Sweden demands $90M in outstanding tax from crypto miners

April 18, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Crypto miner Hive expands data center operations in Sweden

November 27, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Hive Digital Technologies has acquired land and a data center to expand its operations in Sweden, house the incoming generation of ASIC servers and increase Bitcoin production.

The cryptocurrency mining company Hive Digital Technologies has revealed plans to expand its global presence through a new acquisition of property and a data center in Boden, Sweden.

On Nov. 27, the company announced that it entered a property transfer agreement with Turis AB to take over the property of a data center previously constructed as a part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 project.

Hive said this new property is in “close vicinity” to its existing data center in Sweden, and it plans to further develop the facility in its portfolio. It says the property will also house its incoming generation of ASIC servers and increase its Bitcoin (BTC) production.

Johanna Thornblad, Hive’s country president for Sweden, said:

“The new data center will enable HIVE to grow its regional footprint while further demonstrating its commitment to its ESG focus, sustainable practices, environmental responsibility, and energy efficiency with its newest “green” energy powered data center.”

Hive owns and operates data center facilities in Canada, Sweden, and Iceland, and it promotes the use of green energy to mine digital assets such as BTC on the cloud.

Cointelegraph has reached out to Hive for more information on the development.

Earlier in 2023, Hive dropped the word “blockchain” from its official name to reflect its “evolving focus” on financial opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and graphics processing units (GPUs).

The company then said it plans to use its 38,000 Nvidia GPUs to offer small and medium-sized businesses a more efficient alternative to major cloud service providers.

The CEO of Hive, Aydin Kilic, and its chairman, Frank Holmes, told Cointelegraph in an interview that the pivot toward AI doesn’t negate or lessen its involvement in Bitcoin and crypto mining. Instead, they said the company is still heavily involved but that “blockchain and AI can certainly co-exist” and remain “pillars of Web3.”

In September, Hive was one of the mining companies involved in launching the Digital Power Network (DPN), which is a coalition affiliated with the Chamber of Digital Commerce to stress the importance of proof-of-work (PoW) mining.

Magazine: This is your brain on crypto: Substance abuse grows among crypto traders

Swedish Bitcoiners targeted by armed criminals

November 9, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

Swedish cryptocurrency proponent Eric Wall has flagged targeted attacks on well-known BTC community members.

Criminals in Sweden are specifically targeting prominent local Bitcoin figures, which appears to be the result of the ease of access to personal information and residential addresses in the country.

Reports from Swedish media outlets LT and Aftonbladet have linked separate robberies in Rönninge and Södertälje that appear to have occurred under the same modus operandi. Victims were tied up and physically abused to steal physical and virtual Bitcoin (BTC) holdings.

Prominent cryptocurrency proponent Eric Wall, who currently serves as a StarkNet Foundation board member, highlighted the incidents in an X post (formerly Twitter). Wall said the two assault cases indicate that Swedish criminals are actively looking to target Bitcoin users.

there's now officially a situation in sweden

this monday, a middle-aged swedish couple was tied up in their home and robbed by 4 masked men. they were physically abused and threatened with their own kitchen knives. they were tied up for hours and one had to be escorted to the…
— Eric Wall (@ercwl) November 8, 2023

“This Monday, a middle-aged Swedish couple was tied up in their home and robbed by 4 masked men. They were physically abused and threatened with their own kitchen knives. They were tied up for hours and one had to be escorted to the hospital via helicopter,” Wall wrote.

He noted that the purpose of the assault was to steal the couple’s Bitcoin before highlighting the link to a separate incident where “two well-known Bitcoin/crypto profiles were targeted in their homes by masked, armed men.”

According to Wall, the victims were subjected to violent physical abuse for hours in an effort to steal their Bitcoin holdings held in hardware wallets. He added that the first incident of criminals targeting Bitcoin users took place in 2022, when “one of Sweden’s most well-known Bitcoiners” had their apartment broken into.

