Tag Archives: Crypto-mining

Major Bitcoin Miner Core Scientific Files For Bankruptcy!

Core Scientific – one of the world’s largest bitcoin miner, just filed for bankruptcy protection with debts of between $1 to $10 billion!

 

Major Bitcoin Miner Core Scientific Files For Bankruptcy!

One of the world’s largest bitcoin miner, Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ), just became the first publicly-listed cryptocurrency mining company to file for bankruptcy protection.

On Wednesday, December 21, 2022, Core Scientific filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the Southern District of Texas, with estimated liabilities of between $1 to $10 billion, to around 1,000 to 5,000 creditors.

Core Scientific appears to have reached an agreement with some of its creditors before filing for Chapter 11, in what appears to be a prepackaged bankruptcy. It expects some support from its convertible potholders in the form of two debtor-in-possession (DIP) facilities worth up to $75 million.

 

Core Scientific Plans To Sell Mining Facilities Under Development

Core Scientific operates around 243,000 mining rigs, which account for about 10% of computing power on the Bitcoin network.

  • 143,000 of its own mining rigs, with 14.4 exahash per second (EH/s) capacity
  • 100,000 of hosted mining rigs for other companies, with 10 EH/s capacity

Core Scientific will continue to mine Bitcoin during its bankruptcy process, but is exploring the sale of up to one gigawatt worth of mining facilities that are under development for launch in 2023.

The likelihood of us

Core Scientific currently operates mining facilities with 850 megawatts of computing capacity.

 

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Did China Make 7nm Chips In Spite Of US Sanctions?!

Did China successfully fabricate 7nm chips, despite US sanctions on advanced chip manufacturing technology?

Well, yes, but not quite. Here is what you need to know about China’s mysterious 7nm chips!

 

China Made 7nm Chips In Spite Of US Sanctions!

A TechInsights report recently concluded that China has successfully created 7nm chips since last year.

This caused quite a ruckus, because it essentially meant that China jumped two generations ahead in chip manufacturing technology!

The TechInsights team bought a MinerVa mining ASIC which used a custom chip that has been manufactured by China’s SMIC since July 2021.

When they examined the chip, they discovered that it was fabricated on a 7nm process that appears to be a “close copy” of a 7nm process used by TSMC – the Taiwanese foundry giant.

The MinerVa chip is small – at just 19.3 mm², with 120 chips populating the MinerVa board. Each mining ASIC has 3 of these boards, for a total of 360 chips and a total power consumption of 3300 watts.

This discovery is deeply concerning to many people, because it meant that China has more advanced chip manufacturing technology than is even available in the United States or EU.

After all, US sanctioned the sale of advanced chip manufacturing technology to China – which was meant to crippled China’s ability to manufacture such chips.

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer used this report to stress the danger of delaying the $50 billion subsidy package for semiconductor manufacturing in the United States.

Members of both sides know that America’s chips crisis is sending shock waves across the economy.

It is endangering our national security. […] China’s top chips maker has now likely advanced its tech by two generations, threatening U.S. competitiveness.

But the situation really isn’t as dire as many people make it out to be…

 

SMIC / China Barely Made Those 7nm Chips

After the report was released, the Internet fell into two main camps – American politicians and China hawks bemoaning the “loss” of Western chip making advantage, and pro-CCP netizens celebrating it.

First, let me start by congratulating China / SMIC on achieving this feat despite being hobbled by US sanctions on crucial chipmaking technology.

Whether China / SMIC “copied / stole / bought” the technology knowhow from TSMC whose 7nm process it closely resembles, it is still a remarkable achievement.

That said, SMIC / China barely made those 7nm chips, and here are the reasons why…

SMIC manufactured these 7nm chips using older Deep Ultraviolet Lithography (DUV) machines, instead of the state-of-art Extreme Ultraviolet Light (EUV) lithography machines made by Dutch company ASML.

This isn’t extraordinary in itself – TSMC and Samsung had much earlier developed 7nm process nodes using the older DUV machines. However, this comes at the cost of “increased process complexity and design rule restrictions“.

That is likely why the MinerVa chip is not only very small, it actually lacks SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) that is critical in processors that run our computers and smartphones.

The simpler design and small size allow SMIC to obtain sufficient workable chips, even with a poor yield. However, the cost of chip would be much higher than if it was manufactured on a higher-quality process.

So for all intents and purposes – this should be considered as a niche / prototype 7nm process, and not a true 7nm process node.

On top of that, SMIC apparently isn’t capable of producing large quantities of these 7nm chips, suggesting either a yield problem, or difficulty in scaling up.

MinerVa has not been able to deliver the mining ASICs based on these SMIC 7nm chips in large numbers. A Bitcoin mining company – Stronghold Digital Mining, for example, said that it ordered 15,000 miners from MinerVa but only received about 3,200 units as of March 2022.

For China / SMIC to present a true “threat” as far as chipmaking is concerned, it would have to be capable of manufacturing MILLIONS of chips, not thousands.

Regardless of whether the Americans are howling in despair, or the pro-CCP netizens are howling in delight, China really does not have true 7nm chipmaking capability for mass production yet.

