Russia
Brittney Griner To Stand Trial Over Alleged Cannabis Possession This Week
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / Getty Brittney Griner and her ongoing cannabis possession case in Russia will be moving on to a trial to occur this coming Friday (July 1). The WNBA star was allegedly caught with cannabis in her travel bags, landing her in hot water with Russian authorities and creating a standoff of sorts. Brittney Griner Could Face Up To 10 Years Griner, 31, was arrested over four months prior in Moscow and held in custody since, sparking a series of statements from both the WNBA and the NBA in support of her gaining freedom. As reported by ESPN, Griner will head to trial where she could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of large-scale drug transportation. The charges read as excessive to observers since Griner was allegedly found with can...
Russia seems to be preparing to mine Bitcoin with flare gas
The Russian government continues to establish links with major players in the cryptocurrency mining industry despite staying skeptical about legalizing cryptocurrency trading and payments. Russia’s state-owned gas giant Gazprom Neft has entered into a partnership with BitRiver, the largest crypto-mining colocation services supplier in Russia providing hosting services for major crypto mining operations. Gazprom will provide BitRiver’s partner data centers with electricity generated from the associated petroleum gas, the companies officially announced on June 16. As part of the collaboration, BitRiver will be developing a digital infrastructure based on the oil fields that Gazprom provides crypto mining services from the flare gas. Gazprom first deputy CEO Vadim Yakovlev emphasiz...
Weak stocks and declining DeFi use continue to weigh on Ethereum price
Ether’s (ETH) 12-hour closing price has been respecting a tight $1,910 to $2,150 range for twelve days, but oddly enough, these 13% oscillations have been enough to liquidate an aggregate of $495 million in futures contracts since May 13, according to data from Coinglass. Ether/USD 12-hour price at Kraken. Source: TradingView The worsening market conditions were also reflected in digital asset investment products. According to the latest edition of CoinShare’s weekly Digital Asset Fund Flows report, crypto funds and investment products saw a $141 million outflow during the week ending on May 20. In this instance, Bitcoin (BTC) was the investors’ focus after experiencing a $154 weekly net redemption. Russian regulation and crumbling U.S. tech stocks escalate the situation Regula...
Weekly Report: China back atop mining charts as Russia mulls crypto legalisation
Despite China’s ban on crypto mining, it remains among the leaders in hash rate Portugal is issuing regulations to establish capital gains tax on cryptocurrencies Japanese bank Nomura is launching a crypto subsidiary later this year Russia’s trade minister insists crypto legalisation is not a matter of if but when Shopify merchants can now integrate Crypto.com Pay for payments on their storefronts Report: China lags only the US in Bitcoin mining despite ban mid-last year Crypto mining, particularly Bitcoin, has and will foreseeably continue being an environmental concern given that it uses a proof of work consensus model, which by design is energy-intensive. Last year, China banned all cryptocurrency mining in the country over the massive power...
Morgan Freeman Permanently Banned from Entering Russia
Morgan Freeman is among nearly 1,000 American citizens who’ve been permanently banned from entering the Russian Federation. In response to sanctions imposed by the US government over Russia’s unprovoked attack of Ukraine, Russia’s foreign ministry released the names of 963 Americans who are no longer welcome in their country. They include political figures like President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, as well as members of Congress, tech executives, and journalists, according to the Washington Post. Freeman and fellow actor and filmmaker, Rob Reiner, are also on Russia’s shit list. While the foreign ministry didn’t offer any explanation for Freeman’s and Reiner’s inclusions, they were likely flagged for their participation in the Comm...
China returns as 2nd top Bitcoin mining hub despite the crypto ban
The Chinese government has not managed to take down cryptocurrency operations as part of its crypto ban last year as China has re-emerged as one of the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining hubs, according to a new report. China became the second-largest Bitcoin hash rate provider as of January 2022, months after the local government banned all crypto operations in the country, according to the latest update from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) shared with Cointelegraph on May 17. Bitcoin miners in China accounted for 21.1% of the total global BTC mining hash rate distribution as of early 2022, following only the United States, which produced 37.8% of the total hash rate as of January, according to the data. China was once the world’s largest Bitcoin m...
