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Chinese-connected corporations have allegedly acquired land next to Sean Murphys bitcoin mining operationin the Campstool Business Park outside Cheyenne, which has killed anagreement his company hadwith the state of Wyoming.

Murphy, who represents Bison Blockchain, told the Legislatures Management Audit Committee on Wednesdaythat a conglomerate of abouteight corporate entities run by Chinese nationals withvarying levels of connections to companies in Chinaincluding the largest manufacturer of bitcoin miners in the worldhave pushed his Wyoming-basedcompany out.

Its a diverse, complicated flow from Chinese nationals operating companies, Murphy saidin warning lawmakers about the potential for Chinese companies to exploit Wyomings business and land-use laws.

He said although some of the companiesthat buried Bison Blockchainare based in Wyoming, they are all connected to China.

We came to learn that they were Chinese, he said. Theres been a Chinese takeover in Wyoming.

What Murphy didnt tellthe committee is that his business had a prior relationshipwith at least some of these companies.

In May, Bison Blockchain filed a $22 million lawsuitin Wyoming federal court against five companies based in either Delaware or the Cayman Islands related to its bitcoin mines in Cheyenne. The lawsuit accuses the companies of breach of contract, covenants of good faith and fair dealing, enterprise liability and intentional interference with contractual relations.

Blockchain mining is the process of adding transaction records to the bitcoin blockchain.

In June 2022, Black Hills Energy entered into a five-year service agreement with Bison Blockchain involving up to 45 megawatts of power, with an option to expand to as much as 75 megawatts at the North Range Business Park in Cheyenne.

Black Hills said at the time that the facility "will represent one of the largest bitcoin mining operations in the region," according to a press release from the utility.

We were the largest bitcoin miners in the state until we weren't, Murphy told the committee.

In October 2022, Bison Blockchain broke ground on the future site of its MineOne Data Center at North Range. It is now suing MineOne as one of the parties in the lawsuit.

Power is an incredibly important valuable asset in bitcoin mining and the data centers that typically house these operations, as they need a significant amount of electricity to run their operations.

Bison Blockchain leased state land next to a large Black Hills Energy substation to run itsoperations off 30-45 megawatts of power. To put that number in perspective, Murphy said the entire city of Cheyenne runs on about 100-120 megawatts.

Their business model was to generate revenue for the state on a per-miner basis, the process of creating valid blocks that add transaction records to Bitcoin's public ledger. For each Bitcoin miner, the company would pay the state $1 per month.

Bison Blockchain was paying the state $5,000 ayear on its 10-year lease.

Murphy said a large mine like Bison could result in 10,000-15,000 bitcoin miners, representing as much as $1 millionto $2 million revenue for the state over the course of its10-year lease.

The more bitcoin that we mined, the more money the state made, he said. It was a great win-win-win.

Murphy said the other companies acquired private landnext to the Black Hills substation and have since taken over Bison Blockchains service agreement with Black Hills. Now, Murphy said the companies will be using Black Hills power to mine their own bitcoin, all of the proceeds of which he believes will eventually goto China.

What we trying to do was generate more revenue for the state on this state land,but thats been wiped out, he said.

Murphy said Bison Blockchain will continue to honor itslease agreement with the state and will compete with thenew competition.

Were going to compete with the Chinese, he said. Were not going to roll over.

But he implored the committee to helpshore up state regulations, saying the situation is not good and needs to be addressed.

During the 2023 legislative session, two bills were drafted that prohibited Chinese ownershipof land in Wyoming. Both died before making significant traction.

State Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, questioned Murphy if he would commit to not selling his company out to a high bidder some day, which could be a company connected to China.

Murphy didnt deny that his company is in business to make money and that they wouldnt pass upan ideal situation to sell someday. But he also said his company has learned our lesson from working with Chinesecompanies.

He said Bisonsoriginal 10-year lease agreement with the state could have led to more revenue through additional state land leases in the future, where even bitcoin could have gone to the states coffers.

That is an asset I believe the state should look at acquiring, he said.

Currently, Murphy said, the U.S. government only takes in bitcoin by seizure.

Leo Wolfson can be reached at Leo@CowboyStateDaily.com.

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Bitcoin Miner Warns Lawmakers Of 'Chinese Takeover In Wyoming' - Cowboy State Daily

Sept 5 (Reuters) - For venture capitalists, the scars of bitcoin's disastrous 2022 run deep.