And even if they somehow manage to improve and scale up this 7nm DUV process, they cannot make more advanced chips without EUV machines made by ASML.

As long as the Dutch government holds firm on blocking sale of ASML’s EUV machines to China, this is likely as far as they can go… unless they invade Taiwan, which is where TSMC is based and has the world’s most advanced chip manufacturing facilities.

 

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Bitcoin Rebounds Above $20K, Ether Shoots Over $1,100!

Bitcoin rebounded above $20,000 while Ether shot over $1,100, after experiencing record lows! Here is what you need to know…

 

Bitcoin Rebounds Above $20K, Ether Shoots Over $1,100!

After a terrible week, cryptocurrencies are getting a big respite with Bitcoin rebounding above $20,000. and ether shooting over $1,100!

Last Saturday, Bitcoin crashed through the $20,000 line, and smashed right through the $19,000 and $18,000 support lines. It hit a record low of $17,663.80, wiping out 12% of value in less than a day.

The $20,000 mark was psychologically-important because Bitcoin first hit it in December 2020. It was also the peak of its last bull run, when it hit a high of $19,834 in December 2017. Bitcoin had, for the first time, fallen below the peak of its prior bull run.

But it gradually recovered over Sunday, and actually rose above the $20,000 mark at 7 PM. After a short sell-off early Monday morning, it recovered to above $20,000.

Ether had a terrible Saturday too, falling from $1,069.70 to just $903.23 – wiping out 15.6% of its value in less than 24 hours!

But it recovered quickly, breaching $1,000 by Sunday morning, and then the $1,100 mark by Sunday evening.

Like Bitcoin, Ether saw a sell-off on Monday morning, but it recovered again and stayed above $1,100

 

Bitcoin + Ether Rally May Be Shortlived

Cryptocurrency investors and traders are sure to be relieved by the rally, which kept both Bitcoin and Ether above those psychologically critical $20,000 and $1,000 price levels, even though they had already breached them two days ago.

The rally seems to be fuelled by investors and traders looking to buy cheap coins. Both Bitcoin and Ether were over 70% and over 80% below their all-time highs of $68,990.90 and $4,865.57 respectively.

However, the Bitcoin rally seemed rather weak – it was vacillating around the $20,000 mark, unable to push above $21,000. Ether did better, staying above $1,000 and rising above $1,100 on Sunday and Monday.

It seems likely that this rally will be short-lived, and could be a short respite before a larger sell-off.

As inflation remains red hot, with rapidly rising interest rates amidst recession fears, there is significant pressure to sell risky cryptocurrencies.

Even though both cryptocurrencies are holding steady right now, be prepared for more sell-offs that could trigger a vicious cycle of forced selling and falling prices.

The 2022 Crypto Winter may have been delayed, and spring isn’t coming soon.

 

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

 

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Crypto Prices Tank : Bitcoin Below $19K, Ethereum Below $1K!

Cryptocurrency prices continue to tank, with Bitcoin dipping below $19,000 and Ethereal sliding below $1,000!

Here is what you need to know…

 

Crypto Prices Tank : Bitcoin Below $19K, Ethereum Below $1K!

The week is ending on a bad note for cryptocurrencies, as prices continued to tank.

On early Saturday morning, Bitcoin crashed through the $20,000 line, and smashed right through the $19,000 line, trimming 7.4% of its value in less than 1.5 hours!

The $20,000 mark was psychologically-important because Bitcoin first hit it in December 2020. It was also the peak of its last bull run, when it hit a high of $19,834 in December 2017.

Bitcoin has, for the first time, fallen below the peak of its prior bull run; which may well spook traders, if not the HODLers.

It hit the bottom (so far) of $18,811.40 at 8:20 AM, before recovering slightly to hover around the $19,000 to $19,500 range.

Ethereum did even worse, falling from $1,069.70 to just $977.37 – wiping out 8.6% of its value in less than 2 hours!

It recovered, but hovered under $1,000 for most of the day, before dipping to another low of $978.91 at 4:50 PM.

Ethereal first hit $1,000 in January 2018, and never dropped below $1,000 after January 2021.

 

Will Bitcoin, Ethereum Prices Continue To Tank?

Bitcoin and Ethereum are now trading almost 60% lower, compared to last year; and Bitcoin is down over 72% from its all-time high of $68,990.90.

While many HODLers and crypto traders are hoping that this is the bottom, this may only be a short respite before a larger sell-off.

Investors may be forced to liquidate their positions after these psychological lines were breached, possibly triggering a vicious cycle of forced selling and falling prices.

As inflation remains red hot, with rapidly rising interest rates amidst recession fears, there is significant pressure to sell risky cryptocurrencies.

So look forward to more sell-offs, and both Bitcoin and Ethereum breaching more resistance levels. The 2022 Crypto Winter may well be here…

 

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He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

 

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Mega PS4 Crypto-Mine : How Much Can It Make?

The Ukrainian Security Service just raided an illegal crypto-mining operation using 3,800 PS4 consoles!

Take a look inside this Ukrainian PS4 crypto-mine, and find out how much they’re making!

 

Ukrainian Crypto-Mine With 3,800 PS4 Consoles Raided!

