nuclear - Pwim.Net

King’s College Report: Blockchain Could be Pivotal in Nuclear Disarmament

Through its new policy report dubbed ‘The Trust Machine: Blockchain in Nuclear Disarmament and Arms Control Verification,’ King’s College London discloses that blockchain technology could be pivotal in dismantling nuclear warheads reliably, securely, and safely.

Building trust in nuclear disarmament

By leveraging blockchain technology, parties involved in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty will build trust needed in arms control verification and nuclear disarmament.

King’s College London released the report through its Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS), noting that blockchain’s unique elements correlate with the data management requirements in disarmament procedures.

Lyndon Burford, a CSSS research associate, noted:

“Countries around the world face the critical policy challenge of reducing nuclear risks, and cooperative disarmament and arms control measures can help with that task. But governments often lack sufficient trust in each other to cooperate on such measures, partly due to strategic and legal concerns not to reveal sensitive information.”

Blockchain nicknamed ‘the trust machine’

Blockchain technology ensures data encryption, making it tamperproof. As a result, it is expected to develop a technical foundation for cooperation among non-trusting parties in the disarmament process, leading to the nickname ‘the trust machine.’

The report stated:

“Verifying the dismantlement of a nuclear warhead creates an enormous amount of sensitive data. Inspectors need to record the status and locations of warheads, the details of on-site inspections, and the status of various facilities.”

Therefore, maximal confidence is necessitated in these procedures. Blockchain is expected to spearhead this objective by acting as an international confidence-building measure by permitting third parties, including non-nuclear-weapon countries, to authenticate disarmament information without seeing it. Furthermore, blockchain is anticipated to:

“Provide a secure base layer for a private internet-of-things made up of location sensors and environmental monitors, allowing real-time monitoring at remote sites and automatically alerting participants to potential treaty violations.”

Last month, the United States National Security Council named distributed ledger technology (DLT) as one of the most critical areas that will give the nation an upper hand in the US-China tech cold war.

Miami Mayor Embraces Chinese Bitcoin Miners

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said the city welcomes Chinese Bitcoin miners as a new home for Bitcoin mining, CNBC reported Thursday.

‘Hey, we want you to be here,” Suarez, the republican mayor and one of the most crypto-friendly politicians in the U.S., accepted an interview from CNBC Thursday, said the city open doors to Bitcoin miners amid the recent crackdown of Bitcoin mining activities.

Since China’s regulators tighten domestic Bitcoin mining and illegal energy generation activities, many Chinese Bitcoin miners are reportedly migrating out of China. It is estimated over 50% of Bitcoin miners come from China. According to CNBC’s coverage, Texas could be one of the favour destinations among cheap electricity supply and crypto-friendly states in the U.S.

Bitcoin mining requires stable internet connections and high-efficiency processors to support this energy-intensive and highly demanding process. Suarez said Miami enjoys nuclear power as a clean and inexpensive energy source, hoping that the city will attract more investment and create more jobs.

“We understand how important this is…miners want to get to a certain kilowatt price per hour. And so we’re working with them on that; We want to make sure that our city has an opportunity to compete,”

Suarez emphasized he has not received any personal calls from Chinese BTC miners and admits his ambition cannot achieve overnight. Yet, he is optimistic and believes that the city can meet the needs of bitcoin miners by promoting its unlimited and cheap nuclear power supply.

His administration also considers various incentives for developing crypto mining, including establishing enterprise zones with tax concessions, infrastructure incentives and scaled-back regulations for crypto mining.

Nuclear energy dominates the second-biggest source after natural gas of generating power across the Florida State. Miami is already in negotiations with state enterprises on how to drive down the price of energy.

Similarly, El Salvador considers using a volcanic-power energy generation system to resolve the energy sustainability issue since the central American country became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as flat money.

Virgil Griffith Sentenced to 5-Year Jail for Helping Individuals in North Korea Evade Sanctions

The strong hands of the law have been stretched to Virgil Griffith, an American national and one of the Ethereum core programmers, who is sentenced to 63 months in jail by U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel for allegedly helping individuals in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) evade the US imposed sanctions.

The relations between North Korea and the United States remain intense as North Korea is reportedly still active with its nuclear program, which is still under sanctions by the United Nations. Based on this, the U.S. government enacted the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to prevent U.S. entities from doing business or selling technologies that can aid North Korea’s threats.

Despite knowing this, the Department of Justice (DoJ) said in its announcement that Griffith and his co-conspirators have developed and managed technologies that can help North Korean individuals mine crypto and eventually evade sanctions. The DoJ revealed that against the approval of relevant authorities, Griffith not just travelled to North Korea by offering services directly to the country, but he also had sought to recruit other American citizens to do the same.

“There is no question North Korea poses a national security threat to our nation, and the regime has shown time and again it will stop at nothing to ignore our laws for its own benefit. Mr. Griffith admitted in court he took actions to evade sanctions, which are in place to prevent the DPRK from building a nuclear weapon. Justice has been served with the sentence handed down today,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.

Griffith, 39, pled guilty to the charges levied against him, and following his sentence, he will be placed on 3 years of supervised release atop a $100,000 fine. The DoJ is known to be proactive when it comes to high-profile fraudulent cases featuring crypto-linked entities. One of the crackdowns launched by the DoJ in recent years involves former BitMEX co-founder and CEO, Arthur Hayes, who promptly resigned from the role following the criminal charges levied against him and other executives of the trading firm.