Posted on 01/18/2018 9:01:52 AM PST by bananaman22
Deep in China’s Sichuan mountains, miners are chipping away at complex mathematical puzzles in hopes of unlocking one of today’s most prized assets, bitcoin.
Currently, more than 60 percent of all bitcoin is mined in China, and these miners have picked their location wisely. The remote Sichuan mountains enjoy a cool year-round temperature and cheap electricity provided by small-scale hydro-electric facilities, averaging from $0.05 to $0.08-cents per kWh.
Recent rumors, however, suggest that this could all come crashing down.
First reported on Reuters, the People’s Bank of China outlined a plan behind closed doors aiming to curb the high energy consumption associated with bitcoin mining in the country. The source told Reuters that the PBoC is aiming to force the hand of local governments to limit the miners’ electricity in order to gradually scale back the industry’s energy consumption. It is important to note that a separate source has since denied the claim.
But this is not the first crackdown conspiracy coming from China. 2017 was wrought with rumors targeting miners, exchanges, and even users of cryptocurrencies.
In the wake of yet another market moving story coming out of China, many miners are looking for alternatives.
(Excerpt) Read more at oilprice.com ...
North Korea?......................
shoot, the nork’s ain’t got enough energy to keep the lights on at night!
They have Hydro. Next to nuke power, hydro is the cheapest. Screw the peasants...hook up those ASIC bots and get mining.
Are the adults who were recorded chasing the Pokemons at night in 2016 the type that will invest in BitCoin?
I figure Bitcoin will be virtually (pun intended) worthless within next year or two. It has no legitimacy and used used to evade tax laws, launder drug and illegal profits, fund terrorism, etc. Get rid of it and other similar schemes. Want meaningful, international, currency? Use the good old U.S. dollar. Make America Great Again means re-establishing the value of the American dollar, not continuing Obama’s effort to undermine it.
The total number of bitcoin is finite. What percentage has already been mined?
About 80%
What is bitcoin mining?
Thanks. My understanding is it gets progressively harder to mine as more are recovered.
Sometime in the not-to-distant future, there will be some interesting historical articles on the cryptocurrency craze. Real electrical energy requires mining of actual coal or real dams to produce that energy. Then this real resource is consumed to "mine", thru an algorithm, virtual bits representing a "currency". It is transforming something real into something intangible. Weird.
Nonsense.
The world’s largest bitcoin mine is under the streets of Cincinnati.
87% of bitcoins are mined there. The ore is pulled out of the sloping mine shafts in little mine cars with big chains and counterweight concrete blocks. These are called blockchains.
The bitcoin ore is stored in covered piles alongside leftover tulip bulbs from the 1630’s.
There are thought to be large unexplored bitcoin reserves under the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, but their mining is being blocked by environmentalist groups.
Let's not forget about the young children in third world countries who are forced to work long hours in the Bitcoin mines for just a few cents a day.
“Let’s not forget about the young children in third world countries who are forced to work long hours in the Bitcoin mines for just a few cents a day.”
Woo, I forgot all about that!
Thanks for pointing that out.
And to think that their labor is wasted on making the mine owners rich. They could use that labor improving the sanitation of those s—tholes by digging real s—tholes.
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