Cryptocurrency miners have turned the gaming world upside down, buying up graphics cards and even gaming laptops in bulk. As long as it has a GPU, they are snatching it up!

But their demand for more computing power does not seem to be sated, and they even turned their attention to old PS4 consoles!

While many have pooh-poohed the possibility of mining cryptocurrency using PS4 consoles, the Ukrainians went ahead and did it!

On 8 July 2021, the Ukrainian SBU (Sluzhba bezpeky Ukrayiny, Security Service of Ukraine) raided the LARGEST illegal crypto-mine in Ukraine, finding :

  • 3800 PS4 gaming consoles,
  • more than 500 graphics cards,
  • 50 processors,
  • documents accounting their power consumption,
  • notebooks, phones, and flash drives.

By hiding inside the former premises of JSC Vinnytsia Oblenerho – a leading Ukrainian power supply company, this crypto-mine conveniently and quietly stole power from the JSC Vinnytsia Oblenerho network!

According to preliminary estimates, they were siphoning about 5 to 7 million Ukrainian Hryvnia (approximately US$180,000 to 260,000 / RM770,000 to 1.08 million) every month!

 

How Much Can This Ukrainian PS4 Crypto-Mine Make?

The PS4 and PS4 Slim use a custom AMD Radeon 7970M GPU, with 18 compute units and 8 GB of GDDR5 memory with 176 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

It is roughly 20% slower than the AMD Radeon 7970M mobile GPU, but cryptomining is less about processing power, and memory bandwidth.

So let’s just call PS4 Slim equivalent to the Radeon 7970M for mining purposes, which delivers a hash rate of about 8.35 H/s.

Each PS4 console would be fast enough to generate 0.00013896 BTC worth US$4.62 per month, as of 12 July 2021.

So that Ukrainian PS4 crypto-mine with 3,800 PS4 consoles should generate about 0.528048 BTC worth US$18,041 per month, as of 12 July 2021.

That’s really not a lot of profit to be honest, especially when you consider how much electricity they are actually using!

In fact, it is really a loss-making operation if they actually paid for their electricity – they would lose $9 for every dollar they make!

 

Ukrainian SBU : Official Statement On PS4 Crypto-Mine

This is the English translation of the official statement by the Ukrainian SBU on the illegal PS4 crypto-mine :

The Security Service of Ukraine has exposed and documented the illegal extraction of large amounts of electricity in Vinnytsia. The attackers exchanged cryptocurrency directly in one of the former premises of JSC Vinnytsiaoblenerho. Currently, it is the largest underground crypto-farm discovered by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies: almost 5,000 units of computer equipment were seized.

SBU officers established that the illegal crypto-farm was created by residents of Kyiv and Vinnytsia. They used one of the former warehouses of Vinnytsiaoblenerho JSC, which is located on the company’s industrial site.

The attackers illegally took electricity from the networks of JSC Vinnytsiaoblenerho. To hide their activities, they used conventional means of accounting for electricity consumption.

According to preliminary conclusions of experts, the monthly amount of losses from such activities can range from 5 to 7 million UAH. At the same time, the illegal withdrawal of electricity could lead to more global consequences – entire neighborhoods of Vinnytsia could be left without electricity.

Militiamen registered criminal proceedings under part 2 of Art. 188-1 (theft of water, electricity or heat through its unauthorized use) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

During the authorized searches at the place of operation of the farm and at the addresses of the defendants, the following were seized:

  • 3800 game consoles;
  • more than 500 video cards;
  • 50 processors;
  • draft documentation on electricity consumption accounting;
  • notebooks, phones, flash drives.

Currently, operational and investigative actions are underway to establish the full range of persons involved in illegal activities, including the involvement of officials of JSC “Vinnytsiaoblenergo”.

Exposure measures were carried out by the State Security Counterintelligence Protection Service in the field of economic security of the SBU together with the USBU in Vinnytsia Oblast and the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine and under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

 

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PS4 Consoles Now Used To Mine Cryptocurrency?

Is it possible that cryptocurrency miners are now using Sony PS4 consoles to mine Bitcoin or Ethereum?

Take a look at the viral photo, and tell us what you think!

Read more : Ukrainian Crypto-Mine With 3,800 PS4 Consoles Raided!

 

PS4 Consoles Now Used To Mine Cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency miners have turned the gaming world upside down, buying up graphics cards and even gaming laptops in bulk. As long as it has a GPU, they are snatching it up!

But their demand for more computing power does not seem to be sated, and it appears that they may have turned their attention to PS4 consoles!

Take a look at this viral photo of a very ghetto-looking mining rig made up of sixteen PS4 Slim consoles.

 

How Much Money Can This PS4 Mining Rig Make?

We have no idea if it’s actually running, or just a work in progress though, because we never heard of anyone actually mining cryptocurrency on the PS4.

The PS4 and PS4 Slim use a custom AMD Radeon 7970M GPU, with 18 compute units and 8 GB of GDDR5 memory with 176 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

It is roughly 20% slower than the AMD Radeon 7970M mobile GPU, but cryptomining is less about processing power, and memory bandwidth.

So let’s just call PS4 Slim equivalent to the  Radeon 7970M for mining purposes, which delivers a hash rate of about 8.35 H/s.

