#pink egg main supremacy

[hyrulefarms]

> tfw u fall in love with ur crewmate n see them vent

#pink egg main supremacy #among us #among us oc #I GUESS

[dreamsurvivormultiplayer]

List of folks to introduce to the dsmp via them hatching from the Egg cause i think it’d be neat

Velvet. let Ant & Velvet take over the sever it’s what they deserve. Also Red Velvet = Red Egg. it just makes sense.

Minx. Puffy and Niki are like semi-canonically engaged? Let Minx join in with that. you’ve heard of fiance trio now get ready for fiancee trio. Also given her main persona is a demon it fits well. Bonus points if the Egg is actually two people and both Velvet and Minx hatch from it.

Elaina. 3/3 B2 on the DSMP let’s go. I just think the Egg would be a very cool dramatic entrance.

Kristin. Mumza supremacy. Let her go apeshit. As a treat. Also would 200% fit with her being an immortal being.

Snifferish. I have no reason for this, i just think Sniff is neat. Also pink is close enough to red so it’s on-brand enough.

#dsmp #dream smp #mcyt #velvetiscake #minx #elainaexe #mumza #snifferish #kristin minecraft #this list is basically just me going ''LET THEM HANG OUT WITH THEIR FRIENDS AND BE FERAL'' #or ''LET THEM HANG OUT WITH THEIR S/O AND BE FERAL''

[dancingazaleas]

Can you write a modern au Historia Reiss x fem!reader imagine where the reader is in a band and has a very punk rock style, and Historias the popular cheerleader everybody drools over, and they hate each other but at a party some girl is flirting with the reader so historia takes her and fucks the reader silly in a bathroom and after confesses her feelings to r?

historia reiss | promise

ofc!!! pls i literally love cheerleader!historia. i hope this is good enough <33 !!

18+ pls ! [unedited]

warnings/notes: cursing, use of alcohol and drugs, eventual smut, jealous dom!historia, modern au!, college au!, cheerleader!historia, bathroom sex, degradation, slight praise, enemies to lovers supremacy, fem reader!, finger fucking, hints at pegging, and aftercare

you’re pissed, so pissed that you’re seeing white. you only know that you’re sitting under the bleachers of your college campus and that your best friend, annie, is sitting beside you.

historia reiss, the popular cheerleader adored by everyone, decided it would funny if she pulled a prank on you. the prank being drenched in ice water and then pouring pink glitter on your body from the second floor of campus.

the glitter stuck everywhere, even in your mouth. before you scrubbed some of it off, you looked like a bath bomb. the water made it stickier and made you cold.

you don’t know what kind of vendetta historia has against you, you’ve only just met her two years ago! you hadn’t even really talked her up until your freshman year of college. even then, you don’t think you had said anything rude or wrong.

you just assume she gets pleasure out of your suffering.

you’re ranting about historia to annie, who witnessed the whole incident, still covered head-to-toe in glitter. she’s smoking a cigarette and listening to you absentmindedly, a sign that she’s getting slightly annoyed. she grabs your jaw with her hand and turns your face towards her. she’s taking in a breath and you know exactly what she’s about to do.

when she pulls the cigarette away, she blows the smoke into your face and let’s go of your jaw.

“thanks for that,” you grunt, the smell always seems to calm you down for some odd reason.

“y’know, instead of ranting, you could go home and take a shower,” she looks sleepy as she holds onto her cigarette.

“i know. but she’s just so frustrating! wanna know what makes her even more frustrating?!”

annie decides to play along, she thinks you ranting is funny, “what?”

“she’s hot. scratch that, she’s literally gorgeous. she looks like a fucking goddess and has the personality of a witch,” you shout angrily, following annie’s movements of getting up and walking towards your dorm.

“i dunno,” she snickers, “she’s pretty nice to me.”

“yeah, cause she’s got some sort of vendetta against me. i swear—i have never done a single thing to her!! do you remember when she bashed our band?! does she even listen to punk?!”

annie’s made a mistake in encouraging you, “anyways. speaking of our band, don’t forget we’re playing tonight at eren’s house.”

“you mean at his frat house,” you snort, bumping your shoulder into her’s. you immediately regret it when you pull away and see pink glitter stick to her shirt and a shiver going down her spine.

“yeah, whatever. thank god he’s loaded enough to pay for a band. i can’t believe his dad just gives him and zeke cash,” annie coughs while she chuckles, smoke puffing out of her nose.

you’re laughing at her coughing, slapping her firmly on the back as you walk.

you don’t notice large blue eyes staring at you from far away.

————

you’re trying to ignore the idiotic comments annie’s making while mikasa does your eyeliner.

you, mikasa, annie, and—surprisngly—jean are getting ready for your show tonight.

originally, it had just been you, annie, and mikasa until mikasa and jean had started dating. she vouched that he could play the drums—and he definelty could. he also gets along surprisingly well with you and annie.

mikasa usually sings back-up for you—despite your begging for her to be the lead—and plays the electric keyboard.

annie’s on bass guitar. she gets stupidly smug everytime she’s done playing and the praise she gets from her girlfriend doesn’t help. annie also writes most of your songs.

“guys, we should make a bet,” annie’s twirling some of her hair, eyeing you and mikasa.

“what’s the bet,” jean smirks and raises a bushy brow. mikasa and you give a hum of approval.

“i bet that one girl is gonna be all over (name) tonight,” you snort sarcastically.

“elizabeth? i think she’s trying to seduce me so i’ll partner up with her for this project we have coming up in our music history class,” mikasa’s pullled away, screwing the cap of the eyeliner back onto the bottle. she hands you coal black lipstick.

“you know what i bet,” jean starts, you know it isn’t gonna be good, “historia’s gonna be eyefucking (name) all night.”

you’re in the middle of applying lipstick but you stop at his statement.

“no, before you say something, jean’s gotta point,” mikasa muses, fanning her hand.

“yeah. dunno how you didn’t noticed,” annie shrugs, hopping out of her chair and stretching her arms upwards.

you’re irritated and finished with your lipstick, eyebrows furrowed bitterly.

“anyways,” you grit your teeth, “it’s showtime.”

————

it’s been five minutes since you and the band performed, and after all that belting you just want a drink. you’re walking through the messy and huge kitchen, trying to avoid stepping on spilled shots and egg yolk—who knows—because these boots were expensive.

luckily, most people are partying like a mob in the main room of the smelly frat house. it smells like weed, everywhere. and when you open the fridge you see a long platter of chocolate brownies, is eren alright? you shrug internally, snatching a water bottle that’s sitting on the top shelf.

after you’ve closed the fridge door and opened it, you’re chugging the water bottle like your life depends on it. when you pull away, you try to not notice the lipstick stain and that you’ve drank the bottle more than halfway. you’re leaning on the island in the middle of the kitchen, you don’t plan on partying too much since you’re supposed to be the designated driver for annie, mikasa, and jean.

you’re about to take another swig of your water, eyes staring down at your phone and continuing to read a article. before you can bring the bottle to your lips, teasing laughter from your front is distracting you.

it’s historia, wearing a baby blue v-neck tank top that ends at her ribs. she has a white skirt on, pulled up to the middle of her bellybutton and stopping at her upper thighs. her shoes are white and chunky with sparkly blue butterflies on the sides of them. her makeup’s cute, a light blue sprinkling on the outside corners of her eyes that tickled her cheekbones, a light and natural (for her at least) pink lipstick on her lips coated with shiny gloss. she’s pretty.

“fuck do you want,” you frown with narrowed eyes, you’re praying there aren’t anymore tricks.

“nothing, nothing!,” she’s got a cheery smile on her face, “just wanted to see how you were doing! i cant even do that?”

rolling your eyes, you scoff, “not after you drenched me in ice cold water and then poured glitter on me. it took me two hours to get rid of the glitter in the shower.”

she’s opening her mouth, but you’re already done with her shit, “fuck off, dude.”

you’re stomping out of the kitchen, huffing with frustration. what the fuck was historia trying to play at? she’s such a cunt, pulling these mean pranks on you with no provocation and then coming up to you after and asking how you are?

you’re seething. you’re so angry you’re not even paying attention to where you’re going.

but it’s interrupted when you bump into someone’s back. lower... back.

said person, turns around and looks down at you. she’s tall, and you’ve seen her around campus with eren and zeke. she’s quiet and cunning, you’ve heard rumors that she gets paid to beat people up sometimes. you can’t really judge her, money’s money.

but she’s also gorgeous. glowing gold eyes and choppy blonde hair. she’s wearing a loose black blazer that closes at her sternum and down, with nothing underneath. she’s got some kind of necklace—you think it says ‘p’ or ‘z’—and pretty silver rings on her fingers. her heels make her tower over you more than she probably would without them on.

“shit, my bad,” you sigh and look away.

she shakes her head, the tiniest smile painting her face and her cheeks turn a little red.

“you’re alright,” she hums, “i don’t think i’ve met you. i’ve definitely seen you around, but no one’s ever given me a name.”

“oh, i’m (name),” you smile shyly, “i don’t know your name either.”

she chuckles a bit, somehow wrapping her hand in your’s and leading you to a nice loveseat. her nails are painted black and you feel inclined to put your legs over her lap.

“i’m surprised,” and that’s when you notice zeke and pieck on the couch next to you, “there are a lot of rumors about me. however, i guess whoever told you—or didn’t—left me anonymous. i’m yelena.”

you give a laugh, watching her throw her arm up onto the top of the couch. you’re cuddling her side within seconds, drawing a deep chuckle from her. her other hand reaches to your cheek, making you look up at her. she’s holding your chin with her thumb and staring at you with her hypnotizing eyes.

“you’re just the cutest,” she mumbles, letting go of your face and tapping your nose.

you’re getting embarrassed at the attention, and you don’t know what to say other than ‘thank you’. you’ve never been pussy whipped a day in your entire life, but you think you might change that.

she’s leaning in closer, ignoring the couple, who was staring at you two with amusement, that sat on the couch cuddling. you feel like you recognize them for a moment, but the thought it forgotten whenever yelena kisses you fervently.

she’s running her tongue across your lip and the shiver that goes down your spine makes you realize she has a tongue piercing. she’s pushing you down to lay on the couch, to which you happily oblige, her hand crawling up to your neck.

before you can even let her shove her tongue in your mouth and choke you, your hand is being tugged and all of a sudden your upper torso and body is on the floor and your head is aching. you’re dazedly looking at yelena, who’s just as surprised as you are, then turning to the couple on the couch.

holy fucking hell, how did you not realize that the couple was pieck and zeke. that isn’t even your main focus when another tug to your wrist pulls your lower half off the couch.

“what the fuck?!” you’re suddenly not dazed anymore, “let go of me!”

you’re snatching your arm away and scrambling to your feet, tugging down your short dress that rode up. you turn around to face the assaulter, only to look down and see historia.

historia grabbed you?!

before you can even scream or slap her, she’s, once again, pulling you away by your wrist. for such a small girl, she’s got a tight grip.

you’re stumbling as you follow her, not like you couldn’t, yelling profanities. you pass by annie, who spits out her drink at the sight of you, it startles her girlfriend, hitch. you mouth a ‘help!’ towards her just as you’re swung forward.

it takes you a second to balance yourself out, and before you can turn yourself around, you’re being shoved forward.

what the fuck is her deal?!

you’re pushed into a bathroom, finally turning around to see historia as you fall on your ass. she’s slammed the door closed and locked it, staring at you on the ground.

“the fuck is your damage,” you scream, leaning against the bathroom counter.

“you’re a fucking slut, that’s what!” she’s yelling back, now standing in front of you. her hands are trapping you against the counter, and you’re looking down at her.

“you’re a dirty little slut. you can’t help but get down with a woman when i’m not with you for five fucking minutes,” you can’t even open your mouth and opted to push yourself towards the counter more as you squeeze your thighs together.

“look at you,” she’s laughing mockingly, “you look like a dog in heat. are you enjoying this, you fucking whore?”

you whimper, shaking your head side-to-side.

“you’re a liar,” she’s laughing again, standing on her tip toes to brush her lips against your’s.

“i’m not.”

“if you’re not, go ahead and push me away then,” she smirks, leaning closer.

you look away, listening to the mocking giggle that she was releasing right in your face. her left hand is grabbing you by the jaw and forcing you to look at her.

“can i kiss you,” her look softens and you nod at her.

“yes,” and within a second, her lips are on your’s. the kiss is surprisingly gentle and sweet.

with a bit on your lip, her tongue is rubbing against your’s and her hands sliding under the thin straps of your dress. you’re whining when she pulls away and laughs. your dress is halfway down your body, chest jumping up and down as you pant from the lack of breath.

“look at you, baby,” she turns your head to the side, which gives you a profile view of yourself in the mirror. your lipstick’s smudged in the corner of your mouth, eyeliner’s smuged as well as your eyeshadow.

weak product.

“you need better makeup,” she’s giggling as she leans her head towards your neck.

she’s kissing and sucking almost everywhere on your neck and chest, as if she were marking her property. moans are bouncing off the walls as her hands release your boobs from the strapless bra you’re wearing and sucking on your nipples. honestly, you’re glad it’s off. it’s been tiring having to pull it up everytime it slipped even just a bit.

you tug at her blonde hair when her small hand gropes one tit and her mouth bites at the other. she’s tugging the rest of your dress down with her free hand, and it pools around your boots. she goes back up to kiss your lips, laughing in your mouth as you struggle to kick off your boots. she’s kissing at your cheek and ear, tugging at the waistline of your fishnet tights.

“might wanna take these off too if you don’t want them ripped,” yelping when she bites at your earlobe.

“i...,” you’re catching your breath, “need help.”

she giggles while nodding, helping you shimmying the tights down to your knees.

