"Like Living on Top of Niagara Falls" -- Being Neighbors with a Cryptocurrency Mine

A neighborhood’s cryptocurrency mine: Never-ending noise

It’s midnight, and a jet-like roar is rumbling up the slopes of Poor House Mountain. Except there are no planes overhead, and the nearest commercial airport is 80 miles away.

The sound is coming from a cluster of sheds at the base of the mountain housing a cryptocurrency data center, operated by the San Francisco-based firm PrimeBlock. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, powerful computers perform the complex computations needed to “mine,” or create, digital currencies. And those noise-generating computers are kept cool by huge fans.

“It’s like living on top of Niagara Falls,” said Mike Lugiewicz, whose home lies less than 100 yards from the mine.

“When it’s at its worst, it’s like sitting on the tarmac with a jet engine in front of you. But the jet never leaves. The jet never takes off. It’s just annoying. It’s just constant annoyance,” he said.

MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor Sued by DC for Income Tax Fraud

Washington, D.C., is suing MicroStrategy Inc. co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor — probably best known as the largest corporate buyer of Bitcoin — for tax fraud, claiming that he skipped out on paying more than $25 million in income taxes despite living in the district for more than a decade.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed with the D.C. Superior Court’s civil division, Saylor knowingly avoided paying taxes he owed since 2005 by fraudulently claiming to be a resident of other, lower-taxes jurisdictions, including Virginia and Florida. It claims that Saylor lived in a luxury penthouse on the Georgetown waterfront and docked multiple yachts on the district’s Potomac riverfront.

Larry Fink: Here’s Your Answer to the Despicable Letter from the GOP Attorneys General

I’m sure BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s response to the obnoxious, accusatory, misleading, letter he received from 19 Republican state attorneys general will be measured, diplomatic, and thoroughly lawyered over. He will hope to mollify them to continue to be able to do business with the government pension funds. That is only right for someone who is in business, with employees, clients, and his own shareholders to consider.

I operate under no such restrictions, and therefore, like Keegan-Michael Key playing the part of Luther, President Obama’s anger translator, I have drafted the letter I wish Mr. Fink could send.

Crypto.com Mistakenly Transfers $7 Million to Woman Owed $70 Refund

The firm discovered during an audit in December that it had made an error in processing a A$100 refund seven months earlier, according to court documents first reported by Channel 7. An account number had been accidentally entered into the payment amount field, according to the court.

The state of Victoria’s Supreme Court has ordered the home, which was bought by the woman’s sister, be sold and the money returned to the company. The case is expected to return to court in October.

California Assembly Passes Crypto Regulation Bill That Requires Bank-Issued Stablecoins

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is set to sign a recently passed bill that would require digital asset exchanges and other crypto companies to obtain a license to operate in the state.

The Digital Financial Assets Law, dubbed California’s “BitLicense,” takes after New York’s BitLicense regulation, which came into effect in 2015. California’s law, if signed by Newsom, a Democrat, would go into effect in January 2025.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Is Getting Clearer About How US Crypto Regulation Will Work

There’s two things that strike me about the SEC’s thinking.

First, the SEC is really ramping up. We still don’t have any kind of formal rulemaking process directing crypto trading platforms to register as securities exchanges, but the agency is clearly building up a set of precedents. Remember, the SEC’s inquiry to Grayscale comes alongside the SEC calling nine other cryptocurrencies securities just a few months ago.

he other thing is just which cryptocurrencies are listed. Grayscale offers trusts with exposure to all sorts of cryptos: basic attention token (BAT), bitcoin cash (BCH), Decentraland’s MANA token, ethereum classic (ETC) and so on. The SEC specified ZEC, ZEN and XLM.

FASB Excludes NFTs, Some Stablecoins From Crypto Accounting Project – WSJ

On Wednesday, the board outlined its criteria for the crypto assets that would be covered by a new rule. The subset of digital assets under the project would include those that are intangible, that is, non-financial assets that lack physical substance, and that don’t carry contractual rights to cash flows or ownership of goods or services. The assets also must be fungible, meaning they are interchangeable and not unique.

The FASB didn’t say which specific crypto assets it would exclude from the project’s scope. However, the criteria indicate that NFTs—digital proofs of purchase for items such as art, baseball cards or digital music that can also provide access to live streamed concerts and other services—and certain stablecoins—cryptocurrencies pegged to assets such as the U.S. dollar—won’t make the cut.

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Popular crypto coins, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, would fall within the rule’s scope.