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If the Disney Channel Original Movie Smart House came out today, the villainesque home would have Amazon Alexas embedded in the walls, use too much artificial intelligence, and somehow mine Bitcoin.

At one West Philly home, one of those futuristic home improvements is coming true.

A new listing at 835 N. 42nd St. in Belmont has three bedrooms, lots of natural light, outdoor space and a built-in cryptocurrency miner designed to generate passive income for the homeowner.

How it works: the miner is an inconspicuous black box that runs on Helium, a new cryptocurrency connected to the internet of things, the network that connects smart fridges, smart toasters, and other high-tech appliances. In this instance, the device connects to an antenna and a wifi router, and borrows bits of your internet bandwidth to mine crypto.

The more the Helium hotspot is used, the more crypto youll earn. You can follow along with your progress on an app, and experts say the new coin might be more environmentally friendly than other crypto.

When Billy Penn toured the house last weekend, the hotspot was mining $2.75 worth of cryptocurrency a day, which means it could net about $80 a month at Heliums current value. The hotspot only costs $1.50 a month in terms of electricity, which means its pretty easy to churn a profit at least according to Mark Masih, the realtor on the listing.

You can get a more real world estimate using a Helium explorer app, which will tell you there are currently 7 Helium hotspots in the neighborhood. Most are inactive, but the two that are running earned $16 and $25 last month, respectively.

Asia Hightower is a 42-year-old first time home-buyer who lived in Belmont for nearly 30 years before moving slightly west. When she saw Masihs listing, her first impression was Thats a nice house.

She liked the location, the finishes, and the brightness of the interior. But what really left an impression was the Helium hotspot.

It shocked the hell out of me. Once I realized what Mark was doing, I thought it was so forward thinking, Hightower told Billy Penn. It would be like walking into a savings account.

For Masih, its not about how much money the house generates, but what it represents: an opportunity for modern financial literacy.

In recent months, crypto has been called the currency of the alt-right, as white supremacists groups like the Daily Stormer turned to the decentralized tender to avoid financial oversight. And while 44% of cryptocurrency traders are people of color, theres a growing fear that a lack of access might box them out of future earnings.

There are a lot of demographics who might miss out on it, Masih said, and I want whoever buys this house and takes its value in to be someone who might not traditionally know about crypto.

In Belmont, a majority Black neighborhood, the median household income is a little over $25,000. The average sale price right now for a home in the area is about $97,000.

Masihs listing is going for $239,000. No one has made an offer yet, but that hasnt stopped him from thinking about the ideal buyer or how negotiations might go.

The order of importance is someone from the neighborhood, then someone who represents the neighborhood, said Masih. And if someone who fits that profile came in a little under asking [price], Id still prefer to sell to them.

Maish has been a real estate professional on and off for 8 years, and he works with Compass Realty, selling homes in West Philly, Kensington, and Fishtown.

Hightower fits his profile of the ideal buyer: from the area, open-minded, and excited about crypto. After she received her first round of stimulus checks during the pandemic, she bought $200 worth of Bitcoin and Etherum because it was trendy. Since then, shes diversified her portfolio a bit and earned back her initial investment.

Hightower says she sees the value in the home, but can imagine why older community members might not be interested.

An interactive map from the City Controllers Office reveals at least three gun violence hotspots within the neighborhood. Many residents are concerned that housing redevelopment and gentrification arent the right solutions. Hightower herself moved out.

For lots of long-time residents, better means flight. It means getting out of the neighborhood, said Hightower. After a while you get jaded and tired of the things that come along with living in this community.

On the environmental side, traditional Bitcoin mining is energy intensive. Large mining setups burn more electricity than some countries, while each individual transaction uses enough electricity to power the average American household for 6 weeks.

Helium hotspots just like the one in this West Philly house might end up being a sustainable alternative for those looking to get into decentralized finance, says PennFuture Director Rob Altenburg, who has examined the impact of crypto mining on Pennsylvanias environment.

What we dont like about Bitcoin is the wastefulness baked into it, Altenburg told Billy Penn. Helium could be a good alternative, since it doesnt have this wasteful proof of work system.

