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Bitcoin Miners, US Energy Producers and Moore's Law
Mining bitcoin as a greener alternative? Inside the relative world of constant fuel production, lumpy demand and bitcoin-based load balancing.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 8:39 a.m. Published May 10, 2020, 12:20 p.m.
Although some believe bitcoin mining is a wasteful activity, on today's show we dig into the relative world of constant fuel production, lumpy demand and bitcoin-based load balancing.
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After years of bitcoin mining domination by China-based miners, some U.S. power producers, both professional and incidental, are beginning to get into the game as a way to be more green. It's a narrative reversal if ever we've seen one and if proven successful by the early players could change the bitcoin mining landscape as we know it.
But even without a "green bitcoin" narrative in the U.S., one of China's two major mining advantages has evaporated as Moore's Law stretches out the useful lifespan of modern bitcoin miners hardware.
See also: Lightning Network Messaging, Political Expediency and What Crisis Has Revealed
Greenidge Generation bitcoin mining (1) (2)
Marty Bent's "Great American Mining" episode (1)
Correction: Before installing miners, Greenidge Generation previously shut down during off-peak season. During the episode Adam incorrectly stated that it previously shut down during off-peak hours.
See also: DISCUSSION: How Can Public Blockchains Have Privacy?
Today's episode features Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy, Jonathan Mohan and Adam B. Levine.
This episode features music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats. Today's show is edited by Jonas, and sponsored by eToro.com.
Listen/subscribe to the CoinDesk Podcast feed for unique perspectives and fresh daily insight with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher, RadioPublica, IHeartRadio or RSS.
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