Showing posts with label mining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mining. Show all posts

Eco-Friendly Crypto Mining is EXPLODING - Panel Discussion on Mining Bitcoin With Renewable Energy...

Eco-friendly mining operations are exploding, earlier today at Bitcoin 2022 this panel of industry members discussed what's been done, and what's in the works...

Featuring William Szamosszegi (CEO of Sazmining), Spencer Marr (Founder, Sangha Systems), Shaun Connell (Executive VP, Power, Lancium), Emma Todd (CEO, MMH Data Systems), Margot Paez (Fellow, Bitcoin Policy Institute)

Video Courtesy of Bitcoin 2022 Conference

For The First Time EVER - The Nation With The Most Bitcoin Mining Power Is The UNITED STATES!

USA Bitcoin Mining Dominatees

The Bitcoin mining pool 'Foundry USA' which is obviously based in the United States, came in first place among the pools with the greatest hash rates on the network. It's the first time a North American pool has outperformed China in this category.

AntPool and F2Pool, both from China, have traditionally topped the list of Bitcoin mining pools in terms of hash rate.

This changed when the Foundry USA Pool achieved 17% of the worldwide Bitcoin mining power.

How Did The US Do It?

Basically - all thanks to China.

Several Chinese mining operations selected the United States as one of their choices for continuing operations. Given the rise of Bitcoin in the cryptocurrency sector, this was an excellent choice. As is customary, this means a large infusion of cash into the market and a general rise in the assets traded there.

It's vital to note that the Chinese government chose to reject the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency-related activities, forcing the miners to seek new bases of operation.

Not The First Time China Was De-Throned...

Only once before has the number one ranking shifted from China to another country. It wasn't a pool from the United States last time, but rather one from the Netherlands.

That was way back in 2014 - which gives you an idea of how dominate Chinese miners have been.

In 2014 it was only a matter of days before China reclaimed the top spot from the Netherlands - but China won't be making a comeback this time, as their mining hashrate continues to decline.

Trading volume from China is also rapidly dwindling, as the country becomes completely cut off from international crypto markets.

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Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk
Breaking Crypto News


Could Ethereum Run On Just 0.05% Of It's Current Electricity Levels?! A Potential GAME CHANGER....

Ethereum developer Carl Beekhuizer says 'Ethereum’s power-hungry days are numbered' and explores the energy usage difference that will be seen when Ethereum makes the switch to proof-of-stake(PoS). This replaces the current network's validation method known as proof-of-work (PoW, aka traditional 'mining') and will allow the platform to run on just 0.05% of it's current power usage level, claims Beekuizer.

According to Digiconomist miners currently consume 44.49 TWh per year, and Beekuizer says that could go as low as 0.02 THw by changing to PoS.

While critics compare Bitcoin's power usage to that of a small country, Beekuizer says Ethereum's total usage would be more like 'a small town of around 2100 American homes'.


Energy Usage Has Been This Month's Hot-button Issue...

This comes days after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that his company will stop accepting bitcoin, and citing a large energy expenditure from non-renewable energy sources as his reason.

However, various studies have shown that most of the electricity consumption of crypto miners comes from renewal energy sources.

Energy costs are the most important factor in mining, that's why there's few cities where it's considered profitable. In most locations you'll spend more on electricity than you'll make mining, buying coins instead of paying large power bills becomes the smarter option.

Naturally, miners seek out locations with cheap electricity, and ironically, the cheapest comes from hydroelectric dams and geothermal power plants - and both are completely free of carbon emissions.


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Author: Fernando Perez
Latin America Newsdesk

Truly A Crypto Miner's Paradise...


Iceland appeals to cryptocurrency miners for two major reasons - cheap electricity, and having to use less of it, because of Iceland's naturally cold climate.

Typically, the majority of the electricity costs involved in mining does not go towards powering the miners themselves, but rather keeping them cool and preventing the hardware from overheating.

Surprisingly however, the mining operation is facing some backlash from local environmentalists, and their concerns appear to be unfounded. Hydro-electric and natural geothermal energy serve as the miners power sources, and Geothermal energy is a natural resource abundant in Iceland, due to the countries high volcanic activity.

