China

US Company Accepts Bitcoin Payments for Luxury Planes, as $40M Gulfstream Jet Goes on Sale

17/09/2020 by Idelto Editor

Aviatrade Inc., a New Jersey-based aircraft sales company, is now accepting bitcoin as a means of payment for its range of multi-million dollar luxury jets.

Philip Rushton, president of Aviatrade, told news.Bitcoin.com that the first plane available for purchase via cryptocurrency is a six-year-old Gulfstream G650ER, which went on sale a couple of weeks ago.

The private jet, Gulfstream’s existing flagship, is selling for $40 million. Billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are some of the noteworthy owners of this plane model, reports note.

Rushton revealed that cash-based sales for expensive luxury aircraft are subject to stringent governmental restrictions, but bitcoin, in its generic form, presented a way around this. He hopes that such characteristics could be useful in attracting high-end, international buyers.

“The reason we are doing it (accepting BTC payments) is because there are countries such as Brazil, Saudi Arabia, anywhere in Asia, especially China…that don’t have easily accessible currency and they have cross-border currency transfer issues,” said Rushton, by telephone. He added:

We see this blockade. There are ways to bring money out of China but it’s not always easy and, of course, the buyers of these aircraft don’t want to be transparent. So we can move the money out via bitcoin….We are aware that last year alone China spent $54 billion of BTC buying assets – apartment buildings, boats, houses etc – we are jumping onto that bandwagon and offering the same opportunity for buyers of these jets at the high end.

Aviatrade, which started trading aircraft in the 1980s mostly through barter, will not directly receive the crypto from a buyer. The firm is working with an unnamed bitcoin payment services provider who converts the digital assets into cash. According to Rushton, Aviatrade is the “key to valuing the aircraft, providing the selling process, and interacting with the bitcoin payment provider.”

“We don’t trade bitcoin for bitcoin, or ethereum for ethereum,” he explained. “We actually interact with the bitcoin payment provider who will eventually produce fiat into an escrow account on behalf of the buyer and seller. The buyer puts it in, the seller sees cash come out and the bitcoin payment provider takes their fee and we are compensated by either buyer or seller.”

The G650ER is the largest aircraft currently in service by U.S. manufacturer Gulfstream. With a 7,500 nautical mile range, the plane is also the company’s long-haul leader, a favourite with intercontinental flyers keen to avoid refuelling stops.

Business Insider reported that the plane “has spent time in New Zealand and Asia but is now returning to its birthplace at Gulfstream’s headquarters as it undergoes routine inspections and awaits a new owner.” The private jet can accommodate 14 passengers.

What do you think about buying aircraft using bitcoin? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Bitcoin Hashrate Ramps to 130 Exahash Amid Next-Generation Miner Shortage

13/09/2020 by Idelto Editor

Regional reports from China have highlighted that a number of major Chinese ASIC mining rig manufacturers have sold out of their next-generation model stock. The shrinking supply of high-performance machines may be due to the shortage of 7nm and 8nm chips from TSMC and Samsung.

Bitcoin miners are finding it difficult to obtain next-generation application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) mining rigs after a number of firms have sold out. Semiconductor goliaths like Samsung and TSMC have been struggling to keep up with the demand that was sparked by the Covid-19 outbreak.

On September 10, financial columnist, Vincent He, detailed that mining manufacturers like Canaan, Whatsminer, and Ebang have “sold out most of their stocks this year.” Furthermore, the report highlights that Bitmain still has leadership issues and delays in delivery.

Rumor has it, Innosilicon might be releasing a next-generation ASIC mining device at the end of 2020 that leverages Samsung’s 8nm chip. Vincent He says that the difficulties right now straining the next-gen mining rig supply, stems from the shortage of 7nm and 8nm semiconductors.

A research paper covering the semiconductor production equipment market notes that the coronavirus pandemic made the industry see exponential growth, as there was “increased demand for semiconductors in diverse applications.” Additionally, the semiconductor industry has seen a transition from traditional wafer producers to those creating Kerfless wafers.