While breezy bitcoin has bounced back, leaping by about 55% this year, investments in crypto startups have dropped for the fifth straight quarter.

VC crypto bets totaled just under $2.3 billion in April-July this year, the lowest quarterly level for over three years, according to data firm PitchBook. In the first half of 2023, investments were down by almost three-quarters from a year ago to $5 billion.

"The lofty exuberant valuation days are gone," said Tal Elyashiv, founder and managing partner of SPiCE VC, adding that valuations place on crypto companies had fallen closer in line with their actual performance.

Crypto investors remain haunted by the chaos that descended on the sector last year when the implosion of the FTX exchange and other major firms, including hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, sent shockwaves through the industry.

U.S. regulatory scrutiny has also tightened on the industry.

"The biggest change from the height of the market is more time to do deeper diligence," said Cameron Peake, partner at Restive Ventures. "There's not necessarily anything new that is happening, except that funds are actually doing diligence now. Deals are no longer closing in mere days."

The number of deals that were sealed by the halfway mark of 2023 was 814, down by more than half of 1,862 from the same period in 2022, PitchBook data showed.

"Almost every company in the space tightened up in the aftermath of the carnage of 2022. Those that are raising capital now are probably doing it because they have to," said Adam Reeds, CEO of Toronto-based crypto finance company Ledn.

"I wouldn't be surprised if in the near term that changes from 'have to have' raises to 'nice to have' raises."

If bitcoin prices are any indication, the investment slump may be short-lived.

VC crypto investments have correlated with crypto asset prices with a lag of roughly three to six months, according to PitchBook, and if current trends continue, VC investment would rise during the second half of 2023.

Bitcoin, which fell 65% last year, jumped over 90% in the first six months of 2023 bitcoin and is now up about 55% year-to-date, at $25,881. Still, it is trading at a third of its 2021 peak of $69,000.

METAVERSE? NFTs?

There has also been a shift in the type of VC investment targets, according to the PitchBook data.

A year ago, the focus was on companies tied to speculative non-fungible tokens, as well as metaverse and Web3 projects that sought to build a future - but still unrealized - iteration of the internet with crypto at its core.

Now, though, crypto bets have shifted towards firms that provide the platform or support the underlying technology of blockchain or cryptocurrencies.

Infrastructure firms such as crypto exchanges, wallets and other fintechs attracted the most investments in 2023 at $325 million, followed by blockchain networks at $220 million and Web3 companies at $274.6 million, according to PitchBook.

In the second quarter, the only two funding rounds over $100 million were scored by LayerZero, a platform that connects two blockchains, and digital identity platform WorldCoin.

"Institutional investors are looking for things that are more durable," said Alyse Killeen, founder and managing partner of bitcoin-focused venture firm Stillmark.

"We're seeing less appetite for risk and more appetite for sustaining technology."

Reporting by Medha Singh and Lisa Pauline Mattackal in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Wilson and Pravin Char

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

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Cryptoverse: Venture capital still haunted by crypto chaos - Reuters

BitcoinBTC and crypto could be heading into its biggest ever couple of months, with one well-respected investigator predicting September is going to be "crazy."

Subscribe now to Forbes' CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor and successfully navigate the bitcoin and crypto market rollercoaster

The bitcoin price has swung wildlydragging etheruem and other major cryptocurrencies including XRPXRP, BNBBNB, cardano, dogecoin, solana, tron and toncoin with itas hype built around a flurry of closely watched U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) filings that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has kicked into October (though Tesla billionaire Elon Musk could be about to lob his own grenade into the bitcoin and crypto market).

Now, a top court in China, which has recently moved to open up bitcoin and crypto trading to the mass market in Hong Kong, has written a report declaring crypto is "legal property and protected by law," according to local media reports.

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Virtual currency is not classified as an illegal item. Therefore, under the current legal policy framework, the virtual currency held by relevant entities in our country is still legal property and protected by law," the Peoples Court of China wrote in a report titled "Identification of the Property Attributes of Virtual Currency and Disposal of Property Involved in the Case," according to a local news site ODaily.

"At some point the strategic embrace of crypto technology by the PRC [People's Republic of China] will catch the attention of U.S. policymakers," Faryar Shirzad, chief policy officer at bitcoin and crypto exchange Coinbase, posted to X (Twitter). "Chinese courts dont create a legal framework around anything without the blessing of central authorities."

