Researchers from Microsoft, OpenAI, and NVIDIA led by Esha Choukse report that synchronized AI training can trigger megawatt-scale power oscillations at 0.2–3 Hz, risking grid resonance and equipment fatigue. Using production telemetry, the team evaluates three mitigations: Firefly software “fill” loads, GB200 GPU power-smoothing (ramp limits and minimum power floors), and rack-level energy storage. A GB200 floor of 90% TDP stabilizes swings but adds ~10.5% energy overhead; storage can smooth without burning energy but raises cost and space needs. “These issues are not theoretical—multiple utility providers have now documented” harmonic impacts, the authors write. They propose a co-designed stack plus spectral backstops. To protect this developing grid use case, utilities must publish frequency specs while OCP convenes standards for telemetry and sub-synchronous damping. This can translate to dense digital-asset facilities, where power harmonics already shape interconnection rules, supporting more resilient grids and continued scaling.
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Ruihe Data, a Hong Kong–listed big data and AI company, has entered the bitcoin mining sector by purchasing hosted hashrate from Bitmain, according to a stock exchange filing. The deal diversifies Ruihe’s business while aligning with Hong Kong’s push to grow its digital asset industry. Bitmain is offering hosted Antminer S21 Hydro and S21e Hydro rigs, priced at $15/TH/s and $13/TH/s, with flexible settlement terms designed to ensure customers recoup at least 105% of their investment in under a year. “Bitcoin mining is a distinct business segment” with high-return potential, Ruihe noted. The offering underscores diverging strategies: while Asian firms pursue hosted hashrate models, U.S. miners are pulling back from large-scale bitcoin deployments to focus on AI and HPC infrastructure. With hashprice estimates already running 10% below Bitmain’s projections, the move highlights both opportunity and risk in modern’s mining economics.
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At bitcoin++ privacy edition in Riga, developers and researchers explored the frontier of Bitcoin privacy, highlighting both progress and limitations. As niftynei reports, attendee Eltordev quipped, “you wouldn’t give your mom a UTXO,” illuminating the usability gap in on-chain transactions and his belief that Lightning offers more practical individual privacy. Talks from Elias Rohrer of Spiral and Claudia Diaz of Nym showed that Lightning obscures some data but still leaks patterns at the packet and topology levels, requiring updates like message padding and randomized timings. Workshops also examined coinjoin tradeoffs, ecash innovations such as Cashu’s planned variable-denomination notes, and projects like El Tor and TollGate, which tie Lightning to Tor routing and WiFi access payments. White Noise demonstrated progress on secure group messaging via MLS over nostr, while Cashu and Fedimint contributors stressed privacy’s role in resisting tyranny. The conference’s theme was clear: while Bitcoin’s on-chain privacy remains limited, off-chain protocols, Lightning, ecash, decentralized messaging, are driving meaningful advances.
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Credit card fees, though invisible to consumers, represent a “quiet tax” on nearly every transaction, draining $172 billion from U.S. merchants in 2023 alone, as reported in Lightning News. The four-party system funnels money through issuers, acquirers, processors, and networks, with interchange fees—often above 2% in the U.S., dominating costs. Visa’s 66% operating margin and Mastercard’s $9.8 trillion in annual volume illustrate how payment rails evolved into lucrative toll roads. Globally, fees range from 0.05% in Europe under regulatory caps to more than 4% in Latin America. Consumers bear these costs indirectly, as merchants bake fees into prices. Research shows this creates regressive transfers, with premium card users benefiting at others’ expense. Alternatives like Brazil’s PIX and Bitcoin’s Lightning Network demonstrate lower-cost models: Steak ’n Shake cut processing costs 50% by adding Lightning payments. If shoppers recognized the embedded fees, “there would be a revolution before tomorrow.”
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