Pierre Rochard, Vice President of Research at Riot Platforms, stated that President Biden's proposal to impose a 30% tax on cryptocurrency mining electricity is an attempt to secretly suppress the booming cryptocurrency market. There is a hidden agenda behind the tax, which is an attempt to suppress Bitcoin growth and pave the way for CBDC. Even miners using renewable energy cannot exempt from this proposed tax, which has raised concerns about its fairness and potential motives.

A provincial supreme court judge has ruled that British Columbia's provincial power utility, B.C Hydro's, moratorium on crypto mining projects is reasonable. The moratorium was being challenged by Conifex Timber, a forestry company that had planned a mining operation with an indigenous tribe. Justice Michael Tammen stated that B.C. Hydro's ban was grounded on a cost-of-service basis, which aims to preserve affordable energy access for the broader population. Conifex believes that the continued ban is a missed opportunity for the province, while British Columbia is home to a number of zero-carbon footprint mining projects.

According to BTC.com data, Bitcoin mining difficulty underwent a mining difficulty adjustment at block height 828,576 (February 2, 2024, 23:42:06), with a 7.33% increase to 75.5 T, reaching a new historical high. Currently, the average network hash rate is 550.07 EH/s. In addition, this 7.33% increase in mining difficulty is also the highest record since March 2023.

The Estonian government has decided to extradite Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turygin, founders of cloud mining service HashFlare and digital bank Polybius Bank, to the United States.

On January 8th, cryptocurrency mining company Argo Blockchain announced on X platform that it has completed a placement of 38 million shares, raising a total of £8 million (equivalent to $10 million USD), which will be used for operational funds, debt repayment, and other company purposes.

The Shanghai Songjiang Court recently heard a dispute over an information network purchase and sale contract. It is reported that the plaintiff spent more than 100,000 yuan to purchase a batch of "mining" equipment, but found that some parts were actually second-hand goods, so he sued for a refund and compensation of three times the amount. After trial, the Songjiang Court believed that the premise of applying the Consumer Rights Protection Law is to purchase and use goods for daily consumption needs. In this case, Mr. Li did not purchase and use the goods for daily consumption needs, and whether he has already made a profit is not the basis for judging whether he is an ordinary consumer. Therefore, the dispute in this case does not apply to the Consumer Rights Protection Law, and the claim for "refund and compensation of three times the amount" is unfounded, and the court does not support it.

Cryptocurrency mining company HIVE Digital Technologies Ltd. (HIVE) announced the completion of its previously announced bought deal private placement financing, issuing a total of 5.75 million Special Warrants priced at 5 Canadian dollars per warrant, raising a total of 28.75 million Canadian dollars (approximately 21.78 million U.S. dollars). The funds will be used to support the growth of its bitcoin mining business and expand its green mining footprint.

Binance's 41st new coin mining project, NFPrompt (NFP), is now open. Users can deposit BNB, FDUSD, and TUSD into the NFP mining pool on the Binance Launchpad & Launchpool website to receive NFP rewards. NFP can be mined for a total of 7 days.

In this week's State of the Network, we continue our focused series on Bitcoin mining, spotlighting data across the mining ecosystem. Mining stands as one of the most intriguing parts of the digital assets industry, often capturing the interest of the public and enthusiasts. As the industry matures, mining is moving well beyond its hobbyist days. With over a dozen publicly-traded mining companies listed on American and Canadian stock exchanges, mining has now become a sector commanding the attention of equity analysts on Wall Street.

On November 27th, cryptocurrency mining company Argo Blockchain appointed former CBOE Digital executive Thomas Chippas as CEO, effective immediately. The official statement stated that Chippas is eligible to receive up to 2.85 million shares of Argo's American Depositary Shares within three years, subject to continued employment and certain performance criteria.<br>It is worth noting that Chippas is the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency trading platform ErisX, which was acquired by CBOE in October 2021.