Bitcoin Mining Bans Can Backfire on Climate Conscious Governments, a New Res...

[ABCbits]

Bitcoin Mining Bans Can Backfire on Climate Conscious Governments, a New Research Finds

Governments looking to ban bitcoin (BTC) mining for environmental reasons should think twice — it could backfire.

That’s the conclusion from a new academic paper by crypto research firm Exponential Science, published on Thursday and titled ‘The Unintended Carbon Consequences of Bitcoin Mining Bans: A Paradox in Environmental Policy.’... Read more here.


Their main argument is miner would move to different area where it's electricity based on use fossil or other non-renewable energy. That makes sense since miner looking for low operational cost. Your opinion is greatly appreciated.

[Charles-Tim]

I wonder why this did not come my mind when bitcoin mining was banned in China as many miners moved to Kazakhstan. Many Chinese miners are using clean energy to mine. It was reported that time that above 70% of mining at the time was through clean/green energy. But many miners moved to Kazakhstan, a country that is primarily and mainly using fossil fuel like coal as their source if energy.

[hugeblack]

Mostly such effects will not be taken care of especially if Bitcoin is banned for environmental reasons, countries will definitely try to impose a global ban which will force miners to work in small mining groups. Bitcoin mining requires cheap energy and I think it is a global problem more than it is related to Bitcoin, whenever there is cheap and clean energy the problem will be solved.

[robelneo]

This is because of government ignorance; they failed to understand the pros and cons of mining so if they see a company that uses solar powered panels for their mining and then ban  it they will go underground or move to where they can mine even to the point of using fossil fuel.
Bitcoin mining cannot be stopped because miners see the profit or they have to recover the cost of setting up so they have no choice but to continue mining at whatever cost.

[Lucius]

The myth that Bitcoin mining affects the climate and the environment has been broken a long time ago, now it's just a matter of how much those at the top want to accept it as truth or will they continue to persist in their agenda - "Bitcoin is not good because it pollutes the environment".

A few years ago, data showed that BTC mining consumes about 0.2% of the total energy consumed, and let's say that it was about 200 TWh per year - while on the other hand, the losses in the electrical network amount to an incredible 50 000 TWh.

Any attacks coming from that direction are therefore completely meaningless - and the less BTC there is for mining and the smaller the rewards per block, the fewer miners there will be - and by the end of the decade there will be about 1% left (210 000 BTC ) which will be mined until approximately 2140. What I want to say is that in the near future BTC mining will become something in which only the biggest players will compete - and only if the price of BTC is so high that it will continue to be profitable for them.

[MrSpasybo]

The myth that Bitcoin mining affects the climate and the environment has been broken a long time ago, now it's just a matter of how much those at the top want to accept it as truth or will they continue to persist in their agenda - "Bitcoin is not good because it pollutes the environment".

A few years ago, data showed that BTC mining consumes about 0.2% of the total energy consumed, and let's say that it was about 200 TWh per year - while on the other hand, the losses in the electrical network amount to an incredible 50 000 TWh.

Any attacks coming from that direction are therefore completely meaningless - and the less BTC there is for mining and the smaller the rewards per block, the fewer miners there will be - and by the end of the decade there will be about 1% left (210 000 BTC ) which will be mined until approximately 2140. What I want to say is that in the near future BTC mining will become something in which only the biggest players will compete - and only if the price of BTC is so high that it will continue to be profitable for them.

Yeah, BTC is super green now since over 50% of the energy used by the BTC network is renewable, not dirty old fossil fuels. Plus, BTC mining is actually driving the energy industry forward, helping regions come up with smarter ways to use their available energy.

Those bans on BTC mining don't really hurt BTC, look at what happened in China: it just made miners go look for more friendly places to operate. After all, BTC mining is its own industry now, and no government can just force all the miners to shut down. BTC is here to stay and we don't have to worry about those environmental concerns they keep bringing up.

[TomPluz]

Their main argument is miner would move to different area where it's electricity based on use fossil or other non-renewable energy. That makes sense since miner looking for low operational cost.

Yes, of course, as long there can be big money to be made in Bitcoin and crypto mining, there will always be players and if a certain jurisdiction would be kicking their operations due to any reason then they would look for other possible locations that can be friendly to their mining business. Still, I don't really care if many countries will kick mining as there will always be takers...even USA is now open to mining business though I am not sure how good is the ROI in USA compared to other countries. The argument that Bitcoin mining is so bad for the environment is already a debunked one. What happened in China really comes to mind and I understand that the ban just disperse mining operations to other friendly countries...and at the end I would say that the China ban is actually good for Bitcoin since we do not want a single country to be controlling the business of Bitcoin mining.

[ABCbits]

This is because of government ignorance; they failed to understand the pros and cons of mining so if they see a company that uses solar powered panels for their mining and then ban  it they will go underground or move to where they can mine even to the point of using fossil fuel.

Government who does that doesn't even care whether miner use non-renewable energy elsewhere.