“jump up on the counter, babe. it’ll make it easier for me,” you’re obident and jumping on the cool bathroom counter, it makes you shiver.

historia’s on her knees, shoes kicked off, and her fingers tickle your legs when she’s sliding the tights off your legs. she’s got a sultry look on her face when she throws said tights over her shoulder, palming your kneecaps. she bites back her smirk when she pulls your knees apart, showing off your black panties. you fall back against the mirror and you lean mostly on your elbows, ignoring the loud bang that came from it.

her mouth’s leaving open mouthed kisses against your inner thighs, pants leaving your mouth. her fingers hook around the waistband of your panties, tugging them down quickly whenever you lift your hips.

your going to close your legs, but her hands prevent you from doing so. her eyes are glued to your pussy, lips spread open and your wetness shining in the light. you’ve got a little hair on your pubis, but that isn’t going to stop historia reiss from changing her name to sasha braus.

she’s sucking at your clit and spreading your legs apart as far as she can. she pulls away from your pussy just for a second.

“keep your legs open,” she says, a thumb rubbing circles into your clit.

it’s lazy and it’s satisfying, but it’s not enough to make you cum. she knows that.

you’re letting out high pitched moans and fingers tangled in her golden locks as she eats you out like a man starved.

‘i wish i had realized that i’m gay sooner,’ you think as historia slowly slides her middle finger inside of you.

you’re throwing your head back against the mirror when she suddenly adds a second finger, claiming that you could take it since you’re a slut.

considering your wetness is dripping down your ass and onto the counter, you can’t really object the statement.

she’s curling her fingers inside you, mouth closed around your clit. your moans go up an octave when she finds the spongy part inside of you, thrusting her fingers in and out of you after she angles her digits.

“fuck!” you moan and start clawing at historia’s free arm, which is holding down your hips.

“h-historia...,” you pant, “gonna cum... pl..please let me cum.”

her laughter sends vibrations across your clit, and that’s what sends you over the edge. you’re crying out as historia helps you ride out your orgasm by slowing her fingers down and pulling away from your clit. historia’s admiring you while she wipes off your juices from her chin, a small smile adorning her lips.

your head is thrown back against the mirror—once again. eyes rolled back and mouth opened in a silent moan. the hand that was gripping at her arm is clenched in a fist that has your knuckles painted white. your toes are curled and your back is arching in the air.

she doesn’t pull her fingers out of you until your calm, letting you catch your breath before she does it all over again.

———

your legs are trembling as she helps you sit down on the toilet.

you know you look like a mess—historia’s been forcing you to watch yourself. the eyeliner and mascara you have on is now smeared and ran down your face since you cried. your lipstick is smeared up and down, worse than last time, and your hair is messed up and tangled from historia pulling on it.

historia’s squatting before you, looking for a rag to wet down and clean you up with.

“next cabinet over,” you breath, throwing your head back.

“you know who’s bathroom this is?”

“yeah, jean’s in this frat too. him and marco share it. this place is pretty nice when there isn’t a party going on,” you giggle, somehow this whole situation seems funny to you.

she’s running hot water over the rag she now has, staring at herself in the mirror. historia’s got hickeys on her neck too and teeth marks on shoulders. she’s got glittery blue on her cheek, must be her mascara.

she turns off the water and wrings it out. she walks over to you, nudging your legs open with her knee. you comply and absentmindedly reach for one of her hands to hold. she takes the offer, squatting in front of you and cleaning up the slightly dried cum and juices on your thighs and vagina.

you shiver and let out little whines and whimpers, still sensitive from the previous orgasms. historia was also still wearing something. something that you didn’t even know she had.

a fucking 6 inch strap on.

“by the way,” you start, “how’d you get your strap-on here?”

“i came to the house before eren started throwing the party. i brought a bag with me and just hid it in the empty cabinet. i think eren wanted to hook up with me and mentioned something about pegging. brought it in case,” she explains, small smile spreading across her face as she starts cleaning your face.

you start giggling again, the hand that wasn’t holding her hand weakly grabbing at her wrist.

“hisu... can i get a kiss,” you pucker your lips when she pulls away the rag from you. she flips the rag to a clean slide, rubbing herself in the same areas as she did for you.

historia holds your cheek and gives you the sweetest kiss you’ve ever had.

“i’m gonna take you back to mine and ymir’s place. you’re still in sub-space and you wobble instead of walk,” she says, squatting down again to help you get your panties on.

she’s able to get your dress on the lower half of your body, but you both realize there’s a fucking cum stain on the chest. historia gives you a jacket that was in her bag, zipping it halfway. the dress stayed sitting at your waist, you’re to tired to get it open even if you have a cover up.

she’s done cleaning everything up within ten minutes, including herself. she throws the rag in a hamper in the bathroom closet that had jean’s name written on it in sharpie.

she’s slipping the bag on her shoulder and helping you walk with the other one. when you walk out, ymir is leaning on the wall by the door with a smirk.

ymir squats down a bit, laughing at your shaky legs every time you took a step. historia and her manage to get you on ymir’s back. you fall asleep before you three can get to the car.

———

when you wake up, your whole lower body is sore. your eyelids feel heavy as you open them, coming to your senses. you recognize ‘dance moms’ playing in the background and historia eating cereal as she watches.

you groan lowly, and historia finally notices your consciousness.

“so...,” you yawn while you stretch your arms up into the air, “talk about last night?”

historia nods while she chews, “so basically, i was jealous that you were hooking up with another girl that wasn’t me.”

“but why would you be jealous...? i thought you hated me,” you rub your cheek against the pillow you’re laying your head on.

historia blushes as she looks away with a pout, “i never hated you... i just... i didn’t like the feelings i have for you.”

“oh,” you lay on your back and ignore the heat rushing to your cheeks, “what are.... the feelings..?”

“i may or may not love you,” she hides her face by holding her bowl full of cereal to her chin.

you don’t say anything for a few moments, trying to think of what you wanted to say.

“i... i love you too. but, that doesn’t just mean i forgive and forget all the horrible shit you’ve done to me. i’ll start dating you when i feel that you’ve... ‘atoned’ for your sins,” you sigh, “it’s gonna take some time but if you want this to work or even start, you’ve gotta make it up to me and understand where i’m coming from.”

she looks at you with slight excitement, “i... of course! i was really mean to you and you didn’t deserve that, no matter how much i disliked you. i promise to make it up to you.”

she’s holding her pinky finger up to you.

you smile and link your pinkies with her’s, “promise.”

#attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #snk #historia reiss #historia x reader #anime

[ohfugecannada]

Oddworld: Role Switch au

So a couple of weeks(?) ago, @oddest-worlds posted an idea for an au where mudokons were an evil cultist species-supremacist power because of the mudokon moon incident and the glukkons were the enslaved natives. I really wanted to pitch in ideas/headcanons, but was busy with coursework at the time.

Fortunately, I just finished my project and now have more free time so I got to writing some stuff.... a lot of stuff... mainly just some points on the main trio of eusocial races (Mudokons, Glukkons and Sligs) and their role in the AU. So strap in!

(Fyi if you have/had other ideas that contradict the headcanons bellow, feel free to ignore those. Or pitch in some of your own ideas, I’d love to hear them!)

Glukkons

Were once a spiritually oriented race who practiced black magic, occultism and alchemy and were allies of the Mudokons thousands of years ago

When the mudokons declared themselves as the supreme race because of the mudokon moon, they were, understandably, upset and concerned

Fearing their once allies were drifting further away into cultist, species-supremacist behaviour, the glukkons set out to disprove the mudokons declaration of supremacy though their alchemical arts and unify their species once more

It’s said that some glukkon alchemists were successful in finding the answers they seeked out, but what those answers were have long since been lost to time

Now becoming more industrialised and realising the glukkons were a possible threat due to their alchemical powers, the mudokons orchestrated a war against them, nearly wiping the glukkons out in the process before thier surrender

After the war, disillusioned, outnumbered and on the brink of extinction, the glukkons began working for the mudokons, who belittled, oppressed and eventually enslaved them

Now most glukkons are born into subservience to the Mudokons, oblivious to their spiritual past, true history and culture

Still native glukkon tribes out in the wild in hiding from the mudokon empire

I mentioned this before, but I personally imagined the glukkons of this timeline walking on thier legs, which are still somewhat short, and retained thier long arms. Basically, they have the same body type to gibbons and similar long armed apes

Because they walk with their legs and not on their arms, most glukkons stand at almost half their canon height, roughly around 4 or 5 feet tall or so

In industrial captivity, most glukkons tend to have a grey or pale skintone like the glukkons we see in soulstorm

Native Glukkons born outside of captivity are much more diverse in skin colour, with their base colours ranging from brown to purple, red, pink or green etc

Along with This, they have the ability to change their skin colour like octopuses (which makes sense given their closest relatives evolutionarily are the oktigi and other octopus/cephalopod-like creatures)

Notably, they flash different colours across their face and skin when feeling strong emotions like sadness, anger, excitement etc. Similar to the mudokons in Abe’s Exoddus

Glukkons from certain tribes also have bioluminescent markings and patterns on their skin that are visible in the dark. Though, this trait is not as common

Using this colour changing ability, some glukkons are able to copy the colours and even textures of their environment and become one with the scenery. Essentially making themselves invisible. Of corse, this particular aspect of colour changing usually doesn’t come as naturally or involuntary to glukkons as the emotional-based changes. In most cases it takes years of training to master the art of invisibility

Much like the Mudokons in canon, industrial-born Glukks are born into captivity from a mother queen and their eggs are shipped off to be sold into slavery

Baby or young slave glukkons are raised alongside their siblings and cousins over a mudokon master and are usually kept together as something akin to a demented orphanage where youngling glukks are sent to work as soon as they can pick up a rag and bucket

@oddest-worlds, You described the mudokons as being cult like. I personally imagined this would ya know aside from the moon worshiping mudokon supremacy stuff manifest itself most in the way they control thier glukkon slaves

Glukkons in slavery, much like people born into cults, are indoctrinated at a young age to believe their mudokon masters are perfect, all knowing and benevolent beings, that the outside world beyond the factories is a savage, unforgiving wasteland where outsiders will try to lead them astray, and that they are better off and safer dedicating their lives to loyaly serving the mudokons

Glukks who challenge these beliefs, defy their mudokon masters or try and escape to the outside are often severely punished. Either from being removed from their glukkon group, being held in a cell for hours or days where they are interrogated and for their “crimes” or getting severe beatings.

Native free glukkons have a similar tribal society structure as the native mudokons in canon, with each tribe having their own distinctive culture

As said before, they practice the occult, black magic and, most prominently among different glukkon tribes, alchemy

As well as living in tune with nature, Glukkon alchemists often practice the art of transmutation, turning one type material or substance into another, and joining certain substances and/or materials together. Which they do in order to better understand the natural world around them

Nowadays, though, native glukkon civilisation is far from what it once was millennia ago

Thanks to the mudokons and other industrial societies either enslaving or killing off their numbers as well as building over their sacred lands, most native glukkon’s main priority is to hide away from the rest of society and to protect what little of their culture and traditions still remain

From my research I learned the practice of alchemy (or at least the traditional western version of it) could be traced back to Egypt and Thoth, the god of arts and sciences, so I thought it would make sense if at least some individual native glukkon tribes culture and overall aesthetic would be loosely based on the ancient Egyptians as a callback to this, with some small echos of the architecture we see with the glukkon aesthetics of the canon timeline plus the more native looking early concept art of glukkons

Also while researching alchemy I noticed one key aspect of it involved change and transmutation, I.e. turning base metals like lead into noble metals like gold. I thought about how this could also connect to their colour changing. Maybe some native glukkons believe the colour changing to be a glukkons most primal form of transmutation. And view the ability to blend in with the environment as a way of being one with nature, both in the figurative and literal sense. Or something else along those lines

In industrial propaganda, native glukkons are painted as savage barbarians and alchemists as swindlers and charlatans that lead gullable slave glukkons astray, filling their heads with doubt, or with the promise of bestowing riches and immortality for a price

Enslaved glukkon’s clothes tend to consist of whatever textiles they can get their hands on in the factories and what little the strict dress code implemented by their mudokon masters will allow

The main item of clothing worn by most glukk scrubs is a shoddily cobbled together shirt and overalls. Sorta like an even shabbier version of the basic glukkon pud uniform in munchs oddysee

Like many things, native or liberated glukkons tend to have a lot more freedom when it comes to what they wear

The more traditional fashions often worn by glukkon alchemists include long, loose fitting robes, sometimes with these thick ribbed shoulder pads. Pretty much the same as outfit worn by glukkons in the very early concept art back when they were still called “Oldger” or “Ociti”

Mudokons

A once spiritual race that possessed psychic powers and were allies to the Glukkons thousands of years ago

When the shape of a Mudokon pawprint appeared on one of Oddworld’s moons, some mudokons took this as a sign from the gods that they were the chosen race

Blinded by their self imposed delusions of grandeur, the first believers of the mudokon moon sign set out to prove the mudokon race’s superiority over all other races of Oddworld

The moon believers did this by recruiting more mudokon members into their tribe, slowly converting the many tribes into one unified empire, increased consumption of the planets resources and began to isolate themselves from the rest of Oddworld

Building massive towers that reached the skies, they began to spend most of thier time indoors, only looking up at the night sky to see thier sacred moon, the symbolic reminder of thier divinity over Oddworld

Gradually abandoned thier spiritual ways in favour of a more industrialised way of life. Only a few powerful figures within the Mudokon empire still use their psychic abilities such as possession

Growing more paranoid that their Glukkon allies and thier powers of alchemy would prove to be a threat to their rising power, the mudokons orchestrated a war against the glukkon tribes, nearly wiping them out in the process

After the war, the mudokon empire gave the queens of the last remaining glukkon tribes an ultimatum: give away thier children to the empire where they would be “employed”, “sheltered” and “safe”, or let them be born into a “primitive” tribal wasteland at the brink of extinction

The mudokons were able to enslave their once Glukkon allies and quickly rose to become the most powerful, and power hungry, civilisation in all of Oddworld

In terms of architecture and aesthetic, I figured many of those motifs from their spiritual/tribal past would subtly carry over to their current society, I’ll be it more metallic and industrialised. Like larger, dystopian dieselpunk versions of the huts, buildings and structures we see in Monsaic Lines and other native mudokon locations

The buildings they live and work in are also incredibly tall, with some structures in their urban cities reaching above the clouds (basically the opposite of the canon glukkons subterranean cities)

The Mudokons are the main industrial society with a stronghold over the planet

Having essentially brainwashed both thier mudokon citizens and glukkon slaves, the mudokon empire is singularly concerned with proving their dominion over the planet oddworld. with no reguard for the native creatures and cultures that inhabit it

Mudokon society is extremely dedicated to the idea they are the best civilisation in all of Oddworld

As far as they’re concerned, their empire is the supreme civilisation, unparalleled in architecture, politics, philosophy, military and art

And they are dead set on proving thier superiority to the other races of Oddworld, no matter the cost

Any historical records that makes mudokons civilisation and society look bad or less then perfect are either deeply hidden away or destroyed. Through this constant revisionism as erasure, their true history has been long forgotten

Only consistent part of their history is the mudokon moon, which they hold as a sacred symbol and a reminder of their power as the “chosen race”

Now, the sight of the mudokon moon is rare for any industrial borns due to the sky being covered by air pollution from the mudokons buildings and factories

Young mudokons are born as eggs by their respective queen and sent to be raised by a foster mudokon worker and, if they’re rich or well off, their many glukkon slaves

As I said before in the glukkon bit, the way glukkons are taught how to view the world is very similar to real life cult indoctrination and brainwashing. Young mudokons get a similar treatment in terms of their education

At an early age, mudokons are taught by their elders that oddworld belongs to the strong such as them, that the other races that cannot compare to the mudokons, And that all mudokons which as them are perfect and destined for greatness. (Provided they work hard and follow the rules of the empire...)