Each PS4 console would be fast enough to generate 0.00013896 BTC worth US$7.62 per month.

And that 16-console PS4 mining rig above would generate about 0.00222336 BTC worth US$121.92 per month.

Even if they are stealing electricity, that’s really not a lot of profit, to be honest…

 

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Cybercafe Converts RTX 3080 PCs Into Cryptomining Rigs!

Take a look at why this cybercafe converted their GeForce RTX 3080 gaming PCs into cryptomining rigs!

 

Cybercafe Converts RTX 3080 PCs Into Cryptomining Rigs!

The COVID-19 pandemic has decimated the cybercafe industry, with many closing down and selling their gaming PCs and accessories.

However, this Vietnamese cybercafe did something different – they began converting their GeForce RTX 3080 gaming PCs into cryptomining rigs!

The Star Gaming cybercafe in Ho Chi Minh City showed how they were transforming their business due to the COVID-19 pandemic, converting their gaming PCs into cryptomining rigs.

Instead of hosting gamers, the cybercafe is now hosting a slew of new cryptomining rigs.

It is possible that they are also building completely new cryptomining rigs. In this picture, you can see that each rig holds at least eight GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards.

 

How Much Money Can Each RTX 3080 Cryptomining Rig Make?

Just how much money can this cybercafe make from their RTX 3080 cryptomining rig?

Officially, GeForce RTX 3080 cards start at $699, but due to the shortage of cards, they are now selling for about $1,199 each.

So eight of them would cost approximately $9,592. Let’s call it a flat $10,000 for the whole 8-card rig, plus power supply.

The average commercial electricity rate in Vietnam is VND 2,666 per kWh (about US$0.12 per kWh). So electricity should cost about $225 per month. Let’s make that $300 per month (+33%) to account for cooling costs.

As of 21 February 2021, each GeForce RTX 3080 has a hash rate of 86.5 MH/s using the Ethash (Phoenix) algorithm, which should generate approximately 0.18100503 ETH worth US$361 every month.

So each 8-card rig should generate a net profit of US$61 per month or US$732 per year. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a pretty decent ROI of 7.3% per annum.

It would certainly be much better than operating a cybercafe with little to no customers due to lockdown / biosecurity measures.

In fact, their costs would be very much lower if they are converting their existing RTX 3080 gaming PCs into mining rigs, with significantly higher ROI.

This is, arguably, a better solution for cybercafes to ride out the COVID-19 pandemic, than to give up and sell out.

 

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ZOTAC RTX 3070 Cryptomining : Why The Outrage?

Don’t be outraged about the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3070 cryptomining rig.

The truth is they are just being honest about who their biggest clients really are.

 

Why Gamers Are Outraged By ZOTAC RTX 3070 Mining Rig?

It’s no secret that graphics card brands LOVE cryptominers who are buying up their cards by the pallets.

ZOTAC probably wanted to send them some love when they tweeted this picture of a cryptomining rig built using eight ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 3070 White graphics cards.

What they probably should not have done was to use the #PcGaming #Gaming #Gamers #PcMasterRace hashtags, because really… what does cryptomining have to do with the PC?

Gamers have very little love for cryptominers, who are at least partly to blame for the shortage and high prices of graphics cards.

The ZOTAC tweet naturally triggered their outrage, because it was actual proof that ZOTAC would love to sell even more of their limited supply of graphics cards to cryptominers.

But the truth is – ZOTAC was finally being honest about who their biggest clients really were. Not gamers, for sure!

After all, which gamer will ever buy EIGHT ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3070 graphics cards?

 

Why ZOTAC Loves Cryptominers Buying Their RTX 3070 Cards

Let’s be frank – cryptominers are far more willing to pay top dollar for graphics cards, than gamers.

Thanks to high cryptocurrency prices, they can still make a ton of money even if they pay insane prices for these graphics cards.

And they don’t just buy one card for their gaming pleasure. They buy these cards by the dozens and hundreds! And why not?

This mining rig, which uses 78 GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards, generates a net profit in excess of US$128,000 per year!

Read more : 78-Card GeForce RTX 3080 Mining Rig Powered Up!

The profitability of cryptomining has gone up so much that Chinese cryptominers have resorted to buying up hundreds of GeForce RTX 3060 gaming laptops instead!

This Chinese mining farm is being built using 900 GeForce RTX 3060 gaming laptops, and have the potential to generate over US$2.3 million in profit every year!

Read more : This RTX Laptop Mining Farm Could Make $3.5 Million / Year!

So, don’t be so mad at ZOTAC. At least they had the guts to admit their preference for cryptominers.

The other brands are the same. They just don’t have the guts to admit it, for fear of losing support from their fans.

The secret to having your cake, and eating it too? Keep quiet about cryptomining, and promote fanboyism to keep the hoi polloi loyal to the brand.

It’s all about the money, guys…

 

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

 

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This RTX Laptop Mining Farm Could Make $3.5 Million / Year!

Take a look at this crypto-mining farm that could make $3.5 million a year using just 900 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 gaming laptops!

 

Hundreds Of RTX Laptops Used In Crypto Mining Farms!

Not only gamers are affected by the limited supply of graphics cards in the market. So are cryptominers!