Wall also believes criminals scour social media to identify and target Bitcoin or cryptocurrency users. He claims that a common theme of the attacks was that they took place shortly after individuals had livestreamed podcasts focused on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies or mentioned the subject in public.

He also believes that Sweden’s Offentlighetsprincipen (Principle of Public Access to Information) laws, which give the public the right to request information, including residential addresses and tax records from the government, are becoming a means for criminals to prey on ecosystem participants.

“While the intention behind this legislation was to reduce corruption, it is not fit for modern society.”

Wall added that he left the country due to these laws and that Sweden “is probably one of the least safe countries to be active in the cryptocurrency sector.”

The Offentlighetsprincipen law also reportedly makes it easy for citizens to search for Swedish residents’ addresses as well as scour their tax records. This is being abused, as criminals can ascertain how much an individual has paid in income or capital gains tax and “size them up” as a result.

Cointelegraph has reached out to the Swedish Police Authority to ascertain further details of these incidents and if any arrests have been made.

Magazine: Blockchain detectives: Mt. Gox collapse saw birth of Chainalysis

Renewable energy Bitcoin mining company powers up in Sweden

August 21, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin mining

Bitcoin mining lands another green energy data center as global powerhouse GDA sets up shop in Sweden.

Sweden has welcomed a hydro-powered Bitcoin (BTC) mining data center.

Genesis Digital Assets Limited (GDA), a mining and data center company with over 400 MW of power generation worldwide has made a opened a new data center in Sweden, driven by the country's burgeoning renewable energy surplus.

The new operation is located in the far North of Sweden, where hydroelectric power dominates the grid. Abdumalik Mirakhmedov, executive president and fouder of GDA, told Cointelegraph that the new data center is located near the Porjus Hydroelectric Power Station:

“Given the proximity to the hydroelectric power station, we expect all of our electricity consumption to be powered by renewable energy.”

The total capacity of the data center is approximately 8 MW and is expected to result in a hash rate of approximately 155 PH/s (peta hashes per second). GDA explained to Cointelegraph that there are 1,900 Bitcoin mining machines deployed in the Porjus data center.

As reported by Jaran Mellerud, a Business Developer at Luxor Mining, and a frequent Cointelegraph contributor, Sweden produces almost all of its electricity from nuclear and hydropower, particularly the north.

Mellerud, who hails from nearby Norway, explains that renewable energy is also abundant:

“Sweden is an electricity powerhouse, generating the fifth-most electricity per capita globally in 2021.

GDA’s strategic expansion is part of a broader trend in the Northern European Bitcoin mining landscape. Christian Anders, the founder of BT.CX, a Swedish Bitcoin exchange dating back to January 2012, told Cointelegraph that Bitcoin mining is not very common due to high energy prices.

However, the Nordics are a class apart, Anders told Cointelegraph:

“Sweden, Finland, and Norway have a surplus of energy and negative energy prices from time to time, and primarily renewable energy in the form of hydropower in a remote location which is hard to distribute.”

Untapped, stranded, and renewable energy are popular ingredients for Bitcoin mining as they tend to be the cheapest. Mirakhmedov explained, “Sweden also has abundant clean energy sources, which is an important factor we consider in our operations.”

Porjus is in the far north of Sweden where renewable energy is abundant.

Moreover, while sentiment among some Scandinavians is negative towards Bitcoin, Anders told Cointelegraph that energy companies are coming around to Bitcoin mining's utility: “The CEO of the largest energy producer in Sweden, Vattenfall, is pro-bitcoin mining, and its use case for grid balancing.” Stabilizing electricity grids with Bitcoin miners is also growing in the United States.

Tim Carra, the head of Nordic at GDA, expounded the point in correspondence with Cointelegraph:

“With abundant energy sources, a pro-innovation environment, and a strong educational system that results in a great culture of innovation, we believe that Sweden is one of the best countries in the world where to mine bitcoin and expect to further invest in this beautiful region moving forward.”

