LYNCHBURG, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 20, 2023--

Bitcoin is trading at its highest level in more than 18 months, with its price up more than 100 per cent since the start of 2023. The rally has pushed bitcoin’s market cap above $700 billion and the overall crypto market close to $1.5 trillion. The figure is still a long way from its all-time high of around $3 trillion, which was reached at the end of 2021, however some crypto analysts believe the recent gains are the beginning of another record-breaking run. Bitcoin’s hash rate – which denotes how much computing power is required to verify transactions and generate new units of the cryptocurrency through a process called mining – hit a record high this week, according to data from Blockchain.com. This signals a resilient network, with hopes of future price gains attracting an increasing number of miners. Recent reports have revealed significant investment in cryptocurrency mining from both state-backed and commercial ventures. Tether, the issuer of the stablecoin USDT is planning to invest $500 million in mining, while satellite imagery analysed by Forbes suggests Bhutan’s government is establishing a massive bitcoin mining operation in the foothills of the Himalayas. Separate data reveals that miners have been profiting from cheap energy sources to reduce their average BTC production cost by 35 per cent from $21,100 to $13,800. “This data underscores a considerably stronger profitability in the mining sector compared to the challenges experienced throughout 2022 and part of 2023,” said research analyst Matteo Greco from the fintech investment firm Fineqia International. In roughly six months, bitcoin will undergo an event known as a “halving”, which will see the amount of new bitcoins awarded to miners cut by half. The event was hardcoded into bitcoin’s underlying blockchain by its pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto, who introduced it as an anti-inflationary measure when the cryptocurrency first launched in 2009. Taking place approximately every four years, the build up to the halvings have traditionally been the most profitable time for crypto investors. “Buy bitcoin six months before a halving and sell 18 months after a halving has historically beaten ‘buy and hold’ trading strategy,” Dutch crypto trader PlanB wrote earlier this year. “The next halving is April 2024... Will this strategy work again?” Read More Google issues one-week deadline to Gmail account holders UK and South Korea issue warning over North Korea-linked cyber attacks Researchers warned of dangerous AI discovery just before OpenAI chaos Crypto experts predict which bitcoin rivals to look out for

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Trisha Paytas says she feels “super disrespected” after it was revealed that Colleen Ballinger sent unsolicited nudes of Paytas to her fans. Paytas is the latest person to speak up amidst the ongoing allegations against the YouTuber also known as Miranda Sings. Ballinger has been embroiled in a wave of allegations in the past few weeks after previous fans have spoken up about their inappropriate relationship with Ballinger whilst they were minors. It was claimed that Ballinger made fun of YouTuber Trisha Paytas’ body to her fans and also sent minors nude photos of Paytas. On Monday Paytas uploaded a 21-minute YouTube video titled ‘colleen’ discussing her relationship with the fellow YouTuber. The pair had recently started a podcast together as two mums with young children titled Oversharing. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Paytas starts the video by saying: “These most recent things that are coming out, everyone knows that I have a very very very firm stance on talking to anyone underage, platonic or not, I’ve always been very very firm with this that I think it’s appropriate.” “When all this came out I was shocked, you know the group chats and stuff I was kind of shocked, and it’s such a difficult thing because Colleen is someone that I quickly, literally in the past month that we did this podcast, like I really really cared about and really related to.” Paytas, who has long been a controversial figure and often embroiled in scandals herself shared that prior to Ballinger’s now infamous apology video “we were staying in touch because again I know what it feels like to have the whole internet come down on you. Even if the whole internet is right.” “I don’t want anyone, guilty or not, to ever feel like they don’t have someone to talk to.” Speaking of the allegations made in regards to Ballinger sending Paytas’ nudes to her fans, some who were minors, Paytas said she was “waiting to see what would come out” because of the “serious” and “illegal” aspects of the allegations. “It’s a topic I don’t take lightly and I can’t take lightly,” she adds. colleen youtu.be Paytas is widely known as a sex worker as well as for her YouTube videos. Talking about the sharing of her nudes she said: “I do not condone, at all, sending unsolicited nudes to anyone of anybody, sex worker or not. I think using someone’s nudes as a way to hurt them, make fun of them, make light of them, be mean, is the lowest form of human, the lowest form of intelligence. I think that’s so inhumane, so disgusting for anyone.” Prior to Paytas’ video, Johnny Silvestri, a previous fan of Ballinger who had messaged and met Ballinger on multiple occasions, shared censored photos of Paytas that had been sent to him by Ballinger. “Last night the text messages were shown and it’s very clearly from Colleen to a fan, it has over half a million views on Twitter. I’m not embarrassed by [them], I’m embarrassed for her.” “And these weren’t a long time ago, this is someone well into their 30s who just gave birth sending nudes, and I, a month prior, I was in her house meeting her child, meeting her newborn, and doing a mukbang with her,” says Paytas, clearly hurt. “In these texts there’s also friends of hers, they showed the viewing parties that were talked about, to make fun of me, they did viewing parties of my adult content to make fun of me.” Paytas also revealed that before the text messages were posted online, she had privately asked Colleen if the accusations were true and that Ballinger “assured me that she had never sent photos of me, that this one fan who was underage at the time would send photos to her.” “She said everything is taken out of context, these are lies.” Paytas concludes the video by saying “I just had to make this video to say I don’t stand behind Colleen whatsoever. Her video was not an apology and it took away from the severity of her actions of talking to minors, bringing minors on stage at her show, these peoples are speaking up and they’re uncomfortable for a reason. Acknowledge it, change it, do better.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Twitter may now be worth one-third of what Elon Musk paid for the social media platform just seven months ago

SYDNEY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 30, 2023--

A meteor exploded over the Atlantic Ocean at a force comparable to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during the Second World War. While this may sound like a scary prospect, there is nothing to worry about as this asteroid did not actually hit the Earth. The debris burned up at a height of around 31 kilometres above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil, experts say. Data from NASA showed that the meteor appeared to release the equivalent energy of around 12,000 tonnes of TNT - that's approximately 12 kilotons of explosive power. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Similarly, the Hiroshima Bomb detonated with an approximate energy of 15 kilotons – that is, 15 thousand tonnes of TNT equivalent. This force caused devastation in the Japanese city and killed at least 80,000 people instantly, with tens of thousands dying later due to radiation exposure. Although 12 kilotonnes does sound like a lot, there have also been other explosions that have had a higher number than this. One example is the 450 kilotons of explosive energy (0.45 megatons) released as a result of the Chelyabinsk meteor back in 2013 - 26 to 33 times as much energy as the Hiroshima Bomb. The house-sized asteroid exploded 14 miles above the ground and generated a shock wave that blew out windows over 200 square miles and damaged some buildings. Over 1,600 people were injured in the blast, mostly due to broken glass, according to NASA. Elsewhere, amazing footage captures the moment a meteor crashes into the moon and, scientists discover a secret planet hiding in our solar system. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 13, 2023--

By Nicholas P. Brown A giant, glowing X marks the San Francisco spot where Elon Musk says he