How blockchain archives can change how we record history in wartime
Decentralized blockchain technology has been around for a relatively short period of time, in the grand scheme of things, but its decentralized nature has the power to keep data and information out of the hands of censors looking to create a “safe” and “faultless” version of history. Blockchain is permissionless and literally owned by no one. So, while we can’t save the Alexandria libraries of the past, we can make sure the future is well equipped with the tools necessary to preserve historical records. Here we’ll look at some of the ways nonfungible tokens (NFT) and blockchain technology have been used for keeping archives, the potential downfalls of such technology, and what the future holds for blockchain-based storage systems. NFTs and archives While many current use cases ...
5 state regulators allege organization is tied to Russia, scamming users using metaverse casino
Authorities in the U.S. states of Alabama, Kentucky, New Jersey, Texas and Wisconsin have filed enforcement actions against the Flamingo Casino Club for allegedly perpetrating a scam through nonfungible tokens (NFTs) tied to a metaverse casino. In a Wednesday announcement, the Alabama Securities Commission, Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions, New Jersey Bureau of Securities, Texas State Securities Board and Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions alleged the Flamingo Casino Club has been “fraudulently soliciting NFTs” it claims are tied to ownership rights of a casino in the metaverse, thereby giving token holders a share of any profits. The organization has allegedly solicited investors directly through social media, recruiting influencers to promote NFT sales for the ca...
Monero avoids crypto market rout, but XMR price still risks 20% drop by June
Monero (XMR) has shown a surprising resilience against the United States Federal Reserve’s hawkish policies that pushed the prices of most of its crypto rivals — including the top dog Bitcoin (BTC) — lower last week. XMR price closed the previous week 2.37% higher at $217, data from Binance shows. In comparison, BTC, which typically influences the broader crypto market, finished the week down 11.55%. The second-largest crypto, Ether (ETH), also plunged 11% in the same period. XMR/USD vs. BTC/USD vs. ETH/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView While the crypto market wiped off $163.25 billion from its valuation last week, down nearly 9%, Monero’s market cap increased by $87.7 million, suggesting that many traders decided to seek safety in this privacy-focused coin. XMR near ...
Bitcoin pushes to $40K, but are bulls strong enough to win Friday’s $735M options expiry?
Bitcoin (BTC) price has been stuck in a falling wedge pattern for the past two months and during this time it has tested the $37,600 support on multiple instances. Adding to this “bearish” price action, BTC is down 16% year-to-date, which is in line with the Russell 2000s performance. Bitcoin/USD 1-day chart at FTX. Source: TradingView The real driver of Bitcoin’s current price action is investors’ concerns about worsening macroeconomic conditions. Professional investors are worried about the impact of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s tightening economic policies and on May 3, billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones said that the environment for investors is worse than ever because the monetary authority is raising interest rates when financial conditions are already worsening. On ...
Russian “Troll Factory” Targets Daft Punk, David Guetta, Tiësto’s Social Media: Report
Electronic music pioneers Daft Punk, David Guetta and Tiësto‘s social media accounts have reportedly been targeted by a disinformation operation launched by internet trolls in Saint Petersburg, Russia. According to The Guardian, the “troll factory” is allegedly linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Internet Research Agency. The organization had been suspected of interfering in the United States’ 2016 election, according to the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The headquarters of IRA are believed to be in a rented space in Saint Petersburg’s Arsenal Machine-building Factory, which manufactures military equipment and technology. Daft Punk, Guetta and Tiësto were appa...
Monero ‘falling wedge’ breakout positions XMR price for 75% rally
Monero (XMR) price dropped by nearly 10% three days after establishing a week-to-date high around $290 on April 24. Nonetheless, several technical indicators suggest that the XMR/USD pair is poised to resume its uptrend over the next few months. Falling wedge breakout underway Notably, XMR’s price broke out of its “falling wedge” structure in late March. It continued its move upside in the later daily sessions, with rising volumes indicating bullish sentiment among Monero traders. Traditional analysts consider falling wedges as bullish reversal patterns, i.e., the price first consolidates within a contracting, descending channel, followed by a strong bounce to the upside. As a rule, the falling wedge’s breakout target comes to be near the level at length equal to th...
