A major cybersecurity incident has exposed sensitive personal and health records of tens of thousands of Americans.

In a notice, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) says 103,000 individuals across the United States with accounts on Medicare.gov are impacted by a data breach.

CMS says it discovered that user data had been compromised after receiving multiple complaints through its call center. According to the federal agency, hackers may have used information from external sources to collect data such as names, dates of birth, Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers, coverage start dates and ZIP codes to fraudulently create Medicare.gov accounts.

Once inside, the thieves gained access to more sensitive data, including provider details, mailing addresses, dates of service, diagnosis codes, services received and plan premiums.

“On May 2, 2025, representatives at our 1-800-MEDICARE call center flagged complaints from people with Medicare who had received a letter through the mail about the creation of a Medicare.gov account. However, these callers hadn’t created the accounts or asked anyone else to do it for them.

Noticing the similarities in the reports, we investigated further and discovered more cases of accounts created between 2023 and 2025 that matched this pattern. We quickly deactivated those accounts, while also launching a larger effort to find the bad actors who created them.”

The CMS is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services tasked with overseeing the country’s healthcare programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Health Insurance Marketplace.

The CMS is encouraging affected individuals to get a free credit report from each of the three major nationwide credit reporting companies. The agency also says that it hasn’t received any reports of identity fraud or improper use of personal information as a result of the incident.

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

About Author

Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked…

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July 10, 2025

The Russian government is poised to ban domestic data processing centers from mining crypto if they use subsidized power.

The Russian media outlet RBC reported that the government has revamped a draft law on mining that passed a first reading in the State Duma back in 2022.

Government officials are now working with lawmakers on a bid to refine the bill ahead of a second reading.

Mining Crypto Soon to Be Off-limits in Many Russian Data Centers

The bill proposes asking data processing centers to sign up to a registry curated by the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications.

This process will involve operators pledging not to mine crypto at their centers. Only operators who make these pledges will be allowed to receive electricity at preferential rates.

The bill’s architects say its goal is to prevent miners from being able to claim benefits when paying for electricity.

These benefits will only be provided only to data centers that have been formally recognized as “communication facilities.”

Russian electricity firms provide subsidized power to residential users, as well as industrial sector and commercial firms.

But in recent months, lawmakers have called for power companies to roll out special unsubsidized rates for crypto mining companies.

Membership of the registry will be entirely voluntary, the bill’s authors added. However, all firms that join the registry will be barred from even housing crypto mining rigs, even if these are not connected to the internet.

Industrial Miners Say They’re Ready to Comply

Russian crypto mining experts said the bill has not taken them by surprise. RBC quoted the Intelion Director-General Artem Shchepinov as stating that he anticipated the measure.

Shchepinov added that it would help solidify Russia’s technological sovereignty and strengthening regulated its digital infrastructure.

Others, however, complained that Moscow has not asked the private sector for input before formulating the bill.

A blockchain expert was quoted as saying that the new law could have a detrimental impact on both the industrial crypto mining industry and the conventional data center industry.

But a data center operator claimed the move would do little to dent the capabilities of major industrial miners.

These centers are “self-sufficient and sustainable,” he said, and “do not require government support.”

Dual-use Facilities

However, many major industrial miners operate dual-use centers. These facilities can house both mining and more conventional IT resources.

Shchepinov appeared to suggest that his company has already begun preparing for the change. He gave the example of Intelion’s facilities in the Samara Oblast.

The executive explained that Intelion has already divided this facility into “two clusters that provide crypto mining and AI computing in parallel.”

In May, industry figures revealed that Intelion and BitRiver’s combined revenues for the financial year 2024 hit the $200 million mark.

Around 90% of Russian industrial miners focus their efforts on Bitcoin (BTC), most experts in the nation agree.

However, a significant number of home-based miners in the nation prefer to miner Ethereum (ETH), crypto enthusiasts have told Cryptonews.com.

Pakistan has allocated 2,000 megawatts of surplus electricity exclusively for Bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence centers.

The move is part of a broader digital transformation plan spearheaded by the Pakistan Crypto Council and backed by the Ministry of Finance, according to a May 25 report by local news outlet 24NewsHD TV Channel.

In the first phase, the government plans to channel excess power into AI infrastructure and crypto mining operations. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the decision is expected to attract billions in foreign investment while generating high-tech employment across the country.

The initiative’s second phase will introduce access to renewable energy for mining operations, aiming to balance growth with environmental responsibility.

Related: Trump-backed World Liberty Financial partners with Pakistan Crypto Council

Pakistan unveils tax incentives to attract investors

Per the report, interest from international Bitcoin (BTC) miners and AI firms has already picked up. Officials confirmed that multiple foreign delegations have visited Pakistan in recent months to explore potential partnerships.

To further incentivize investment, the Ministry of Finance announced a package of tax incentives for AI centers and duty exemptions for Bitcoin miners.

Bilal Bin Saqib, CEO of Pakistan’s Crypto Council, reportedly welcomed the development, calling it a “turning point” for the country’s digital economy.

Saqib claimed that with clear regulations and a transparent framework, Pakistan could emerge as a significant player in the global crypto and AI sectors.

Saqib first proposed using the country’s runoff energy to fuel Bitcoin mining at the Crypto Council’s inaugural meeting on March 21.

The meeting included lawmakers, the Bank of Pakistan’s governor, the chairman of Pakistan’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SECP), and the federal information technology secretary.

