【】
By now, you've probably heard about the sheer amount of energy cryptocurrency mining uses and how that's bad for the environment.
So, it should be quite concerning to find out that Bitcoin miners are now buying entire power plants in their effort to get rich on the speculative asset.
A Pennsylvania-based holding company called Stronghold Digital Mining is currently running a Bitcoin mining operation using the Scrubgrass power plantin Venango County, Pennsylvania, which it purchased over the summer, in 2021.
Stronghold raised$105 million to open the power plant for its Bitcoin mining endeavors. The plant currently burns coal waste to produce enough energy to power 1,800 mining computers.
According to Stronghold Digital Mining, the company is now burning600,000 tons of coal waste at Scrubgrass per year in order to run its Bitcoin mining operation. This information is public due to Stronghold's filings with the SEC, as the company plans to go public.
And it gets worse. Stronghold is planning to further its coal-burning power plant operations.
In August, the company acquireda second power plant in Pennsylvania, called the Panther Creek power plant. It's looking to expand to a third as well.
Bitcoin mining requires high-powered computer processors in order to solve advanced mathematical equations. This process helps maintain the cryptocurrency's digital ledger, known as the blockchain. When these math problems are solved, Bitcoin miners receive the cryptocurrency in exchange.
The more computing power one has, the more equations that can be solved and the more Bitcoin they earn. The process is so intense that individuals really can't earn Bitcoin based on the computer power already accessible to them. Many miners purchase thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of equipment to mine Bitcoin and even then, only these multi-million dollar operations can really mine enough Bitcoin to make the process profitable at this point.
SEE ALSO:Twitter rolls out tipping with bitcoin, explores verifying NFT profile picsBitcoin miners are predicted to use around 130 Terawatt-hours of energy (TWh), according to The University of Cambridge’s bitcoin electricity consumption index. As TechCrunchpoints out, Bitcoin's carbon dioxide emissions are roughly the same as a country like Jordan, with a population of 10 million people.
For the cherry on top, taxpayers are funding Stronghold Digital Mining's Bitcoin power plant profits.
According to Bloomberg, Pennsylvania provides tax credits for burning coal waste. With these subsidies, Stronghold calculates that each Bitcoin it earns through mining costs the company under $3,000.
At the time this piece was published, Bitcoin was trading at more than $42,000 – not a bad profit for a taxpayer-subsidized cryptocurrency mining operation that's spoiling the environment.
TopicsBitcoinCryptocurrency
相关文章
Singapore gets world's first driverless taxis
SINGAPORE -- The world's first self-driving taxis started picking up passengers in Singapore on Thur2024-09-20Do you wish Netflix had more of what you want? That's where #NetflixNeeds comes in.
Look, we all spend 。 wayyyy 。 too much time on Netflix, and we all get。 wayyyy。bored sometimes on what2024-09-20The guy who stopped WannaCry is reportedly being detained in the U.S.
Does no good deed truly go unpunished?The infosec community is scratching its head this morning foll2024-09-20Bruno Mars donates $1 million to Flint water crisis
Singer Bruno Mars announced at a concert in Auburn Hills, Michigan that he donated $1 million to aid2024-09-20Photos show the Blue Cut fire blazing a path of destruction in California
A fast moving wildfire continued raging near San Bernadino, California, forcing the evacuation of at2024-09-20Twitter is testing a subscription service — but it's $99 per month
Get ready for a whole new obnoxious class of Twitter users. 。Twitter is testing a subscription progra2024-09-20
最新评论