For a mudokon, lacking this sense of superiority over other races and drive to prove themselves as exceptional is frowned upon in thier society, and such mudokons are often either outcasted or placed in the lower ranking job roles

Like the glukkon workers in canon, adult mudokon workers are often employed as powerful bosses and rulers in the mudokon industries of food production, science, politics and/or religion to name a few

While some individual mudokon masters value mollah and material gain over other things, mudokon society as a whole isn’t quite as obsessed with mollah the same way glukkon society in canon is. They do hold monetary wealth and riches in high regard, of corse, but mostly as one of many status symbols to prove their superiority over others

Due to their belief of being the superior race, some mudokons are known to be extremely arrogant and self centred, to the point they’re often compeating with one another over who is the better mud

In terms of physical appearance, I imagine mudokons having a lot more angular features, like more talon like claws on their hands/feet to evoke a bird of prey

While mudokons are still omnivores, teeth such as their canids are more pronounced due to consuming more meat products such as scrab, Meech, slig and elum meats

I also feel like the slight uncanny-valley elements the mudokons already have should be subtly accentuated in the switch designs for creep factor and everything

unlike muds of canon, muds of the switch au tend to be on the lean, average and/or slightly cubby side rather then underweight and slightly bony in terms of their weight. Mostly down to having relatively better diet and quality of life, at least compared to their canon counterparts.

Mudokons also have way more feathers on their heads! Though, due to the airborne pollution of their industrial lifestyle, feather growth is mainly restricted to their head and face

don’t tend to grow as many feathers on other parts of their bodies like arms, legs etc

On top of this, as mudokons tend to live in colossal tower-like structures, they’ve evolved adaptations to life in higher attitudes such as naturally taking shorter breaths.

One popular form of dress for most moderate or high ranking mudokons consists of a shirt garment with a v-shaped neck (kinda like a Dashiki) a medium length skirt and long ornate robes or feathered cloak. Think more fancy versions of the native clothes worn by the mud shamins in canon.

How intricate, layered, extravagant and/or customised etc these clothes are depends on how high the individual mud wearing them is on the power/wealth hierarchy. Kinda like the wealth hierarchy with canon glukkons. Most lower class muds tend to look closer to the muds we see in canon with a short loincloth-like skirt and simple vest.

While the majority of mudokon society tends to be more industrialised, there are certain elite and powerful groups within the mudokon empire that still practice their spiritual psychic powers

One example of such a group is an elite task force of mudokon agents specifically trained to hone their psychokinetic abilities.

Fed on an exclusive diet of mind altering spooce shrubs, they are granted powerful and dangerous abilities (provided they don’t die from spooce overdose first). Such as the power to possess the minds and bodies of other beings

They are employed as black ops-like operatives by the mudokon empire to manipulate the affairs of other Oddworld nations and races behind the scenes with their powers of possession, as assassins to take out highly dangerous targets from afar with death via red ring explosion or possession induced head explosion, or as bodyguards to protect highly powerful and elite clients, usually mudokon queens. Essentially taking on a similar role to the Glocktigi in canon

Sligs

Race of amphibious/semi-aquatic swamp dwellers

Society not as complex or “advanced” as others like the glukkons or mudokons, technology wise

Somewhat nomadic as they tend to move around from place to place in colonies, though their preferd environments are wetlands, marshes, swamps, lakes and bogs

Were never enslaved by Glukkons, Mudokons or any other societies of mudos for that matter. probably since Sligs are seen as useless and impractical for such tasks anyway. I mean, what kind of peanut-headed chumps would have a legless species who can’t use their hands do their dirty work for them?! lol!

While functional on land, they’re a bit more adapted for life in water, with webbed hands and seal-like tails for swimming as well as gills in their mouths for breathing underwater

Walk with their hands when on land (similar to pantsless sligs in canon but slightly less awkward)

Use the highly dexterous tentacles on their faces to pick up objects and use tools while they walk or swim

Covering themselves up with dirt, moss, mud etc is a big part of their culture. Not because they think they’re ugly like the Sligs in canon, but because it provides good camouflage from larger creatures and predators wanting to eat them

If a Slig is spotted or about to be caught by anything that would want them as food, they can use their arms to leap away from their attacker

In terms of actual clothing, they don’t wear much aside from a covering that wraps around the middle section between their abdomen and their tail mostly so their butts don’t get cold when they go up on land. These coverings are usually either made of soft reeds weaved together, a leaf held together by a stick going through both ends or whatever they can get their tentacles on in thier surrounding environment

Even without fancy covering or camo, Sligs are pretty diverse when it comes to their appearance

Depending on the environment, their skin tone can range from light green to yellow, dark green, blueish-green, teal, brown or black to name a few

Some Sligs also have tiger like stripes similar to the ones on big bro Sligs in canon

And, of corse, there’s albino Sligs. How they’re treated tends to vary form colony to colony

Some outcast or even kill albinos, fearing their bright colour could attract predators

Other colonies are a lot more accepting of albinos, though they tend to be more protective of them due to, again, being more easy targets for predators

Most albino Sligs either take extra care to cover themselves with as camouflage as possible to hide their bright skin, or stay under the water for most of their lives, rarely ever venturing up to the surface world

Queens are also never seen on dry land, as their birthing process is significantly less painful underwater

While none of the queens in this timeline are as cripplingly obese as queens like Skillya in the canon timeline, most healthy queens are still rather large. Sorta like the size/weight of an average male elephant seal, or a salt water crocodile

Also, while some queens can still be jerkasses, they don’t usually eat their own young, as they don’t hold as much resentment towards them due to the less painful birthing process. Plus, their many drones usually bring them smaller fish and swamp dwelling creatures to keep them well fed

Baby sligs (or sliglets, as I like to call them) are born underwater and later take their first peek up to the surface after a couple of weeks

Raised by either one of their drone fathers or their many older siblings

baby Sligs are also born able to swim and walk on instinct, sort of like lizards. They only need to stick with their guardians for protection and to learn valuable life lessons from them like camouflage, avoiding predators, looking both ways before they cross the rivers etc

According to ex-Just Add Water employee Will on the Oddworld forums, Lorne Lanning originally envisioned Sligs having pig like fur, but this was cut from Oddysee due to technical limitations at the time. I headcanon that native Sligs had fur in the canon timeline but lost this trait due to their industrial lifestyle, similar to mudokon’s feathers. Hence in this timeline, some native Slig colonies do have fur.

usually more common, much thicker and more prominent on Sligs from colder climates as it helps them stay warm

The fur is also good for collecting dirt and growing moss and algae on, adding to the Sligs camouflage

I also have this headcanon that the noises sligs make for the BS and S’Mo BS commands in Oddysee and Exoddus gamespeak are remnants of their old language before they were enslaved by glukkons in canon. This is how Sligs communicate to each-other in this timeline: through a series of frog-like ribbit and croak vocalisations.

They do have the ability to speak language in the same way Mudokons and Glukkons do, I’ll be it in a limited capacity since they’re somewhat cut off from these language speaking societies and not used to talking in words. Think of it how, in canon, Gabbits like Munch can speak language with characters like Abe but can also call to other Gabbits through a dolphin-like “song”

Though they were never slaves, that doesn’t mean industrial societies like the Mudokon empire haven’t caused trouble for them

On top of occasionally hunting them to make high protein meat products and for sport, the Mudokon empire has also put their glukkon workers to use digging up Sligs swamplands for iron ore, as water that carried flakes of iron accumulated and settled in those swamps. As well as gathering peat from mires for fuel

These practices have been encroaching on the Sligs natural habitats. driving them out and disrupting their usual migration patterns

In a lot of cases, Mudokons purposefully try to drive off or exterminate Slig colonies. Viewing them as useless, dirty pests getting in the way of the precious resources that, much like everything else on Oddworld, the mudokons feel a sense of entitlement to

Alright, that all the points I got down for the big three. I do have some ideas for the other races like vykkers, steef, oktigi, meeches etc but for now, I’ll just leave it here. Again, please let me know what you think of all this and feel free to make contributions.

@southern-forests

#oddworld #au #aus #mudokons #glukkons #sligs #oddswitch #oddswitch au #role switch au #I had the most fun writing about swamp sligs

[diarrheaworldstarhiphop]

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It

Tax breaks, land deals and cheap energy have spurred cryptocurrency mining in Georgia, which wants to be a digital data leader.

TBILISI, Georgia — For three years, a windowless warehouse on the edge of town has been whirring with enough energy to power nearly 50,000 homes. Day and night, the warehouse, and dozens of cargo containers in a windswept valley, are generating Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that has created a virtual gold rush in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Bitfury, a bitcoin technology company, is churning out millions of dollars’ worth of the digital money using ultracheap hydropower harvested from waters rushing down the volcanic peaks of the Caucasus. Even as the currency has tumbled in value, thousands of Georgians have jumped into the game and sold cars — even cows — to buy high-powered computers to mine Bitcoin and join what has become a state-supported dash toward data supremacy.

A former prime minister encouraged Bitfury, then based in San Francisco, with a $10 million loan in 2015. The governing Georgian Dream party sold 45 acres for $1 for Bitfury to set up shop. The government has been selling energy at half the rates charged in the United States or Europe, and it has created tax-free zones to draw in tech-savvy entrepreneurs.

The efforts have given Georgia, with 3.7 million people, a dubious distinction. It is now an energy guzzler, with nearly 10 percent of its energy output gone into the currency endeavor. The country consumed so much power in recent years that the World Bank ranked it one of the most active cryptocurrency sites in the world.

The whole experiment is likely to face immediate challenges as the price of Bitcoin declines, after a spectacular rise tempted investors around the world to bet on cryptocurrencies.

Most companies tend to lose money when the price of Bitcoin falls below energy costs, and mining operators worldwide have recently been scaling back. The largest mining company, the Chinese company Bitmain, has been closing offices and laying off workers. Last week, Bitfury, which incorporated in London in 2018, announced layoffs at a facility in Canada.

Georgia, however, has been betting its economy on luring blockchain technology, the encrypted storage capability behind all crypto transactions.

Bitfury has helped migrate most of Georgia’s land registry to blockchain, making the government one of the first to rely on the secure digital ledger. Its tax system may soon follow. Georgia aims to beat Malta, Bermuda and other countries known for light-touch regulation of cryptocurrencies to dominate blockchain development.

“The economy’s digital transformation is our highest priority,” said George Kobulia, the economy minister. “We’re supporting this any way we can.”

A Low-Tax Frontier

In downtown Tbilisi, a neon-lit Marriott welcomes tourists. A nearby shopping mall installed a special A.T.M. for Bitcoin withdrawals. A cryptocurrency exchange flashes the prices of Bitcoin, Ether and other digital money on a ticker.

When street protests ousted the last Soviet-era leader in 2003, the government, struggling with poverty, corruption and grinding bureaucracy, began selling itself as a business-friendly low-tax outpost for investment. Big financial institutions came in. So did casinos. A private company willing to take a risk was Bitfury, founded in 2011 by a tech savant from Latvia who was proselytizing about a strange virtual industry.

Remi Urumashvili, a well-connected lawyer and now Bitfury’s main representative in Georgia, said that when Valery Vavilov, the co-founder and chief executive, approached him to seek advice on building a cryptocurrency operation, he was baffled.

“They told me they wanted to mine Bitcoins, and I’m asking them, ‘Hey, guys, what’s a Bitcoin?’” Mr. Urumashvili recalled.

Mr. Vavilov told him that the currency had introduced a new technology, blockchain, that had the potential for widespread use in business. Mr. Urumashvili said he had seen a potential tax advantage.

“They explained that it’s money that exists on the internet,” he said. “So I said, ‘If a thing doesn’t exist in reality, maybe the tax will be zero.’”

Mr. Urumashvili worked hard to lobby lawmakers to keep Georgia an open market for cryptocurrency. “I don’t like regulations,” he said, arching an eyebrow. “And there are very few regulations here for anything.”

As soon as Bitfury opened its doors, Georgia created “free economic zones” where mining activities and electricity weren’t taxed. When Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were exchanged for dollars or pounds, Georgia treated the exchange as an export exempt from value added taxes, so Bitfury could keep every penny of earnings.

Rumors have swirled that Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister from the Georgian Dream party and the country’s richest oligarch, has been a secret beneficiary of the digital experiment. He gave Bitfury a $10 million loan through his investment fund when Bitfury’s executive vice chairman, George Kikvadze, sat on his investment board.

