Crypto

In-Depth: What does it mean to mine cryptocurrency, and can you do it in San Diego?

Published

2 years ago

May 20, 2022

In-Depth: What does it mean to mine cryptocurrency, and can you do it in San Diego?

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – From his dwelling workplace in North County, David Berry launched an experiment.

He purchased a brand new laptop computer, watched a number of YouTube movies, after which set off on his first try at mining a cryptocurrency. The married new father wished to see if he might be taught the technical expertise wanted to mine, and maybe make just a little facet cash within the course of.

“It’s at all times one thing you hear about, however I didn’t perceive what the method entailed from a technical standpoint,” he stated. “It was means simpler than I truly thought it might be.”

As of this week, cryptocurrencies held extra worth than the economies of most nations, rating fifteenth by GDP, simply forward of Mexico, in keeping with CoinMarketCap.com. As curiosity within the digital currencies has exploded over the previous few years, so too has curiosity in mining.

To clarify what mining is, Polyswarm CEO Steve Bassi likes to make an analogy. “I am assuming you went and acquired espresso this morning, proper?”

While you purchase espresso with a credit score or debit card, Visa or Mastercard costs the vendor a small transaction payment. That payment incentivizes the Visas of the world to proceed the job of processing transactions.

As an alternative of giving that payment to Visa or Mastercard, on the earth of cryptocurrencies, the community transaction payment will get doled out to miners, Bassi defined.

Miners are computer systems that use math to course of monetary transactions between events and confirm them as legit. The know-how that makes all of the person-to-person transactions public is named a blockchain. A blockchain is simply an enormous report of cash altering fingers, much like a financial institution assertion, however the ledger is open for everybody to see.

The unit of cash altering fingers on a given blockchain is the cryptocurrency, corresponding to Bitcoin or Ethereum.

“Mining in cryptocurrency and blockchain is that incentive to proceed working the blockchain. It is that incentive for all these computer systems on the market that run Bitcoin or Ethereum software program to truly hold this ledger each reliable and transferring ahead, that means accepting transactions,” Bassi stated.

The purpose of all this know-how is to permit cash to alter fingers with no centralized financial institution, and unlock new methods of doing enterprise. Polyswarm has a blockchain devoted to cybersecurity. Its platform permits companies to show their anti-virus safety over to a swarm of IT professionals all over the world.

Protecting all these blockchains afloat takes a variety of laptop energy, so individuals who mine get rewarded based mostly on how a lot processing muscle they carry to the community.

Utilizing a standard-issue Macbook Professional laptop computer, Berry offered comparatively little processing energy to the Ethereum community. “I’ve made perhaps just a little over $1 mining,” he stated. “It’s actually not been in regards to the cash. It’s been extra about attempting to determine what this course of is and be taught just a little bit extra about cryptocurrency on the whole.”

Berry estimates he collected $0.01 to $0.02 per hour of laptop time. Even in a solar-powered dwelling, he says the price of electrical energy in Southern California makes small-scale mining largely unprofitable.

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Crypto

Crypto bull market fuels creation of 88K millionaires, six billionaires in 2024 – report

Published

3 hours ago

September 1, 2024

Press Room

Crypto bull market fuels creation of 88K millionaires, six billionaires in 2024 – report

AlexSava

The 2024 cryptocurrency bull market has sparked a remarkable surge in wealth, creating over 88K new millionaires and elevating six individuals to billionaire status, according to a recent report by British investment migration consultancy Henley & Partners.

The number of individuals holding crypto worth of at least $1M has skyrocketed to 172K, up 95% from a year before. The significant shift comes during the same year in which bitcoin (BTC-USD) reached a new record high of $73.8K in March, buoyed by the launch of U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds that have ushered in notable institutional – and retail – capital.

What’s more, the number of centi-millionaires – individuals with assets exceeding $100M – has surged by 79%, reaching a total of 325, the report added. And five out of the six newly minted crypto billionaires have amassed their fortunes through investments in bitcoin (BTC-USD). MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) Michael Saylor, who personally owns about $1B of bitcoin, is an outspoken bitcoin whale.

But, since its price swoon in early August, bitcoin (BTC-USD) has been trading 23%-16% off its all-time highs. That’s despite the fact that the Federal Reserve is gearing up to start cutting borrowing costs, a move that may attract investor demand for riskier assets, including BTC. Year-to-date, BTC climbed about 38%.

“The longer bitcoin stays in this range, the more likely a strong breakout will happen, although it’s uncertain which direction it will take,” said Seeking Alpha analyst Dean Popplewell in Bitcoin’s Steady Range: Mt. Gox Impact And Future Outlook.

