ChainCatcher news, the crypto mining company IREN (formerly Iris Energy) is facing a class action lawsuit from investors, accusing it of misleading investors regarding its high-performance computing business.On October 7, a class action lawsuit led by Paul Williams-Israel was filed in federal court in New York, claiming that IREN's facility in Childress, Texas was falsely advertised as a data center suitable for high-performance computing (HPC) and exaggerated its computing capabilities. The lawsuit also pointed out that there was significant misinformation in the expansion plans and HPC strategy released by IREN in a statement in June 2023.IREN's co-founders and co-CEOs Daniel Roberts and William Roberts, as well as the company's CFO Belinda Nucifora, are all named as defendants.

ChainCatcher news, the broker Bernstein's research report indicates that Bitcoin (BTC) miners are attractive partners for building artificial intelligence (AI) data centers due to their available power and operational capabilities. Consequently, the report gives the mining stock Iris Energy (IREN) an outperform rating with a target price of $26.The broker also initiated coverage on Core Scientific with an outperform rating and a target price of $17. On Tuesday morning, Iris Energy's stock price was $13.40, and Core Scientific's stock price was $9.79.

ChainCatcher news, 10x Research stated in its strategic report "The Bitcoin Mining War Intensifies------How to Participate?" that it believes Bitfarms is a major beneficiary of the ongoing consolidation in the Bitcoin mining industry. While cryptocurrency mining stocks (such as Bitfarms) may rise further, there is a greater inclination to invest under the potential bullish trend of Bitcoin. Although MicroStrategy announced plans to privately issue $500 million in convertible senior notes to purchase more Bitcoin, the market reaction has been relatively calm, unlike in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, when such news led to a noticeable increase in retail speculation and rising funding rates.

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against two cryptocurrency companies suspected of fraud in the state, accusing them of deceiving hundreds of thousands of investors, with the amount involved exceeding $1 billion.The companies being sued include the cryptocurrency exchange NovaTech and the mining company AWS Mining, which are accused of "engaging in illegal pyramid schemes," having stolen over $1 billion in cryptocurrency from investors, including 11,000 New Yorkers. Letitia James stated that she would ban these two companies from operating in New York and vowed to crack down on cryptocurrency fraudsters.AWS Mining and its promoters (including Panama residents Cynthia and Eddy Petion) had promised investors high returns through cryptocurrency mining operations, but in reality, the company could not sustain the promised returns in the long term and ultimately collapsed in 2019. Afterward, the Petion couple launched NovaTech, continuing to use similar strategies to attract customers, but the profits for investors were actually generated from the funds of new investors. Prosecutors revealed that the platform only processed $26 million in cryptocurrency transactions from 2019 to 2023.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, U.S. President Biden has ordered the prohibition of a Chinese-controlled cryptocurrency mining company, MineOne Partners Limited, from owning land near a nuclear missile base in Wyoming, and has requested the divestment of related assets.The U.S. Department of the Treasury stated that MineOne acquired a property just one mile from Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in June 2022 and renovated it to accommodate cryptocurrency mining operations. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) determined after review that the transaction posed national security risks, including potential use for surveillance.Treasury Secretary Yellen stated that this move demonstrates the Biden administration's strong commitment to protecting U.S. national security and emphasizes the critical gatekeeping role of CFIUS in ensuring that foreign investments do not harm U.S. national security, especially in transactions involving sensitive military facilities and special equipment and technology.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, a Swedish cryptocurrency mining company has discovered that it evaded over $90 million in taxes after a government investigation over the past four years.The Swedish Tax Agency investigated the operations of 21 cryptocurrency mining companies and found that 18 of them provided "misleading or incomplete" information to obtain tax benefits. These companies avoided paying value-added tax by providing misleading business descriptions or found other ways to evade paying import taxes and income taxes.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, research firm Bernstein stated in a report on Wednesday that the "miner fear factor" is at its peak ahead of the upcoming halving, recommending investors to buy shares of well-performing crypto mining companies Riot Platforms (RIOT) and CleanSpark (CLSK).Bernstein pointed out that year-to-date, crypto mining stocks continue to lag behind Bitcoin, as the halving has raised concerns about profitability once the rewards are cut by 50%.Analysts Gautam Chhugani and Mahika Sapra wrote, "Historically, Bitcoin price breakthroughs always occur after halving events, sometimes months after the halving, once mining hash rates adjust to lower reward levels, and ETF inflows resume, Bitcoin's bullish trajectory will recover post-halving."