GDA concentrates the majority of its power generation in Texas: one facility consumes 300 MW of electricity. The new Swedish operations complement a new GDA facility in South Carolina and demonstrate that there are still some attractive and untapped potential mining destinations around the world. Anders chimes in:

“There is also a market opportunity in Spain/Portugal which gets cheap energy from Africa and its domestic solar production where prices also are very cheap from time to time. BT.CX is working with renewable bitcoin miners to offer a way to offset your bitcoin holdings.”

As Anders alludes to, the generation of new Bitcoins consumes considerable amounts of electricity. The European Central Bank reports that Bitcoin mining has a significant carbon footprint.

Stats from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. Global energy consumtion is estimated at 25,000 terawatt-hours according to the IEA.

However, portrayed as an energy-guzzling and carbon-intensive industry, Bitcoin mining consumes just 149.95 Terawatt hours of electricity per year, or less than 0.7% of global energy, according to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance.

Meanwhile, renewable energy including hydro continues to dominate the global bitcoin mining energy mix. Neighboring Norway, for example, contributes roughly 1% of the Bitcoin hash rate and is 100% renewable, while the new GDA installation in Sweden is another green energy Bitcoin miner.

Ultimately, Anders concludes, “It's super cool that more miners are coming to the Nordic European countries to help us with this mission.”

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Honk if you love Bitcoin! Lightning takes the wheel of a European rally car adventure

June 23, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin Community

With a comically loud horn, a candy machine and a jukebox filled with Mozart, metal and more, it's the "Bitcoin Ambassadors" rally car adventure.

A Bitcoin-mobile (BTC) piloted by the “Bitcoin Ambassadors” team is competing in the 8,000-kilometer Baltic Sea Circle Rally race, orange-pilling competitors and campsites along the way.

*The car is adorned and sponsored by Bitcoin companies. Source: Cercatrova*

Two Bitcoin advocates, Cercatrova, the democratically elected president of German-speaking Bitcoin community Einundzwanzig, and his copilot Daktari, set off on the orange-pilling adventure this week, attempting to pass through 9 Northern European countries in their Bitcoin-branded car.

Speaking to Cointelegraph from somewhere above the Arctic Circle, Cercatrova explained:

“The whole rally is a charity rally; there are 150 teams or cars. It starts in Hamburg and goes up to Denmark, Sweden, Norway and around the Baltic Sea – it’s around 8,000 kilometres, 16 days and we’re the only Bitcoin team here–none of the other teams are cryptocurrency teams.”

The goal is to “Bring Bitcoin to the people,” while also raise money for two sources, a Panamanian coffee farmer and an El Salvadoran peer2peer ride-sharing app developed on Lightning. Naturally, they’ve been “orange pilling” or introducing people to Bitcoin along the journey.

Christian, founder of Seedor, a metal Bitcoin backup based in Germany who’s avidly following their journey told Cointelegraph that while in Norway “They orange pilled the campground." The duo showed the campground owner how to pay in Bitcoin:

Orange pilling the campground owner in Norway

If you take your time, listen and explain to people, they will understand we could pay our place here in #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/OReIxQKHuA
— cercatrova⚡️ (@cercatrova_21) June 21, 2023

Cercatrova told Cointelegraph that so far they have discussed Bitcoin with at least 30 people as part of the rally in amongst chance conversations with interested observers. Plus, passersby and overtakers can scan the QR code on the side of the car to receive free Satoshis, or small amounts of Bitcoin, to get started on their Bitcoin journey.

“So when somebody sees us and asks about Bitcoin, “how does it work?” We can actually take the people to our car and say, okay, just install a wallet and it's done in about 30 seconds. And they’re amazed: ‘I didn't have to fill out anything, didn't have to take a passport or whatever.' It just works,"

The car is also equipped with a candy machine that accepts Bitcoin, so noobies can spend their brand new Sats on candy, “just to see how it works,” Cercatrova explained.