Chinese cryptominers now have to resort to buying up whatever GeForce RTX gaming laptops they can find, literally hundreds of them!

Instead of ASIC miners or GPU mining rigs, they are now powering their cryptomining operations with RTX gaming laptops!

We earlier highlighted the new trend of using RTX gaming laptops to mine cryptocurrency. It looks as this is more extensive that we first thought.

A Weibo blogger called 神鱼BTCer just shared even more pictures of RTX laptop-based mining operations, big and small.

Many appear to be pretty ghetto, placing the laptops in a kind of “tent mode” for better cooling, wherever there’s space – on tables, chairs or the floor.

But he also showed a seriously big crypto-mining farm being built using these GeForce RTX 30-series gaming laptops.

He even shared a short clip (part of the video we posted above), showing the cryptocurrency mining farm partially operational, with more being set-up.

There are 10 laptops per shelf, with each shelving unit capable of accommodating 60 laptops.

While not particularly large, this cryptocurrency mining farm has at least 15 visible shelving units, so that’s a total of 900 RTX gaming laptops when it’s fully operational.

Currently, it’s only partially complete, with about 200 or so laptops running, with many boxes of laptops left to open and setup.

 

How Much Money Can This RTX Laptop Mining Farm Make?

We had earlier shared about how a Bilibili content creator used an RTX 3060 laptop to mine 0.00053009 ETH while she sipped her coffee at Starbucks for 2 hours.

Based on her experience, we can guesstimate that the average GeForce RTX 3060 laptop will be able to produce :

  • 0.000265045 ETH per hour
  • 0.00636108 ETH per day
  • 0.1908324 ETH per month (30 days)
  • 2.3217942 ETH per year

Chinese electricity costs about RMB 0.545 (US$0.084) per kWh. Assuming each laptop uses about 250 watts of power (including whatever external fans they may be using), that works out to about RMB 1,200 or US$186 per year.

As of 11 February 2021, Ethereum is priced at US$1740. So here’s roughly how much this cryptocurrency mining farm would make, at that price :

  • 100 laptops : $385,392 per year
  • 200 laptops : $770,784 per year
  • 300 laptops : $1,156,177 per year
  • 400 laptops : $1,541,569 per year
  • 500 laptops : $1,926,961 per year
  • 600 laptops : $2,312,353 per year
  • 700 laptops : $2,697,745 per year
  • 800 laptops : $3,083,138 per year
  • 900 laptops : $3,468,530 per year

So there you have it – this small cryptocurrency mining operation can potentially make almost US$ 3.5 million in a single year.

But what’s the ROI, you say?

The Chinese OEM, Hasee, offers a GeForce RTX 3060 gaming laptop with a starting price of just RMB 6,499 (approximately RM4,089 / US$1,005 / £732 / A$1,309 / S$1,340).

And the video shows that this mining operation is using the same, or similar, Hasee RTX gaming laptops.

Let’s say they paid a 20% scalper’s premium, and purchased all 900 Hasee RTX 3060 laptops for a cool US$1,085,400.

Let’s further round that up to US$1.1 million for miscellaneous costs – shelving units, lights, fans, etc. including US$500 per month for rental.

Based on those assumptions, their net profit for the 900-laptop mining farm would be US$2,368,530 per year, at current prices.

That’s an incredibly high ROI of 17.9% per month, which is 67% higher ROI than the 78-card GeForce RTX 3080 mining rig!

After recovering the cost of the entire mining farm ($1.1 million) in just over 3 months, everything else they make after that is pure profit (after deducting rental and electricity costs), unless they are stealing the electricity!

With such great ROI, you can count on cryptocurrency miners to buy up ALL the GeForce RTX 30 series laptops they can get their hands on!

 

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Illegal Bitcoin Cryptomining Operation Seized!

The Pahang police and TNB SEAL team just busted and seized an illegal cryptomining operation, and arrested a suspect there!

 

Illegal Bitcoin Cryptomining Operation Seized!

On 9 February 2021, the Pahang police D7 JSJ team and the TNB SEAL team (seriously, that’s what they call themselves) busted and seized an illegal Bitcoin cryptomining operation.

The Bitcoin cryptomining operation occupied two shoplots in a three storey building at Batu 3, Jalan Gambang in Kuantan, Pahang.

The police also arrested a suspect who was found at the cryptomining operation.

According to the Pahang Deputy Chief of Police Dato’ Mohd Yusri bin Hj. Hassan Basri, the suspect had illegally tapped into the electricity at both premises, and will be investigated under :

  • Section 379 of the Penal Code for stealing electricity
  • Section 427 of the Penal Code for committing treason

We should point out that cryptomining is not illegal in Malaysia, whether it’s for Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.

What’s illegal is the theft of electricity to run such cryptomining operations for maximum profit.

That’s why the TNB SEAL team was involved, and not just the police.

 

More Pictures From The Illegal Cryptomining Operation Raid

 

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GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop Mining : Over 30% ROI?!

Here is the new craze in cryptocurrency mining – GeForce RTX 3060 laptop mining rigs!

Take a look at new laptop mining rigs in China, and find out how much they can make!