ChainCatcher news, Arkham announced on the X platform that it has integrated data from 7 leading publicly listed mining companies in the US/Canada, with a total market capitalization of $12.71 billion. These mining companies hold a total of $2.79 billion worth of Bitcoin across 782 independent wallets, specifically including:Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA): Market Cap: $4.31 billion, BTC Holdings: $1.13 billion;CleanSpark (CLSK): Market Cap: $335 million, BTC Holdings: $195.8 million;Riot Platforms (RIOT): Market Cap: $2.31 billion, BTC Holdings: $583.8 million;Cipher Mining (CIFR): Market Cap: $1.13 billion, BTC Holdings: $88.1 million;Hut 8 Corp (Hut): Market Cap: $720 million, BTC Holdings: $608.8 million;Bitfarms (BITF): Market Cap: $630 million, BTC Holdings: $28.1 million;HIVE Digital Technologies (HIVE): Market Cap: $260 million, BTC Holdings: $156 million.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, a judge in Texas has ruled that the U.S. Energy Information Administration must temporarily suspend an emergency investigation aimed at measuring the electricity consumption of cryptocurrency mining companies.Previously, the Texas Blockchain Council and the Bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms sued the Department of Energy, claiming that the investigation was the result of an unrigorous official procedure.

ChainCatcher news, the encrypted mining company Riot announced that it has ordered 18 EH/s of the latest generation of Bitmain mining machines at a price of $290.5 million. Riot offers an additional purchase option of up to 75 EH/s, with a fixed price cap, providing Riot a pathway to achieve over 100 EH/s of self-mining capacity.The new order will mainly include the recently released M66S, which has an energy efficiency ratio of 18.5J/T and an average price of about $16/TH. Riot can additionally purchase up to 265,000 mining machines under this agreement.

ChainCatcher news, according to Forklog, the Kazakhstani government levied nearly $6.9 million in taxes on cryptocurrency mining businesses in the country in 2022, with the tax starting from January 1 of last year.In addition, the Ministry of Finance stated that the cryptocurrency taxes for the first quarter of 2023 must be paid by May 25, and as of April 27, the Ministry has received $540,000. (source link)

ChainCatcher news, the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) stated in an announcement on Tuesday that Biden's team has proposed a punitive tax on cryptocurrency mining companies for the first time in the federal budget proposal, called the "Digital Mining Asset Energy Tax," which is based on the company's energy consumption costs, with a tax rate of 30%.The CEA believes that cryptocurrency mining companies do not provide the same national benefits compared to other businesses that consume the same amount of electricity, and that they should be taxed to compensate for the impacts they bring to the outside world (such as environmental pollution, etc.). This tax could generate up to $3.5 billion in additional revenue for the government over the next 10 years.The Economic Advisers had previously released a related report in March, detailing broader concerns about the industry and emphasizing the potential economic impacts of the mining industry. These concerns include possible pollution and the costs associated with relocating mining companies to local communities. The post stated that even mining companies using clean energy could increase the overall energy costs and usage rates in their surrounding communities. (Source link)

ChainCatcher News, the Texas Senate has passed Bill 1751, which will amend certain provisions of the state's utility and tax laws to increase restrictions on cryptocurrency mining companies. The bill aims to limit the incentive cap for crypto mining companies participating in demand response load reduction programs to 10% and eliminate tax breaks for the industry. The next step for the bill is to be submitted to the Texas House of Representatives, with a meeting scheduled for April 13 to discuss the legislation.Marathon Digital Holdings mining company CEO Fred Thiel stated that if the bill is passed in Texas, some mining companies participating in load reduction programs may see a decrease in their revenue. All miners operating in the state will be affected by the tax policy. (Cointelegraph)