US Government Bans Researcher for Supercomputer Bitcoin Mining
A National Science Foundation (NSF) researcher has been barred from working with the US government following the discovery that he used federally funded supercomputers to mine bitcoin without authorization. The administrative action was revealed as part of the latest NSF Office of Inspector General (OIG) report issued to Congress and recently posted online. The unnamed researcher is alleged to have used more than $150,000 in NSF-supported computer activity to generate an estimated $8,000 to $10,000 in BTC. The researcher asserted that he was simply conducting tests on the supercomputers,....
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This article was written by Ruben Alexander and Brian Cohen. The NSF or National Science Foundation Office of the Inspector General (OIG) just posted on their website their March 2014 Semiannual Report to Congress (PDF with metadata create date of 5/27). This report contains a write-up on an "Administrative Investigation" by the OIG entitled "Government-wide Suspension Recommended for Researcher Who Used NSF-Funded Supercomputers to Mine Bitcoins" (full extract at bottom). The National Science Foundation according to itswebsiteis "an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950....
Exascale Power Co., a Portland, Ore. -based company that plans to build a supercomputer in New Mexico, has released more details about its plan to boost the power of the block chain processing infrastructure. Highlights include: - The company plans to increase block sizes from 1MB to 36MB, providing processing in under 10 minutes. - Exascale is introducing a new cryptocurrency called Kalbon. For the time being, the company is offering free Kalbon to anyone requesting it. Miners will have 1MB block sizes to start with and will be eligible for financing to upgrade to 36MB Kalbon. - The....
The combined forces of passionate communities with potent tools, and the deepening involvement of institutions, make successful bans less likely.
Each evening, 'Felix' sneaks into the computer suite at his university and starts up the machines. One by one, he runs a script on each computer and his 'workers' begin solving complex algorithms. You wouldn't know just by looking, but he's making his own money - using his university's computers to mine dogecoin. Felix's story mirrors that of a Harvard researcher who used his university's supercomputer for dogecoin mining, earning himself a permanent ban from the computer and, presumably, a heck of a lot of coins in the process. Like others who came onto the cryptocurrency scene late,....
Decentralized global market for computing power, Golem, has announced that its Golem Network Token (GNT) crowdsale will begin on Nov. 11. The announcement claims that the token is a crucial element of the Golem network, and is designed to ensure flexibility and control over the future evolution of the project. Eddy Azar of Golem Project, tells Cointelegraph that the network, which will kick off fully in about six months time, shall be available for any computer to connect to by simply downloading a given program. The Promise of a Supercomputer. Golem has been described by its creators as a....