Mr. Ivanishvili declined an interview. Mr. Urumashvili of Bitfury said that no laws had been violated to encourage Bitfury, and that the former prime minister’s loan had been paid off. He had no other ties to Bitfury, Mr. Urumashvili added.

The government even expanded an entire power station next to the Bitfury facility to pump in electricity at no extra cost. With energy prices at 5 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour, Bitfury and its supporters could envision prosperity, if not around the corner then somewhere just beyond the fog of Georgia’s storied mountains.

Mining With Friends

When Bitfury came to Georgia, one Bitcoin was worth around $350. It spiked to nearly $20,000 before tumbling. Big players like Bitfury have bandwidth to keep operating. But smaller investors have been far more vulnerable.

In villages across Georgia, an estimated 200,000 people secured mining computers to set up in basements and garages. For young people especially who struggled in a tough economy, Bitcoin seemed an alluring alternative to just making ends meet.

Joining the rush was George Kirvalidze, 35, the former owner of a small internet company in the town of Kvareli, three hours from Tbilisi in Georgian wine country.

About half the town’s 6,000 households have some kind of a mining rig, he said.

“Most people who bought in thought high prices would last forever,” said Mr. Kirvalidze, who has managed to mine 20 Bitcoins.

Even farmers got involved. “At one point it was more profitable than owning a cow,” he said. “Now it’s not so sure.”

Cryptocurrency lives off a blizzard of mathematical calculations. Computers, or miners, around the world compete to solve complex formulas on the blockchain. When a mining computer gets the right answer, it is given a bundle of new Bitcoins as a reward.

The constant calculating superheats computers, and the energy demand — to power the computers and to cool them — has spiraled in places where such currencies are pursued.

To save energy, Mr. Kirvalidze created a mining pool with nine friends, who grouped their machines in a friend’s garage. One November afternoon, 15 of the 60 miners were turned off because Bitcoin prices had fallen too low to justify the energy use. More would shut down if prices continued to slump, he added.

“Bitfury is one step ahead of us,” Mr. Kirvalidze observed, citing the company’s cutting-edge technology and quasi-state backing in Georgia.

“If we could get cheaper energy prices, too, we could make more,” he said. “That would increase money circulating in the economy and eventually improve growth.”

‘Onto the World Map’

Forty-five minutes from the center of Tbilisi, trucks rumble over two-lane roads and past faded pink and yellow high-rises. A prison, in matching pink and yellow paint, blights a cow pasture. In the middle of the valley rises the gray confines of Bitfury, plunked on a 40-acre concrete strip protected by guards and a high wire fence.

In a warehouse as big as a Walmart, Ilia Koranashvili, a muscular engineer with a snake tattoo, walked around 160 hermetically sealed stainless steel tanks filled with power-efficient chips and a special cooling liquid. The tanks are Bitfury’s experiment to keep energy costs down and make the mining cost effective almost anywhere, said Mr. Koranashvili, who heads Bitfury’s monitoring team.

Industry estimates suggest the company mines just over 5 percent of all Bitcoins, although no one would say how much was being mined here.

But competitors in Georgia reckon it was a fortune. Vakhtang Gogokhia, the chief executive of Golden Fleece, a small cryptomining start-up, said he was pulling in around 10 Bitcoins a month using one megawatt of energy, enough to light 1,000 homes. Bitfury says it constantly consumes at least 45 megawatts of energy, though Mr. Gogokhia suspected it was more.

Critics say the government, by subsidizing operations like Bitfury, is ripping off taxpayers by forcing them to foot the bill for well-connected companies.

Zurab Tchiaberashvili, a lawmaker from European Georgia, the largest opposition party in Parliament, said the government’s generosity toward Bitfury had deprived Georgians of millions in tax revenue.

“It’s a huge conflict of interest,” he said.

Mr. Urumashvili brushed off such concerns. “Bitfury has given our country many things, including a path to the future,” he said. “When you have a ticket to get onto the world map,” he added, “you should use it.”

Still, as Bitcoin prices highlight the uncertain nature of cryptocurrencies, the government isn’t putting all of its eggs in one basket.

“Georgia is interesting for cryptocurrency miners,” said Mr. Kobulia, the economy minister. “But would it be a major source of our economic growth? Maybe not.”

Correction: Jan. 23, 2019

An earlier version of this article misstated the nation where Bitfury, a blockchain technology company, is based. It is incorporated in Britain, not the United States. The error was repeated in a photo caption. The article also misstated the position that George Kikvadze holds at Bitfury. He is the executive vice chairman, not the vice president. The rate for the energy prices paid by Bitfury was also incorrect. It is 5 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour, not per hour.

#bitcoin #cryptocurrency #georgia

[theliterateape]

“HELP! I Can’t Shit!”

by Don Hall

Something must be in the air. Or maybe it’s an electricity thing. Hard to say.

As the world seems to teeter at all times on the knife’s edge between sanity and lunacy, I suppose there are just certain fulcrum points that tip the balance. An ordinary enough day in the tides of pandemic. 

My mind filled with barbed wire jabs of the comically inept president as he lurches forward toward full-out and unapologetic white supremacy in his flailing attempt to be elected again. Of watching the Right side of the political spectrum drown itself by remaining chained to the anvil called Trump. 

The gaslighting by the Left as the Twitter monolith screams that the surge of coronavirus had nothing to do with the hundreds of thousands in protest and a smaller cabal still improbably trolling J.K. Rowling for questioning their orthodoxy. The looming Depression that no one seems to take too seriously as the Culture Wars have also canceled even the realities of the hottest days on the planet slowly boiling us like frogs in the experiment of a psychopathic sixth grader.

Just a (new) normal Saturday at the West.

****

Until...

1.

SLAM! Crunchacruncha SLAMSLAM!

A man’s voice. “Get the fuck...stop it...fucking crazy ass...”

SLAM

“Gimme my motherfucking money!”

The men’s room. Two sinks. Two urinals. One stall. Because there are no surveillance cameras in the toilet, our men’s room is a focal point for quick drug deals, pimp meet john meetings, and the occasional blow job. The women’s room is where the prostitutes wash their bits and pieces and charge their phones but the men’s is where the action is.

I pop in at the sound of slamming and screaming. Despite the sometimes sketchy clientele the music of true violence is remarkably rare in the casino. A woman — black, six foot or so, probably 250 lbs — is kicking the living shit out of the locked stall door. On the other side comes the squalling of a man cowering behind with only an inch of plastic partition held by a $0.45 lock.

“Whoa! Lady this is the men’s room! You need to get out of here!”

It’s the first thing that comes to mind, the idea that a woman shouldn’t be in here rather than the kicking and screaming. She sees me and stops. She stomps out and declares “He stole my fucking money!”

The radio on my hip. “MOD to Security. I could use your help at the men’s room right away, please.” Even in the microwaves of conflict, I still try to say please when using the floor radio. My wife wishes I did that more at home.

After a moment of confusion, the clouds part and the sunlight of understanding starts to seep out. She claims she dropped money on the floor and the white man picked it up and ran into the bathroom, locking himself in. He claims she’s crazy but only through the still locked stall. He ain’t coming out.

Her friend (boyfriend?) who looks like his skull is made of all bone, like a human pit bull with eyes glazed with one too many Hennesy’s, keeps trying to muscle past me into the john to extract the money. I do that thing I do when I raise up my arms and slowly push the energy down to my sides, effectively conducting this orchestra of human chaos.

“OK. Let’s take a beat. How much money did you lose?”

“I don’t know.”

“I need a number.”

“$400.00.”

“Cash or was it a slot ticket?”

“Cash. It fell out my pocket and he took it.”

“Did you see him take it?”

Pit bull barks “Yes!” at the same time that she says “No.”

Meanwhile, two security officers are in the toilet grilling the accused. His face mask is wadded up under his chin. It’s pretty dirty. He empties his pockets. Some gum, a wadded up slot ticket for $19.00 and change, rolling papers. No $400.00. She starts to get loud again.

“Hold on. We can’t do a search on him but if you want, I can call surveillance to see if you dropped some money and if he then picked it up. Take me five minutes.”

She looks at the pit bull. She looks at the freaked out bathroom evacuee. “Nah. He looks like he needs the money. He can keep it.” and she turns, mutters “...c’mon...” and the two walk with purpose out the west doors. 

The white man with the rolling papers I ask my security guys to escort off the property to the east. I’m not entirely certain what scam was being played but the stink of chicanery is too strong. Best to be rid of the full trio.

2.

“HELP! HELP! H-E-L-P!”

What is it about the men’s room today?

Again, I walk into the toilet. Engineers have come and gone and repaired the stall door from the kickboxing woman. I don’t know what to expect (do I ever in this joint?) so I’m prepared for just about anything.

“I CAN’T SHIT!”

It’s as likely you’d be sold a Chia Pet by a man wearing nothing but a fur coat, leather cowboy hat, and a diaper in Saks Fifth Avenue as see me rendered speechless but here it is. I have no words. My mind is struggling to find purchase with this information and is failing.

“Did you hear me?”

“I...I heard you.”

“I can’t shit.”

“Yeah. I got that part. I’m not sure what it is you’d like me to do about that.”

“Well...” A pause. “I can’t shit. It hurts.”

My security supervisor (one of the officers before) comes in to see what’s up.

“Sir. We don’t have Ex Lax in the Gift Shop. I suppose if you could unlock the stall I could jump up and down on your stomach...” The officer looks at me like he’s trying to divine meaning from a three-holed brick with a wig. “If it really hurts, we can call paramedics...”

“NO!”

“Alright then. Maybe try relaxing. Breathe some. That works for me when I have one of those tree trunk shits.” And the officer gets it. And starts to giggle.

“I’ll try that.”

Eight minutes later, the guy exits the men’s room, a full 350 lbs of Heart Attack country in a t-shirt and suspenders.

“Everything come out alright?”

I couldn’t help myself.

3.

Ordinary cat strolls into the casino. Nice black face mask. Slacks. Dress shirt. A plastic baby doll clutched to his chest like it was his child...wait. What?

He wanders around the floor in between the Game Kings and the Buffalo Golds. One hears the word “wander” and this is what it actually means. No specific place in mind, not really noticing anything around him, this guy is wandering. 

Sure enough, as has been the destination point for most of this afternoon, he heads to the men’s room. At this juncture, our gentlemen’s toilet has become like the sewer in Derry, Maine conjured by the Master of Horror.

Five minutes later, he comes out, still holding the doll like a Fabergé egg. He wanders a bit more then strolls out the way he came.

4.

WHAM! WHAM!

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

At least it isn’t coming from the bathroom.

In the middle of the casino an older man is balling up his fist and punching the Game King Multi-game screen hard.

I say older man as if that indicates anything about his age. Time has a bizarre effect on the body and he is in the odd zone between fifty and eight-five. I’m fifty-four and still get the random assumption that I’m a decade younger. I know fifty-four year old men who have been ravaged a bit by bad genetics, bad nutrition, and maybe too much desert sun and could be confused with sandstone and leather. Who the fuck knows how old this guy is? Suffice it to say he ain’t a kid anymore for some time and back.

I half-jog over and, as he goes in for another WHAM, I grab his wrist.

“ASSAULT! He’s assaulting me! You’re assaulting me! ASSAULT!”

“Dude. You can call it assault if you want. Seriously. Or you could call it, I don’t know, “defense of property.” Or maybe you could call it me protecting your hand. Maybe I’m just trying to make sure you don’t hurt yourself? Whatever you call it, what the hell did this machine do to you?”

“It stole my money!”

This generally translates to “I made a bet and lost” and it means exactly that in this case.

“Listen. Ordinarily, I’d just 86 you off the property and you’d be prevented from ever coming back but I can tell you’ve had a few cocktails so how about you call it a night and come back when you’re in a better headspace?” 

I like to use the pseudo-religious phrasing of the pretentious as a means to nudge these types off balance. Makes me seem quasi-mystical like a therapist or a warlock. It seems to work as the word ‘headspace’ causes him to blink a few times.

“You know what they’d do to you in 1963, punching the equipment, right?”

“What?”

“They’d pry three of your teeth out and break your left knee cap. We don’t do that sort of thing today, even if we want to, you see? Go home. Sleep it off.

When you come back, we need to be clear. When you lose a bet, do not hit the machines. Understand? When you lose a bet, Do. Not. Hit. The. Machines.”

5.

In my office. It’s dark outside but it’s still 102 degrees. I’m working on forecasting my bar sales. The Nevada Governor shut down all bars in the state last week and I’m doing my best to order product to compensate for this.

A call on the radio for a guest opportunity at the front desk.

I’m not the hotel manager but I am the manager on duty so when someone needs an authority figure to intervene, I’m the guy.

At first glance, she’s a prostitute. Tall, incredible legs, a long black wig. Skin tight dark blue dress that looks fantastic next to her luminous ebony skin. Her shoes (what my wife would call “stripper shoes”) give her at least two inches of lift. So much purple and pink eye shadow that it practically floats up and in front of her face. Her appliqué nails are the same color and, like a hot, black Wolverine, are at least three and half inches long.

She seems pretty worked up about something.

“You seem pretty worked up about something. How can I help?”

“Oh, I’m worked up! I’m trying to get a room for my friend. She’s out in the car. She’s drunk. Drunk drunk. Like, very, very drunk. And they won’t rent me a room for her.”

She’s attempting to rent the room with her drunk drunk friend’s ID and credit card which is not allowed.

“Well, we can’t use your friend’s ID or credit card without her approval. If you want to rent the room for her, we’ll need your ID...”

“Nah! I ain’t paying for it. I’m tryin’ to be a good friend by making sure she can get a room.” And then the crocodile tears. One can see the difference between the performative tears and the real deal because the theatrical weep comes solely from the eyes. The genuine article starts from the mouth. “All I want is to take care of my friend...”

“I hear you. Unfortunately, we can’t rent the room without her approval. Is she able to at least come in here and tell us we can use her credit card?”

