This week’s "Deconstruction" focuses on the mining ban in Russia, Google’s quantum calculations, Iran’s attacks on Amazon servers, a historic lunar flight, and the unsettling truth about neural interfaces.
Mining Ban for Five Years
The Russian government has banned cryptocurrency mining in Buryatia and Transbaikal for five years—until spring 2031. Authorities cite energy shortages and efforts to curb illegal miners who consume subsidized electricity amounting to hundreds of millions of kilowatt-hours.
The situation is exacerbated by a new bill imposing criminal liability for illegal mining, set to take effect on July 1. Offenders could face fines up to two million rubles and prison sentences of up to five years. Criminal charges will be triggered by significant damage to electrical grids or excessive profits from cryptocurrency.
The harsh measures stem from dismal legalization statistics: only about 3% of the 50,000 miners have registered with the tax authority. The industry is reluctant to register equipment imported through "gray" schemes, as the promised state amnesty mechanism has yet to be developed.
Amid this, a recently approved cryptocurrency legalization bill is viewed by the community as more of a punitive tool.
Quantum Hacking in 10 Minutes
Google researchers claim that less than 500,000 qubits will be needed for quantum hacking of Bitcoin and Ethereum, which is 20 times lower than previous estimates. With this power, key cracking could take about ten minutes, aligning perfectly with the time it takes to create a Bitcoin block. Industry experts now estimate a minimum 10% chance of such a computer emerging by 2032, urging immediate algorithm changes.
The Ethereum network is even more vulnerable due to its architecture and data storage methods. Once a wallet sends a transaction, its public key remains permanently on the open blockchain, making it an ideal target. According to Google’s calculations, the top thousand Ethereum wallets, holding millions of dollars, could be hacked in less than nine days.
The main advice for Bitcoin holders right now is to avoid transferring funds from old wallets unless absolutely necessary. The network's architecture means that your vulnerable public key is only exposed during a transaction, while a secure hash is stored beforehand. If you simply hold coins at an address without sending anything, quantum hackers won’t reach you.
War Hits Amazon
The escalation in the Middle East has led to a global economic shock due to logistical disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil passes. The market is pricing in a real physical shortage, pushing Brent oil above $110, while the cost of military insurance for tankers has skyrocketed. This triggers a global chain reaction: gasoline prices in the U.S., logistics, European gas, and all energy-intensive industries are rising.
However, the most alarming factor is that the war has extended beyond oil, impacting global digital infrastructure. An attack on an Amazon data center in Bahrain, a key cloud hub for the region, poses a direct threat to major disruptions in banking services, air travel, and artificial intelligence operations.
For the first time in modern history, physical computing has come under attack as a critical infrastructure, alongside factories. Investors are bracing for a prolonged scenario of high energy prices and inflation, complicating life for central banks worldwide.
The Start of a New Lunar Race
NASA has successfully launched the historic Artemis II mission, sending the crewed Orion spacecraft to the Moon. This marks the first crewed flyby of Earth’s satellite this decade, utilizing a safe free-return trajectory thanks to lunar gravity. The primary goal is to test life support systems ahead of a full human landing, which hasn’t occurred in over fifty years.
This launch has triggered a renewed global space race beyond Earth’s orbit. China, India, and the European Space Agency are now urgently accelerating their lunar ambitions.
The Moon is viewed as a vast industrial site and transit base for missions to Mars. In addition to mining resources, there are proposals to establish massive data centers there to utilize the cold of space for natural cooling. This could revolutionize the global IT industry, as servers on Earth struggle with overheating due to the rise of neural networks.
Chips Have Fried Human Brains
The neural interface industry has definitively moved from science fiction to a multi-billion dollar technological race. Elon Musk’s Neuralink is just one player, as dozens of companies like Synchron and various Chinese developers are actively competing. Technologies are already in practical use: paralyzed individuals control computers with their thoughts, move prosthetics, and even compose music.
However, the mass adoption of chips has hit an unexpected biological barrier—brain overheating. For the interface to function powerfully and quickly, it requires a lot of energy, and there are no coolers in the skull to manage heat. A temperature increase of just one degree Celsius locally kills neurons, leaving engineers in a quandary.
The second major issue facing this industry is the absolute loss of privacy, even within one’s own head. Algorithms are already learning to decode internal dialogues and visual images, creating the risk of direct mind reading. To circumvent the risks of surgical intervention and chip rejection, scientists are now focusing on developing advanced non-invasive helmets and headsets.
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