Bitcoin miners secure the cryptocurrency’s network and mining has evolved into an energy-intensive, highly specialist industrial activity. But is bitcoin mining a totally unnecessary waste of electricity? Or could it even help support renewable energy sources?
In the latest episode of the New Money Review podcast Chris Bendiksen, head of research at CoinShares, discusses the following topics with New Money Review founding editor Paul Amery:
- What is bitcoin mining?
- Where does it take place?
- How much computing power is dedicated to the bitcoin network?
- How much would it cost to mount an attack on the network?
- Who manufactures bitcoin mining hardware?
- Why has the network’s processing power risen despite the last year’s dramatic fall in the bitcoin price?
- Why are some miners willing to operate at a loss?
- What are the implications of bitcoin’s energy consumption?
- Why do some people consider bitcoin the world’s electricity consumer of last resort?
- Why are renewable energy sources increasingly linked to bitcoin mining?
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