The court report follows bitcoin and crypto companies in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, being issued licenses to offer crypto trading to the public under a new regulatory regime. Last month, the first licenses were awarded crypto exchanges HashKey and OSL.

Despite China's 2021 bitcoin, ethereum and crypto crackdown, which saw it expel crypto companies and so-called miners who maintain blockchain networks and crashed the bitcoin price, some have predicted Hong Kong is primed to become a global crypto hub.

In June, the chief executive of the stablecoin issuer Circle, Jeremy Allaire, who oversees the $28 billion USDC stablecoin, said he sees "enormous demand" for digital assets in emerging markets, with China and Asia at the "center."

"Hong Kong is clearly looking to establish itself as a very significant center for digital assets markets and stablecoins and we are paying very close attention to that," Allaire told Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China.

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Meanwhile, the Chinese economy is flashing warning signs along with the country's property market, forcing China's central bank to step up its economic stimulus measures.

"China is the most significant risk economically, as we pointed out two weeks ago and the U.S. dollar/Chinese yuan continues to climb higher," Markus Thielen, head of research and strategy at crypto market maker Matrixport, wrote in an emailed note.

"China's doomsday stories must be near an extreme and the authorities appear to acknowledge the problems and are trying to support the economy. Recently, we have seen stories about stock trading stamp duty being cut, some property stimulus attempts, and local fund managers being encouraged to not sell shares."

This week, China's central bank cut the amount of foreign exchange that financial institutions must hold as reserves for the first time this year, while major Chinese banks cut interest rates on a range of yuan deposits.

I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world. As the founding editor of Verdict.co.uk I reported on how technology is changing business, political trends, and the latest culture and lifestyle. I have covered the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrency since 2012 and have charted its emergence as a niche technology into the greatest threat to the established financial system the world has ever seen and the most important new technology since the internet itself. I have worked and written for CityAM, the Financial Times, and the New Statesman, amongst others. Follow me on Twitter @billybambrough or email me on billyATbillybambrough.com.Disclosure: I occasionally hold some small amount of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

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Crypto Suddenly Braced For A Game-Changing China Earthquake That Could Hit The Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, XRP, Cardano, Dogecoin, Solana, Tron And...

trust, a nonprofit organization funded by Twitter (now X) co-founder and Bitcoin (BTC) advocate Jack Dorsey, is scaling up its programs in Africa with a new acquisition.

The nonprofit has acquired Qala, an organization dedicated to training Bitcoin and Lightning Network engineers in Africa. The acquisition will help trust in its mission to drive the development and education of Bitcoin open-source engineers from across the Global South, the organization said in a joint announcement.

As part of the transaction which was completed on Sept. 1 Qala will rebrand as the trust Builders Programme. Founded in 2021, Qala has been engaged with sourcing, training and matching African software developers with global Bitcoin firms, helping them obtain the most relevant skills for the global Bitcoin ecosystem.

According to the announcement, Qala has built one of the biggest online communities of Bitcoin developers in Africa, spanning over 42 countries, including Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda. The programs alumni have secured roles at firms such as Bitcoin-native banking platform Galoy, Lightning-based messenger Sphinx Chat and peer-to-peer platform Bitnob, in addition to obtaining open-source grants from trust and Superlunar.

Under the acquisition terms, Qala CEO Femi Longe and program manager Stephanie Titcombe will join trust as program leads at trust Builders.

Related: Securitize acquires $40B crypto fund manager Onramp

Were incredibly proud to welcome Femi and his excellent team to trust, trust board member Ojoma Ochai said, adding that Qala has made rapid progress in driving open-source development in the Global South.

Dorsey announced the creation of trust in February 2021. Worth 500 BTC, or $23.7 million at the time of the announcement, the nonprofit initially focused on teams in Africa and India. Apart from Dorsey, the trust was initially funded by crypto-friendly rapper Jay-Z. The nonprofit is currently headed up by a board of directors including Abubakar Nur Khalil, Carla Kirk-Cohen, Obi Nwosu and Ochai.

Magazine: Magazine: Bitcoin in Senegal: Why is this African country using BTC?

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Jack Dorsey's trust acquires African Bitcoin organization Qala - Cointelegraph