Because Helium more or less runs on ethernet, its energy consumption is much lower in comparison to Bitcoin.

Masih, the realtor, is cautious about whether or not the Helium hotspot will help sell the house, let alone solve any major environmental or economic problems.

I dont want someone to buy the house for the miner, Maish said. Helium is a token. It can fall apart next week.

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Philadelphia house that mines cryptocurrency for sale - On top of Philly news - Billy Penn

FBI Director Christopher Wray said Thursday that the Russians "highly overestimated" their ability to circumvent international sanctions through the use of cryptocurrency.

Wray added that there have been some "very significant seizures" of Russian-owned cryptocurrency since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in late February.

"The Russians' ability to circumvent the sanctions with cryptocurrency is probably highly overestimated on the part of maybe them and others," Wray said Thursday during a hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. "We are, as a community and with our partners overseas, far more effective on that than I think sometimes they appreciate."

BIDEN TO ISSUE CRYPTO EXECUTIVE ORDER AMID FEARS OF RUSSIA EVADING SANCTIONS

"We have built up significant expertise both at the FBI and with some of our partners, and there have been some very significant seizures and other efforts that I think have exposed the vulnerability of cryptocurrency as a way to get around sanctions," Wray added.

Wray's comments were an apparent dig at cryptocurrency critics such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, who has labeled digital decentralized currencies a threat to national security and has suggested Russian oligarchs are actively bypassing economic sanctions through their use.

"We're going after two things: trying to squeeze the Russian economy and also trying to squeeze those oligarchs, right? The problem is, we're doing that only through the formal banking system, Warren said Tuesday. Those oligarchs can move a lot of money or store a lot of money or hide a lot of money through crypto.

Warren warned Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a letter last Wednesday that Russian actors may use cryptocurrency as a tool for sanctions evasion.

Strong enforcement of sanctions compliance in the cryptocurrency industry is critical given that digital assets, which allow entities to bypass the traditional financial system, may increasingly be used as a tool for sanctions evasion," Warren said in the letter, which was also signed by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, and Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed.

Republican lawmakers have also expressed concern that Russians may leverage cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions.

Cryptocurrency is rearing its ugly head here, Sen. Lindsey Graham said last week. "As you sanction the [Russian] central bank, which is a good thing, I worry about how the cryptocurrency could be used by the Russians to stay afloat.

But a Treasury Department official told NBC News on Tuesday that Russians won't find cryptocurrency an effective tool to evade sanctions.

It will be extremely challenging to evade our sanctions without detection, the unnamed official told NBC News. "Treasury has been significantly increasing its ability to track virtual currency transactions via partnerships across the [federal government] and with the private sector."

Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, announced Monday it blocked 25,000 accounts linked to Russian people and entities that the company believed to be "engaging in illicit activity."

Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal explained that cryptocurrency transactions are "traceable, permanent, and public" and that digital assets "have properties that naturally deter common approaches to sanctions evasion."

President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday ordering the federal government to create assessments and action plans to mitigate the risks that illicit use of digital currencies pose to the financial and national security sectors.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Biden's order also accelerates the research and development of an official U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency "should issuance be deemed in the national interest."

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Putin overestimated ability to bypass sanctions with cryptocurrency, FBI boss says - Washington Examiner

Cryptocurrency is everywhere. Youve seen it advertised on TV and heard about it on your favorite podcasts. Now it's time to break down the basics.

WASHINGTON Does it feel like cryptocurrency is everywhere you look? Super Bowl commercials, social media ads and all this talk about Bitcoin. If it wasn't obvious before, cryptocurrency has officially hit the mainstream.

If you have questions about cryptocurrency and don't know where to start, you're in the right place.

Welcome to Cryptocurrency 101: the basics of cryptocurrency. In this article, well break down cryptocurrency into four parts:

What is cryptocurrency?

Encryption, Bitcoin, digital wallets and private keys. These are all cryptocurrency terms you might have heard before, but what do they mean?

