Court Rules Against Crypto Mining Company, Won’t Force BC Hydro to Provide Power + More Crypto News

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of blockchain and crypto news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s news.

In today’s edition:

• Court Rules Against Crypto Mining Company, Will Not Force BC Hydro to Provide Power
• YouHodler Gets Bank of Spain’s Virtual Asset Service Provider Registration
• Tether Leads Oobit’s $25M Series A Funding Round

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Court Rules Against Crypto Mining Company, Will Not Force BC Hydro to Provide Power

Conifex Timber Inc., a forestry firm with a crypto mining business, has lost a court battle in which it had aimed to force BC Hydro, a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia, to provide the power needed for its operations, the National Post reported.

In December 2022, the provincial government decided to pause new connections for cryptocurrency mining for 18 months. Conifex Timber wanted the policy declared invalid.

The court upheld the government’s right, stating that the move was “reasonable” and not “unduly discriminatory.”

On Monday, Conifex Timber said that it’s “disappointed” with the court’s ruling and is considering an appeal.

The statement said that “Conifex continues to believe that the provincial government is missing out on several opportunities available to it to improve energy affordability, accelerate technological innovation, strengthen the reliability and resiliency of the power distribution grid in British Columbia, and achieve more inclusive economic growth.”

Before the provincial government paused new power connections, BC Hydro released a report. It claimed that power demand from crypto mining operations would challenge clean energy and electrification goals.

The court ruling said connection requests over the last few years from cryptocurrency miners in B.C. “far exceeded” BC Hydro’s projections.

It added that the pause was in response to “the very real prospect that devoting such a large proportion of the available electrical power supply to one industry would leave less energy for other uses which might result in increased costs to all other residential and industry customers in B.C.”

YouHodler Gets Bank of Spain’s Virtual Asset Service Provider Registration

Swiss-based Web3 fintech platform YouHodler has obtained its Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registration from the Bank of Spain.

According to the press release, YouHodler can now provide its suite of Web3 financial services to individual and enterprise users in Spain. It is in full compliance with the nation’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) regulations.

The completion of this VASP registration, it said, “complements the company’s existing authorizations and licenses across the EU, particularly before the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation takes effect.”

YouHodler’s suite of Web3 fintech services is available in more than 60 countries, the firm said. It is designed to enable a seamless connection between fiat and crypto financial services.

The platform offers a tool that helps investors capitalize on market volatility. It further offers instant credit cards, bank withdrawals, and support for more than 50 coins as collateral.

This is in addition to its enterprise solutions, it said. These enable companies like cryptocurrency exchanges, digital wallets, and retail digital payment providers to expand their offerings with the support of YouHodler’s technology.

Tether Leads Oobit’s $25M Series A Funding Round

USDT issuer Tether has announced its investment in the mobile payment application Oobit.

Per the press release, the Series A funding round has concluded with $25 million raised. It will be used to support its goal of mainstream cryptocurrency adoption.

The round was led by Tether’s investment arm, with participation from CMCC Global’s Titan Fund, 468 Capital, and Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, among others.

Oobit’s mobile payment app enables crypto holders to Tap & Pay at over 100 million retailers worldwide, accepting Visa and Mastercard. Hence, merchants can effortlessly adopt digital assets as a form of payment, the announcement says.

Future updates to Oobit will enable customers to make crypto payments while ensuring that merchants seamlessly receive fiat currency in return.

The Oobit app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Users can connect it with Oobit’s native blockchain wallet to enable payments via USDT, BTC, and other digital assets.