“I can get her but she’s DRUNK AS HELL. She might be real out of control.”

“Oh, I think we can handle out of control. We see plenty of drunk as hell around here. Do you mind?”

She leaves. I call over a security officer — the one with the blonde mullet who has recently been told he needs to cut his hair if he wants to move up to supervisor — and let him know what to expect.

A few minutes later in comes a tiny tornado, a plastered five foot Tasmanian Devil, surely drunk as hell, DRUNK drunk, and full of spite and unfocused outrage.

“Ma’am...”

“What the fuck you calling ‘Ma’am’?”

“I just need to see if you want to rent a room tonig...”

“FUCK, no!”

Foxy Brown pipes in. “She needs this room. I told you she’d be this way.”

“We need your approval in order to rent you a roo...”

“I don’t wanna stay here! I don’t want your fucking room, cracker!”

I look at her friend. She shrugs as if to say “Told you.”

“Do you want to rent...”

And her face balls up like a fist. Her mouth opens wide and she bellows at a volume one would not expect from such a tiny package “NO FUCKING WAAAAAAAYYYY!” She clumsily spins and stumbles out of the casino.

Foxy’s eyes do that thing when a woman wants to make a man’s chub move. “You see. Is there any way you could just ignore the rules just once?”

“I’m really sorry. We can’t. If you want to rent it yourself, we can...”

Like a flash of static electricity, she goes from cooing to hissing. “I’m not paying! She ain’t gonna pay me back. You are cold-hearted. That’s all. Motherfucking COLD-HEARTED. I can’t believe you’d just say no to her when I’m just tryin’ to be a good friend.”

She’s still ranting as she heads to the exit so I follow. She turns.

“You don’t gotta walk me out like that! I ain’t done NOTHING wrong. You don’t gotta walk me out like you kicking me out or nothing!”

“Oh. I wasn’t. I thought you were still talking to me.”

“Then go away. Don’t walk me out.”

“Alright. No problem.”

“LEAVE! Go do something! If you ain’t leaving,” and she turns and plops down at one of the Keno machines, “then I ain’t leaving. Imma sit right here til you gone.”

I back up a step. She stares at me defiantly like a teenager refusing to stop texting at the dinner table. In fact, she pulls out her phone and starts playing with it.

“OK. Well, that’s fine. If you want to sit there, I have no problem with that but you’ll need to put a few dollars in the game and gamble if you want to stay. How about this? You have about two minutes to start gambling and, if not, then we’ll escort you off the property.”

She sticks out her chin and looks like she’s trying to make her density increase.

Two minutes later.

“Time to go.”

She gets up fast and starts walking. I don’t realize it but she’s now using her phone camera and is talking to the six YouTube subscribers she has. “This little bitch is kicking me out. If my friend who is DRUNK gets hurt it’s on you, little bitch!”

“I am, indeed, a little bitch and you are right. Earlier, it was me who forced liquor down your friend’s throat.”

“I didn’t say ‘little bitch’. I said Little DICK!”

“Well, I am Irish so you’re probably right.”

Finally we get to her car. She gets in, yells out one more “Motherfucker!” and drives off.

Officer Mullet looks at me. “Hey. I’m Irish and I don’t have a little dick.”

6.

In Vegas looks can deceive.

A guest opportunity at the cage.

The couple — a heavy-set, white trailer park looking woman with her tall, gangly black boyfriend are looking pretty sullen. We have a thing called Cash Club at the cage. Gamblers with a Players Card can do a cash withdrawal based on their level of play out of their bank account. Usually this is for larger cash amounts.

These two do not look like they have six grand in the bank but that’s the withdrawal they’re attempting. Unfortunately, her Player’s Card indicates no level of gambling. Zero. Nada.

I recognize them from other times they’ve been in. I ask if she uses her card when she plays. She doesn’t. I explain to them that without some sort of record of her play, we can’t cash the marker. While the dough is marked as “pending” in her account, it will be released in a few hours. They are not happy about this but still more sullen than pissed.

Fifteen minutes later, she’s pissed.

She claims she called her bank and they tell her the funds won’t be available for ten business days and goddamnit, why can’t I just cash it already. She keeps walking in a tiny circle as if to de-steam her anger. I tell her this isn’t up to me, it’s between her and her bank. She throws a cup. She huffs. She says “This is shit. C’mon” and storms out the west entrance, slamming the door hard enough to shake the frame.

Her skinny boyfriend looks at me apologetically, turns, and skunks his way after her.

7.

It’s getting late. Almost time for a shift change. I’m walking the property.

We managers, along with security, walk the entire perimeter of the property in part to catch things missed and in part to show guests that there are, in fact, sober adults around to help them should help be required.

I round the corner of the 900 building and I hear what sounds like a man growling like a dog. As I turn I see an oak tree of a man, huge and bearded like Paul Bunyan wearing a wife-beater and basketball shorts, shaking the head of what looks like a sizable Irish Setter and growling. Then he lurches forward and bites the canine on the ear. Hard enough for the mutt to squeal a bit.

“HEY! What...?”

The man stops. He looks up, still holding the dog.

“Are you OK?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“I’m not talking to you.”

As if he understands me, the dog begins wagging his tail.

****

The looking-glass world of constant news is one of frustration and despair. As we stare into our personal voids surrounded by digital newsies hawking the latest thing to be horrified by, the machine starts to glitch out like an incandescent bulb on its last life.

Humans are bizarre in normal paintings but the world is being drawn by Escher and Dali just lately so the phrase “expect the unexpected” is now more a dire warning than a piece of self help. Every staircase winds in upon itself, every clock is melting.

The “why” of behavior is an endless fascination but I ain’t Freud and my job isn’t to figure out the mania but to deal with it as best I can. My wife tells me the night is a success because no police were called, no one was hurt, and I made it home in one piece (and, knock on wood, free of COVID).

Tomorrow will be, as the redundancy dictates, another day and you’ll find me at the corner of I-15 and Tropicana in the Casino at the End of the World. All things being equal, it’s not a bad place to hang my hat, have a smoke, and curate the looney bin.

At least the view is spectacular.

#Casino life

[teiraymondmccoy78]

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It

TBILISI, Georgia — For three years, a windowless warehouse on the edge of town has been whirring with enough energy to power nearly 50,000 homes. Day and night, the warehouse, and dozens of cargo containers in a windswept valley, are generating Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that has created a virtual gold rush in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Bitfury, an American technology company, is churning out millions of dollars’ worth of the digital money using ultracheap hydropower harvested from waters rushing down the volcanic peaks of the Caucasus. Even as the currency has tumbled in value, thousands of Georgians have jumped into the game and sold cars — even cows — to buy high-powered computers to mine Bitcoin and join what has become a state-supported dash toward data supremacy.

A former prime minister encouraged Bitfury with a $10 million loan in 2015. The governing Georgian Dream party sold 45 acres for $1 for Bitfury to set up shop. The government has been selling energy at half the rates charged in the United States or Europe, and it has created tax-free zones to draw in tech-savvy entrepreneurs.

The efforts have given Georgia, with 3.7 million people, a dubious distinction. It is now an energy guzzler, with nearly 10 percent of its energy output gone into the currency endeavor. The country consumed so much power in recent years that the World Bank ranked it one of the most active cryptocurrency sites in the world.

The whole experiment is likely to face immediate challenges as the price of Bitcoin declines, after a spectacular rise tempted investors around the world to bet on cryptocurrencies.

Most companies tend to lose money when the price of Bitcoin falls below energy costs, and mining operators worldwide have recently been scaling back. The largest mining company, the Chinese company Bitmain, has been closing offices and laying off workers. Last week, Bitfury announced layoffs at a facility in Canada.

Georgia, however, has been betting its economy on luring blockchain technology, the encrypted storage capability behind all crypto transactions.

Bitfury has helped migrate most of Georgia’s land registry to blockchain, making the government one of the first to rely on the secure digital ledger. Its tax system may soon follow. Georgia aims to beat Malta, Bermuda and other countries known for light-touch regulation of cryptocurrencies to dominate blockchain development.

“The economy’s digital transformation is our highest priority,” said George Kobulia, the economy minister. “We’re supporting this any way we can.”

A Low-Tax Frontier

In downtown Tbilisi, a neon-lit Marriott welcomes tourists. A nearby shopping mall installed a special A.T.M. for Bitcoin withdrawals. A cryptocurrency exchange flashes the prices of Bitcoin, Ether and other digital money on a ticker.

When street protests ousted the last Soviet-era leader in 2003, the government, struggling with poverty, corruption and grinding bureaucracy, began selling itself as a business-friendly low-tax outpost for investment. Big financial institutions came in. So did casinos. A private company willing to take a risk was Bitfury, founded in 2011 by a tech savant from Latvia who was proselytizing about a strange virtual industry.

Remi Urumashvili, a well-connected lawyer and now Bitfury’s main representative in Georgia, said that when Valery Vavilov, the co-founder and chief executive, approached him to seek advice on building a cryptocurrency operation, he was baffled.

“They told me they wanted to mine Bitcoins, and I’m asking them, ‘Hey, guys, what’s a Bitcoin?’” Mr. Urumashvili recalled.

Mr. Vavilov told him that the currency had introduced a new technology, blockchain, that had the potential for widespread use in business. Mr. Urumashvili said he had seen a potential tax advantage.

“They explained that it’s money that exists on the internet,” he said. “So I said, ‘If a thing doesn’t exist in reality, maybe the tax will be zero.’”

Mr. Urumashvili worked hard to lobby lawmakers to keep Georgia an open market for cryptocurrency. “I don’t like regulations,” he said, arching an eyebrow. “And there are very few regulations here for anything.”

As soon as Bitfury opened its doors, Georgia created “free economic zones” where mining activities and electricity weren’t taxed. When Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were exchanged for dollars or pounds, Georgia treated the exchange as an export exempt from value added taxes, so Bitfury could keep every penny of earnings.

Rumors have swirled that Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister from the Georgian Dream party and the country’s richest oligarch, has been a secret beneficiary of the digital experiment. He gave Bitfury a $10 million loan through his investment fund when Bitfury’s vice president, George Kikvadze, sat on his investment board.

Mr. Ivanishvili declined an interview. Mr. Urumashvili of Bitfury said that no laws had been violated to encourage Bitfury, and that the former prime minister’s loan had been paid off. He had no other ties to Bitfury, Mr. Urumashvili added.

The government even expanded an entire power station next to the Bitfury facility to pump in electricity at no extra cost. With energy prices at 5 to 6 cents an hour, Bitfury and its supporters could envision prosperity, if not around the corner then somewhere just beyond the fog of Georgia’s storied mountains.

Mining With Friends

When Bitfury came to Georgia, one Bitcoin was worth around $350. It spiked to nearly $20,000 before tumbling. Big players like Bitfury have bandwidth to keep operating. But smaller investors have been far more vulnerable.

In villages across Georgia, an estimated 200,000 people secured mining computers to set up in basements and garages. For young people especially who struggled in a tough economy, Bitcoin seemed an alluring alternative to just making ends meet.

Joining the rush was George Kirvalidze, 35, the former owner of a small internet company in the town of Kvareli, three hours from Tbilisi in Georgian wine country.

About half the town’s 6,000 households have some kind of a mining rig, he said.

“Most people who bought in thought high prices would last forever,” said Mr. Kirvalidze, who has managed to mine 20 Bitcoins.

Even farmers got involved. “At one point it was more profitable than owning a cow,” he said. “Now it’s not so sure.”

Cryptocurrency lives off a blizzard of mathematical calculations. Computers, or miners, around the world compete to solve complex formulas on the blockchain. When a mining computer gets the right answer, it is given a bundle of new Bitcoins as a reward.

The constant calculating superheats computers, and the energy demand — to power the computers and to cool them — has spiraled in places where such currencies are pursued.

To save energy, Mr. Kirvalidze created a mining pool with nine friends, who grouped their machines in a friend’s garage. One November afternoon, 15 of the 60 miners were turned off because Bitcoin prices had fallen too low to justify the energy use. More would shut down if prices continued to slump, he added.

“Bitfury is one step ahead of us,” Mr. Kirvalidze observed, citing the company’s cutting-edge technology and quasi-state backing in Georgia.

“If we could get cheaper energy prices, too, we could make more,” he said. “That would increase money circulating in the economy and eventually improve growth.”

‘Onto the World Map’

Forty-five minutes from the center of Tbilisi, trucks rumble over two-lane roads and past faded pink and yellow high-rises. A prison, in matching pink and yellow paint, blights a cow pasture. In the middle of the valley rises the gray confines of Bitfury, plunked on a 40-acre concrete strip protected by guards and a high wire fence.

In a warehouse as big as a Walmart, Ilia Koranashvili, a muscular engineer with a snake tattoo, walked around 160 hermetically sealed stainless steel tanks filled with power-efficient chips and a special cooling liquid. The tanks are Bitfury’s experiment to keep energy costs down and make the mining cost effective almost anywhere, said Mr. Koranashvili, who heads Bitfury’s monitoring team.

Industry estimates suggest the company mines just over 5 percent of all Bitcoins, although no one would say how much was being mined here.

But competitors in Georgia reckon it was a fortune. Vakhtang Gogokhia, the chief executive of Golden Fleece, a small cryptomining start-up, said he was pulling in around 10 Bitcoins a month using one megawatt of energy, enough to light 1,000 homes. Bitfury says it constantly consumes at least 45 megawatts of energy, though Mr. Gogokhia suspected it was more.

Critics say the government, by subsidizing operations like Bitfury, is ripping off taxpayers by forcing them to foot the bill for well-connected companies.

Zurab Tchiaberashvili, a lawmaker from European Georgia, the largest opposition party in Parliament, said the government’s generosity toward Bitfury had deprived Georgians of millions in tax revenue.

“It’s a huge conflict of interest,” he said.

Mr. Urumashvili brushed off such concerns. “Bitfury has given our country many things, including a path to the future,” he said. “When you have a ticket to get onto the world map,” he added, “you should use it.”

