The Lone Star State of Texas is now the number-one U.S. state for Bitcoin mining, dwarfing rivals by hosting a whopping 28.5% of the nation’s hash rate. The estimate comes from Foundry, the world’s largest Bitcoin mining pool, which aggregated and published data sourced directly from its users. Back in 2021, the firm estimated that the Texas hash rate share was 8.4%. While still comparatively high, it was still surpassed at the time by states like New York (9.5%) and Georgia (34.2%), whose respective shares have fallen to 8.8% and 9.6%. Georgia’s steep drop was partly due to a large miner from the 2021 sample not participating in the 2023 map—but was also partly driven by growth in Texas. Meanwhile, New York’s mining growth has been stagnant since a memorandum against fossil fuel-powered miners took effect last year. Other states like Nebraska, North Carolina, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Washington also experienced major drops. Leading payments company MoneyGram will launch a non-custodial crypto wallet during the first quarter of next year. The company revealed this development at the Stellar (XLM) Development Foundation annual Meridian conference earlier today. According to a Sept. 26 statement, the non-custodial digital wallet will leverage the Stellar network and MoneyGram’s fiat on and off-ramp services to revolutionize cross-border payments and allow customers to transact effortlessly with digital assets and fiat currencies. MoneyGram revealed that transactions on the digital wallet would be free within the first six months of the year. This strategic decision incentivizes the wallet adoption and will help to attract a wider user base. Meanwhile, MoneyGram said the wallet will implement the company’s global compliance screening tools for all users. This ensures that the wallet will enforce comprehensive “know-your-customer” (KYC) requirements to adhere to local regulatory mandates. Digital banking giant Chase U.K. said it will “decline” crypto-related payments made by its users starting October 16. In emails sent to customers and obtained by CryptoSlate, the bank stated that its decision would help its users keep their “money safe from frauds and scams” as fraudsters increasingly relied on cryptocurrencies to steal from people. Chase U.K. has yet to respond to CryptoSlate’s request for comment as of press time. It should be noted that Chase U.K. is a subsidiary of the blockchain-friendly financial giant J.P. Morgan. J.P. Morgan started offering clients access to its blockchain-powered payment platform for European transactions in June. Additionally, there are indications that the bank is exploring the development of a unique blockchain-based digital deposit token, distinct from its existing JPM Coin. Meanwhile, Chase’s decision follows a similar trend taken by several high-profile U.K. banks, including HSBC, Nationwide, and Banco Santander, following the FTX’s collapse last year. The banks cited the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) warnings about crypto as high-risk investment assets for their decisions. You can find these stories and more at the link below:
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