*The team's location, northern Norway. Source: superlative-adventure.com*

For the Bitcoin enthusiasts following at home, the car is Lightning-ready. A remote-play jukebox and a Lightning-switch horn can be operated from all around the world. Fans and supporters worldwide are sending their song requests to the car’s Lightning-ready Telegram group, paying less than a dollar for the courtesy.

Choose which song we will listen at the #BalticSeaCircle Rally and honk our horn over Lightning All sats will go to the https://t.co/vB9oXhpbrh project (from @FPupusas), 2 indios in panama, who make coffee for sats and to the creater of the jukebox ☕️ pic.twitter.com/x6IsuhPZZA
— cercatrova⚡️ (@cercatrova_21) June 20, 2023

Lightning enthusiasts can also set off the car’s horn from thousands of miles away. The process uses a Lightning switch which turns on when it has received enough sats. Cercatrova explains:

“So on my Twitter feed is also the QR code, where you can scan the lightning invoice. And when you pay that, it's about 3000 Sats to honk it once. And then our car honks!”

The honk is comically loud and playful, while the lightning jukebox playlist has featured metal to Mozart and German folk tunes to crypto classics such as Pump it Up. Cercatrova explained that the musical variation is a great source of fun and motivation:

“One time there is death metal and the other side it's Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and it's really crazy.”

To date, the Bitcoin Ambassadors rally team has raised approximately 4 million Satoshis or $1,200 for charity, although Cercatrova added "the next days and the willingness to send more Sats," could drive the number higher. The drivers are about halfway through the journey, expecting to finish by the end of June.

As vital research for this article, Reporter Joe Hall not only set off the horn during the phone interview but he also queued up a famous song by Rick Astley.

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EU needs further efforts to implement crypto regulations: Btc. x CEO

June 10, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The CEO of Btc. x mentioned the possibility of governments deeming the MiCA framework inadequate, leading to a two-sided power dynamic.

Christian Anders, the CEO of Btc. x has said that despite the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) being signed into law, the European Union (EU) might need to do a lot of more lobbying of different regulators in Europe and work with the different governments.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Anders noted that for the crypto framework stated in MiCA to be accepted in most European countries like Sweden, a bit of “pushing” might be required. He stated that MiCA gives the crypto industry a framework to operate with and is expected to bring clarity.

Anders noted that crypto exchanges eagerly await the full implementation of the MiCA framework, while acknowledging that governments like Sweden are reluctant to issue new licenses for crypto companies. He emphasized that while these governments cannot halt the framework, they can delay its progress. Furthermore, he mentioned the possibility of governments deeming the MiCA framework inadequate, leading to a two-sided power dynamic.

When asked his opinion on which crypto exchange or theory the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) would come for next, Anders said he thinks Crypto.com might be the next potential target as they operate in America. Continuing, he said he has a more Swedish perspective and could relate to the recent SEC clampdown on Binance and Coinbase. Anders said the SEC shares a similar approach with the government in Sweden as the regulatory challenges in Sweden is happening on a smaller scale when compared to the U.S.

Anders remains optimistic about Bitcoin, dismissing any negative notions. He believes that the efforts of banks and governments to impede cryptocurrency's growth only fuel his enthusiasm. He asserts that Bitcoin's (BTC) superiority becomes evident in comparison to the flaws of the fiat system and the stress caused by inflation.

The CEO highlighted the rise of the mining industry with companies like Intel entering and manufacturing mining machines. He noted that Bitcoin mining is gaining traction in Europe, especially with the increasing use of renewable energy. Additionally, he emphasized that the younger generation's affinity for these technologies solidifies their role in shaping the future.

Magazine: Bitcoin is on a collision course with ‘Net Zero’ promises

Swedish Riksbank report looks at collaboration with potential e-krona in retail payments

April 12, 2023 Coin Telegraph

CBDC

The Swedish central bank’s third report on a potential CBDC raised several issues while focusing on a rather narrow question.

