Multisectoral blockchain company Bitfury has partnered with the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics to create an accelerator for blockchain projects, Russian crypto news outlet Forklog reports Nov. 21. In addition to supporting the development of blockchain projects, the university will provide courses and additional education dedicated to “training specialists who are able to create innovative projects using digital technologies in a short time.” This will enable specialists to “bring [the projects] to market amid the new industrial revolution,” Dmitry Ufaev, the head of Bitfury Russia, told Forklog. According to Forklog, the project will be backed by Russia’s Ministry of Digital …

Blockchain technology firm Bitfury has added an investment banker to its board of directors, and a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) member to its advisory board, according to an official company blog post Nov 21. Founded in 2011, Bitfury is recognized as the largest non-Chinese company that develops Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain software and provides infrastructure for BTC mining. The newly-appointed voting member to the Bitfury board of directors, Antoine Dresch, is co-founder of tech industry-focused private equity (PE) fund Koreyla Capital. Dresche has over 20 years of experience in investment banking with Goldman Sachs, UBS London and Morgan …

Coming every Sunday, the Hodler’s Digest will help you to track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions, and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Elon Musk Impersonators Flood Twitter With Fake Crypto Giveaways Although impersonators on Twitter pretending to be famous celebrities offering crypto giveaways are many, this week saw an influx of these crypto pretenders posing as Tesla CEO Elon Musk. After compromising verified accounts with the blue check mark, scammers would change the name and …

Bitcoin mining infrastructure provider Bitfury has raised $80 million in a closed funding round, the company revealed in a press release shared with Cointelegraph Nov. 6. The round, which comes weeks after rumors Bitfury was considering an IPO, was led by European venture capital fund Korelya Capital. Other participants included South Korean internet giant Naver Group, Asian institutions Macquarie Capital and Dentsu Japan, as well as Michael Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital. “This private placement will take our corporate governance to the next level, broaden our financial strategic options, and ideally position us for our next phase of growth as the market …

Blockchain technology company Bitfury is considering a potential Initial Public Offering (IPO), which could reportedly become the first major public listing in the crypto industry in Europe, Bloomberg reported Oct. 25. People familiar with the matter reportedly told Bloomberg that Bitfury is examining a range of options including raising debt financing or selling a minority stake. Should Bitfury go public in the following two years, its value could reach from $3 billion to $5 billion. However, the numbers could change depending on the markets and the health of the industry, purported sources told Bloomberg. Bitfury has reportedly contacted global investment …

Bitcoin (BTC) mining software manufacturer Bitfury Group has launched a new generation of its BTC mining hardware. The new device is based on Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chip Bitfury Clarke, according to an announcement September 19. An ASIC chip is a piece of mining hardware geared to mine digital currency based on a specific hashing algorithm. An ASIC is tailored for a particular use, rather than for general-purpose use. The Bitfury Clarke ASIC will be sold individually in addition to being integrated into Bitfury’s other BTC mining hardware, including its mining servers and BlockBoxes. Bitfury is planning to implement the …

Public South Korean biotech enterprise Macrogen, the country’s leading gene sequencing service provider, is developing a genomic big data blockchain-based platform together with local tech firm Bigster, according to an August 6 press release. The new partnership will leverage blockchain tech to create a medical big data ecosystem that would allow for both the secure and private storage and the transfer of large amounts of sensitive genomic and personal information. As the press release notes, advances in genomics are reshaping the global medical landscape, allowing for individually customized diagnoses, treatment and prevention. Medical big data, which integrates individuals’ genomic, health …

Toronto-based Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 has announced the completion of its second mining facility in Canada on July 16, claiming to have become the world’s “largest publicly-traded” operator by capacity. In a press release, Hut 8 revealed its Medicine Hat farm had been completed ahead of its September deadline, joining its existing operation in the city of Drumheller. Launched through a partnership with BitFury, which provided the company access to mining hardware and other necessities, Hut 8 has mined around 1,900 Bitcoin (BTC) since its original launch in December last year, the press release notes. BitFury and Hut 8’s …

One of the largest financial supervisors in Europe met with the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) and other members of the finance sector to discuss cryptocurrency regulation, according to a post on the NBG’s site May 18. According to the post, a representative from Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) met with members of the NBG, the international financial institutions (IFI), private sector, commercial banks, brokers, audit, and legal companies to increase awareness of crypto in the country. At the meeting, the participants had a chance to receive detailed information on the crypto industry from the leading financial supervisory authority …

While large-scale national economies are slipping into default and long-term indebtedness, the Bitcoin economy couldn’t be more robust in 2015. Newly updated totals show that Bitcoin’s level of venture capital funding and investment has obliterated 2014 year-end totals after just over six months. Amsterdam’s BitFury puts 2015 over the top The news comes after US$20 million of capital was injected into Amsterdam Bitcoin mining company BitFury last week. Investors included iTech capital, DRW venture Capital and the Georgian Co-Investment Fund for expansion plans for a new data center in Georgia, plus the acquisition of all the latest in mining chips …

Three of the biggest Western mining pools – representing a total of some 19% of hashing power on the Bitcoin network – stand divided on raising the block size limit. An inquiry by Cointelegraph has shown that both KnCMiner and Slush Pool are in favor of Gavin Andresen's proposal(s) to raise this limit. But the biggest of the three, BitFury, is more conservative. As such, a network-wide switch to Bitcoin XT to allow for bigger blocks seems even more unlikely, for now. Block Size Limit Lacking consensus among Core developers on how and when to raise the block size limit, …

Blythe Masters' Digital Asset Holdings acquires San Francisco-based Hyperledger and Budapest-based Bits of Proof; Seals with Clubs operator Bryan Micon reaches plea deal to avoid jail time and more top stories for June 26. Blythe Masters’ Blockchain Startup Makes Two Acquisitions Digital Asset Holdings, the startup run by former JP Morgan Chase executive Blythe Masters, announced the acquisition of San Francisco-based Hyperledger and Budapest-based Bits of Proof. The two blockchain startups will help Digital Asset Holdings overhaul how Wall Street settles trades. In a statement, Masters said: “Hyperledger and Bits of Proof add valuable new dimensions to our product offering …