Cryptocurrency is a currency or a medium of exchange that is based on solving code. The very word itself is two words combined. Cryptography, the study, and practice of sending secure messages or data between two or more parties and currency, a system of money.

Bidisha Chakrabarty, Ph.D., from Saint Louis University, broke down cryptocurrency into three parts.

To restrict it to the definition of cryptocurrency, its these currencies which are cryptographic, which means they have to be digitized, encrypted and decentralized, said Chakrabarty.

Unlike cash or gold, cryptocurrency does not exist physically but exists on computers in a series of digits, hence making it digitized. Cryptocurrency is not measured in quantities like the dollar, for instance, but it is expressed in digits of zero and one. Because cryptocurrency is expressed in digits, that means it is encrypted and stored on a network of computers.

What this process does, very simply is it takes this original representation of the currency, the cryptocurrency that you're trying to keep, and then it encrypts it, you know, call it a plain text. And then when you send it to someone, just like you would be doing a transaction with any currency that you're letting someone use, you're going to give them some way of decoding it on their side, said Chakrabarty.

With centralized currencies like the U.S. dollar, transactions are verified by going through your bank, but when it comes to cryptocurrency, the process is different. This is when the blockchain comes in.

According to Coinbase, a blockchain is a list of transactions that anyone can view and verify. The blockchain technology makes it possible to transfer money online without a middleman.

Cryptocurrencies use blockchains to maintain these transactions, and because these cryptocurrency transactions are maintained in this blockchain, there is no need for any central party like a bank, said Chakrabarty.

According to Investopedia, a blockchain records each transaction as a block of data, and that data cant be deleted or altered. Blockchains are described as a form of public ledger where details of your transaction are recorded and verified by the people in your network.

What makes cryptocurrency valuable?

In recent years, cryptocurrencies have been popping up like weeds.

Cryptocurrency is so popular that after 22 years of operation, the Lakers and Clippers home arena was renamed Crypto.com Arena in December of 2021.

Bitcoin, the first and best-known cryptocurrency, has a current value in the tens of thousands of dollars and at one time was above $70,000.

Okay, so cryptocurrency is popular, but what determines its monetary value?

Professor Andrew Wu from the University of Michigan teaches cryptocurrency to more than 120,000 students, and he says the reasoning behind the value of cryptocurrency is very simple.

The actual value that these units have in people's mind, like Bitcoin, for example, is whatever people believe it to be, Wu explained.

Because a group of people assigned monetary value to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, now people are willing to pay for it, even if its priced at $40,000.

Youre probably wondering why people assign value to crypto, and its because Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have some traits that make them attractive as a mode of exchange.

For example, the nature of cryptocurrency puts a hard limit on the number of units that can exist. That means theres a limited supply. That makes it different from cash, which governments can always print more of, causing the value of the cash to go down. Crypto can be a hedge against that kind of inflation.

Not everyone has to accept the value of Bitcoin if enough people do, and the more people that do accept Bitcoins value, the higher its value can rise.

People believe that it has some way it has some value, for example, either as an inflation hedge, or as a way of a speculative vehicle. So, it's very similar to a digital version of gold, and that's basically the case for almost all of these cryptocurrencies out there, said Professor Wu.

How do you invest/buy cryptocurrency?

So now that we know what cryptocurrency is and what makes it valuable, lets talk about how you can invest and buy cryptocurrency.

First, you have to choose a cryptocurrency exchange. A cryptocurrency exchange is a platform where you can buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrency. There are plenty of exchanges out there, so its important to spend time researching all the exchanges before making your decision. Some exchanges have fees, others rank higher in security, and some are for beginners. So, choose the one that works best for your investment needs.

Wu recommends sticking with reputable exchanges like Coinbase and Binance.US.

Don't go to the unknown ones, you know. It doesn't matter what they say to you. They might give you bonuses for you to trade, they might, you know, have a bunch of promotional campaigns. Don't do that because they could easily take your money away, said Wu.

After you pick a crypto exchange, the process is very similar to the stock market. Create an account with that exchange and fund your account with fiat money. Fiat, meaning a government-issued currency, like the U.S. dollar.

