Cryptocurrency mining companies hoping to set up shop in New York State may bump into some limits. Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation restricting crypto mining in the country, making it the first state to clamp down on the practice. The environment-focused law establishes a two-year freeze on new and renewed air permits for fossil fuel power plants used for mining that uses demanding "proof-of-work" authentication. The Department of Environmental Conservation will also have to study if and how crypto mining hurts the government's climate change mitigation efforts.

The bill passed the state legislature in June, but didn't reach Hochul's desk until this Tuesday. It wasn't guaranteed to become law. The Hillnotes that the governor didn't commit to signing the measure during an October election debate. Her main opponent, Lee Zeldin, said he wouldn't sign the bill if he were in a position to do so.

Politicians and environmental groups have worried that crypto mining, particularly that involving proof-of-work, consumes too much energy. The computationally intensive process adds to the load on the electrical grid, and has even prompted some mining outfits in New York to build natural gas-based power plants to sustain their operations. The cryptocurrency world has sometimes tried to minimize the impact. Ethereum, for instance, recently completed a merge to a less energy-hungry "proof-of-stake" system that revolves around validation from certain users.

It's not certain if other states will follow suit. Democratic Senators have pressured Texas to take action on crypto mining energy demands, but that state's government hasn't budged so far. Not surprisingly, crypto proponents have also balked at laws limiting their activity. The Chamber of Digital Commerce claimed New York's law sets a "dangerous precedent," and that proof-of-work mining played a role in economic growth. There's also the question of effectiveness — New York's law might drive some miners to states with looser policies.

Elizabeth Warren and six other Democratic senators are pressing Texas’ energy regulator on whether the crypto mining industry is putting additional strain on the state’s grid, and its impact on climate change.

In a letter to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the senators note that “cryptomining companies are flooding into states like Texas,” and raise questions about the industry’s impact on the state’s grid, which is already in a precarious position during major storms and other periods of high demand. “The Texas grid is particularly vulnerable given that it is the only independent state grid in the country, and does not interconnect to other states – meaning it has no buffer if there is a shortfall in supply,” the letter notes.

The senators also take issue with the payments mining companies receive from ERCOT at times of high demand. “In simple terms, the Bitcoin miners make money from mining that produces major strains on the electric grid: and during peak demand when the profitability of continuing to mine decreases, they then collect subsidies in the form of demand response payments when they shut off their mining operations and do nothing,” the letter says. “These subsidies to cryptominers also feed back into the worsening climate crisis. The energy used to mine Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2021 resulted in almost 80 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.”

The letter asks for details on the amount of energy consumption used by crypto mining companies over the last five years, as well if residential electricity rate hikes have coincided with crypto miners’ arrival in the state.

As of today, a data-sharing pact between the US and the UK is in effect, five years after it was first floated. The two sides claim that the Data Access Agreement, which was authorized by the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act in the US, will help law enforcement to combat serious crimes in both countries. The Department of Justice called the initiative the first of its kind, adding that it would enable investigators "to gain better access to vital data" to fight serious crimes in a manner that's "consistent with privacy and civil liberties standards."

Under the agreement, authorities in one country can request data from ISPs in the other country, as long as it's related to preventing, detecting, investigating and prosecuting serious crimes including terrorism, transnational organized crime and child exploitation. US officials can't submit data requests targeting people in the UK and vice-versa — presumably the requests can either be used to assist domestic investigations or investigations into foreign nationals. Authorities also need to adhere to certain requirements, limitations and conditions when they access and use data.

The UK Home Office's Investigatory Powers Unit will oversee the Data Access Agreement in the UK, while the DOJ's Office of International Affairs (OIA) will handle matters in the US. The OIA has put together a CLOUD team that will review and certify orders on behalf of federal, state, local and territorial authorities. It will directly submit orders to ISPs in the UK and ensure data is transferred to authorities who requested it.

Privacy advocates have blasted the initiative and the CLOUD Act. In 2018, just after the bill was introduced, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said it "creates a dangerous precedent for other countries who may want to access information stored outside their own borders, including data stored in the United States." Fight for the Future argued that it would threaten user privacy.

The US is looking to forge pacts with other countries under the CLOUD Act. It signed a deal with Australia last December and entered negotiations with Canada earlier this year.

