Latest news with #bitcoin
Forbes
34 minutes ago
- Business
- Forbes
Bitmain Reveals The Antminer S23, The Most Powerful Bitcoin Miner Ever
The Antminer S23 reveal at Bitmain's 2025 World Digital Mining Summit in Las Vegas Bitmain, the leading manufacturer of bitcoin mining computers, just launched the Antminer S23, the most powerful and efficient bitcoin miner model yet. The company unveiled the Antminer S23 series at its World Digital Mining Summit in Las Vegas this week. The Antminer S23 comes in three flavors: an air-cooled, water-cooled, and immersion-cooled model. An Antminer S23 Hydro on display at Bitmain's World Digital Mining Summit In bitcoin mining industry parlance, bitcoin mining computers are called 'ASIC miners' for their use of the ASIC chips that are commonplace in consumer electronics. Traditionally, the vast majority of ASICs are air-cooled, meaning they use fans installed on the device to cool the ASIC chips that power the computer's computations. However, hydro and immersion ASIC miner models, which use water or special-purpose oil to chill their chips, have become increasingly popular as mining cooling solutions have matured. The air-cooled S23, water-cooled S23 Hydro, and immersion-cooled S23 IMM respectively produce 318 terahashes-per-second (TH/s), 580 TH/s, and 368-442 TH/s. The S23 and S23 IMM operate with a power efficiency of 11 watts-per-terahash (W/TH), and the S23 Hydro operates at 9.5 W/TH, making it the first ASIC bitcoin miners to achieve a W/TH efficiency below 10. (The computing power – called hashrate – for ASIC bitcoin miners is measured in terhashes-per-second, so a 318 TH/s miner produces 318 trillion hashes per second in pursuit of mining the next block in Bitcoin's blockchain; watts-per-terash measures how many watts of electricity an ASIC miner consumes per terahash produced, so a 318 TH/s miner that consumes 11 W/TH draws 3,498 watts). For reference, the Antminer S23 produces 69% more hashrate and is 41% more power efficient than the Antminer S21, the second most recent Bitmain ASIC miner model that the company released in September 2023. In an effort to stimulate demand in a wan market, Bitmain is offering payment installments. Bitmain will begin shipping the Antminer S23 series in Q1 2026. Bitmain has historically had the upper-hand when negotiating prices with mining clients, but compressed profit margins following the April 2024 block reward halving – and in increase in import costs from the Trump Administration's tariff regime – has flipped a seller's market into a buyer's market. To address rising costs from tariffs, Bitmain VP Irene Gao said during the Antminer S23 launch that Bitmain is working to expand its manufacturing capabilities in the United States. The company established its first U.S.-based production line in December 2024. Bitmain's Antminer computers utilize TSMC's cutting-edge ASIC chips. These ASICs are manufactured in Taiwan, but Bitmain assembles the Antminers in other countries, primarily Malaysia. The bulk of ASIC miner fabrication from Bitmain and its competitors occurs in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, all of which are subject to 10% tariffs following Trump's 90-day pause of its reciprocal tariff schedule on April 3. Should the 10% tariffs lapse and the Trump Administration institutes its original tariff policy on these countries, U.S. bitcoin miners could face 24-36% duties on ASIC miners imported from their primary manufacturing hubs. Despite bitcoin's rise above $100,000, mining margins are thin following the April 2024 halving, which reduced the bitcoin per block awarded to miners from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC. Now, tariffs are hiking capital expenditure costs for the hardware at the heart of bitcoin mining. The U.S. Court of International Trade recently ruled that Trump's tariff schedule is unconstitutional, but the Trump Administration is challenging this ruling, and an appeals court ruled that the tariff policy may resume until the case has been settled.