After youve funded your account, decide which crypto you want to buy. Coinmarket.com displays a plethora of cryptocurrencies to choose from including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin.

Once youve done that, place a buy order for your crypto and store your crypto in a digital wallet, which keeps your private keys and cryptocurrency safe.

Your private key is like a password. According to Coinbase, its a string of letters and number that allows you to access and manage your cryptocurrency.

Traditional stock investment apps like Robinhood, PayPal and Cashapp, have also added crypto trading for its users. Even Coinstar allows you to buy Bitcoin.

Bidisha Chakrabarty, Ph.D., said if youve ever used Apple Pay or Venmo, youd be familiar with how this process works.

Then you could just use that digital wallet. From that wallet you can use whichever cryptocurrency you bought to make payments to other entities who will accept that cryptocurrency. Now, everyone does not accept every cryptocurrency unlike say, dollars. Everyone accepts dollars as a payment in this country, but cryptocurrencies are not that way, said Chakrabarty.

What are the risks of buying and investing in cryptocurrency?

Of course, with the excitement of any new financial venture comes potential risks for investors.

The Federal Trade Commission shared last year that 7,000 people had reported losses to fake cryptocurrency investments. The losses totaled more than $80 million. The report also noted that people between 20 and 30 have lost more money on investment scams than any other type of fraud.

The FTC cautioned cryptocurrency investors to be sure to research before investing, be wary of big promises or promotions, and said anyone who requests you pay by cryptocurrency, wire transfer, or gift card could be a scammer.

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Cryptocurrency 101: Breaking down the basics - 13News Now

President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order on cryptocurrency this week that will mark the first step toward regulating how digital currency is traded

By FATIMA HUSSEIN and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press

March 7, 2022, 11:38 PM

3 min read

WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order on cryptocurrency this week that will mark the first step toward regulating how digital currency is traded.

The move comes as administration officials have raised concerns in recent weeks about Russias use of cryptocurrency to evade the impact of crushing sanctions in response to its invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions have sent the ruble to historic lows and have closed the country's stock market.

Two people familiar with the process said the executive order on cryptocurrency was expected to be issued this week and it had been in the works long before the war. Both people spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the order.

The order is expected to describe what government agencies, including the Treasury Department, need to do to develop policies and regulations on digital currencies. It is expected to include a request for the State Department to ensure that American cryptocurrency laws are aligned with those of U.S. allies and will ask the Financial Stability Oversight Council which monitors the stability of the U.S. financial system to study illicit finance concerns.

Additionally, the order will explore the possibility of a new central bank digital currency. The Federal Reserve issued a paper on the topic in January that explores the risks and benefits of U.S.-backed digital currency.

Implicit in the order will be that cryptocurrency will remain a part of the U.S. economy for years to come. The White House's plans to move forward with the executive order were first reported by Bloomberg News.

While U.S. officials have played down the significance of cryptocurrency to Russias ability to evade sanctions, it remains a concern.

We will continue to look at how the sanctions work and evaluate whether or not there are liquid leakages and we have the possibility to address them. I often hear cryptocurrency mentioned and that is a channel to be watched, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last week.

A senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the president's national security team has already been on the lookout for the use and creation of front companies and alternative financial institutions that Moscow might try to employ to get around sanctions.

Crypto is one of several spaces that the Biden administration is looking to shore up as it tries to make certain that sanctions on Russia have maximum impact. The official said past experiences in Iran and Venezuela with sanctions evasion are informing the administrations efforts. Additional export controls and new sanction targets are also expected to be unveiled in the days and weeks ahead to counter Russian sanction evasion efforts, the official said.

On Monday, Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an alert advising financial institutions to be vigilant" against any efforts to evade sanctions in connection with Russia's war in Ukraine.

Although we have not seen widespread evasion of our sanctions using methods such as cryptocurrency, prompt reporting of suspicious activity contributes to our national security and our efforts to support Ukraine and its people, Acting Director Him Das said in a statement.

Link:
Biden executive order on cryptocurrency expected this week - ABC News