BTC mining is good for society & environment

[Peter90]

We all know the case against BTC mining: BTC mining consumes electricity, which leads to...

- Electricity gets taken away from economy and people ---> higher electricity costs
- Outages
- Production of electricity damages the environment.


What arguments can the crypto community offer in order to counter that assumption?

For example,
BTC mining turning into a store of electricity;
BTC mining becomes a source of revenue for power providers when electricity demand is low,
so that power providers can lower their prices

[ABCbits]

- Production of electricity damages the environment.

At least for this assumption, i would use report from https://bitcoinminingcouncil.com/. Their report state estimate almost 60% of electricity for Bitcoin mining comes from sustainable source. Although it's a shame they haven't released new report in a year.

[NotATether]

When there's a reserve of electricity (caused by having lots of miners using a fixed amount of GW at any given time), then you can basically unlock it during a crisis by contractually obliging the miners to shut off their equipment.

It becomes a bit of a problem when no contractual measures or legal agreements are put in place between the utility and the miners though.

For example in Iran, which largely condemns BTC mining officially (IIRC), the miners are operating there with no agreements with the state utility(s) so they just use as much power as they want and nobody can force them to stop during a period of constrained electricity availability except by actually raiding their warehouses and seizing all their gear.

[Peter90]

At least for this assumption, i would use report from https://bitcoinminingcouncil.com/. Their report state estimate almost 60% of electricity for Bitcoin mining comes from sustainable source. Although it's a shame they haven't released new report in a year.

Hi ABC
sustainable source or not, it doesn't matter.
Even if BTC mining electricity comes from sustainable source, they'll keep saying that BTC mining causes outages and drives price up.
I'm countering that argument.



BTC mining stabilises power grids
--> helps to avoid outages
--> lower electricity prices


.........................

[Peter90]

Argentina's energy sector is increasingly turning to Bitcoin, this time with a state-owned facility using stranded natural gas from oil fields that would otherwise be wasted.

State-owned energy firm YPF's subsidiary, YPF Luz, recently partnered with Genesis Digital Assets (GDA) to launch a gas flare-powered mining facility. It will harness 1,200 machines to monetize gas currently being flared into the atmosphere.

This comes as Argentina embraces Bitcoin with the election of Bitcoin-friendly President Javier Milei in late 2023.

The news mirrors how other countries are utilizing Bitcoin mining to "clean up" energy grids.
Bhutan mines Bitcoin with renewable hydropower to consume its seasonal excess, while El Salvador uses geothermal energy to power mining with no carbon footprint.

zerohedge.com

BTC for kiddos 

Nice website
btcpublish.com
...............

[ABCbits]

At least for this assumption, i would use report from https://bitcoinminingcouncil.com/. Their report state estimate almost 60% of electricity for Bitcoin mining comes from sustainable source. Although it's a shame they haven't released new report in a year.

Hi ABC
sustainable source or not, it doesn't matter.
Even if BTC mining electricity comes from sustainable source, they'll keep saying that BTC mining causes outages and drives price up.
I'm countering that argument.

--snip--

Yes, i can see they'll just use different excuse. But IMO it still matters that they have less excuse and mining business would look somewhat better to different kind of people.

[Rruchi man]

We all know the case against BTC mining: BTC mining consumes electricity, which leads to...

There is another argument that BTC mining poses a real environmental threat from your emissions.

What arguments can the crypto community offer in order to counter that assumption?

My usual argument against this assumption is that it is not only BTC mining that is posing a danger to the environment from carbon emissions, Before mining of Bitcoin started there have always been carbon emissions from industrial actions and exhaust fumes of vehicles during transportation, and fossils have always been burnt for electricity.

 No matter what we try to say to counter their arguments, these people that criticize Bitcoin a lot will always find something else to fault it with.

[NotATether]

We all know the case against BTC mining: BTC mining consumes electricity, which leads to...

There is another argument that BTC mining poses a real environmental threat from your emissions.

But that's BS because most mining is done with renewable energy and also using natural gas byproducts that would otherwise have been dumped into the atmosphere by oil companies.

It has a name, but I do not seem to remember what it is called.