Fellow SA contributor Florian Grummes is leaning on the bearish end of the bull-bear spectrum, citing seasonal patterns and potential stock-market volatility.

He expects bitcoin’s pullback from March highs “to intensify over the next one to two months, and would not be surprised if the markets crashed temporarily, he said in Bitcoin: This Correction Is Probably Not Over Yet. A panic sell-off lasting several weeks should then provide patient investors with very good entry opportunities in September or October, or at the latest, after the US election in early November.”

Elsewhere in Henley & Partners’ report, crypto-wealthy investors are increasingly seeking residency in jurisdictions that are both crypto-friendly and tax advantageous, it found. Singapore continues to be the “premier cryptocurrency hub,” excelling in regulatory framework and infrastructure development. Coming in second place, Hong Kong has investor-friendly tax policies. And the United Arab Emirates, also with its tax advantages, ranks third in this competitive landscape.

“The crypto millionaires of 2024 are not content with digital riches alone; they seek freedom of global mobility to match their borderless assets,” said Dominic Volek, group head of private clients at Henley & Partners.

The report includes stats on wealthy crypto investors provided by wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth, along with insights from academics, industry experts and crypto players.

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Crypto

Tesla CEO Elon Musk Wants To Bring Back Dogecoin As A Payment Option To Buy Company's Merchandise – Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Published

13 hours ago

August 31, 2024

Press Room

Tesla CEO Elon Musk Wants To Bring Back Dogecoin As A Payment Option To Buy Company's Merchandise – Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said on Friday that he would like to have the option of paying with meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin DOGE/USD reinstated for the company’s merchandise.

What Happened: “Me,” Musk wrote in reply to an X user who asked whether anyone would like Tesla to reinstate the option of paying with Dogecoin for its merchandise.

Tesla has an online shop with company merchandise. Though it currently only allows payment in dollars, it previously allowed users to make payments with Dogecoin. Earlier this year, Musk even suggested in an address during his visit to Giga Berlin that the company would accept Dogecoin as an official form of payment for its cars at some point.

The EV giant’s website even has a support page for clearing doubts about paying with Dogecoin for its products.

“Tesla only accepts Dogecoin. Tesla cannot receive or detect any other digital assets. Ensure you are making your purchase with Dogecoin. Sending any other digital assets may result in the assets being lost or destroyed,” the page reads.

Why It Matters: Earlier this week, Musk and Tesla secured the dismissal of a federal lawsuit accusing them of defrauding investors through insider trading and market manipulation of Dogecoin.

The decision was delivered on Thursday night by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. Investors had accused Musk of exploiting Twitter (now X) posts and other publicity stunts to trade profitably at their expense through several Dogecoin wallets controlled by him or Tesla.

Judge Hellerstein, however, stated that no reasonable investor could rely on social media posts to pursue a securities fraud claim. The lawsuit was subsequently dismissed with prejudice, preventing it from being filed again.

Over the years, Dogecoin’s price movement has become increasingly linked to social posts and endorsements by Musk, as well as developments around companies owned by him.

Earlier this month, Musk posted an AI-generated image referencing the cryptocurrency through his X account, which caused it to spike.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

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Photo courtesy: Shutterstock

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Crypto

North Korean Hackers Exploit Chrome Flaw to Steal Cryptocurrency: Report

Published

24 hours ago

August 31, 2024

Press Room

North Korean Hackers Exploit Chrome Flaw to Steal Cryptocurrency: Report

According to a recent report by Microsoft’s cybersecurity team, a group of North Korean hackers known as the “Citrine Sleet” have exploited a previous flaw in Google Chrome to steal cryptocurrency from people.

Microsoft first became aware of the cyberattack on Aug 19, when the hackers exploited a vulnerability in the Chromium engine, the open-source software that powers Chrome and other popular browsers like Microsoft Edge.

This type of flaw is called “Zero-day”, meaning that Google was unaware of the issue and had no time to fix it before it was exploited.

According to Microsoft researchers, Citrine Sleet which operates similarly to the popular notorious Lazarus Group, often creates fake websites that look like real crypto trading platforms to trick people They use these fake sites to get users to download harmful software known as “AppleJeus”.

This software is often disguised as job applications or cryptocurrency wallets. Once the software is installed, it gives the hackers control over the victim’s device, allowing them to steal their cryptocurrency.

Google eventually released a fix for this flaw on Aug, 21, two days after being alerted by Microsoft. However, it’s still unclear how many organizations or people were affected by the attack