Still, as Bitcoin prices highlight the uncertain nature of cryptocurrencies, the government isn’t putting all of its eggs in one basket.

“Georgia is interesting for cryptocurrency miners,” said Mr. Kobulia, the economy minister. “But would it be a major source of our economic growth? Maybe not.”

Original Source http://bit.ly/2DsyBSh

[bobbynolanios88]

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It

TBILISI, Georgia — For three years, a windowless warehouse on the edge of town has been whirring with enough energy to power nearly 50,000 homes. Day and night, the warehouse, and dozens of cargo containers in a windswept valley, are generating Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that has created a virtual gold rush in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Bitfury, an American technology company, is churning out millions of dollars’ worth of the digital money using ultracheap hydropower harvested from waters rushing down the volcanic peaks of the Caucasus. Even as the currency has tumbled in value, thousands of Georgians have jumped into the game and sold cars — even cows — to buy high-powered computers to mine Bitcoin and join what has become a state-supported dash toward data supremacy.

A former prime minister encouraged Bitfury with a $10 million loan in 2015. The governing Georgian Dream party sold 45 acres for $1 for Bitfury to set up shop. The government has been selling energy at half the rates charged in the United States or Europe, and it has created tax-free zones to draw in tech-savvy entrepreneurs.

The efforts have given Georgia, with 3.7 million people, a dubious distinction. It is now an energy guzzler, with nearly 10 percent of its energy output gone into the currency endeavor. The country consumed so much power in recent years that the World Bank ranked it one of the most active cryptocurrency sites in the world.

The whole experiment is likely to face immediate challenges as the price of Bitcoin declines, after a spectacular rise tempted investors around the world to bet on cryptocurrencies.

Most companies tend to lose money when the price of Bitcoin falls below energy costs, and mining operators worldwide have recently been scaling back. The largest mining company, the Chinese company Bitmain, has been closing offices and laying off workers. Last week, Bitfury announced layoffs at a facility in Canada.

Georgia, however, has been betting its economy on luring blockchain technology, the encrypted storage capability behind all crypto transactions.

Bitfury has helped migrate most of Georgia’s land registry to blockchain, making the government one of the first to rely on the secure digital ledger. Its tax system may soon follow. Georgia aims to beat Malta, Bermuda and other countries known for light-touch regulation of cryptocurrencies to dominate blockchain development.

“The economy’s digital transformation is our highest priority,” said George Kobulia, the economy minister. “We’re supporting this any way we can.”

A Low-Tax Frontier

In downtown Tbilisi, a neon-lit Marriott welcomes tourists. A nearby shopping mall installed a special A.T.M. for Bitcoin withdrawals. A cryptocurrency exchange flashes the prices of Bitcoin, Ether and other digital money on a ticker.

When street protests ousted the last Soviet-era leader in 2003, the government, struggling with poverty, corruption and grinding bureaucracy, began selling itself as a business-friendly low-tax outpost for investment. Big financial institutions came in. So did casinos. A private company willing to take a risk was Bitfury, founded in 2011 by a tech savant from Latvia who was proselytizing about a strange virtual industry.

Remi Urumashvili, a well-connected lawyer and now Bitfury’s main representative in Georgia, said that when Valery Vavilov, the co-founder and chief executive, approached him to seek advice on building a cryptocurrency operation, he was baffled.

“They told me they wanted to mine Bitcoins, and I’m asking them, ‘Hey, guys, what’s a Bitcoin?’” Mr. Urumashvili recalled.

Mr. Vavilov told him that the currency had introduced a new technology, blockchain, that had the potential for widespread use in business. Mr. Urumashvili said he had seen a potential tax advantage.

“They explained that it’s money that exists on the internet,” he said. “So I said, ‘If a thing doesn’t exist in reality, maybe the tax will be zero.’”

Mr. Urumashvili worked hard to lobby lawmakers to keep Georgia an open market for cryptocurrency. “I don’t like regulations,” he said, arching an eyebrow. “And there are very few regulations here for anything.”

As soon as Bitfury opened its doors, Georgia created “free economic zones” where mining activities and electricity weren’t taxed. When Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were exchanged for dollars or pounds, Georgia treated the exchange as an export exempt from value added taxes, so Bitfury could keep every penny of earnings.

Rumors have swirled that Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister from the Georgian Dream party and the country’s richest oligarch, has been a secret beneficiary of the digital experiment. He gave Bitfury a $10 million loan through his investment fund when Bitfury’s vice president, George Kikvadze, sat on his investment board.

Mr. Ivanishvili declined an interview. Mr. Urumashvili of Bitfury said that no laws had been violated to encourage Bitfury, and that the former prime minister’s loan had been paid off. He had no other ties to Bitfury, Mr. Urumashvili added.

The government even expanded an entire power station next to the Bitfury facility to pump in electricity at no extra cost. With energy prices at 5 to 6 cents an hour, Bitfury and its supporters could envision prosperity, if not around the corner then somewhere just beyond the fog of Georgia’s storied mountains.

Mining With Friends

When Bitfury came to Georgia, one Bitcoin was worth around $350. It spiked to nearly $20,000 before tumbling. Big players like Bitfury have bandwidth to keep operating. But smaller investors have been far more vulnerable.

In villages across Georgia, an estimated 200,000 people secured mining computers to set up in basements and garages. For young people especially who struggled in a tough economy, Bitcoin seemed an alluring alternative to just making ends meet.

Joining the rush was George Kirvalidze, 35, the former owner of a small internet company in the town of Kvareli, three hours from Tbilisi in Georgian wine country.

About half the town’s 6,000 households have some kind of a mining rig, he said.

“Most people who bought in thought high prices would last forever,” said Mr. Kirvalidze, who has managed to mine 20 Bitcoins.

Even farmers got involved. “At one point it was more profitable than owning a cow,” he said. “Now it’s not so sure.”

Cryptocurrency lives off a blizzard of mathematical calculations. Computers, or miners, around the world compete to solve complex formulas on the blockchain. When a mining computer gets the right answer, it is given a bundle of new Bitcoins as a reward.

The constant calculating superheats computers, and the energy demand — to power the computers and to cool them — has spiraled in places where such currencies are pursued.

To save energy, Mr. Kirvalidze created a mining pool with nine friends, who grouped their machines in a friend’s garage. One November afternoon, 15 of the 60 miners were turned off because Bitcoin prices had fallen too low to justify the energy use. More would shut down if prices continued to slump, he added.

“Bitfury is one step ahead of us,” Mr. Kirvalidze observed, citing the company’s cutting-edge technology and quasi-state backing in Georgia.

“If we could get cheaper energy prices, too, we could make more,” he said. “That would increase money circulating in the economy and eventually improve growth.”

‘Onto the World Map’

Forty-five minutes from the center of Tbilisi, trucks rumble over two-lane roads and past faded pink and yellow high-rises. A prison, in matching pink and yellow paint, blights a cow pasture. In the middle of the valley rises the gray confines of Bitfury, plunked on a 40-acre concrete strip protected by guards and a high wire fence.

In a warehouse as big as a Walmart, Ilia Koranashvili, a muscular engineer with a snake tattoo, walked around 160 hermetically sealed stainless steel tanks filled with power-efficient chips and a special cooling liquid. The tanks are Bitfury’s experiment to keep energy costs down and make the mining cost effective almost anywhere, said Mr. Koranashvili, who heads Bitfury’s monitoring team.

Industry estimates suggest the company mines just over 5 percent of all Bitcoins, although no one would say how much was being mined here.

But competitors in Georgia reckon it was a fortune. Vakhtang Gogokhia, the chief executive of Golden Fleece, a small cryptomining start-up, said he was pulling in around 10 Bitcoins a month using one megawatt of energy, enough to light 1,000 homes. Bitfury says it constantly consumes at least 45 megawatts of energy, though Mr. Gogokhia suspected it was more.

Critics say the government, by subsidizing operations like Bitfury, is ripping off taxpayers by forcing them to foot the bill for well-connected companies.

Zurab Tchiaberashvili, a lawmaker from European Georgia, the largest opposition party in Parliament, said the government’s generosity toward Bitfury had deprived Georgians of millions in tax revenue.

“It’s a huge conflict of interest,” he said.

Mr. Urumashvili brushed off such concerns. “Bitfury has given our country many things, including a path to the future,” he said. “When you have a ticket to get onto the world map,” he added, “you should use it.”

Still, as Bitcoin prices highlight the uncertain nature of cryptocurrencies, the government isn’t putting all of its eggs in one basket.

“Georgia is interesting for cryptocurrency miners,” said Mr. Kobulia, the economy minister. “But would it be a major source of our economic growth? Maybe not.”

Original Source http://bit.ly/2DsyBSh

#IFTTT #Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin

[courtneyvbrooks87]

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It

TBILISI, Georgia — For three years, a windowless warehouse on the edge of town has been whirring with enough energy to power nearly 50,000 homes. Day and night, the warehouse, and dozens of cargo containers in a windswept valley, are generating Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that has created a virtual gold rush in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Bitfury, an American technology company, is churning out millions of dollars’ worth of the digital money using ultracheap hydropower harvested from waters rushing down the volcanic peaks of the Caucasus. Even as the currency has tumbled in value, thousands of Georgians have jumped into the game and sold cars — even cows — to buy high-powered computers to mine Bitcoin and join what has become a state-supported dash toward data supremacy.

A former prime minister encouraged Bitfury with a $10 million loan in 2015. The governing Georgian Dream party sold 45 acres for $1 for Bitfury to set up shop. The government has been selling energy at half the rates charged in the United States or Europe, and it has created tax-free zones to draw in tech-savvy entrepreneurs.

The efforts have given Georgia, with 3.7 million people, a dubious distinction. It is now an energy guzzler, with nearly 10 percent of its energy output gone into the currency endeavor. The country consumed so much power in recent years that the World Bank ranked it one of the most active cryptocurrency sites in the world.

The whole experiment is likely to face immediate challenges as the price of Bitcoin declines, after a spectacular rise tempted investors around the world to bet on cryptocurrencies.

Most companies tend to lose money when the price of Bitcoin falls below energy costs, and mining operators worldwide have recently been scaling back. The largest mining company, the Chinese company Bitmain, has been closing offices and laying off workers. Last week, Bitfury announced layoffs at a facility in Canada.

Georgia, however, has been betting its economy on luring blockchain technology, the encrypted storage capability behind all crypto transactions.

Bitfury has helped migrate most of Georgia’s land registry to blockchain, making the government one of the first to rely on the secure digital ledger. Its tax system may soon follow. Georgia aims to beat Malta, Bermuda and other countries known for light-touch regulation of cryptocurrencies to dominate blockchain development.

“The economy’s digital transformation is our highest priority,” said George Kobulia, the economy minister. “We’re supporting this any way we can.”

A Low-Tax Frontier

In downtown Tbilisi, a neon-lit Marriott welcomes tourists. A nearby shopping mall installed a special A.T.M. for Bitcoin withdrawals. A cryptocurrency exchange flashes the prices of Bitcoin, Ether and other digital money on a ticker.

When street protests ousted the last Soviet-era leader in 2003, the government, struggling with poverty, corruption and grinding bureaucracy, began selling itself as a business-friendly low-tax outpost for investment. Big financial institutions came in. So did casinos. A private company willing to take a risk was Bitfury, founded in 2011 by a tech savant from Latvia who was proselytizing about a strange virtual industry.

Remi Urumashvili, a well-connected lawyer and now Bitfury’s main representative in Georgia, said that when Valery Vavilov, the co-founder and chief executive, approached him to seek advice on building a cryptocurrency operation, he was baffled.

“They told me they wanted to mine Bitcoins, and I’m asking them, ‘Hey, guys, what’s a Bitcoin?’” Mr. Urumashvili recalled.

Mr. Vavilov told him that the currency had introduced a new technology, blockchain, that had the potential for widespread use in business. Mr. Urumashvili said he had seen a potential tax advantage.

“They explained that it’s money that exists on the internet,” he said. “So I said, ‘If a thing doesn’t exist in reality, maybe the tax will be zero.’”

Mr. Urumashvili worked hard to lobby lawmakers to keep Georgia an open market for cryptocurrency. “I don’t like regulations,” he said, arching an eyebrow. “And there are very few regulations here for anything.”

As soon as Bitfury opened its doors, Georgia created “free economic zones” where mining activities and electricity weren’t taxed. When Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were exchanged for dollars or pounds, Georgia treated the exchange as an export exempt from value added taxes, so Bitfury could keep every penny of earnings.

Rumors have swirled that Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister from the Georgian Dream party and the country’s richest oligarch, has been a secret beneficiary of the digital experiment. He gave Bitfury a $10 million loan through his investment fund when Bitfury’s vice president, George Kikvadze, sat on his investment board.

Mr. Ivanishvili declined an interview. Mr. Urumashvili of Bitfury said that no laws had been violated to encourage Bitfury, and that the former prime minister’s loan had been paid off. He had no other ties to Bitfury, Mr. Urumashvili added.

The government even expanded an entire power station next to the Bitfury facility to pump in electricity at no extra cost. With energy prices at 5 to 6 cents an hour, Bitfury and its supporters could envision prosperity, if not around the corner then somewhere just beyond the fog of Georgia’s storied mountains.

Mining With Friends

When Bitfury came to Georgia, one Bitcoin was worth around $350. It spiked to nearly $20,000 before tumbling. Big players like Bitfury have bandwidth to keep operating. But smaller investors have been far more vulnerable.

In villages across Georgia, an estimated 200,000 people secured mining computers to set up in basements and garages. For young people especially who struggled in a tough economy, Bitcoin seemed an alluring alternative to just making ends meet.

Joining the rush was George Kirvalidze, 35, the former owner of a small internet company in the town of Kvareli, three hours from Tbilisi in Georgian wine country.

About half the town’s 6,000 households have some kind of a mining rig, he said.

“Most people who bought in thought high prices would last forever,” said Mr. Kirvalidze, who has managed to mine 20 Bitcoins.