Although, most people have stopped hashing that argument *for now* with the exception of counter-activists like Greenpeace.  Maybe they will all suddenly remember these things in the next bull run?

[Peter90]

My usual argument against this assumption is that it is not only BTC mining that is posing a danger to the environment from carbon emissions, Before mining of Bitcoin started there have always been carbon emissions from industrial actions and exhaust fumes of vehicles during transportation, and fossils have always been burnt for electricity.

You are right, I didn't think specifically about the carbon emission issue.
And I agree with you, BTC mining carbon emissions are no threat to the environment.

When there's a reserve of electricity (caused by having lots of miners using a fixed amount of GW at any given time), then you can basically unlock it during a crisis by contractually obliging the miners to shut off their equipment.

It becomes a bit of a problem when no contractual measures or legal agreements are put in place between the utility and the miners though.

That is just a theoretical problem imo
in practice every gov can force privates to put their propriety at the service of the community during a crises. In every legal system there is this clause, either implicit or explicit.

[TomPluz]

No matter what we try to say to counter their arguments, these people that criticize Bitcoin a lot will always find something else to fault it with.

After many years of looking at the many criticisms - valid and invalid - we are now learning many things of what people who hate Bitcoin are saying. We see that people who hate Bitcoin and its mining can always rationalize why they do so and even if are winning in our arguments we can never win the war for their support and maybe endorsement. So the most important thing is that there are now many good developments in relation to the use of sustainable energy sources and using otherwise wasted energy which is now converted to good use with BTC mining. Another thing is that for now there is actually no lack of miners who are taking the burden of the enterprise for possible profits. And I guess this is good capitalism in action while at the same injected with concern for the environment meet half-way as no business in this world is not using any power and in fact there are many industries that are also consuming a lot of power if we combined their energy requirements.

[Peter90]

(just re-grouping quotes from other threads about this subject)

Texas, New Hampshire, Kentucky,
political authorities recognizing BTC mining
as stabilizing power grids
..........................


..........................

[NikeFit_7777]

Commissions paid to #Bitcoin miners increased to $1,258 $BTC, but the creation of new BTC addresses decreased to only 260,838.

P.S. Normal situation, paying 100-1k dollars per transfer is not good. Therefore, the number of created (new addresses) decreased, because people like to save money, not the other way around.

[NotATether]

Commissions paid to #Bitcoin miners increased to $1,258 $BTC, but the creation of new BTC addresses decreased to only 260,838.

I am not surprised to see all those transaction fees being thrown around because most of that is Runes' responsibility. After the halving, people were overpaying on TX fees like it was a tip to service workers.

You posted an outdated graphic though. Its cutoff date is at the end of April which is when the fourth halving commenced, and Runes was deployed. I would like to see how fees were in May and at least the first part of June, as well.

[KingsDen]

- Production of electricity damages the environment.

At least for this assumption, i would use report from https://bitcoinminingcouncil.com/. Their report state estimate almost 60% of electricity for Bitcoin mining comes from sustainable source. Although it's a shame they haven't released new report in a year.

Around 2021, there were a lot of campaigns against miners not using the green energy. This campaign made so many miners to migrate to renewable energy source for their machines. If a current data is released, you will be surprised at the rate at which the green energy is currently used.

There are myth against bitcoin and they will continue to exist as long as bitcoin exists. While some will obviously fade away, some will remain.

[ABCbits]

At least for this assumption, i would use report from https://bitcoinminingcouncil.com/. Their report state estimate almost 60% of electricity for Bitcoin mining comes from sustainable source. Although it's a shame they haven't released new report in a year.

Around 2021, there were a lot of campaigns against miners not using the green energy. This campaign made so many miners to migrate to renewable energy source for their machines. If a current data is released, you will be surprised at the rate at which the green energy is currently used.

There are myth against bitcoin and they will continue to exist as long as bitcoin exists. While some will obviously fade away, some will remain.

I don't think i'll be surprised. Website i mentioned already create a report on August 2023 which claim 59.9% BTC mining use green energy[1].

But i agree some myth wouldn't fade anytime soon.

[1] https://bitcoinminingcouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/BMC-H1-2023-Presentation.pdf