Investigators raised alarm bells when they learned Homeland Security bureaus were buying phone location data to effectively bypass the Fourth Amendment requirement for a search warrant, and now it's clearer just how extensive those purchases were. TechCrunchnotes the American Civil Liberties Union has obtained records linking Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other DHS divisions to purchases of roughly 336,000 phone location points from the data broker Venntel. The info represents just a "small subset" of raw data from the southwestern US, and includes a burst of 113,654 points collected over just three days in 2018.

The dataset, delivered through a Freedom of Information Act request, also outlines the agencies' attempts to justify the bulk data purchases. Officials maintained that users voluntarily offered the data, and that it included no personally identifying information. As TechCrunch explains, though, that's not necessarily accurate. Phone owners aren't necessarily aware they opted in to location sharing, and likely didn't realize the government was buying that data. Moreover, the data was still tied to specific devices — it wouldn't have been difficult for agents to link positions to individuals.

Some Homeland Security workers expressed internal concerns about the location data. One senior director warned that the Office of Science and Technology bought Venntel info without getting a necessaryPrivacy Threshold Assessment. At one point, the department even halted all projects using Venntel data after learning that key legal and privacy questions had gone unanswered.

More details could be forthcoming, as Homeland Security is still expected to provide more documents in response to the FOIA request. We've asked Homeland Security and Venntel for comment. However, the ACLU report might fuel legislative efforts to ban these kinds of data purchases, including the Senate's bipartisan Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act as well as the more recently introduced Health and Location Data Protection Act.

Congressional Democrats are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy to address the recent proliferation of cryptocurrency mining within the US. In a letter sent Friday (via The Guardian), Senator Elizabeth Warren and five other lawmakers said the two agencies should work together to require crypto mining firms to disclose their energy use and emissions.

The request comes after the group recently completed an investigation that began at the start of the year. According to the letter, data collected from seven of the largest mining companies in the US, including Stronghold, Bitfury and Riot, indicates they can collectively use more than 1 gigawatt of electricity. Put another way, that’s almost enough to power all the residential buildings in Houston.

Warren and the other lawmakers say they’re concerned about what all that power use will mean for the environment and consumers. Regarding the former, they state that emissions data from three of the surveyed companies indicate they emit approximately 1.6 million tons of CO2 annually or the equivalent of the tailpipe emissions of almost 360,000 cars. “Bitcoin miners are using huge quantities of electricity that could be used for other priority end uses that contribute to our electrification and climate goals, such as replacing home furnaces with heat pumps,” the letter states.

On the latter point, the lawmakers cite a 2021 study from the University of California, Berkeley that estimated crypto mining in upstate New York raised annual electricity bills by approximately $165 million for small businesses and $79 million for consumers. What's more, they say their investigation doesn’t even scratch the surface of the full impact of crypto mining on power use and emissions in the US. “None of the companies provided full and complete information in response to our questions,” they note.

“The results of our investigation, which gathered data from just seven companies, are disturbing, with this limited data alone revealing that crypto miners are large energy users that account for a significant – and rapidly growing – amount of carbon emissions,” the letter states. By requiring crypto mining firms to disclose their energy use and emissions, the group says the EPA and Department of Energy could provide lawmakers with better data to inform future policy decisions. The agencies have until August 15th to respond to the request.

For years, Master & Dynamic has blended premium design with solid performance for its headphones. With its latest model, the company has refreshed the aesthetics on top of boosting the active noise cancellation (ANC) for more effective distraction blocking. Today, Master & Dynamic is debuting the MW75, a high-end set of ANC over-ear headphones with Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation that automatically adjusts based on the clamor of your environment. 

When it comes to the new active noise cancellation setup, Master & Dynamic says four microphones monitor your surroundings to "intuitively adjust" the ANC to properly counter any changes to the external roar. The MW75 isn't the first set of headphones to do this, but the automatic tweaks are new to the company's lineup starting with this model. There are two additional noise-canceling modes to choose from — All Day and Max — so you're not stuck with Adaptive as the lone option. There are also two ambient sound modes, one for general use and the other specifically tailored to voices. 

Master & Dynamic has mostly kept the same design for its headphones for years. There have been some small changes to the formula, but for the most part the lineage remained intact. With the MW75, the company opted for an updated design with similarities to its MG20 gaming headset. While the MG20 has elements of both past and present, the MW75 takes the new aesthetic one step further. 