Even farmers got involved. “At one point it was more profitable than owning a cow,” he said. “Now it’s not so sure.”

Cryptocurrency lives off a blizzard of mathematical calculations. Computers, or miners, around the world compete to solve complex formulas on the blockchain. When a mining computer gets the right answer, it is given a bundle of new Bitcoins as a reward.

The constant calculating superheats computers, and the energy demand — to power the computers and to cool them — has spiraled in places where such currencies are pursued.

To save energy, Mr. Kirvalidze created a mining pool with nine friends, who grouped their machines in a friend’s garage. One November afternoon, 15 of the 60 miners were turned off because Bitcoin prices had fallen too low to justify the energy use. More would shut down if prices continued to slump, he added.

“Bitfury is one step ahead of us,” Mr. Kirvalidze observed, citing the company’s cutting-edge technology and quasi-state backing in Georgia.

“If we could get cheaper energy prices, too, we could make more,” he said. “That would increase money circulating in the economy and eventually improve growth.”

‘Onto the World Map’

Forty-five minutes from the center of Tbilisi, trucks rumble over two-lane roads and past faded pink and yellow high-rises. A prison, in matching pink and yellow paint, blights a cow pasture. In the middle of the valley rises the gray confines of Bitfury, plunked on a 40-acre concrete strip protected by guards and a high wire fence.

In a warehouse as big as a Walmart, Ilia Koranashvili, a muscular engineer with a snake tattoo, walked around 160 hermetically sealed stainless steel tanks filled with power-efficient chips and a special cooling liquid. The tanks are Bitfury’s experiment to keep energy costs down and make the mining cost effective almost anywhere, said Mr. Koranashvili, who heads Bitfury’s monitoring team.

Industry estimates suggest the company mines just over 5 percent of all Bitcoins, although no one would say how much was being mined here.

But competitors in Georgia reckon it was a fortune. Vakhtang Gogokhia, the chief executive of Golden Fleece, a small cryptomining start-up, said he was pulling in around 10 Bitcoins a month using one megawatt of energy, enough to light 1,000 homes. Bitfury says it constantly consumes at least 45 megawatts of energy, though Mr. Gogokhia suspected it was more.

Critics say the government, by subsidizing operations like Bitfury, is ripping off taxpayers by forcing them to foot the bill for well-connected companies.

Zurab Tchiaberashvili, a lawmaker from European Georgia, the largest opposition party in Parliament, said the government’s generosity toward Bitfury had deprived Georgians of millions in tax revenue.

“It’s a huge conflict of interest,” he said.

Mr. Urumashvili brushed off such concerns. “Bitfury has given our country many things, including a path to the future,” he said. “When you have a ticket to get onto the world map,” he added, “you should use it.”

Still, as Bitcoin prices highlight the uncertain nature of cryptocurrencies, the government isn’t putting all of its eggs in one basket.

“Georgia is interesting for cryptocurrency miners,” said Mr. Kobulia, the economy minister. “But would it be a major source of our economic growth? Maybe not.”

Original Source http://bit.ly/2DsyBSh

#IFTTT #Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin

[vanessawestwcrtr5]

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It

TBILISI, Georgia — For three years, a windowless warehouse on the edge of town has been whirring with enough energy to power nearly 50,000 homes. Day and night, the warehouse, and dozens of cargo containers in a windswept valley, are generating Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that has created a virtual gold rush in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Bitfury, an American technology company, is churning out millions of dollars’ worth of the digital money using ultracheap hydropower harvested from waters rushing down the volcanic peaks of the Caucasus. Even as the currency has tumbled in value, thousands of Georgians have jumped into the game and sold cars — even cows — to buy high-powered computers to mine Bitcoin and join what has become a state-supported dash toward data supremacy.

A former prime minister encouraged Bitfury with a $10 million loan in 2015. The governing Georgian Dream party sold 45 acres for $1 for Bitfury to set up shop. The government has been selling energy at half the rates charged in the United States or Europe, and it has created tax-free zones to draw in tech-savvy entrepreneurs.

The efforts have given Georgia, with 3.7 million people, a dubious distinction. It is now an energy guzzler, with nearly 10 percent of its energy output gone into the currency endeavor. The country consumed so much power in recent years that the World Bank ranked it one of the most active cryptocurrency sites in the world.

The whole experiment is likely to face immediate challenges as the price of Bitcoin declines, after a spectacular rise tempted investors around the world to bet on cryptocurrencies.

Most companies tend to lose money when the price of Bitcoin falls below energy costs, and mining operators worldwide have recently been scaling back. The largest mining company, the Chinese company Bitmain, has been closing offices and laying off workers. Last week, Bitfury announced layoffs at a facility in Canada.

Georgia, however, has been betting its economy on luring blockchain technology, the encrypted storage capability behind all crypto transactions.

Bitfury has helped migrate most of Georgia’s land registry to blockchain, making the government one of the first to rely on the secure digital ledger. Its tax system may soon follow. Georgia aims to beat Malta, Bermuda and other countries known for light-touch regulation of cryptocurrencies to dominate blockchain development.

“The economy’s digital transformation is our highest priority,” said George Kobulia, the economy minister. “We’re supporting this any way we can.”

A Low-Tax Frontier

In downtown Tbilisi, a neon-lit Marriott welcomes tourists. A nearby shopping mall installed a special A.T.M. for Bitcoin withdrawals. A cryptocurrency exchange flashes the prices of Bitcoin, Ether and other digital money on a ticker.

When street protests ousted the last Soviet-era leader in 2003, the government, struggling with poverty, corruption and grinding bureaucracy, began selling itself as a business-friendly low-tax outpost for investment. Big financial institutions came in. So did casinos. A private company willing to take a risk was Bitfury, founded in 2011 by a tech savant from Latvia who was proselytizing about a strange virtual industry.

Remi Urumashvili, a well-connected lawyer and now Bitfury’s main representative in Georgia, said that when Valery Vavilov, the co-founder and chief executive, approached him to seek advice on building a cryptocurrency operation, he was baffled.

“They told me they wanted to mine Bitcoins, and I’m asking them, ‘Hey, guys, what’s a Bitcoin?’” Mr. Urumashvili recalled.

Mr. Vavilov told him that the currency had introduced a new technology, blockchain, that had the potential for widespread use in business. Mr. Urumashvili said he had seen a potential tax advantage.

“They explained that it’s money that exists on the internet,” he said. “So I said, ‘If a thing doesn’t exist in reality, maybe the tax will be zero.’”

Mr. Urumashvili worked hard to lobby lawmakers to keep Georgia an open market for cryptocurrency. “I don’t like regulations,” he said, arching an eyebrow. “And there are very few regulations here for anything.”

As soon as Bitfury opened its doors, Georgia created “free economic zones” where mining activities and electricity weren’t taxed. When Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were exchanged for dollars or pounds, Georgia treated the exchange as an export exempt from value added taxes, so Bitfury could keep every penny of earnings.

Rumors have swirled that Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister from the Georgian Dream party and the country’s richest oligarch, has been a secret beneficiary of the digital experiment. He gave Bitfury a $10 million loan through his investment fund when Bitfury’s vice president, George Kikvadze, sat on his investment board.

Mr. Ivanishvili declined an interview. Mr. Urumashvili of Bitfury said that no laws had been violated to encourage Bitfury, and that the former prime minister’s loan had been paid off. He had no other ties to Bitfury, Mr. Urumashvili added.

The government even expanded an entire power station next to the Bitfury facility to pump in electricity at no extra cost. With energy prices at 5 to 6 cents an hour, Bitfury and its supporters could envision prosperity, if not around the corner then somewhere just beyond the fog of Georgia’s storied mountains.

Mining With Friends

When Bitfury came to Georgia, one Bitcoin was worth around $350. It spiked to nearly $20,000 before tumbling. Big players like Bitfury have bandwidth to keep operating. But smaller investors have been far more vulnerable.

In villages across Georgia, an estimated 200,000 people secured mining computers to set up in basements and garages. For young people especially who struggled in a tough economy, Bitcoin seemed an alluring alternative to just making ends meet.

Joining the rush was George Kirvalidze, 35, the former owner of a small internet company in the town of Kvareli, three hours from Tbilisi in Georgian wine country.

About half the town’s 6,000 households have some kind of a mining rig, he said.

“Most people who bought in thought high prices would last forever,” said Mr. Kirvalidze, who has managed to mine 20 Bitcoins.

Even farmers got involved. “At one point it was more profitable than owning a cow,” he said. “Now it’s not so sure.”

Cryptocurrency lives off a blizzard of mathematical calculations. Computers, or miners, around the world compete to solve complex formulas on the blockchain. When a mining computer gets the right answer, it is given a bundle of new Bitcoins as a reward.

The constant calculating superheats computers, and the energy demand — to power the computers and to cool them — has spiraled in places where such currencies are pursued.

To save energy, Mr. Kirvalidze created a mining pool with nine friends, who grouped their machines in a friend’s garage. One November afternoon, 15 of the 60 miners were turned off because Bitcoin prices had fallen too low to justify the energy use. More would shut down if prices continued to slump, he added.

“Bitfury is one step ahead of us,” Mr. Kirvalidze observed, citing the company’s cutting-edge technology and quasi-state backing in Georgia.

“If we could get cheaper energy prices, too, we could make more,” he said. “That would increase money circulating in the economy and eventually improve growth.”

‘Onto the World Map’

Forty-five minutes from the center of Tbilisi, trucks rumble over two-lane roads and past faded pink and yellow high-rises. A prison, in matching pink and yellow paint, blights a cow pasture. In the middle of the valley rises the gray confines of Bitfury, plunked on a 40-acre concrete strip protected by guards and a high wire fence.

In a warehouse as big as a Walmart, Ilia Koranashvili, a muscular engineer with a snake tattoo, walked around 160 hermetically sealed stainless steel tanks filled with power-efficient chips and a special cooling liquid. The tanks are Bitfury’s experiment to keep energy costs down and make the mining cost effective almost anywhere, said Mr. Koranashvili, who heads Bitfury’s monitoring team.

Industry estimates suggest the company mines just over 5 percent of all Bitcoins, although no one would say how much was being mined here.

But competitors in Georgia reckon it was a fortune. Vakhtang Gogokhia, the chief executive of Golden Fleece, a small cryptomining start-up, said he was pulling in around 10 Bitcoins a month using one megawatt of energy, enough to light 1,000 homes. Bitfury says it constantly consumes at least 45 megawatts of energy, though Mr. Gogokhia suspected it was more.

Critics say the government, by subsidizing operations like Bitfury, is ripping off taxpayers by forcing them to foot the bill for well-connected companies.

Zurab Tchiaberashvili, a lawmaker from European Georgia, the largest opposition party in Parliament, said the government’s generosity toward Bitfury had deprived Georgians of millions in tax revenue.

“It’s a huge conflict of interest,” he said.

Mr. Urumashvili brushed off such concerns. “Bitfury has given our country many things, including a path to the future,” he said. “When you have a ticket to get onto the world map,” he added, “you should use it.”

Still, as Bitcoin prices highlight the uncertain nature of cryptocurrencies, the government isn’t putting all of its eggs in one basket.

“Georgia is interesting for cryptocurrency miners,” said Mr. Kobulia, the economy minister. “But would it be a major source of our economic growth? Maybe not.”

Original Source http://bit.ly/2DsyBSh

[adrianjenkins952wblr]

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It

TBILISI, Georgia — For three years, a windowless warehouse on the edge of town has been whirring with enough energy to power nearly 50,000 homes. Day and night, the warehouse, and dozens of cargo containers in a windswept valley, are generating Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that has created a virtual gold rush in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Bitfury, an American technology company, is churning out millions of dollars’ worth of the digital money using ultracheap hydropower harvested from waters rushing down the volcanic peaks of the Caucasus. Even as the currency has tumbled in value, thousands of Georgians have jumped into the game and sold cars — even cows — to buy high-powered computers to mine Bitcoin and join what has become a state-supported dash toward data supremacy.

A former prime minister encouraged Bitfury with a $10 million loan in 2015. The governing Georgian Dream party sold 45 acres for $1 for Bitfury to set up shop. The government has been selling energy at half the rates charged in the United States or Europe, and it has created tax-free zones to draw in tech-savvy entrepreneurs.

The efforts have given Georgia, with 3.7 million people, a dubious distinction. It is now an energy guzzler, with nearly 10 percent of its energy output gone into the currency endeavor. The country consumed so much power in recent years that the World Bank ranked it one of the most active cryptocurrency sites in the world.

The whole experiment is likely to face immediate challenges as the price of Bitcoin declines, after a spectacular rise tempted investors around the world to bet on cryptocurrencies.

Most companies tend to lose money when the price of Bitcoin falls below energy costs, and mining operators worldwide have recently been scaling back. The largest mining company, the Chinese company Bitmain, has been closing offices and laying off workers. Last week, Bitfury announced layoffs at a facility in Canada.

Georgia, however, has been betting its economy on luring blockchain technology, the encrypted storage capability behind all crypto transactions.

Bitfury has helped migrate most of Georgia’s land registry to blockchain, making the government one of the first to rely on the secure digital ledger. Its tax system may soon follow. Georgia aims to beat Malta, Bermuda and other countries known for light-touch regulation of cryptocurrencies to dominate blockchain development.

“The economy’s digital transformation is our highest priority,” said George Kobulia, the economy minister. “We’re supporting this any way we can.”

A Low-Tax Frontier

In downtown Tbilisi, a neon-lit Marriott welcomes tourists. A nearby shopping mall installed a special A.T.M. for Bitcoin withdrawals. A cryptocurrency exchange flashes the prices of Bitcoin, Ether and other digital money on a ticker.

When street protests ousted the last Soviet-era leader in 2003, the government, struggling with poverty, corruption and grinding bureaucracy, began selling itself as a business-friendly low-tax outpost for investment. Big financial institutions came in. So did casinos. A private company willing to take a risk was Bitfury, founded in 2011 by a tech savant from Latvia who was proselytizing about a strange virtual industry.