Sweden's central bank Riksbank has released a report detailing the third phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) research. A collaborative model for retail payments and conditional payments is the focus this time.

The Riksbank started its CBDC research in 2020 with collaboration with existing private payment services as an initial priority. It discussed governance as a key question for collaboration and divided options into three levels. The lowest level was a set of guidelines that risked giving participants so much freedom that “it may be difficult for the public to form a common understanding of what an e-krona is.” In addition, it may not develop to serve the entire population.

The other end of the spectrum would be a Riksbank-operated app where “the interface and range of services for the e-krona would […] be standardised and common for all participants.” It noted that setting of those parameters could have a high impact on innovation.

The Swedish Central Bank, Riksbank, is creating the E-krona #CBDC and is already in pilot phase 3.https://t.co/k9GOBxA6uE
— Avem (@avemfinance) April 12, 2023

The Riksbank reported on a successful trial conditional payment involving the purchase of a car. While this was a positive sign for the potential e-currency’s programmability, it raised privacy questions due to the extra information that was necessary to complete the complicated transaction. Furthermore:

“If conditions are placed on money, for example that it can only be used for certain purchases or on certain occasions, it risks becoming something more like a gift card and thus no longer money.”

The Riksbank pointed out that the transparency inherent in the system could have implications for bank secrecy and could be useful for uncovering bad behavior on the part of service providers.

While the Riksbank, similarly to the United States Federal Reserve and European Central Bank, emphasizes that no decision on the issuance of a CBDC has been made, its discussion had a certain sense of urgency. It wrote:

“When cash takes a back seat in favour of digital services from private actors, the Riksbank’s direct role on the payment market is reduced. The Riksbank may thus find it more difficult to fulfil its task of promoting a safe and efficient payment system accessible to all groups in society.”

The e-krona, it suggested, is a potential solution to this problem. The report also touched on the Riksbank’s participation in Project Icebreaker involving cross-border retail payments and remittances.

Magazine: Sweden: The Death of Money?

European banks launch ‘sustainable’ blockchain platform for digital bonds

April 4, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bond Investments

The platform makes the first use case of a so-called “Proof of Climate” blockchain protocol.

Two banks from Sweden and France announced the launch of a new digital bond platform built on blockchain technology. The platform will enable institutional clients to issue, trade, and settle bonds digitally, providing a more efficient and secure process compared to traditional methods.

The platform, a joint project of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) and Credit Agricole Bank, is called so|bond. According to the announcement from April 3, the blockchain network will be using a validation protocol, Proof of Climate awaReness, minimizing its environmental footprint.

The Proof of Climate awaReness protocol is said to enable an energy consumption comparable to non-blockchain systems and incentivize participating nodes to improve the environmental footprint of their infrastructures.

Each node will be remunerated according to a formula linked to its climate impact: the lower the environmental footprint, the larger the reward. so|bond would become the first use case for the protocol, developed by the French-based IT provider Finaxys.

Romaric Rolleti, head of innovation and digital transformation at Crédit Agricole CIB, said that the bond blockchain platform was part of a larger plan for the bank’s digital transformation:

“The platform’s innovative approach, both to the blockchain infrastructure and to the securities market, is coupled with the strong commitment to green and sustainable finance that is at the center of our Societal Project.”

The project joins a significant amount of other efforts to explore the use of blockchain, smart contracts and the Internet of Things (IoT) for a global environment cause. For example, in October 2022, The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the United Nations Climate Change Global Innovation Hub presented the results of their Genesis 2.0 initiative — two prototypes of tokenized green bonds.

Swedish pension fund Alecta dumps First Republic Bank shares after price plummets

March 21, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Banking

The Swedish fund was the bank’s fifth largest shareholder; the fund’s CEO said the uncertainty surrounding First Republic was too great.

Private Swedish pension fund Alecta has sold its shares in First Republic Bank, the American bank struggling to stay afloat after a serious drop in share value, a bank spokesperson announced March 21. Alecta was the bank’s fifth-largest shareholder.