The company is still using a mix of aluminum and leather (lambskin this time), but it added tempered glass panels to the outside of the earcups. These aren't touch sensitive, they're simply a design choice. The on-board controls are still physical buttons. And thankfully, the memory foam earpads still detach easily in the event you need to replace them, which is a standard feature for much of Master & Dyanmic's gear. The new design is simplified and refined, but the new look does come at a bit of a cost. The MW75 is nearly 100 grams heavier than its predecessor. 

Master & Dynamic

Inside, 40mm Beryllium-coated drivers power what Master & Dynamic describes as its "expansive signature sound," a blend of "warmer lows and richer highs." The company says an additional set of four beamforming microphones offer assistance with calls and are designed to combat any wind interference. Unlike Master & Dyanmic's previous flagship model, the MW65, the MW75 offers wear detection and is compatible with the company's app for customizing the EQ and other settings. The company says you can expect up to 28 hours of listening time with ANC on and that figure goes up to 32 hours when noise cancellation is disabled. If you find yourself in a pinch, 15 minutes of charging will give you six hours of battery life.

The MW75 will be available on June 28th in four color options: gunmetal with black leather, silver metal with grey leather, silver metal with brown leather and black metal with black leather. Like Master & Dynamic's previous premium headphones, the high-end look and flagship features don't come cheap. The MW75 will cost $599 (€599/£549) when it goes on sale at the end of the month — $100 more than the MW65.

New York lawmakers have passed a bill that would temporarily ban new bitcoin mining operations. Early on Friday, state senators voted 36-27 to pass the legislation. It's now bound for the desk of Governor Kathy Hochul, who will sign it into law or veto the bill. The law would come into effect immediately after it's signed.

An attempt to enact similar legislation last year hit a wall when the New York State Senate passed it but Assembly members did not. The latest bill passed the Assembly in April.

The legislation seeks to establish a two-year moratorium on licenses for cryptocurrency mining operations that use power-hungry proof-of-work authentication methods for validating blockchain transactions. Right now, bitcoin and ethereum (the two largest cryptocurrencies) fall under that category, though the latter is shifting to a different setup.

The moratorium only covers mining operations that run on carbon-based power sources. Any that harness entirely renewable energy sources or an alternative to proof of work that requires less power won't be affected. Existing operations and those already going through a permit renewal process won't be impacted either.

While the moratorium is in place, New York will carry out a study into the environmental impact of proof-of-work authentication methods, per the bill. As CNBC notes, New York has ambitious climate goals that require the state's greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced by 85 percent by 2050 under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

New York became a hotbed for crypto mining operations in part due to its plentiful hydroelectricity, low electricity prices and cooler climate than other areas of the US (which means less energy is needed to cool mining hardware). 

Some mining companies have threatened to leave New York due to regulatory uncertainty and set up shop in more crypto-friendly states. Even so, crypto proponents have suggested that, given New York's status as a legislative leader, other states could follow suit with similar regulations. 

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is working on a policy regarding bitcoin mining. The White House is looking into the impact of such technology on greenhouse gas emissions.

Another food app has been caught sharing location data without asking. As CBC Newsreports, Canadian privacy authorities have determined that restaurant chain Tim Hortons collected "granular" location data through its mobile app without valid consent between May 2019 and August 2020. The coffee-and-donut giant was supposed to be using positional info from its partner Radar Labs for targeted ads, but the app was gathering locations as frequently as every few minutes, whether or not the app was open — even if you'd explicitly limited that collection through settings.

Investigators also found that there weren't enough contractual protections for the personal data Radar processed. The clauses were "vague and permissive" enough that Radar could have used sensitive content for its own purposes, according to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. While Radar would have needed to anonymize the data, officials said the contract still wasn't strong enough to adequately protect users' data.

The investigation came soon after Financial Post journalist James McLeod wrote a story revealing the extent of Tim Hortons' location-gathering practices. The app checked McLeod's location over 2,700 times in less than five months, including when he traveled to Morocco. The piece prompted multiple class action lawsuits.

The privacy offices noted that Tim Hortons' real-world data use was "very limited," and that restaurant operator TDL Group agreed to delete relevant data alongside its partners. The company also agreed to create a privacy management program that kept its apps from violating privacy laws. In a statement, Tim Hortons told the CBC that it had "strengthened" its privacy team.