Malay Mail
5 hours ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Czech justice minister quits after accepting US$44m in bitcoins from ex-drug dealer, insists he was ‘not aware of any unlawful acts'
PRAGUE, May 31 — Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blazek said yesterday he would step down after coming under fire for accepting almost a billion Czech koruna (RM187 million) in bitcoins from a drug dealer. Blazek's ministry received the money from a man who had served four years in prison for embezzlement, drug trafficking and the illegal possession of a gun until 2021. It received the cryptocurrency this year and sold it for Czech korunas in auctions, Blazek said. The origin of the money is unknown but Blazek said courts never proved it came from any criminal activity. 'I am not aware of any unlawful acts. But I don't want to tarnish the reputation of the governing coalition,' he said on X yesterday. Police are investigating the donation over a suspected abuse of power and money laundering. Blazek, 56, is a member of the right-wing Civic Democratic Party of Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who leads a centre-right governing coalition formed after a 2021 election. The opposition called on Blazek to resign after news about the gift appeared on Wednesday. Fiala said on X he was convinced that Blazek had acted 'in good faith' and appreciated his resignation as a 'responsible step'. The Czech Republic, an EU and Nato member of 10.9 million people, is bracing for a general election scheduled for October 3 and 4. The opposition ANO movement of billionaire ex-premier Andrej Babis is tipped to win as its backing in polls tops 30 per cent, way ahead of Fiala's second-placed Civic Democrats with some 20 per cent. — AFP
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
XRP Falls Below 200-day Average, Bitcoin Dips to $105K as Traders Eye Core PCE
The crypto market mood was sombre Friday, with XRP XRP losing key support alongside losses in market leader bitcoin and other major tokens, as traders awaited the Fed's preferred inflation measure, the core PCE. Payments-focused XRP dipped below the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) for the first time since April 10, indicating a strengthening of downward momentum. Prices fell below $2.20, registering 4.6% losses on a 24-hour basis, according to data source TradingView. The decline followed reports of increasing demand for XRP as a corporate Treasury asset. Prices for BTC, the premier digital asset by market value, briefly fell below $105,000 during European hours, extending overnight losses to trade nearly 3% lower on a 24-hour basis. BTC's losses followed a $358 million net outflow from the 11 spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) Thursday, their first since May 13 and highest single-day tally since March 11, according to data source SoSoValue. Renewed trade war fears also weighed over the sentiment. Other majors, such as ETH, SOL, and DOGE, posted larger losses, with smaller tokens like OP, ARB, BONK, and PEPE falling by over 10% each, according to data source Coingecko. Consumer prices, represented by the personal consumption expenditure index, rose 0.15% on a monthly basis in April, bringing the annual inflation rate down to 2.2% from 2.3% in March, according to economists surveyed by FactSet. The core PCE, the Fed's preferred inflation measure, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is forecast to have risen 0.12% on a monthly basis and 2.5% on an annual basis. Another good month for inflation could raise Fed rate cut bets, boding well for BTC and other assets. "All eyes now turn to the Core PCE data due today, which could reignite bullish sentiment if inflation shows signs of easing," Valentin Fournier, Lead Research Analyst at BRN, said in an email.
Malay Mail
6 hours ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Czech justice minister quits after accepting US$44m in bitcoins from ex--drug dealer, insists ‘not aware of any unlawful acts'
PRAGUE, May 31 — Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blazek said yesterday he would step down after coming under fire for accepting almost a billion Czech koruna (RM187 million) in bitcoins from a drug dealer. Blazek's ministry received the money from a man who had served four years in prison for embezzlement, drug trafficking and the illegal possession of a gun until 2021. It received the cryptocurrency this year and sold it for Czech korunas in auctions, Blazek said. The origin of the money is unknown but Blazek said courts never proved it came from any criminal activity. 'I am not aware of any unlawful acts. But I don't want to tarnish the reputation of the governing coalition,' he said on X yesterday. Police are investigating the donation over a suspected abuse of power and money laundering. Blazek, 56, is a member of the right-wing Civic Democratic Party of Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who leads a centre-right governing coalition formed after a 2021 election. The opposition called on Blazek to resign after news about the gift appeared on Wednesday. Fiala said on X he was convinced that Blazek had acted 'in good faith' and appreciated his resignation as a 'responsible step'. The Czech Republic, an EU and Nato member of 10.9 million people, is bracing for a general election scheduled for October 3 and 4. The opposition ANO movement of billionaire ex-premier Andrej Babis is tipped to win as its backing in polls tops 30 per cent, way ahead of Fiala's second-placed Civic Democrats with some 20 per cent. — AFP
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Beyond the 'TACO' Trade: Has Bitcoin Moved on From Tariffs?
Nonco CEO Fernando Martinez joins CoinDesk for a deep dive into the crypto market's reaction to Trump's tariff talks and policies. Fernando weighs in on bitcoin's recent activities and the catalysts driving Hyperliquid and Avalanche. Plus, insights into the global stablecoin boom and how Latin America can utilize it for remittances. This content should not be construed or relied upon as investment advice. It is for entertainment and general information purposes. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