Alecta took a loss in the deal after losing funds in the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank. First Republic Bank’s shares fell 87% after SVB was forced to close earlier this month. Regarding the latest developments, Alecta CEO Magnus Billing told Bloomberg:

“The uncertainty about First Republic’s future was too great, partly due to the fact that the lender was downgraded to junk status.”

According to media reports, Alecta took a $728 million loss on the sale of its First Republic shares. That loss came on top of roughly $862 million Alecta had in SVB and $310 million in Signature Bank before their closures.

The pension fund’s board asked Billing to investigate whether its "investment strategy, risk allocation and mandate for asset management is optimal” last week. The fund was also in communication with the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority on its investment in the U.S. banks.

Alecta has about $116 billion in assets under management, representing the accounts of 2.6 million individuals and 35,000 companies in Sweden. The fund’s solvency ratio was unaffected by the losses from the U.S. banks.

The CEO of Alecta, the Sweden pension fund that lost over $1 billion in the SVB fallout, is concerned about "breaking the markets" if central bank tightening is "too aggressive" https://t.co/CHdP5OUDE5 pic.twitter.com/yQzD5Yj59m
— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) March 14, 2023

After reaching a low of $12.15 on March 20, First Republic Bank’s shares were selling for $17.11 at the time of writing.

Silicon Valley Bank, which largely served the tech startup industry, filed for bankruptcy on March 17 after being forced to sell bonds at a loss to cover a bank run. Signature Bank was closed by New York state authorities on March 12 in an action supported by federal regulators. The bank held deposits of several crypto firms, including Coinbase, Celsius and Paxos, although a New York State Department of Financial Services spokesperson denied the closure was related to crypto.

CBDCs could provide smooth cross-border payments, says Bank of Israel official

March 15, 2023 Coin Telegraph

CBDC

Yoav Soffer, the advisor to the deputy governor and CBDC project manager, spoke at Tel Aviv FinTech Week, explaining how a recent CBDC experiment proved efficient in cross-border transactions.

At Tel Aviv FinTech Week 2023, Yoav Soffer, the advisor to the deputy governor at the Bank of Israel, touched on the topic of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as an efficient cross-border payment option.

The talk comes after the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) concluded its research on international retail and remittance payments via CBDCs between the central banks of Israel, Norway and Sweden. The BIS project is called “Project Icebreaker.”

Soffer, who is also the project manager for the CBDC program for the Central Bank of Israel, said that while domestic payments in Israel have become “very easy, convenient and cheap,” the same is not true for payments outside of the country.

“Cross-border payments are often perceived to face challenges of high costs, low speed, limited access and insufficient transparency according to the financial stability board.”

Soffer touched on the result of an example transaction that took less than two minutes. Moreover, he stressed that this model would significantly reduce the costs of sending funds internationally and is “much more competitive in terms of the foreign exchange transaction."

*Yoav Soffer speaking at Tel Aviv FinTech Week 2023. Source: Cointelegraph*

He continued to say that the technological requirements for countries to join the model are very limited and once a prototype is built, onboarding should essentially be a domino effect.

“Once you build it for three countries, you could build it for 180 countries. Therefore, it's also very scalable.”

However, he did say that in employing such a program, ways to provide liquidity for CBDC providers would need to be considered, as well as the integration of policies. Soffer said privacy is another major consideration that the BIS team was aware of during the project.

Despite over a hundred countries looking into the possibilities of CBDCs, the sentiment around these centralized digital currencies is mixed. They have useful capabilities, such as efficient cross-border transactions, though some say they could threaten consumers’ future.

Former CFTC Chair Christopher Giancarlo recently stressed that CBDCs should protect privacy and not be a surveillance tool as many fear. A congressman in the United States, Tom Emmer, also commented that they could be ‘easily weaponized’ to spy on U.S. citizens.

Sweden

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