Even so, the findings highlight the concerns about potential app data abuse. While Tim Hortons isn't known to have misused info, other companies have put data on sale and otherwise lost control. Those compromises can lead to unwanted advertising and, in extreme cases, probes into your personal life. British Columbia privacy commissioner Michael McEvoy saw this latest investigation as proof stronger oversight was necessary, and it wouldn't be surprising if Canada and other countries took action.

Mining Capital Coin CEO and founder Luiz Capuci Jr. was — in an indictment unsealed yesterday — accused by the DOJ of allegedly running a $62 million global investment fraud scheme. He's the latest of severalcrypto company heads who have recently been similarly charged.

Through his company, Capuci convinced investors to purchase “Mining Packages," a global network of cryptocurrency mines that promised a certain return on investment every week. But instead of using investors’ funds to mine cryptocurrency as he promised, the DOJ alleges that Capuci diverted the funds to his own cryptocurrency wallets. Another MCC product known as “Trading Bots” operated under the same false pretenses. Capuci claimed that the bots operated in “very high frequency, being able to do thousands of trades per second” and promised investors daily returns.

“As he did with the Mining Packages, however, Capuci allegedly operated an investment fraud scheme with the Trading Bots and was not, as he promised, using MCC Trading Bots to generate income for investors, but instead was diverting the funds to himself and co-conspirators,” wrote the DOJ in its indictment.

MCC seemed to have all the workings of a pyramid scheme. Capuci recruited affiliates and promoters to lure investors. In return, he promised the promoters a number of lavish gifts, including Apple watches, iPads and luxury vehicles.

Currently the FBI’s Miami Field Office is investigating the case. The DOJ has charged Capuci, who is from Port St. Lucie, Florida, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit international money laundering. If found guilty, he faces a maximum sentence of 45 years.

In a review of the cryptocurrency mining platform, crypto blogger Peter Obi noted that the combination of MCC’s $50 monthly fee for membership and its steep 3% withdrawal fee meant that investors were unlikely to make a profit unless they referred other investors. He pointed out that such a referral process was “particularly worrying” because it was consistent with other past crypto scams.

Indeed, a number of crypto leaders have been accused by authorities of running Ponzi schemes in recent years. Earlier this year the DOJ indicted Bitconnect founder Satishkumar Kurjibhai Kumbhani for allegedly running a $2 billion Ponzi scheme — believed to be the largest virtual currency pyramid scheme in history.

Capuci never registered his company with the SEC. The agency today issued a fraud alert for the company. According to the SEC press release, Capuci and his associates successfully convinced 65,535 investors to purchase mining packages worldwide and promised daily returns of one percent, paid weekly for over a year. In total, the group netted $8.1 million from the sale of the mining packages and $3.2 million from initiation fees.

It's no secret these days that GPU makers profited from the early cryptocurrency mining boom, but NVIDIA is now facing some repercussions as a result. The company is paying $5.5 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission charges it failed to disclose that crypto mining played a "significant" role in its surging revenue from GPU sales throughout fiscal 2018. NVIDIA allegedly violated both the Securities Act and Securities Exchange Act when it didn't reveal that its success was tied to a "volatile business," potentially misleading investors who might have thought this was the result of the firm's usual gaming-focused strategy.

The SEC's order also said NVIDIA misled investors by acknowledging that crypto demand did affect other aspects of its business at the time. That implied mining wasn't a significant part of the gaming business' success where it was for other products, according to the regulator. NVIDIA will have to abide by a cease-and-desist barring it from future rule-breaking.

An NVIDIA spokesperson declined to comment. The brand has increasingly seen crypto mining as more of a liability to its gaming GPU sales than a benefit, though. It started limiting the mining capabilities of RTX GPUs in 2021 in a bid to free up cards for the intended audience. The company even launched dedicated mining cards that year in a bid to satisfy crypto fans without cutting into demand for its GeForce GPU line.

The payment is tiny for a company that made $7.6 billion in its most recently reported quarter. With that said, the modest settlement was somewhat expected given an unsuccessful past attempt to demand compensation. Tom's Hardwarenoted in March 2021 that a judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing NVIDIA of deceiving investors — it was no secret many GPUs were destined for crypto miners, the judge ruled. While the SEC found wrongdoing, it was going to have a harder time showing that NVIDIA caused enough damage to warrant a large penalty.