 

GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop Mining : The New Craze!

Supplies of desktop graphics cards are low, and prices are sky-high, and here’s more bad news – miners are coming for the laptops too!

A Weibo blogger called 神鱼BTCer just shared photos of different GeForce RTX 30 series laptop mining rigs!

BTCer claims they are all “home-based”, but we have no idea whether they are his, or from different cryptocurrency mining operations.

But in a response to a question, he said that the best way to keep them cool is by putting them in a sort of “tent mode”.

This picture shows four stacks of GeForce RTX 3060 laptops made by Chinese OEM Hasee, powered on (you can see the green light).

Hasee offers a GeForce RTX 3060 gaming laptop that has a starting price of just RMB 6,499 (approximately RM4,089 / US$1,005 / £732 / A$1,309 / S$1,340).

These twenty Hasee GeForce RTX 30 series gaming laptops would cost just over US$20,000.

This seems like a waste of power – leaving their displays turned on. But leaving the display up would definitely improve cooling.

 

How Much Money Can RTX 3060 Laptop Mining Rigs Make?

A Bilibili content creator Fish Pond f2pool demonstrated how fast someone with a GeForce RTX 3060 laptop can “mine” cryptocurrency.

She plugged in her GeForce RTX 3060 laptop into a power socket at Starbucks, and mined 0.00053009 ETH over 2 hours while she sipped her coffee.

On 5 February 2021, Ethereum closed at US$1,680.497, so she mined enough during her coffee break to make US$0.89 or RMB 5.76.

Not quite enough to pay for her coffee (about RMB 28), but at least the electricity is FREE!

Based on her experience, we can guesstimate that the average GeForce RTX 3060 laptop will be able to produce :

  • 0.000265045 ETH per hour
  • 0.00636108 ETH per day
  • 0.1908324 ETH per month (30 days)
  • 2.3217942 ETH per year

So that mining rig with 20 Hasee laptops you saw up there could make, at current prices, about :

  • $8.908 per hour
  • $213.80 per day
  • $6,413.87 per month (30 days)
  • $78,035 per year

Chinese electricity costs about RMB 0.545 (US$0.084) per kWh.

Assuming each laptop uses about 250 watts of power (including whatever external fans he may have), that works out to about US$3,679.20 per year.

So his net profit for the 20-laptop mining rig would be US$74,356 per year, at current prices.

That’s an incredible ROI of 30.8% per month, which means he will recover the cost of the entire rig ($20,100) in just under 3.5 months!

This is actually 2.9X higher ROI than the 78-card GeForce RTX 3080 mining rig!

With such great ROI, you can count on cryptocurrency miners to buy up hoards of GeForce RTX 30 series laptops!

 

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78-Card GeForce RTX 3080 Mining Rig Powered Up!

The mega crypto-mining rig, built using 78 GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards, has powered up!

Check it out, and find out why crypto-miners are buying graphics cards by the pallets!

 

78-Card GeForce RTX 3080 Mining Rig Almost Operational!

You may have seen Simon Byrne’s crypto-mining rig, that uses 78 GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards arranged in an array of 13 x 6 cards.

That 78-card RTX 3080 mining rig, which he calls Bertha 2, is almost operational. And he’s keeping it cool with 120 fans, with RGB, of course! It is said – RGB makes thing go faster? 😉

In this picture, you can see most of the GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards powered up. When fully operational, it should deliver 6.5 gigahashes per second!

In case you are wondering what Berta – his first-generation mining rig – looks like, here is a photo he shared :

He created Bertha 1 using 130 Zotac GeForce RTX 1080 Ti graphics cards, in January 2018 – 3 years ago!

 

How Much Money Can This RTX 3080 Crypto Mining Rig Make?

Just how much money can Simon make from this crypto-mining rig?

Officially, RTX 3080 cards start at $699, but due to the shortage of cards, they are now selling for about $1,199 each.

So the cards in this rig alone would cost approximately $93,522. Let’s call it a flat $100,000 for the whole rig, plus power supplies.

The average commercial electricity rate in Las Vegas (where he’s based) is 8.43 cents per kWh. So electricity should cost about $1444 per month. Let’s make that $2166 per month (+50%) to account for cooling costs.

Each GeForce RTX 3080 has a hash rate of 83.57 MH/s using the Ethash (Phoenix) algorithm, which should generate approximately 0.22236870 ETH worth US$165 every month.

So the total rig of 78 cards should generate 17.3447586 ETH worth $12,840 per month. Deducting electricity costs, that’s a net profit of $10,674 per month or $128,088 per year!

That’s an incredible ROI of 10.7% per month, which means he recovers the cost of the entire rig in just under 9.5 months.

No wonder crypto miners are buying up graphics cards by the pallets… at the expense of PC gamers all around the world!

Simon assured gamers that he doesn’t buy his cards from the regular retail supply chain. However, the large-scale purchase of graphics cards for crypto-mining is a major cause of graphics card shortage across the world.

 

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12-Card GeForce RTX 3090 Gigahash Mining Rig!

Take a look at this crypto-mining rig that uses just a dozen GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards to generate over a gigahash per second!

Find out how much he stands to make from this mining rig!