Meanwhile, the Bitcoin (BTC) network’s hashrate has been considerably higher than usual, as the seven-day average touched 131 exahash per second (EH/s) this week.

Some of the top machines that are seeing the most profits today include Bitmain’s Antminer S19 Pro, Microbt’s Whatsminer M30S++, Innosilicon’s T3+, and Canaan’s Avalonminer 1166 Pro. These high-powered ASIC machines are leveraging semiconductors between 10nm to 7nm.

The report from China also notes that Microbt and Bitmain have sold a bulk of their stock to mining operations overseas. News.Bitcoin.com has covered a number of publicly disclosed sales invoked by Marathon Patent Group, Hut8, and Riot Blockchain.

Vincent He stresses with the next-gen ASIC shortage, older machines are getting a second life by being sold on secondary markets.

“The second-hand mining machine market is very active,” the author concludes. “Some big miners [are] choosing to sell the previous generation of second-hand mining machines, such as M20S and T17, [and are] gaining a lot of profits.”

What do you think about the shortage of next-generation ASIC bitcoin miners? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

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6 Members of the Multi-Billion Dollar Plustoken Scam Charged With Fraud in China

10/09/2020 by Idelto Editor

Following the arrest of 109 accused members of the $6 billion Ponzi scheme called Plustoken, six alleged members of the team were prosecuted according to a court filing submitted on Monday. The prosecutors say the individuals are “suspected in organizing and leading criminal pyramid schemes.”

The Plustoken scam was a large heist that managed to gather a large number of crypto assets during the scheme’s short tenure. Essentially Plustoken was a pyramid scheme that pretended to offer high-yield returns after people deposited funds into the system.

The system promised rewards in its native token eponymous token (PLUS) and managed to gather over 200,000 BTC, 26 million EOS, and roughly 789,000 ETH. After the fraudsters racked up all the funds, they left a simple message behind and wrote: “sorry we have run.”

On July 31, news.Bitcoin.com reported on Chinese law enforcement arresting approximately 109 individuals allegedly connected to the Plustoken project.

According to the report, 27 members were reportedly masterminds within Plustoken’s empire, which was extremely popular in China and South Korea. Following the mass arrest, a court document from China details that Zhang Qin, Liu Jianghua, Wang Yin, Chen Shaofeng, and Lu Qinghai were named in the indictment.

The formal charges stem from Xiangshui County and Yancheng City prosecutors say the six defendants are “suspected in organizing and leading criminal pyramid schemes.”

Despite the mass arrests, crypto funds from the Plustoken scam have still moved and many people still assume the Ponzi scheme’s kingpin is still on the run. During the scheme’s height before its demise, Plustoken attracted over two million investors.

Reports noted that the Plustoken application allowed people to easily convert KRW or renminbi into a myriad of digital assets.

While BTC, EOS, and ETH were the most popular, Plustoken scammers allowed for the conversion of crypto assets like litecoin (LTC), and dogecoin (DOGE) as well. Back in May, regional reports detailed that key members of the Wotoken project (a similar scam) were indicted in Yancheng City.

Wotoken scammers are allegedly connected with the Plustoken Ponzi ringleaders and that scheme managed to steal $1 billion in digital assets. The Wotoken scheme was not as sizable as Plustoken’s four million members but still managed to swindle 715,000 victims.

What do you think about Yancheng City prosecutors formally charging six members of the Plustoken Ponzi scam? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

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Canaan Cuts Losses for Second Successive Quarter, Down To $2.4M in Q2; Demand Remains Weak

03/09/2020 by Idelto Editor

Canaan Creative, the Chinese maker of bitcoin mining hardware, reported a net loss of $2.4 million during the second quarter of 2020, down from $5.6 million in the previous quarter. It is the second consecutive quarter of narrowing losses for the firm, hit hard by falling demand amid the Covid-19-induced global recession.

For the three months to June 30, revenue soared 160% to $25.2 million from $9.6 million the quarter before, driven by a near 200% increase in total computing power sold.

