Bitcoin mining – Impact Lab

Bitcoin, Blockchain, China, government, Science & Technology News

China plans to kill most of the world’s bitcoin mining operations

September 25, 2019

The price could spike again.

The Chinese government will end bitcoin mining operations in the coming months, Bloomberg reported over this January, a move that could have a massive impact on the price of the world’s biggest digital currency.

China has been a central player in the development of bitcoin in recent years, but Beijing has spent the last six months cracking down on the cryptocurrency industry — shutting down local exchanges and banning initial coin offerings.

Leaked documents suggest the Chinese government plans an “orderly exit” for bitcoin mining operations in the coming weeks and months.

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Bitcoin, China, Green Friendly, Science & Technology News

Bitcoin mining is shockingly mostly powered by green energy

June 19, 2019

A game-changing CoinShares report reveals that three-quarters of bitcoin mining is done using renewable energy including hydroelectric power.

By CCN: Contrary to popular opinion, it appears that Bitcoin mining might not be as bad for the environment as people think. In a highly detailed report, CoinShares research reveals that 74% of mining activity runs on renewable energy.

“We show that Bitcoin mining is mainly located in global regions where there are ample supplies of renewable electricity available. And…we calculate a conservative estimate of the renewables penetration in the energy mix powering the Bitcoin mining network at 74.1%, making Bitcoin mining more renewables-driven than almost every other large-scale industry in the world.”

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Bitcoin, Blockchain, communication, Science & Technology News

What the hell is a blockchain phone—and do I need one?

March 12, 2019

The first wave of crypto-focused smartphones from big players like Samsung is a small step toward a decentralized web.

The crypto world is full of buzzwords, but if you can peel away the marketing fluff, you sometimes find innovation beneath the surface. You are often also reminded just how early it is in the history of this technology. Case in point: the blockchain phone.

All of a sudden, several crypto-focused handsets are hitting the market, or will soon. The biggest player in the new game is Samsung, which confirmed this month that the Galaxy S10 will include a secure storage system for cryptocurrency private keys. It joins HTC, which for months has been touting the Exodus 1; Sirin Labs, which used proceeds from a huge ICO to build the Finney; and Electroneum, which this week began selling an $80 Android phone that can mine cryptocurrency.

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Bitcoin, Crypto-Technology, Environment

Bitcoin is going to use as much electricity as Austria by the year’s end

May 22, 2018

At this point, mining Bitcoin requires such intensive, specific hardware that the only way for most people to get in on the crypto game is to simply purchase the coin via an exchange. But that doesn’t mean mining has slowed down. Rather, the opposite has been happening, giving environmentalists (and anyone but the most adamant cryptobros) cause for concern.

Between cooling fans, manufacturing hardware, and the outrageous, ever-rising energy costs needed to operate a bitcoin mining rig, the world’s Bitcoin network is expected to use as much as 7.67 gigawatts of power by the end of 2018, according to new research and models. That’s one two-hundredth of all the electricity used on the planet. And that’s terrible.

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