Remi Urumashvili, a well-connected lawyer and now Bitfury’s main representative in Georgia, said that when Valery Vavilov, the co-founder and chief executive, approached him to seek advice on building a cryptocurrency operation, he was baffled.

“They told me they wanted to mine Bitcoins, and I’m asking them, ‘Hey, guys, what’s a Bitcoin?’” Mr. Urumashvili recalled.

Mr. Vavilov told him that the currency had introduced a new technology, blockchain, that had the potential for widespread use in business. Mr. Urumashvili said he had seen a potential tax advantage.

“They explained that it’s money that exists on the internet,” he said. “So I said, ‘If a thing doesn’t exist in reality, maybe the tax will be zero.’”

Mr. Urumashvili worked hard to lobby lawmakers to keep Georgia an open market for cryptocurrency. “I don’t like regulations,” he said, arching an eyebrow. “And there are very few regulations here for anything.”

As soon as Bitfury opened its doors, Georgia created “free economic zones” where mining activities and electricity weren’t taxed. When Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were exchanged for dollars or pounds, Georgia treated the exchange as an export exempt from value added taxes, so Bitfury could keep every penny of earnings.

Rumors have swirled that Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister from the Georgian Dream party and the country’s richest oligarch, has been a secret beneficiary of the digital experiment. He gave Bitfury a $10 million loan through his investment fund when Bitfury’s vice president, George Kikvadze, sat on his investment board.

Mr. Ivanishvili declined an interview. Mr. Urumashvili of Bitfury said that no laws had been violated to encourage Bitfury, and that the former prime minister’s loan had been paid off. He had no other ties to Bitfury, Mr. Urumashvili added.

The government even expanded an entire power station next to the Bitfury facility to pump in electricity at no extra cost. With energy prices at 5 to 6 cents an hour, Bitfury and its supporters could envision prosperity, if not around the corner then somewhere just beyond the fog of Georgia’s storied mountains.

Mining With Friends

When Bitfury came to Georgia, one Bitcoin was worth around $350. It spiked to nearly $20,000 before tumbling. Big players like Bitfury have bandwidth to keep operating. But smaller investors have been far more vulnerable.

In villages across Georgia, an estimated 200,000 people secured mining computers to set up in basements and garages. For young people especially who struggled in a tough economy, Bitcoin seemed an alluring alternative to just making ends meet.

Joining the rush was George Kirvalidze, 35, the former owner of a small internet company in the town of Kvareli, three hours from Tbilisi in Georgian wine country.

About half the town’s 6,000 households have some kind of a mining rig, he said.

“Most people who bought in thought high prices would last forever,” said Mr. Kirvalidze, who has managed to mine 20 Bitcoins.

Even farmers got involved. “At one point it was more profitable than owning a cow,” he said. “Now it’s not so sure.”

Cryptocurrency lives off a blizzard of mathematical calculations. Computers, or miners, around the world compete to solve complex formulas on the blockchain. When a mining computer gets the right answer, it is given a bundle of new Bitcoins as a reward.

The constant calculating superheats computers, and the energy demand — to power the computers and to cool them — has spiraled in places where such currencies are pursued.

To save energy, Mr. Kirvalidze created a mining pool with nine friends, who grouped their machines in a friend’s garage. One November afternoon, 15 of the 60 miners were turned off because Bitcoin prices had fallen too low to justify the energy use. More would shut down if prices continued to slump, he added.

“Bitfury is one step ahead of us,” Mr. Kirvalidze observed, citing the company’s cutting-edge technology and quasi-state backing in Georgia.

“If we could get cheaper energy prices, too, we could make more,” he said. “That would increase money circulating in the economy and eventually improve growth.”

‘Onto the World Map’

Forty-five minutes from the center of Tbilisi, trucks rumble over two-lane roads and past faded pink and yellow high-rises. A prison, in matching pink and yellow paint, blights a cow pasture. In the middle of the valley rises the gray confines of Bitfury, plunked on a 40-acre concrete strip protected by guards and a high wire fence.

In a warehouse as big as a Walmart, Ilia Koranashvili, a muscular engineer with a snake tattoo, walked around 160 hermetically sealed stainless steel tanks filled with power-efficient chips and a special cooling liquid. The tanks are Bitfury’s experiment to keep energy costs down and make the mining cost effective almost anywhere, said Mr. Koranashvili, who heads Bitfury’s monitoring team.

Industry estimates suggest the company mines just over 5 percent of all Bitcoins, although no one would say how much was being mined here.

But competitors in Georgia reckon it was a fortune. Vakhtang Gogokhia, the chief executive of Golden Fleece, a small cryptomining start-up, said he was pulling in around 10 Bitcoins a month using one megawatt of energy, enough to light 1,000 homes. Bitfury says it constantly consumes at least 45 megawatts of energy, though Mr. Gogokhia suspected it was more.

Critics say the government, by subsidizing operations like Bitfury, is ripping off taxpayers by forcing them to foot the bill for well-connected companies.

Zurab Tchiaberashvili, a lawmaker from European Georgia, the largest opposition party in Parliament, said the government’s generosity toward Bitfury had deprived Georgians of millions in tax revenue.

“It’s a huge conflict of interest,” he said.

Mr. Urumashvili brushed off such concerns. “Bitfury has given our country many things, including a path to the future,” he said. “When you have a ticket to get onto the world map,” he added, “you should use it.”

Still, as Bitcoin prices highlight the uncertain nature of cryptocurrencies, the government isn’t putting all of its eggs in one basket.

“Georgia is interesting for cryptocurrency miners,” said Mr. Kobulia, the economy minister. “But would it be a major source of our economic growth? Maybe not.”

Original Source http://bit.ly/2DsyBSh

#IFTTT #Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin

[mccartneynathxzw83]

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It

TBILISI, Georgia — For three years, a windowless warehouse on the edge of town has been whirring with enough energy to power nearly 50,000 homes. Day and night, the warehouse, and dozens of cargo containers in a windswept valley, are generating Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that has created a virtual gold rush in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Bitfury, an American technology company, is churning out millions of dollars’ worth of the digital money using ultracheap hydropower harvested from waters rushing down the volcanic peaks of the Caucasus. Even as the currency has tumbled in value, thousands of Georgians have jumped into the game and sold cars — even cows — to buy high-powered computers to mine Bitcoin and join what has become a state-supported dash toward data supremacy.

A former prime minister encouraged Bitfury with a $10 million loan in 2015. The governing Georgian Dream party sold 45 acres for $1 for Bitfury to set up shop. The government has been selling energy at half the rates charged in the United States or Europe, and it has created tax-free zones to draw in tech-savvy entrepreneurs.

The efforts have given Georgia, with 3.7 million people, a dubious distinction. It is now an energy guzzler, with nearly 10 percent of its energy output gone into the currency endeavor. The country consumed so much power in recent years that the World Bank ranked it one of the most active cryptocurrency sites in the world.

The whole experiment is likely to face immediate challenges as the price of Bitcoin declines, after a spectacular rise tempted investors around the world to bet on cryptocurrencies.

Most companies tend to lose money when the price of Bitcoin falls below energy costs, and mining operators worldwide have recently been scaling back. The largest mining company, the Chinese company Bitmain, has been closing offices and laying off workers. Last week, Bitfury announced layoffs at a facility in Canada.

Georgia, however, has been betting its economy on luring blockchain technology, the encrypted storage capability behind all crypto transactions.

Bitfury has helped migrate most of Georgia’s land registry to blockchain, making the government one of the first to rely on the secure digital ledger. Its tax system may soon follow. Georgia aims to beat Malta, Bermuda and other countries known for light-touch regulation of cryptocurrencies to dominate blockchain development.

“The economy’s digital transformation is our highest priority,” said George Kobulia, the economy minister. “We’re supporting this any way we can.”

A Low-Tax Frontier

In downtown Tbilisi, a neon-lit Marriott welcomes tourists. A nearby shopping mall installed a special A.T.M. for Bitcoin withdrawals. A cryptocurrency exchange flashes the prices of Bitcoin, Ether and other digital money on a ticker.

When street protests ousted the last Soviet-era leader in 2003, the government, struggling with poverty, corruption and grinding bureaucracy, began selling itself as a business-friendly low-tax outpost for investment. Big financial institutions came in. So did casinos. A private company willing to take a risk was Bitfury, founded in 2011 by a tech savant from Latvia who was proselytizing about a strange virtual industry.

Remi Urumashvili, a well-connected lawyer and now Bitfury’s main representative in Georgia, said that when Valery Vavilov, the co-founder and chief executive, approached him to seek advice on building a cryptocurrency operation, he was baffled.

“They told me they wanted to mine Bitcoins, and I’m asking them, ‘Hey, guys, what’s a Bitcoin?’” Mr. Urumashvili recalled.

Mr. Vavilov told him that the currency had introduced a new technology, blockchain, that had the potential for widespread use in business. Mr. Urumashvili said he had seen a potential tax advantage.

“They explained that it’s money that exists on the internet,” he said. “So I said, ‘If a thing doesn’t exist in reality, maybe the tax will be zero.’”

Mr. Urumashvili worked hard to lobby lawmakers to keep Georgia an open market for cryptocurrency. “I don’t like regulations,” he said, arching an eyebrow. “And there are very few regulations here for anything.”

As soon as Bitfury opened its doors, Georgia created “free economic zones” where mining activities and electricity weren’t taxed. When Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were exchanged for dollars or pounds, Georgia treated the exchange as an export exempt from value added taxes, so Bitfury could keep every penny of earnings.

Rumors have swirled that Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister from the Georgian Dream party and the country’s richest oligarch, has been a secret beneficiary of the digital experiment. He gave Bitfury a $10 million loan through his investment fund when Bitfury’s vice president, George Kikvadze, sat on his investment board.

Mr. Ivanishvili declined an interview. Mr. Urumashvili of Bitfury said that no laws had been violated to encourage Bitfury, and that the former prime minister’s loan had been paid off. He had no other ties to Bitfury, Mr. Urumashvili added.

The government even expanded an entire power station next to the Bitfury facility to pump in electricity at no extra cost. With energy prices at 5 to 6 cents an hour, Bitfury and its supporters could envision prosperity, if not around the corner then somewhere just beyond the fog of Georgia’s storied mountains.

Mining With Friends

When Bitfury came to Georgia, one Bitcoin was worth around $350. It spiked to nearly $20,000 before tumbling. Big players like Bitfury have bandwidth to keep operating. But smaller investors have been far more vulnerable.

In villages across Georgia, an estimated 200,000 people secured mining computers to set up in basements and garages. For young people especially who struggled in a tough economy, Bitcoin seemed an alluring alternative to just making ends meet.

Joining the rush was George Kirvalidze, 35, the former owner of a small internet company in the town of Kvareli, three hours from Tbilisi in Georgian wine country.

About half the town’s 6,000 households have some kind of a mining rig, he said.

“Most people who bought in thought high prices would last forever,” said Mr. Kirvalidze, who has managed to mine 20 Bitcoins.

Even farmers got involved. “At one point it was more profitable than owning a cow,” he said. “Now it’s not so sure.”

Cryptocurrency lives off a blizzard of mathematical calculations. Computers, or miners, around the world compete to solve complex formulas on the blockchain. When a mining computer gets the right answer, it is given a bundle of new Bitcoins as a reward.

The constant calculating superheats computers, and the energy demand — to power the computers and to cool them — has spiraled in places where such currencies are pursued.

To save energy, Mr. Kirvalidze created a mining pool with nine friends, who grouped their machines in a friend’s garage. One November afternoon, 15 of the 60 miners were turned off because Bitcoin prices had fallen too low to justify the energy use. More would shut down if prices continued to slump, he added.

“Bitfury is one step ahead of us,” Mr. Kirvalidze observed, citing the company’s cutting-edge technology and quasi-state backing in Georgia.

“If we could get cheaper energy prices, too, we could make more,” he said. “That would increase money circulating in the economy and eventually improve growth.”

‘Onto the World Map’

Forty-five minutes from the center of Tbilisi, trucks rumble over two-lane roads and past faded pink and yellow high-rises. A prison, in matching pink and yellow paint, blights a cow pasture. In the middle of the valley rises the gray confines of Bitfury, plunked on a 40-acre concrete strip protected by guards and a high wire fence.

In a warehouse as big as a Walmart, Ilia Koranashvili, a muscular engineer with a snake tattoo, walked around 160 hermetically sealed stainless steel tanks filled with power-efficient chips and a special cooling liquid. The tanks are Bitfury’s experiment to keep energy costs down and make the mining cost effective almost anywhere, said Mr. Koranashvili, who heads Bitfury’s monitoring team.

Industry estimates suggest the company mines just over 5 percent of all Bitcoins, although no one would say how much was being mined here.

But competitors in Georgia reckon it was a fortune. Vakhtang Gogokhia, the chief executive of Golden Fleece, a small cryptomining start-up, said he was pulling in around 10 Bitcoins a month using one megawatt of energy, enough to light 1,000 homes. Bitfury says it constantly consumes at least 45 megawatts of energy, though Mr. Gogokhia suspected it was more.

Critics say the government, by subsidizing operations like Bitfury, is ripping off taxpayers by forcing them to foot the bill for well-connected companies.

Zurab Tchiaberashvili, a lawmaker from European Georgia, the largest opposition party in Parliament, said the government’s generosity toward Bitfury had deprived Georgians of millions in tax revenue.

“It’s a huge conflict of interest,” he said.

Mr. Urumashvili brushed off such concerns. “Bitfury has given our country many things, including a path to the future,” he said. “When you have a ticket to get onto the world map,” he added, “you should use it.”

Still, as Bitcoin prices highlight the uncertain nature of cryptocurrencies, the government isn’t putting all of its eggs in one basket.

“Georgia is interesting for cryptocurrency miners,” said Mr. Kobulia, the economy minister. “But would it be a major source of our economic growth? Maybe not.”

Original Source http://bit.ly/2DsyBSh