 

12-Card GeForce RTX 3090 Gigahash Mining Rig!

It seems easy for crypto-miners to get hold of the GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card in bulk.

A crypto-miner is building a compact mining rig that uses just a dozen GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards to generate over a gigahash per second!

Guntis Vitolins, who recently lost 500 graphics cards in a fire, is using a dozen INNO3D GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards, powered by four EVGA SuperNOVA G3 1000 watt power supplies.

 

How Much Money Can This RTX 3090 Crypto Mining Rig Make?

Just how much money can Guntis make from this crypto-mining rig?

Officially, RTX 3090 cards start at US$1,499, but due to the shortage of cards, they are now selling for about US$2,450 each. The EVGA SuperNOVA G3 1000 PSU each cost US$309.

So the twelve cards would cost approximately US$29,400, while the four EVGA PSUs would cost US$1,236. Let’s call it a flat US$31,000 for the whole rig.

The average commercial electricity rate in Ireland (where he’s based) is about €0.2413 per kWh. So electricity should cost about €800 or US$965 per month. Let’s make that US$1450 per month (+50%) to account for cooling costs.

Each GeForce RTX 3090 has a hash rate of 104.48 MH/s using the Ethash (Phoenix) algorithm, which should generate approximately 0.23401064 ETH worth US$312.53 every month.

So the total rig of 12 cards should generate 2.80812768 ETH worth US$3,750 per month. Deducting electricity costs, that’s a net profit of $2,300 per month or $27,600 per year!

That’s a high ROI of 7.4% per month, which means he recovers the cost of the entire rig in about 13.5 months.

This is about 31% lower ROI than the 78-card mining rig that uses the much cheaper GeForce RTX 3080, which pays for itself in just 9.5 months!

No wonder crypto miners are buying up graphics cards by the pallets… at the expense of PC gamers all around the world!

 

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500 Radeon RX 5700 Cards Destroyed In Fire!

500 brand new AMD Radeon RX 5700 graphics cards meant for crypto-currency mining just burned up in a fire!

 

500 Radeon RX 5700 Cards Destroyed In Fire!

On 27 January 2021, Guntis Vitolins shared pictures of 500 Radeon RX 5700 graphics cards that were just destroyed in a fire.

This is how looks 500x RX 5700 burned $eth

 

RX 5700 Fire Started In Welding Accident!

But here is where it takes a strange twist. It was not an actual “mining accident”, as we might expect.

A welding accident apparently started the fire at this warehouse, where he was building his mining rigs.

Some 500 of his Radeon RX 5700 graphics cards – all brand new, in boxes – were destroyed in the fire, and firefighting operation.

Fortunately for him, his mining rigs survived, and just needed to dry out from the water.

Another crypto-miner estimated that the 500 destroyed Radeon RX 5700 cards would cost about US$300,000.

But you would be hard-pressed to find 500 of these cards on Amazon!

 

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GeForce RTX 3080 Mining Rig Inside A BMW i8 Hybrid!

Take a look at this mining rig with SIX GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards, in the trunk of a BMW i8 hybrid sports car!

 

GeForce RTX 3080 Mining Rig Inside A BMW i8 Hybrid!

Simon Byrne is at it again – trolling gamers with his GeForce RTX 3080 mining rigs!

This time, he created a mining rig with six GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards, right in the trunk of a BMW i8 hybrid sports car.

The only practical use for the trunk of an i8 is to home a 6 x RTX 3080 mining rig.

*no gamers were harmed in the making of this photo.

 

BMW i8 RTX 3080 Mining Rig : Trolling Gamers

As impressive as it looks, this really isn’t a practical mining operation. He probably created it just to troll gamers who are finding it hard to get decently-priced graphics cards.

World’s Most Expensive Mining Case

The BMW i8 has a starting MSRP of US$147,500 in Nevada. That would make it the world’s most expensive mining case.

Power Consumption

The six GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards alone would consume 2 kilowatts of power at full power, with the entire mining rig using some 2.5 kW of power.

We can only see a single EVGA SuperNOVA 1600 T2 PSU, so he’s either underclocking the cards, or there is another PSU out-of-sight.

The BMW i8 has a 11.6 kWh lithium-ion battery, with a usable capacity of 8.7 kWh. That’s only enough to run the mining rig for 4-5 hours.

BMW i8 battery pack

Thermal Output

Of course, you can plug in the i8 or keep its engine running, but the mining rig still generates a tremendous amount of heat.

Even in a cold environment (it’s about 5°C in Nevada in January), the BMW i8’s rear hatch must be kept open to avoid the cards from overheating.

Invitation To Smash & Grab!

And that’s just inviting theft or a hold-up. Especially when these GeForce RTX 3080 cards command premium prices all over the world!

This is definitely an impressive showcase, but Simon is no doubt making the bulk of his cryptocurrency using serious rigs like this 78-card mining rig we showed earlier.

Recommended : 78-Card RTX 3080 Mining Rig Almost Operational!

 

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Crypto Mining Rig With 78 GeForce RTX 3080 Cards!

Take a look at this crypto-mining rig powered by 78 GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards, and find out why crypto miners are buying graphics cards by the pallets!

