Daily Digest - 11th April 2023

Headlines

▌Hong Kong will establish Web3.0 Association and Web3Hub Fund

The Hong Kong Web3 Association will be formally established today.

The members of the association include chairman of China Mobile Hong Kong Li Feng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Chen Chun, and member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Circle Qiu Dagen, among others.

The association will aim to promote the healthy and sustainable development of Web3 in Hong Kong , provide policy direction for the SAR government, and at the same time attract industry elites to come to Hong Kong.

In addition to relevant associations, Hong Kong will also set up a Web3Hub fund to support more overseas Web3.0 companies to settle in Hong Kong.

Policies

▌Arkansas passed the Bitcoin mining right bill

Jinse Finance reported that the US state of Arkansas passed the Bitcoin Mining Rights Act, which established a legal framework for the ownership and transfer of the state's "virtual currency mining rights" and provided clear legal protection for individuals and businesses involved in cryptocurrency mining.

Cryptocurrency

▌The New York Times criticized Bitcoin mining for causing massive energy consumption and huge carbon pollution

The New York Times published an article today titled "The Real-World Costs of the Digital Race for Bitcoin," claiming that Bitcoin earns electricity cash by consuming electricity, selling electricity, and even actively shutting down electricity during peak periods of electricity consumption. Bitcoin has also caused pollution and in many cases, the public has paid the price for it.

The New York Times said it found 34 large-scale bitcoin mining farms in the United States, each of which consumes at least 30,000 times as much electricity as an average American household. The electricity consumption of 3 million households.

The analysis found that the electricity use of the 34 mines caused nearly 16.4 million tons of carbon pollution per year.

Ten of the 34 mines are located in Texas, and together they use more than 1,800 megawatts of energy, adding $1.8 billion to the state's electricity bill each year.

▌Report: If SBF was not accused of engaging in fraudulent activities, FTX would have collapsed due to a large number of security issues

A new interim report in the ongoing FTX bankruptcy saga paints a picture of how insecure the exchange’s assets are and provides more details about the company’s incompetence and possible malfeasance, Golden Finance reports.

If SBF hadn’t been accused of fraudulent activity, FTX and its affiliates could have collapsed due to the plethora of security issues outlined in the new report, the report said.

Keys to hot wallets holding assets worth tens of millions of dollars were not securely stored and reliance on the hot wallets themselves violated standard industry practice, the report said.

FTX and Alameda's digital assets could be lost forever, and in addition to being extremely vulnerable to theft or hacking, many wallet keys are not backed up.

The report, prepared by the company's interim chief executive John Ray III and an external legal team, details more of the chaos in SBF's business practices, which it attributes to "arrogance, incompetence and greed".

▌Vishal Gupta, senior director of product management at Coinbase, will leave to work on new projects

Jinse Finance reported that Vishal Gupta, senior director of product management at Coinbase, will leave. According to Vishal Gupta's LinkedIn page, Gupta has been with Coinbase for more than a year and a half. Gupta worked at financial giant Goldman Sachs before transitioning into the cryptocurrency firm. After Vishal Gupta leaves Coinbase, he will work on a new project, the details of which have not yet been disclosed.