On Jan. 8, 2024, a New Scientist article sparked debate by questioning whether nations ought to consider banning bitcoin due to its environmental footprint. The editorial has drawn significant criticism from numerous bitcoin supporters. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) expert Daniel Batten sharply lambasted the article, labeling it as “bad science, not new science” and […]
Unlimited Innovations vs. 2,500 Swimming Pools — AI Faces Similar Environmental Backlash as Bitcoin Mining
In recent years, attention has centered on bitcoin mining, particularly its energy usage in securing the network and validating transactions through proof-of-work (PoW). As generative artificial intelligence (AI) emerges as a major force in technology, it’s encountering similar environmental concerns. Moreover, advocates of bitcoin are drawing parallels between the criticisms of AI’s energy demands and […]
Bitcoin Mining Pool F2pool Acknowledges OFAC Transaction Censorship; Backpedals After Community Backlash
F2Pool, a Bitcoin mining pool, has admitted to filtering transactions coming from Bitcoin addresses flagged by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). After the situation was discovered by 0xB10C, a Bitcoin developer, F2pool co-founder Chun Wang acknowledged that his pool was indeed applying this filter, announcing it would drop the censorship until there was […]
WordPress Reverts Live Preview Button on Plugins After Developer Backlash
Last week WordPress meta contributors implemented a “Live Preview” button for plugins in the official directory, with the intention of allowing users to safely test any plugin in one click. The button went live across all of WordPress.org’s 59,000+ plugins but took plugin developers by surprise as it was pushed through …