The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) proposes a new regulation that would change banking access for cryptocurrency companies.
The law would require large banks – those with over $100 billion in assets – to restrict their services based on objective and quantitative criteria. In recent years, banks have been restricting services to firms operating in potentially contentious industries. Those in the cryptocurrency industry have struggled to access banking services. This regulation would force large banks to treat cryptocurrency customers as they would any other industry. The law is currently open for public comment until January 4th.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong voices concerns that a new US regulation regarding self-hosted cryptocurrency wallets may be introduced.
Brian cautioned that rumors are circulating that the US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin may rush to introduce the regulation by the end of the year. The law would require KYC to be carried by those transacting with the self-custody wallets. Brian foresees such a regulation creating a “walled garden” between US crypto financial services and the rest of the world. The privilege to operate a self-custody has been paramount to cryptocurrency users. Such a regulation would echo the concerns of Bitcoin developer Matt Corallo who noted that the government is forcing Bitcoin to split into “KYC Bitcoin” and “illegal Bitcoin”.
Next-generation mining rig anticipated from MicroBT. Rumors have surfaced that Whatsminer will be releasing a next-generation mining rig early next year. The rumors originally surfaced from the Twitter account Wu Blockchain
. Wu Blockchain reported that the M50S is currently in trial production. The specifications noted were a hashrate output of 200 TH/s and an energy efficiency of 28 J/TH. The report was corroborated by Kristy-Leigh Minehan, who noted that 28 J/TH is possible using Samsung 8 nm chips but that a hashrate output of 180 J/TH seems more likely.
Over 61% of hashrate connected to mining pools signals support the
Taproot upgrade.
Poolin VP Alejandro De La Torre launched a website to highlight mining pool support for a Bitcoin software upgrade that would implement Taproot. Poolin, F2Pool, and Slushpool are among the mining pools that have voiced their support to implement Taproot. The upgrade activation method remains uncertain, with different mining pools advocating different activation methods.
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