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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

The TSX Venture Exchange lost 2.02 points to 710.31 Monday. Hugh Notman's NEX shell, SMC Ventures Inc. (SMV: halted), plans to acquire Blockmint Technologies Inc. The shell will roll back 1 for 2, leaving it with 8,114,339 shares issued, then issue 34,914,681 shares to its target's shareholders.

Blockmint is a company in Portland, Ore., that is working on an app and a web browser, both for mining cryptocurrencies. It says the app will enable users to mine cryptocurrencies using not only desktop computers but also laptops, tablets, cellphones, PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and smart televisions. Blockmint will share in any cryptocurrency mining revenue to be generated by the users of its app. It is unclear how profitable this cryptocurrency mining strategy might turn out to be, especially for the app users, given that specialized machines are needed to mine cryptocurrencies. Several years ago, people could profitably use their desktop computers for cryptocurrency mining, but now that more people (and companies) have joined the craze, cryptocurrency mining is no longer as profitable on a small scale. Cryptocurrency miners these days achieve decent yields by using specialized machines, but such machines are expensive and come with higher electricity and maintenance costs than the average desktop computer. Valery Vavilov's bitcoin miner, Hut 8 Mining Corp. (HUT: $3.10), which has specialized machines in Alberta, lost $3.8-million on revenue of $10.99-million in the first quarter of 2018. Frank Giustra's ethereum miner, Hive Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (HIVE: $0.90), which has specialized machines in Iceland, Norway and Sweden, lost $26-million on revenue of $13-million in its fiscal year ended March 31, 2018.

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