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Bitcoin miners in Abkhazia are causing blackouts in remote villages [video]

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Re: Bitcoin miners in Abkhazia are causing blackouts in remote villages [video]

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we please start regulating crypto currency mining? This is insane. I think it needs to be global mining regulation. Can the UN do anything else? If we start taking all the energy used to mine a given cryptocurrency it aggregates to more than most countries per cryptocurrency. Not ok. I know this is controversial but we have to at least debate this subject as we face an existential threat from climate change and y…

You regulate the fiat onroads. If miners cannot sell their coins, they can't pay the electricity bills. Bitcoin will always be around, but with sufficient fiat blockages the value plummets. Governments should announce that people will have a year to sell all their coins (the price will tank immediately anyway), and then buying and selling of PoW coins will be banned.

If you think "lack of electricity" is going to stop bitcoin mining, you are mistaken. You are just hoping for doom on an asset you don't understand or don't like, it's just not a good way to argue against something.

Re: Bitcoin miners in Abkhazia are causing blackouts in remote villages [video]

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we please start regulating crypto currency mining? This is insane. I think it needs to be global mining regulation. Can the UN do anything else? If we start taking all the energy used to mine a given cryptocurrency it aggregates to more than most countries per cryptocurrency. Not ok. I know this is controversial but we have to at least debate this subject as we face an existential threat from climate change and y…

Do you have any reason to feel so despondent without any real evidence? There's already plenty of people mining with renewable/stranded energy sources, all mining will head this way. My prediction is that the "energy consumption" arguments against bitcoin will disappear in 5 years. People are gonna tell us (bitcoiners) that the USD is secured by the powerful military of US behind it and we're supposed to accept it as…

Think about it like this new energy capacity is added that is sustainable but the cryptocurrency mining part of grid keeps consuming and eating more of the grid then newly added renewable capacity it would be a wash and we wouldn't achieve sustainability commitments and be able to mitigate climate change. You can't just say well if Bitcoin mining is renewable then we are ok. What about the rest of the grid? They need some of the newly added renewable capacity as well as growth continues. TLDR if new renewable capacity added is less than growth of mining and current use of mining we get no where.

Re: Bitcoin miners in Abkhazia are causing blackouts in remote villages [video]

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any reason to feel so despondent without any real evidence? There's already plenty of people mining with renewable/stranded energy sources, all mining will head this way. My prediction is that the "energy consumption" arguments against bitcoin will disappear in 5 years. People are gonna tell us (bitcoiners) that the USD is secured by the powerful military of US behind it and we're supposed to accept it as…

Think about it like this new energy capacity is added that is sustainable but the cryptocurrency mining part of grid keeps consuming and eating more of the grid then newly added renewable capacity it would be a wash and we wouldn't achieve sustainability commitments and be able to mitigate climate change. You can't just say well if Bitcoin mining is renewable then we are ok. What about the rest of the grid? They need…

* You are talking as if there is a linear scaling of how much energy is consumed by a "miner" on the fly. This is false.

* Most renewable/stranded energy mining operations have their own energy source that is not going to be shared by someone else.

* Bitcoin's energy consumption doesn't scale with the number of transactions on each block.

* Most of the bitcoin has already been mined, the incentive to "mine aggressively" is decreasing over time.

* "What if bitcoin uses all the energy", like the top poster on this thread was talking about, they were mocking it to say that all of the energy generated by the sun will be used for mining eventually, is this a fair argument? If such extremist thinking took hold, we could use it to subdue pretty much all progress. Did we think that there will be gold miners digging up land everywhere and we won't have a place to live?

Re: Bitcoin miners in Abkhazia are causing blackouts in remote villages [video]

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think about it like this new energy capacity is added that is sustainable but the cryptocurrency mining part of grid keeps consuming and eating more of the grid then newly added renewable capacity it would be a wash and we wouldn't achieve sustainability commitments and be able to mitigate climate change. You can't just say well if Bitcoin mining is renewable then we are ok. What about the rest of the grid? They need…

* You are talking as if there is a linear scaling of how much energy is consumed by a "miner" on the fly. This is false. * Most renewable/stranded energy mining operations have their own energy source that is not going to be shared by someone else. * Bitcoin's energy consumption doesn't scale with the number of transactions on each block. * Most of the bitcoin has already been mined, the incentive to "mine aggressive…

Most of the arguments against, sound like the same arguments against things like cars (vs horses). "Do you think we'll make all those roads just for cars to go on?", "Cars don't work on dirt roads, they get stuck all the time", "What if you run out of gas in the middle of nowhere?" "You will run over people and kill them in an accident" "Cars cause pollution"

Re: Bitcoin miners in Abkhazia are causing blackouts in remote villages [video]

