A Bitcoin mining center in Norway’s Hadsel municipality has closed due to continued protests over noise levels caused by the center, which led a quarter increase in electricity bills for local residents. The 80 GWh or roughly about 3,200 households’ annually used electricity usage facility had become a thorn in the side of the local community and politicians.
For many years, residents and local authorities had fretted over the persistent noise of the mining equipment, mainly due to continuous cooling fans round-the-clock. While assured that the noise falls within the national limits, the noise disturbance was a real problem. The shutdown Kjell-Børge Freiberg, mayor of Hadsel, was a solution to a long-lived inconvenience while mentioning its side effect as relatively energy-intensive for the inhabitants.
This shutdown has cost implications on Noranett, the regional distribution company for electricity. Losing the major customer alone means a revenue gap at Noranett, as passed to all other remaining electricity consumers. Robin Jakobsen, network manager at Noranett, said that this will be added annually to a range of NOK 2,500 to 3,000 in electricity bills to households.
As a response, Mayor Freiberg searches for new replacement projects that would recover lost revenue and reduce the pain of increased local electricity prices. However, Mayor Freiberg said the municipality has little to say over the overall regulatory framework that determines and guides the business of power distribution.
U.S. Senators Call for Action Against Rising Crypto ATM Fraud
The U.S. Senate Democrats have been gaining concern on the rising tide of crypto ATM scams in the United States. A letter signed by seven Democratic senators, with majority whip and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin at the helm, recently addressed the major cryptocurrency ATM operators asking them to look into the rising tide of scams targeting older Americans.
On September 12, senators issued a statement asking ten of the largest U.S. crypto ATM companies to address fraud concerns immediately: Bitcoin Depot, CoinFlip, RockItCoin, Bitstop, Coinhub, Unbank, Athena Bitcoin, Byte Federal, Cash2Bitcoin, and Margo. According to data from the Federal Trade Commission, fraud amount associated with those machines surged to $65 million in the first six months of 2023, affecting primarily the elderly.
Whereas the aged population above 60 years, people are three times as more likely to fall victim to Bitcoin ATM-related scams as other youngsters in the remaining age group.
The senators noted that lots placed in various locations, businesses being paid handsomely to house these machines, considerably increase their risk of falling into scams.
The senators have since asked the companies to respond by October 4, obtaining information on fraud prevention, including scam warnings, limits on transactions and deposits, as well as fraud insurance to the depositor. The FTC has reported a tenfold increase in crypto ATM fraud since 2020. Losses have sky-rocketed from $12 million to $144 million, a tenfold increase, according to a report by the FTC. Crypto fraud claims $5.6 billion in losses this year 2023, according to the FBI, an increase of 45 percent from last year.
With the number of crypto ATMs skyrocketing and the United States leading the market with nearly 32,000 machines, urgency on fraud issues resultant and emanating therefrom have multiplied their campaigns.