According to Canaan’s earnings release of August 31, the Beijing-based company sold 2.6 million terahash per second (TH/s) of Bitcoin hashpower, up from 0.9 million TH/s during the first quarter. Year-over-year, total computing power sold declined 18% from 3.2 million TH/s.

Canaan Cuts Losses for Second Successive Quarter, Down To $2.4M in Q2; Demand Remains Weak — The Nasdaq listed stock (NASDAQ: CAN) for Canaan Inc., on September 2, 2020.

Shares of Canaan fell 0.72% to $2.08 on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, at the time of writing. The stock has tumbled more than 80% since listing on the exchange last November. Then, it traded at a high of $13.

Canaan chief executive officer Nangeng Zhang commented: “During the second quarter of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic continued to impact the lives of people around the world and the Bitcoin halving event also caused significant volatility in bitcoin prices.” Zhang added:

We are confident that our…pipeline of next-generation products will continue to sustain our growth momentum in the future.

In the review quarter, research and development expenses declined to $3.7 million from $5.9 million previously, said the firm, which manufactures the Avalon range of ASIC bitcoin mining chips.

Canaan reported cash and cash equivalents of $22.2 million for the June quarter, down from $37.3 million in Q1. The company said the decline is a result of higher short-term investments, which amounted to a total of $49.2 million by the end of June.

For the second quarter running, Canaan did not issue guidance for the next three trading months, citing “continued uncertainty from the rapidly changing global environment related to the Covid-19 pandemic and corresponding economic downturn.”

What do you think about Canaan’s continuing losses? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Sichuan’s Blockchain Park: Chengdu Government Officials Welcome Bitcoin Miners

02/09/2020 by Idelto Editor

In mid-August officials from the Chinese province of Sichuan approved a number of enterprises that mine bitcoin for legal hydropower consumption in the region. Following the local government of Ya’an city deciding to foster mining, officials from Chengdu recently spoke about welcoming crypto mining at the Hashcon 2020 event as well as bolstering a blockchain industrial park.

Government leaders from the province of Sichuan are beginning to be far more friendly toward bitcoin mining than they were two years ago. In 2018, officials called the industry wasteful, but nowadays leaders from Sichuan have been embracing bitcoin miners.

In mid-April 2020, officials from Ya’an city approved a number of companies to leverage cheap hydropower in the region. In August, Ya’an leaders allowed a “second batch of demonstration enterprises for hydropower consumption,” according to 8btc contributor Lylian Teng.

On August 28, Vincent He from 8btc explained that two officials from the government of Chengdu spoke at the Hashcon 2020 event. Chengdu serves as the capital of Sichuan and is a sub-provincial city.

Hashcon was a bitcoin mining summit held by Inbtc, 8btc, and Chainnode on August 22 and 23. The report notes that a great majority of the BTC hashrate was present at the Hashcon 2020 event alongside 70% of the ASIC rig manufacturers.

The first day of the Hashcon summit saw a partnership with the Chenghua District and 8btc which will invoke a Sichuan-based blockchain industrial park. The park will feature the blockchain computing power (bitcoin miners) that have settled in Chengdu, according to the regional report. “Eight blockchain enterprises including inbtc and Valarhash signed contracts and settled down,” Vincent He noted.

“As crypto-mining gets compliant, the government can obtain considerable tax revenue and create more jobs, as well as creating a stable business environment for enterprises. Qu Zhaoxiang, the cofounder of 8btc and Chainnode said.

Sichuan's Blockchain Park: Chengdu Government Officials Welcome Bitcoin Miners — Hashcon 2020 in Sichuan.

“The government of Chengdu shows great interest in the mining business model, blockchain technology and hopes to get involved in crypto mining. [The] government’s attitude to the industry has changed.” the Inbtc cofounder, Zhu Fa stressed.

According to the report, 39 exhibitors attended the mining summit with a strong focus on the mining ecosystem. Enterprises like Nurima, Seagate, and Gongyi alloy technology were in attendance alongside Innosilicon, Babel, F2pool, and the ASIC manufacturers Microbt.

What do you think about the officials from the Chengdu government embracing bitcoin mining? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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