1.
According to the official website of the U.S. Treasury Department，designated entities and individuals involved in attempts to evade sanctions imposed by the United States and its international partners on Russia. This is the first time Treasury has designated a virtual currency mining company. OFAC has additionally designated 10 Russian subsidiaries of Bitriver AG in accordance with EO 14024, as they are owned or controlled by Bitriver AG.
Bitcoin mining hosting firm BitRiver called sanctions imposed on it Wednesday on it by the U.S. Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) an attempt to favor American companies, according to a statement on Thursday.
BitRiver's parent company is based in Switzerland and “has never provided services to Russian government institutions” or worked with entities already targeted by sanctions, Igor Runets, the company's CEO and founder, claimed.
“These U.S. actions should obviously be viewed as interference in the crypto mining industry, unfair competition and an attempt to change the global balance of power in favor of American companies,” Runets added.
In its statement Wednesday, OFAC said that companies like BitRiver "help Russia monetize its natural resources" and added BitRiver and 10 subsidiaries to its list of specially designated nationals subject to sanctions.（CoinDesk）
U.S. crypto miner Compass Mining is looking to quickly divest its equipment in Siberia after the United States cracked down on its partner BitRiver over its Russian operations.
In an announcement on Discord, CEO Whit Gibbs said the firm is required to immediately cease all dealings with BitRiver, its Russian hosting partner. The firm will immediately wind down its Russian operations, and is looking to liquidate the hardware. The firm said that it would seek to liquidate all of its equipment in Russia, and share the proceeds with clients who own the equipment.
Gibbs told in an interview that the firm expects to recover most of the $30 million it has invested in the country.
Compass also appears to have scrubbed all instances of its Russian operations from its website. The firm said it will now focus chiefly on its North American operations.（CoinGape）
2.
Hello Pal, a provider of live-streaming, is pleased to announce the commencement of it's cryptocurrency mining operations in Australia. 100 Bitmain Antminer L7 Mining Rigs housed in an undisclosed location in Victoria, Australia are fully operational. 2021 Hello Pal enters into a definitive purchase agreement with a Shanghai-based company to acquire an initial 51% interest in 12,500 Dogecoin and Litecoin mining machines.
3.
According to the SEC official website, Bitcoin miner Bit Digital (BTBT) filed a prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the sale of up to $500 million in equity from time to time, also known as an “at-the-market” (ATM) offering. the proceeds would be used for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures, buying new mining equipment, other potential acquisitions and general working capital.
4.
Bitcoin mining company Crusoe Energy has raised $505 million to grow its natural gas mining business, which will be used to hire new employees and expand its bitcoin mining and cloud computing operations in the United States and elsewhere. The funding is comprised of $350 million raised in a Series C round led by G2 Venture Partners and $155 million in credits from SVB Capital, Sparkfund, and Generate Capital.（Decrypt）
5.
A new IMF report says Russia could escape economic sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine by turning to cryptocurrency mining. And it specifically warns that Russia could use its vast energy resources to power and generate revenue for cryptocurrency mining. Russia is one of the world's leading jurisdictions when it comes to bitcoin mining, ranking third in a study published last year, according to Cambridge University.（Decrypt）
6.
BitNile announced that it plans to fund up to $100 million in commercial loans to small, publicly traded companies, secured by Bitcoin, through its subsidiary, Digital Power Lending, LLC. During 2022, BitNile plans to significantly expand its Bitcoin mining production capacity, growing its number of Bitcoin miners to 20,600, representing an expected mining production capacity of approximately 2.24 exahashes per second.
7.
Crypto lobbying group the Blockchain Association tweeted that the New York State legislature is trying to drive crypto mining operations in New York State out of the state. If the bill passes, New York would be the first U.S. state to ban cryptocurrency mining, and the bill only addresses the use of blockchain for energy issues and not its impact on the climate. The Blockchain Association is currently joining forces with residents to make their voices heard in the legislature.
8.
Core Scientific (CORZ), the world's largest publicly traded bitcoin mining company, has begun reporting daily production figures on its website in a move to improve transparency for its shareholders and other stakeholders.
The figure is "one of the most important performance measures in our industry," CEO Mike Levitt said in a press release. Core Scientific is the first publicly traded miner to report the amount of bitcoin it mines on a daily basis, according to Darin Feinstein, the company's co-founder and co-chairman .
Core Scientific mined 36.8 BTC (roughly $1.5 million) on Sunday, its website says in the upper left corner. The number will update every day at 12:00 p.m. EST (16:00 UTC).
Stock exchange-listed bitcoin mining firms usually report monthly figures such as the total or the daily average of bitcoin mined, as well as hashrate and crypto held in their treasuries. Core Scientific didn't indicate that it has plans to publish any daily metrics other than production figures.
9.
Canadian crypto miner Hut 8 (HUT) has inked an agreement to purchase all 960 Whatsminer M31S+ rigs from hosting client Taal.
The purchase of the machines will increase Hut 8’s total hashrate by 81 petahash per second (PH/s) to 2.62 exahash per second (EH/s), said the company in a press release.
The deal is expected to close on May 1, and will make Hut 8 an owner of the mining rigs, rather than having to pay rent for their usage to Taal. Hut 8's digital asset mining operation will be 100% self-mining.
As previously reported, crypto miner Hut 8 announced that it produced 345 BTC in March and now has a reserve of 6,460 bitcoins.（CoinDesk）
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