 

Crypto Mining Rig With 78 GeForce RTX 3080 Cards!

Can’t find an affordable GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card? That’s because crypto-mining is one of the reasons why there is a shortage of graphics cards worldwide.

Here is a crypto-mining rig being built by Simon Byrne, using the 78 GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards arranged in an array of 13 x 6 cards.

With a power consumption of 300 watts per card, that’s crypto-mining rig would require at least 23.4 kilowatts of power to run, and a lot of air-conditioning to keep them cool!

Update : This GeForce RTX 3080 mining rig is almost operational!

 

How Much Money Can This RTX 3080 Crypto Mining Rig Make?

Just how much money can Simon make from this crypto-mining rig?

Officially, RTX 3080 cards start at $699, but due to the shortage of cards, they are now selling for about $1,199 each.

So the cards in this rig alone would cost approximately $93,522. Let’s call it a flat $100,000 for the whole rig, plus power supplies.

The average commercial electricity rate in Las Vegas (where he’s based) is 8.43 cents per kWh. So electricity should cost about $1444 per month. Let’s make that $2166 per month (+50%) to account for cooling costs.

Each GeForce RTX 3080 has a hash rate of 83.57 MH/s using the Ethash (Phoenix) algorithm, which should generate approximately 0.22236870 ETH worth US$165 every month.

So the total rig of 78 cards should generate 17.3447586 ETH worth $12,840 per month. Deducting electricity costs, that’s a net profit of $10,674 per month or $128,088 per year!

That’s an incredible ROI of 10.7% per month, which means he recovers the cost of the entire rig in just under 9.5 months.

No wonder crypto miners are buying up graphics cards by the pallets… at the expense of PC gamers all around the world!

 

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Microsoft : Cybersecurity Trends + How To Stay Safe In 2020!

As part of Safer Internet Day (SID), Antony Cook from Microsoft shared the key cybersecurity trends in 2020, and how we can stay safe against those dangers.

Even if we are experienced techies, it is enlightening to find out what Microsoft believes are the cybersecurity threats that we should be looking out for in 2020.

 

Microsoft : Key Cybersecurity Trends In 2020!

Cybersecurity Trend #1 : Less Ransomware But More Attacks

Ransomware has declined in recent years, dropping more than 60% from its peak. But Microsoft sees a rise in other types of cyberattacks.

Attackers have learned that ransomware attracts too much attention from law enforcement, and organisations have gotten better at backing up their data.

So hackers are moving onto other activities like cryptocurrency malware and phishing, where they can more easily profit with less attention.

Cybersecurity Trend #2 : Mining Malware Will Be Big!

Attackers are often acting for financial benefit, so they will make big bets on cryptocurrency, especially in Bitcoin.

They will focus more on mining malware that lets them use your computer to mine cryptocurrency coins without being detected.

Coin mining software is easily available, and cybercriminals have put malware into many widely-shared and used software. They are also trying to inject these malware through websites illegally streaming copyrighted content like the latest movies.

Cybersecurity Trend #3 : Embedded Threats

Attackers are now more sophisticated, targeting legitimate and trusted software supply points to deliver malware. There have been many examples of this attack vector :

  • a routine update for a tax accounting application,
  • popular freeware tools which have backdoors forcibly installed,
  • a server management software package,
  • an internet browser extension or site plugin,
  • malicious images which active scripts when clicked,
  • peer-to-peer applications

In those cases, attackers were able to change the code of legitimate software that people trust and install without hesitation, allowing them to “hitch a ride”.

This attack vector is very dangerous and frustrating, because it takes advantage of the trust that consumers and IT departments already have for legitimate software.

Cybersecurity Trend #4 : Phishing Scams

Phishing continues to be one of the most effective ways to compromise systems, because it targets human decisions and judgment.

Microsoft noted that the percentage of inbound emails that were detected as phishing messages increased 250% throughout 2018, and they expect the final figures for 2019 to show the same trend.

 

Microsoft : How To Stay Safe In 2020!

Here is a summary of what Microsoft believes we should do to stay safe online against cybersecurity threats in 2020 :

Cybersecurity Tip #1 : Practice Good Security Hygiene

  1. Keep your operating system and software updated.
  2. Turn on email and browser protections.
  3. Apply the cybersecurity configurations that your hardware and software vendors recommend.
  4. Stay away from any unfamiliar software or websites.
  5. Use only legitimate software, and not just your key applications.

Cybersecurity Tip #2 : Implement More Access Controls

System administrators should implement more access controls, using Zero Trust or at least privilege models.

This will limit hackers that successfully break into your network from accessing more than a segment.

Cybersecurity Tip #3 : 3-2-1 Backup!

Make sure you create and keep backups, and the cloud is a great tool for this.

Microsoft recommends adhering to the 3-2-1 rule – keep three backups of your data on two different storage types, with at least one backup offsite.

Cybersecurity Tip #4 : Keep Vigilant!

Even if we implement strong cybersecurity measures, we must remain vigilant, and keep an eye out for suspicious activity.

Not just system administrators, but users as well. If you see anything suspicious – report it to your IT department immediately.

It can be anything from a sudden slowdown in your computer’s performance, to strange web pages and images appearing.

 

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