Both power forms are considered eco-friendly, sustainable and renewable.


"Ban all cryptocurrency mining!" says the Chinese Government agency with the authority to actually do it...


 The 'National Development Reform Commission' is the most powerful authority in China when it comes to deciding which industries are allowed to exist within the country.

Every year they release a list of businesses they want to abolish - and Bitcoin mining is on their latest one, citing the usual 'wasteful energy consumption' and 'speculative bubbles' criticisms as the reason.

It's safe to say the rest of the global cryptocurrency community wouldn't miss China one bit.

Except for taking Bitcoin earned through mining, China is already completely disconnected from the cryptocurrency space, as citizens are banned from regular cryptocurrency trading, and have been since 2017.

Video Courtesy of Bloomberg Asia


Inside the US cryptocurrency mining epicenter, that's disrupting a small town with cheap power in Washington state...


As cryptocurrency mining evolves into a global industry, the gold rush for cheap energy is disrupting a small town in Washington State—home to some of the lowest electricity rates in the country. Here, two of the biggest Bitcoin mining operations in the U.S., Giga Watt and Salcido Enterprises, reveal their new and rapidly expanding mining operations, and explain the potential of super-computing—from blockchain to artificial intelligence.

But not everyone in town is on-board. Fearing their power rates will go up, and the culture of their town would change forever, many want to put the brakes on this new, disruptive industry.

Video Courtney of CBS News.


Turning that old Windows PC or laptop into a crypto miner has never been easier - Honeyminer Review...

We were really pretty impressed with the new mining software by HoneyMiner, so I thought i'd do a quick review for our readers.

The basics of how it works is the mining program runs on virtually any Windows PC, it then figures out what type of mining your computer can do, and the most profitable coin to mine at the moment and automatically starts mining that coin!

Simple interface makes the software easy to use for anyone (download it here)
The best part is, instead of dealing with earning a bunch of random coins, they automatically convert your mining earnings to Bitcoin!   What I was impressed with the most - your earnings don't sit 'pending' - they're instantly added to your balance every minute, and you can freely withdraw as you wish!

To kick it off, they're starting everyone off with some free BTC in their mining wallet (1000 Satoshi's!)

Check out www.HoneyMiner.com to begin - it took me less than 5 minutes to setup and begin mining!
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Author: Adam Lee 
Honey Miner Review: Legit
Asia News Desk

Floods in China are destroying 'tens of thousands' of Bitcoin mining rigs...

The Sichuan province of China has been called the "Bitcoin mining capitol" of the country - and it's just been hit with harsh weather, heavy rains - followed by major flooding.

Initial reports out of the region are claiming losses of "tens of thousands" of mining rigs, worth millions in hardware and even more in lost mining fees.

According to Chinese news outlet Jinse (link)...

"[Translated] Recently, continuous storms hit Sichuan Mianyang, Guangyuan, Chengdu, Aba, Meishan and other places, causing floods. The collapse of the mountains and the rapid rise of the river have caused local hydropower and communication facilities to suffer from various degrees of damage. At the same time, in areas such as Sichuan and Aba, which are rich in electricity and electricity, these areas have become a centralized area for cryptocurrency mines. In the flood, some mines were not spared, and tens of thousands of mining machines were flooded. Inundation, heavy losses."

The good news is, the loss on mining power hasn't had a measureable effect on the Bitcoin network overall - there has been no noticeable decline in transaction confirmation speeds or hash rates.

It is estimated up to 70% of Bitcoin miners are located in China, where low cost coal and hydraulic power gives miners a large cost advantage.
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Author: Adam Lee 
Asia News Desk

The American city that has banned cryptocurrency mining...


The city of Plattsburgh in upstate New York issued an 18-month moratorium on cryptocurrency mining. 

Plattsburgh is part of a long-standing power agreement that gives the city an allotment of some of the cheapest electricity anywhere in the world, but a recent influx of cryptomining companies and their energy-draining rigs have raised power prices at the expense of the general population. 