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any reason to feel so despondent without any real evidence? There's already plenty of people mining with renewable/stranded energy sources, all mining will head this way. My prediction is that the "energy consumption" arguments against bitcoin will disappear in 5 years. People are gonna tell us (bitcoiners) that the USD is secured by the powerful military of US behind it and we're supposed to accept it as…

Think about it like this new energy capacity is added that is sustainable but the cryptocurrency mining part of grid keeps consuming and eating more of the grid then newly added renewable capacity it would be a wash and we wouldn't achieve sustainability commitments and be able to mitigate climate change. You can't just say well if Bitcoin mining is renewable then we are ok. What about the rest of the grid? They need…

Bitcoin energy consumption is rising as mining is more competitive and more rewards with rising price. The consumption of bitcoin mining is increasing. Can you stay calm? I am not trying to say lets give up on cryptocurrencies I am saying we need to have serious conversations about energy consumption and controlling mining energy consumption. When people get really defensive and angry it doesn't help.

https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption

Re: Bitcoin miners in Abkhazia are causing blackouts in remote villages [video]

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we please start regulating crypto currency mining? This is insane. I think it needs to be global mining regulation. Can the UN do anything else? If we start taking all the energy used to mine a given cryptocurrency it aggregates to more than most countries per cryptocurrency. Not ok. I know this is controversial but we have to at least debate this subject as we face an existential threat from climate change and y…

Do you have any reason to feel so despondent without any real evidence? There's already plenty of people mining with renewable/stranded energy sources, all mining will head this way. My prediction is that the "energy consumption" arguments against bitcoin will disappear in 5 years. People are gonna tell us (bitcoiners) that the USD is secured by the powerful military of US behind it and we're supposed to accept it as…

People think if you are for controlling energy consumption and regulation of cryptocurrency mining you are against cryptocurrencies themselves. That is false.

Re: Bitcoin miners in Abkhazia are causing blackouts in remote villages [video]

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any reason to feel so despondent without any real evidence? There's already plenty of people mining with renewable/stranded energy sources, all mining will head this way. My prediction is that the "energy consumption" arguments against bitcoin will disappear in 5 years. People are gonna tell us (bitcoiners) that the USD is secured by the powerful military of US behind it and we're supposed to accept it as…

People think if you are for controlling energy consumption and regulation of cryptocurrency mining you are against cryptocurrencies themselves. That is false.

To argue with statements like this: "If we start taking all the energy used to mine a given cryptocurrency it aggregates to more than most countries per cryptocurrency." just sounds disingenuous, it seems like they haven't done any research whatsoever, they just woke up to this news and got outraged.

The energy consumption in clothes dryers, transportation, christmas lights etc. all will fall under "more than most countries" category. You are just constructing a narrative based attack.

Re: Bitcoin miners in Abkhazia are causing blackouts in remote villages [video]

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think about it like this new energy capacity is added that is sustainable but the cryptocurrency mining part of grid keeps consuming and eating more of the grid then newly added renewable capacity it would be a wash and we wouldn't achieve sustainability commitments and be able to mitigate climate change. You can't just say well if Bitcoin mining is renewable then we are ok. What about the rest of the grid? They need…

Bitcoin energy consumption is rising as mining is more competitive and more rewards with rising price. The consumption of bitcoin mining is increasing. Can you stay calm? I am not trying to say lets give up on cryptocurrencies I am saying we need to have serious conversations about energy consumption and controlling mining energy consumption. When people get really defensive and angry it doesn't help. https://digicon…

I am calm, don't patronize me.

look at this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26440168

They straight up want destruction, without even considering merits of the new technology.

Re: Bitcoin miners in Abkhazia are causing blackouts in remote villages [video]

#189
post #152
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the outside view of an alien observer, is there any difference to us plastering mars with solar panels for crypto mining vs plastering mars with suburban developments? Would we, had we a powerful telescope pointed at a neighbouring solar system, be able to tell the difference?

Can I be clear you cannot find a clear distinction between a made up currency and places where humans live?

I can, but I'm a human. My point was: Can an outsider discern it? If they can, would they put much meaning to it?

Re: Bitcoin miners in Abkhazia are causing blackouts in remote villages [video]

#190

I've never heard of Abkhazia before, so I had to look it up. It's a partially recognized state, part of Georgia [0]. There's even been a war in 1992-1993, after the collapse of the USSR [1]. Sometimes I'm still surprised of my ignorance about important facts that happened during my lifetime. Anyway, the next question for me was: why is electricity so cheap there, and should I assume it's cheap 24/7, and therefore gen…

I didn't know about it either until I read:

- Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928

It has a lot of fun stuff about how the Abkhazia communist party and their interaction with the main party in Moscow. A lot of interesting history.

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