Related: Pakistan proposes compliance-based crypto regulatory framework — Report

Pakistan creates Digital Asset Authority

On May 21, Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance endorsed the creation of a dedicated body to regulate blockchain-based financial infrastructure in the country.

The Pakistan Digital Assets Authority (PDAA) will serve as a regulatory body to oversee licensing and regulating exchanges, custodians, wallets, tokenized platforms, stablecoins, and decentralized finance applications.

The PDAA will also be tasked with tokenizing national assets and government debt, facilitating monetization of Pakistan’s surplus electricity through regulated Bitcoin mining, and helping startups build blockchain-based solutions at scale.

Pakistan ranked highly in Chainalysis’ 2024 crypto adoption index, coming in ninth, mainly due to strong retail adoption and transactions at centralized services.

Data from Statista also shows Pakistan’s crypto market is “experiencing rapid growth,” estimating the number of crypto users to amount to over 27 million by 2025, out of a population of 247 million.

Magazine: Bitcoin bears eye $69K, CZ denies WLF ‘fixer’ rumors: Hodler’s Digest, May 18 – 24

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/pakistan-allocates-2000mw-power-for-bitcoin-mining-and-ai-centers/feed/ 0 38222 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/ai-and-mining-data-centers-convergence/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/ai-and-mining-data-centers-convergence/#respond Fri, 23 May 2025 06:02:36 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/ai-and-mining-data-centers-convergence/

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In recent months, AI (artificial intelligence) workloads have gone from theoretical benchmarks to real-time economic pressure on global infrastructure.

From language models serving millions of queries per hour to diffusion models requiring vast GPU clusters for inference, the strain on power grids and compute resources is accelerating.

Surprisingly, the infrastructure best positioned to absorb this load isn’t housed in Silicon Valley or hyperscale server farms – but in mining data centers.

From PoW (proof-of-work) to generative AI

Cryptocurrency mining centers were built on the premise of high-density, power-intensive computation – optimized for efficiency, uptime and thermal control.

These are the same foundations required for modern AI.

But there’s a critical difference – while mining processes are relatively bursty and can be interrupted without business loss, AI workloads are sustained, precision-driven and delay-sensitive.

This contrast presents an opportunity.

By upgrading cooling systems – particularly through immersion and liquid-based technologies – and optimizing power distribution infrastructure, mining data centers can become hybrid environments.

They can run crypto mining when energy costs are low and switch to AI inference jobs when GPU demand spikes.

Emerging orchestration platforms, combined with AI-specific scheduling tools, allow dynamic switching between tasks.

These tools have demonstrated up to 27 to 33% improvement in job completion times and 1.53x reductions in queuing delays.

The economic layer is equally compelling – if AI demand is monetized through inference marketplaces, mining operations may find it more profitable to rent compute power than to mine certain assets.

Some mining centers already experiment with FPGA-based setups, which are ASIC-resistant and natively suitable for AI training.

This opens the door to full interoperability – where the same infrastructure processes both PoW blocks and transformer models, depending on market conditions.

When scale becomes a liability

Despite its early lead in AI investment, the US faces a looming infrastructure wall. In Virginia, data centers consume more than 25% of the state’s electricity.

In Santa Clara, over 50 data centers now draw 60% of the city’s total power usage, forcing Silicon Valley Power to drastically expand its transmission systems – raising rates for both industrial and residential users.

Numerous research show that global electricity demand could more than triple by 2030, largely due to AI.

If these projections hold, the US will need not just additional power but smarter load balancing strategies – which traditional hyperscale AI facilities, tied to rigid uptime SLAs, are poorly suited for.

To meet this soaring demand, the US must rapidly diversify its energy sources.

Scaling up renewables – including utility-scale solar, wind and hydropower – will play a critical role.

Yet these sources are inherently intermittent, creating volatility on the grid. This is where mining data centers offer a surprising stabilizing advantage.

Designed with demand-flexible architecture, they can pause or throttle operations based on grid load, absorbing excess generation during peak renewable output and scaling down during low-production periods.

In Texas, this flexibility has already led to collaborative load-shedding agreements between mining operations and grid operators, positioning these facilities as extremely valuable in next-generation power management.

Alternative strategies are also emerging. Electricity imports from Canada, especially through HVDC (high-voltage direct current) lines tapping into hydroelectric power, are under active exploration.

On the domestic front, SMRs (small modular reactors) represent a promising path.

Developed by several firms and already approved by US regulators, SMRs offer safe, decentralized nuclear power – ideal for pairing with regional AI hubs and compute-heavy facilities.

The next AI frontier

Bitcoin mining has acted as the early mover in this trend. Yet the real story isn’t just about mining – it’s about what comes next.

Mining infrastructure is paving the way for AI to compute at scale.

These facilities are testing grounds – where local talent is trained, operational processes are refined and regulatory pathways are explored.

With modest hardware upgrades and improved connectivity, many mining centers could pivot to support AI workloads, offering a low-latency, cost-efficient backbone for global model inference.

The door to full interoperability

What’s needed is a reframing of what data center infrastructure should look like in the AI era.

Rather than defaulting to hyperscalers, the future may be modular, flexible and geographically distributed, led by hybrid centers that know how to manage thermal loads, optimize for cost per watt and shift operational models in real time.

Batyr is the founder and CEO of Uminers, a full-cycle mining infrastructure provider. He has deep background in data center development, cryptocurrency mining and AI-driven technologies.

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any loses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

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