The ban is meant to be a temporary arrangement, but it could potentially end all cryptomining investment in the city. (Via Motherboard)

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Bitcoin mining costs around the world, prices for 115 different countries...

Bitcoin mining costs by country. Image: EliteFixtures
EliteFixtures has released a study (link) using the average electricity costs in each country to show the total power costs to earn 1 bitcoin via mining. 

Their parent company Crescent Electric Supply previously did a study breaking down the costs by US state, which can be seen here.
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Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle News Desk

600 Bitcoin miners stolen from data-center is Iceland's biggest heist...

Valued at over $2 million USD, the 600 Bitcoin miners disappeared from a data center in Iceland, and police are suspecting an inside job.

Local media has dubbed it the "Big Bitcoin Heist" - which has already seen 11 arrests of those suspected to be involved.  Among those suspects - the security guard in charge of protecting them.

But even stranger - all those arrests, and still no miners recovered.

"This is a grand theft on a scale unseen before, everything points to this being a highly organized crime." says Icelandic police chief Olafur Helgi Kjartansson.

Mining hardware has become a target of thefts worldwide, since those who steal it don't need to resell it to make a profit - they can just use them to mine Bitcoin themselves.

Over the last couple years Iceland's inexpensive electricity has drawn in Bitcoin mining operations from around the world.
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Author: Ross Davis
San Francisco News Desk

Chinese government moves towards eliminating Bitcoin miners completely...

China is home to the largest Bitcoin mining operations in the world.  Electricity, the most expensive part of mining is incredibly cheap there, and the hardware needed to do it is manufactured there as well - so it costs less to buy those "made in China" electronics when you're already there.

People’s Bank of China announced plans this week to begin to "enforce local regulators to monitor and even restrict the power use of miners".

While there's been rumors of such actions before - this time it seems like the real deal.

Bitmain is one of these massive mining operations in China - and they have publicly confirmed a plan to "shift operations" to Singapore as a result of these new regulations.

The good news - China said they will allow miners some time to slowly close down their operations, so it won't seem like someone suddenly pulled the plug.  This means the average Bitcoin user probably won't be effected or even notice it happening.

Miners say they're looking at Iceland, Canada and the USA as top potential spots to relocate as the supply of cheaper renewable energy grows in these nations.

This is the latest in what's been an odd year of Chinese regulation - banning ICO's and some exchanges preceded this latest move.
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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk

Bitcoin power usage causes city-wide blackouts!


Bitcoin is now being blamed for blackouts.

We've talked before about the reaction of some environmental groups becoming anti-bitcoin based on it's power usage. But all that aside, there's another issue worth addressing - strain on power grids.

Today, the blame came from Venezuela and sure - their infrastructure is much more outdated than more developed nations. However - not by as much as you probably think. America and European power grids haven't received much in terms of upgrades in nearly 40 years.

At the current growth rate, some experts say "Bitcoin blackouts" could hit the USA as soon as 2020.

The world's largest Bitcoin mine in China, which is running 25,000 processors currently has a power bill of $40,000 per day, and was recently warned they may have to lower usage or the grid could hit capacity.

However it's also worth noting cause of this problem, and the cause of Bitcoin's other big problem - slow transactions, is one in the same.  The current network model isn't sustainable on all fronts.

Debates on the solution will continue. Lightning network? Larger block size?

This article isn't about that debate, but something needs to be done sooner than later.
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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk

Why build a mine, when you can rent one?


It's an idea growing in popularity, the equipment is expensive and starting out can be complicated.  Depending on where you live, you may pay more in power bill than profits. But NiceHash.com has built a system both miners and buyers seem to be happy with.

They offer people the option to buy no equipment of their own, but rather "buy massive hashing power for mining Bitcoin, Zcash, Ethereum and other coins!"

Why would a miner do this? They get to use NiceHash's software that maximizes their resources.

You pay only for valid shares, can mine on any pool you want, and monitor your results with stats updated in real time.

Sound interesting? Check out NiceHash.com and take a look for yourself.

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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk