ChainCatcher news, the NYSE-listed automotive dealership platform Cango announced that it has spent $256 million to purchase Bitcoin mining machines with a computing power of 32 EH/s from Bitmain.In addition, Cango has agreed to acquire additional rack-mounted Bitcoin mining machines with a total computing power of 18 EH/s through the issuance of $144 million in common stock from Golden TechGen (a company under former Bitmain CFO Max Hua) and other entities.Earlier this month, Cango reported that in November, with a deployed computing power of 32 EH/s, it produced 363.9 BTC without liquidating any assets. This output makes Cango the fifth largest publicly listed Bitcoin mining company by realized computing power and the third largest by deployed computing power.

ChainCatcher news, driven by the surge in Bitcoin, the prices of mining machines sold in Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen are also rising. The prices of some merchants' Antminer machines have increased by several tens of percent. One merchant stated that the Antminer S21 335T is priced at $5,600 each, equivalent to 40,700 RMB, which is a 30% increase from last year's 28,000 RMB. Bitmain's official website shows that the 473T S21 XP water-cooled miner is priced at 73,900 RMB, but it is already sold out.It is reported that since the beginning of this year, especially in recent months, there have been many customers from Russia, Ethiopia, the United States, and Canada. Some are importing hundreds of new machines, while others are even trading thousands, all delivered and shipped in Hong Kong. (Hong Kong Wen Wei Po)

ChainCatcher news, the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service (RF) recently seized 10 Bitcoin mining machines and 8 satellite internet devices, suspected of document non-compliance and smuggling through Paraguay. The seized products were shipped by two companies, destined for São Paulo and Maranhão, and the goods were chosen to be shipped from Foz do Iguaçu instead of the companies' registered locations, increasing the suspicion of smuggling.The Federal Revenue Service stated that it will submit the case to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF), and the responsible persons of the related companies may face charges of smuggling or tax evasion.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cryptonews, the Abkhazian police have recently intensified their crackdown on private crypto miners, seizing nearly 200 mining machines within four days. The Abkhazian State Security Service (SSS) conducted raids in cities such as Ochamchira and Sukhum from December 10 to 13, confiscating 194 mining machines. The Ministry of Internal Affairs also seized 10 mining machines from the Gudauta and Gagra districts.Timur Dzhindzholiya, head of Chernomorenergo, stated that despite the implementation of rolling blackouts, energy consumption has not decreased, indicating that crypto mining continues to consume a significant amount of electricity. On December 10, internet service providers suspended the network for seven hours in an attempt to alleviate the pressure of mining on the power grid. On December 11, the Inguri Hydroelectric Power Station was forced to shut down for 24 hours due to low water levels.In addition, Abkhazia's acting Prime Minister Bganba has called on the government to consider declaring a state of emergency in the energy sector.

ChainCatcher news, according to official sources, Network3 has upgraded its reward program for physical miner users: the first 20,000 N3 Edge V1 miners will receive an additional batch of token airdrop rewards based on the users' pre-mined N3E situation. Furthermore, the project token N3 is expected to be listed for trading by early January at the latest.Previously, Network3 launched a points redemption and staking activity for N3 Edge V1 miner users, allowing users to exchange points for N3 tokens at the real-time price of N3E, and receive additional rewards upon choosing to stake. Additionally, Edge V1 miner users were allowed to choose to exchange up to 60% of their N3E for $IOTX once the points redemption was opened.With this new reward mechanism, miner users can not only profit from daily mining but also benefit from Network3's continuous incentives for the community ecosystem. The official announcement stated that the specific airdrop timing and details will be released through official social media, and users can stay updated on the latest developments at any time.

ChainCatcher news, the studio Neon Machine of the shooting game Shrapnel has appointed Ken Rosman as the new CEO. Ken Rosman has 20 years of experience in the video game industry and has been responsible for the development of well-known games such as Halo Wars and Sunset Overdrive in Microsoft's Xbox division.Rosman will lead Shrapnel to successfully complete the preparations for the full launch.

ChainCatcher news, Nasdaq-listed company Canaan Creative Technology announced that its Singapore subsidiary Canaan Creative Global Pte. Ltd. has signed a mining machine purchase agreement with AGM Group Holdings Inc., initially providing 2,000 Bitcoin mining machines. Additionally, it has agreed to offer an option to purchase approximately 30,000 additional BTC mining machines.

ChainCatcher news, Luxor Technology Corporation has signed a $131.4 million agreement with Bitcoin mining manufacturer MicroBT, which includes a confirmed purchase of $93.2 million worth of Whatsminer ASIC Bitcoin miners, with an option to purchase an additional $38.2 million. These ASIC miners will utilize a combination of immersion, air cooling, and water cooling systems designed to improve efficiency.The announcement states that the agreement supports MicroBT's expansion in the United States, where the company has begun assembling miners domestically. Previously, Bitmain also launched a production line in the United States.

ChainCatcher news, Nasdaq-listed mining company BTC Digital (BTCT) announced that the strategic contract with Bitmain is progressing smoothly. In the next 3-6 months, 2,000 Bitmain T21 mining machines will be deployed. Once the deployment is completed, BTCT's total hash rate capacity will reach 600P, nearly three times its current capacity.

ChainCatcher news, recently, the Edge v1 miner launched by the decentralized edge artificial intelligence infrastructure platform Network3 has achieved remarkable results. According to the latest data from Depinscan, the daily earnings of the Network3 miner have reached a new high, shortening the payback period to 71 days. This has secured its top position in both the payback period ranking and daily earnings ranking, showcasing its strong ecological potential and user value. Meanwhile, reliable sources have revealed that Network3 will launch a large TGE airdrop event, and the final round of Pre-TGE financing is about to be completed.The Network3 miner provides a stable source of income for global users by supporting AI data processing and computing tasks. With the number of nodes exceeding 542,827, distributed across 188 countries and regions, the efficiency of Network3's decentralized network continues to improve. This ranking further proves its leading position in the decentralized AI infrastructure field.Network3 has secured $5.5 million in investments, with investors including top institutions such as Borderless, EV3 Labs, IoTeX Eco Fund, Mask Network, Bing Venture, Waterdrip Capital, SNZ, and Candaq. The team is actively expanding the influence of Network3, with N3E points redemption and staking activities set to launch soon, and TGE will take place in the near future.

ChainCatcher news, the listed Bitcoin mining company BIT Mining announced that it has signed a final agreement to acquire a 51-megawatt mining data center in Ethiopia and 17,869 Bitcoin mining machines, with a total consideration of $14.28 million, including a cash payment of $2.265 million and the issuance of Class A common stock with a par value of $0.00005 per share (totaling $12.015 million).

ChainCatcher news reports that, according to market sources, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is detaining certain imported Bitmain Antminer mining machines at U.S. entry points. The equipment involved includes Bitmain's Antminer S21 and T21 series, which are the latest ASIC mining machine series from Bitmain.Sources indicate that the FCC and CBP have not targeted other ASIC manufacturers such as MicroBT or Canaan. Aside from revealing that the FCC has requested a freeze, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not provided specific reasons for taking this action to the affected parties, nor has it indicated how long the goods will be detained.

ChainCatcher news, according to data from RootData, the Altered State Machine token (ASTO) has increased by 93.05% in the last 24 hours, currently priced at $0.027.According to the Web3 asset data platform RootData, Altered State Machine (ASM) is a decentralized platform that powers the creation and training of AI-driven NFTs (referred to as agents) that can interoperate across the metaverse. The ASM protocol enables individuals and organizations to own, train, and develop artificial intelligence through revolutionary genomic mining and intelligent mining processes. The vision of Altered State Machine is to become the ownership and monetization protocol for AI using NFT technology.

ChainCatcher news, according to official sources, Bitcoin mining company HIVE Digital announced the purchase of 5,000 Avalon A15-194T ASIC miners from Canaan Inc.It is reported that this latest acquisition is based on the announcement made earlier this month to purchase 6,500 Avalon miners, bringing the total number of new Avalon ASIC miners ordered by HIVE Digital in November to 11,500.

ChainCatcher news, according to Hong Wang reports, the People's Court of Jiahe County, Hunan Province recently made a ruling on a major dispute over a mining machine transaction. The case shows that the plaintiff, Pan Mouxiang, communicated with the defendant, Lei Moucai, via WeChat in November 2021 to purchase Bitcoin mining machines S19XP. After paying 23.678 million USDT, the two parties had a disagreement over the nature of the contract and the settlement price. The plaintiff requested the defendant to return the price difference of 6.27 million USDT and continue to deliver 149 mining machines.The court ruled to dismiss all of the plaintiff's claims based on two main reasons: first, according to the central bank and other departments' "Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with Risks of Virtual Currency Trading and Speculation," USDT and other virtual currencies do not have the status of legal tender, and related transactions are considered illegal financial activities.Secondly, based on the National Development and Reform Commission's "Notice on Rectifying Virtual Currency 'Mining' Activities," the energy consumption of mining activities is high, carbon emissions are significant, and economic contributions are low, which does not align with the national green development strategy. The court determined that the transaction contract was invalid due to violations of laws and regulations as well as public order and good customs, and the related losses would be borne by both parties.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Canaan's (嘉楠科技) founder and CEO N.G. Zhang recently revealed in an interview that the company plans to launch a Mini series of home mining machines by the end of this year, with a maximum power of about 800W, using the latest chips, and a maximum hash rate of up to 40T, while also featuring heating capabilities.Zhang stated that the shipment of the previously launched Avalon Nano3 series home mining machines exceeded 10,000 units last quarter. He believes that home mining products are expected to account for 20% of the overall mining market in the future, which will greatly enhance the security of the Bitcoin network.Looking back over the past decade, Zhang pointed out that from the first generation Avalon mining machine with 66Ghs hash rate and 700W power consumption, to the 15th generation A1566 with over 200,000 Ghs hash rate and 3600W power consumption, the performance of mining machines has improved by about 3000 times, and energy efficiency has increased by nearly 600 times. Currently, the A1566 mining machine has achieved a hash rate of 210THs, with some high-end models achieving energy efficiency below 17J/TH.

ChainCatcher news, according to PR Newswire, Nasdaq-listed company BTC Digital Ltd. announced that it has signed an agreement with Asian digital asset management consulting firm Recte Technologies Company Limited and Asian cryptocurrency mining fund ASIA INVESTMENT FUND SP2 to provide a total of 1,100 Bitcoin mining machines for hosting services, including ANTMINER T21 and ANTMINER L7 models. BTC Digital will be responsible for the deployment of these devices in the United States, providing hosting, management, and other services.