin would stop polluting the planet.”（Cointelegraph）
4.
China's National Energy Administration triggered the "2022 Energy Work Guidance": Seriously investigate and deal with the "three designations" of customer receiving power projects, illegal power supply to virtual currency "mining" projects and other acts.
5.
Canadian oil and gas miner Bengal Energy is set to begin its trial project of accessing formerly “stranded” gas wells with portable Bitcoin mining rigs.
Stranded wells means that while the company can technically produce power from the gas on site, the current distribution pipelines are too far away to reach. Bengal Energy is reportedly seeking to multiply its Bitcoin mining output by a factor of 10 to 20 times, meaning that the total income could reach anywhere from $2000 to $5000 per day.（Cointelegraph）
6.
Zhejiang Province issued a notice on the rectification of virtual currency "mining" equipment: in accordance with the relevant provisions, the virtual currency "mining" equipment immediately stop using and confiscated in accordance with the law.
7.
Russia should encourage the development of industrial-level cryptocurrency mining in the country, the Ministry’s director of the financial policy department Alexey Yakovlev urged.
There is still some disagreement about retail miners. The Finance Ministry is not inclined to prohibit such mining. “In the near future, we will finalize the draft law and will pay special attention to mining.Planning to maximize the economic efficiency and minimize potential risks like money laundering and terrorism financing as well as ensure the energy safety.”（Cointelegraph）
8.
Bitcoin miner PrimeBlock is expected to go public on Nasdaq through SPAC at a valuation of $1.25 billion. PrimeBlock generated $24.4 million in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2021 and has over 110 megawatts of installed data center capacity across its 12 facilities in North America.
9.
Bitfarms reported revenue of $60 million for the fourth quarter of 2021, up 33% from $45 million in the third quarter and up 426% from the fourth quarter of 2020. Bitfarms as of year-end held $126 million in cash and 3,301 bitcoin valued at about $153 million (based on price of $46,300). On January 6, the Canadian miner purchased another 1,000 bitcoin for $43 million to add to its BTC treasury holdings.
10.
Crypto mining companies are the latest target of U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden's investigation into whether the Opportunity Zone is driving investment and job creation in low-income communities as expected.
So far, companies that have received letters related to Ron Wyden's investigation include Redivider Blockchain Opportunity Zone Fund LLC, Argo Blockchain and HCVT LLP, which is known to have created a program called "Opportunity Zone" program. The program is designed to provide benefits to investors who develop and invest in less economically developed areas.
And Ron Wyden said he is "concerned about recent reports that companies involved in cryptocurrency mining may be seeking to avoid taxes without truly benefiting struggling communities through the Opportunity Zones program." He said the current lack of safeguards and transparency measures in the Opportunity Zone program increases the likelihood that taxpayers are simply subsidizing crypto mining companies. (Bloomberg)
11.
A subsidiary of crypto mining company Bitminer Factory has filed a lawsuit against UniCredit for the closure of its bank account, and according to a ruling by the local court in the Bosnia and Herzegovina city of Banja Luka, UniCredit's branch in Bosnia and Herzegovina will pay a €131 million ($144 million) fine.
It is reported that the Bitminer Factory subsidiary accused UniCredit of wrongfully closing its current account held at the bank's local branch in Banja Luka, and the court said that the bank could not provide any evidence of written rules preventing the financial institution from establishing business relationships with crypto companies, and UniCredit has now appealed the verdict.（Cryptopotato）
12.
The largest publicly traded bitcoin (BTC) miner by hashrate, Core Scientific (CORZ), said its fiscal 2021 revenue rose 803% to $544.5 million, beating analyst estimates of $507.1 million, according to FactSet.
The company went public in January through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Power & Digital Infrastructure Acquisition.
The company also reported fourth quarter sales, in a presentation, of $301.8 million, beating analyst estimates of $205.7 million. On March 7, Core said it sees hashrate reaching 40 EH/s-42 EH/s by the end of this year, which will be distributed approximately evenly between its self-mining and hosting segments.（CoinDesk）
13.
Stronghold Digital Mining posted a net loss for the fourth quarter of 2021 of $17.5 million, compared to net income of $200,000 for the same quarter in 2020. Stronghold’s net loss for the full year of 2021 came in at $27.3 million, compared to a net loss of $100,000 in the prior year period.
Stronghold executives said losses can be attributed to delivery delays. Hash rate has been negatively impacted by delays in miner deliveries, the report noted.
Stronghold has received approximately 3,300 of the total 15,000 miners ordered from MinerVa, a Canada-based semiconductor corporation, despite an initial delivery deadline of Dec. 31, 2021. Stronghold is now expecting miners to be delivered by April 30, 2022. Market data shows that Stronghold Digital's share price has fallen about 66% since it began trading on Oct. 20 last year.（Blockworks）
14.
Cascade Digital Power, a cryptocurrency startup, has announced plans to use electricity generated by its hydroelectric power plant in Hatfield, Wisconsin, for bitcoin mining.
The Hatfield hydroelectric plant is said to have a capacity of about 6 megawatts, which is small by the standards of companies that provide cheap power to large cryptocurrency operations in Texas and other states. About half of Hatfield's power will be used for crypto mining, and the rest will be sold to the local grid. (Bloomberg)
15.
Texas has started requiring new large-scale cryptocurrency miners to seek permission to connect to the state’s power grid in anticipation of a flood of requests expected to drive up electricity demand.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the Texas power grid, announced that it will require new cryptocurrency mining companies to submit studies on power usage before approving power supplies. Meanwhile, ERCOT said it plans to form a working group to analyze projects to prevent grid overloads through voting. The media commented that a new hurdle has emerged for cryptocurrency mining companies in Texas. (Bloomberg)
16.
Bitcoin (BTC) miner Greenidge Generation (GREE) posted fourth-quarter revenue of $44.3 million, up 617% from a year ago. Greenidge reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $19.1 million, up from $1.2 million a year ago.
The company mined 609 bitcoin in Q4, a 167% rise from 228 in the same quarter in a year earlier. For all 2021, Greenidge mined 1,866 bitcoin versus 1,146 in 2020.
In addition, the final decision on the license renewal for Greenidge's cryptocurrency mining facility in upstate New York has been postponed until June 30.（CoinDesk）
17.
Ethereum miners brought in a total of $1.29 billion in March in revenue. Revenues increased month-over-month by 7.2%. They had been on a declining trajectory since November of 2021, when the revenue total was $2.07 billion.
Ethereum miners generated about 1.08 times more in revenue than Bitcoin miners in March.Most of these revenues came from the block subsidy ($1.21 billion) and only a small portion from transaction fees ($78.27 million) and uncle rewards ($58.23 million). Transaction fees decreased to 5.9% of total revenue.
Total revenues were $2.07 billion in November 2021 and have declined since. They hit an all-time high in May 2021, with a total of $2.4 billion.（The Block）
18.
Lawmakers in Oklahoma have advanced legislation in recent days that, if finalized, would extend a tax break to bitcoin and cryptocurrency miners that set up shop in the state.
The Commercial Digital Asset Mining Act of 2022, sponsored by state senator John Montgomery and state representative Ryan Martinez, aims to reduce the expenditures related to hardware and electricity used by commercial mining operations.
Public records show that the legislation cleared the Oklahoma Senate on March 22 in a 29-16 vote. The bill moved to the legislature's lower chamber on March 23 and was referred to its technology committee on March 30.（The Block）
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