Bitcoin mining cannot be stopped because miners see the profit or they have to recover the cost of setting up so they have no choice but to continue mining at whatever cost.

I wouldn't say at whether cost, since mining at high electricity price would leads to higher loss where their only option is either moving again or sell their ASIC.

[Steve5946]

Bitcoin Mining Bans Can Backfire on Climate Conscious Governments, a New Research Finds

Governments looking to ban bitcoin (BTC) mining for environmental reasons should think twice — it could backfire.

I don't think this will be a global issue, even if they ban crypto mining. Moreover, even with the ban, some groups of people will continue to mine crypto...

Lastly, everything that has a disadvantage, has an advantage...

[Lucius]

Yeah, BTC is super green now since over 50% of the energy used by the BTC network is renewable, not dirty old fossil fuels. Plus, BTC mining is actually driving the energy industry forward, helping regions come up with smarter ways to use their available energy.
~snip~

Unfortunately, so much negativity has come out in the public domain that probably a lot of people still think that Bitcoin is harmful to the environment. For years, people have been scared that they will remain in the dark because Bitcoin spends as much as their entire country in the whole year, and such things are very difficult to deny, considering that no serious media that is under the control of the government anywhere in the world will publish such a thing.

Imagine that the EU has been talking about banning cryptocurrency mining for years, but in the end they realized that they actually have nothing to ban because it almost doesn't exist in the EU considering that it is almost unprofitable due to the price of electricity.

[bitterguy28]

I wonder why this did not come my mind when bitcoin mining was banned in China as many miners moved to Kazakhstan. Many Chinese miners are using clean energy to mine. It was reported that time that above 70% of mining at the time was through clean/green energy.

this shows that it is possible to mine bitcoin without putting too much damage to the environment if the government use the “environment-card” i just assume it is not real especially from a country that is wealthy and could easily put in the money to be more environmentally friendly when mining bitcoin

But many miners moved to Kazakhstan, a country that is primarily and mainly using fossil fuel like coal as their source if energy.

i wish the government exerted effort and resources to learning more about clean mining and use this to their advantage instead of completely banning bitcoin with the reason of concern for the environment

[ZAINmalik75]

Their main argument is miner would move to different area where it's electricity based on use fossil or other non-renewable energy. That makes sense since miner looking for low operational cost. Your opinion is greatly appreciated.

Which government are you talking about? If it's about the USA then no one is going to ban the mining of BTC because they have applied huge taxes on the usage of electricity that miners are using and they are paying taxes on their profits too. Mining in America is not cheap because electricity is expensive there plus the taxes.

All miners can't afford to mine BTC in such expensive areas they use solar panels or wind energy to run Mining rigs to make more profits. Governments should provide some solution to this problem instead of banning it.

[ABCbits]

Their main argument is miner would move to different area where it's electricity based on use fossil or other non-renewable energy. That makes sense since miner looking for low operational cost. Your opinion is greatly appreciated.

Which government are you talking about? If it's about the USA then no one is going to ban the mining of BTC because they have applied huge taxes on the usage of electricity that miners are using and they are paying taxes on their profits too. Mining in America is not cheap because electricity is expensive there plus the taxes.

All miners can't afford to mine BTC in such expensive areas they use solar panels or wind energy to run Mining rigs to make more profits. Governments should provide some solution to this problem instead of banning it.

When i say "their" on "Their main argument is...", i refer to argument presented on the research which cited by CoinDesk.

The paper’s findings? In some jurisdictions, a blanket bitcoin mining ban can actually trigger an increase in the industry’s overall carbon emissions, as the affected miners may relocate to new regions with electric grids that rely on fossil fuels.

And if you read the full news, you should've seen images which shows where the ban have positive or negative effect.

Source: Exponential Science (Exponential Science)

[NotATether]

I wonder why this did not come my mind when bitcoin mining was banned in China as many miners moved to Kazakhstan. Many Chinese miners are using clean energy to mine. It was reported that time that above 70% of mining at the time was through clean/green energy. But many miners moved to Kazakhstan, a country that is primarily and mainly using fossil fuel like coal as their source if energy.

Because China wants to be able to control the product that they mine, but since they can't control Bitcoin, it makes little sense for them to allow it in their territory, which is why they sent miners packing. (In line with other bans they have enforced over the past two decades.)

Imagine that the EU has been talking about banning cryptocurrency mining for years, but in the end they realized that they actually have nothing to ban because it almost doesn't exist in the EU considering that it is almost unprofitable due to the price of electricity.

There's actually people who mine in the EU? That sounds very un-profitable given high fuel and electricity costs.

[ABCbits]

Imagine that the EU has been talking about banning cryptocurrency mining for years, but in the end they realized that they actually have nothing to ban because it almost doesn't exist in the EU considering that it is almost unprofitable due to the price of electricity.

There's actually people who mine in the EU? That sounds very un-profitable given high fuel and electricity costs.

It's probably on individual or hobby level. AFAIK Kryptovault was last big scale mining on Europe, where they stopped mining on either late 2022 or early 2023.