Bitcoin Miners, US Energy Producers and Moore's Law

Mining bitcoin as a greener alternative? Inside the relative world of constant fuel production, lumpy demand and bitcoin-based load balancing.

AccessTimeIconMay 10, 2020 at 12:20 p.m. UTC
Updated Aug 19, 2021 at 2:02 a.m. UTC

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Although some believe bitcoin mining is a wasteful activity, on today's show we dig into the relative world of constant fuel production, lumpy demand and bitcoin-based load balancing.

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After years of bitcoin mining domination by China-based miners, some U.S. power producers, both professional and incidental, are beginning to get into the game as a way to be more green. It's a narrative reversal if ever we've seen one and if proven successful by the early players could change the bitcoin mining landscape as we know it.

But even without a "green bitcoin" narrative in the U.S., one of China's two major mining advantages has evaporated as Moore's Law stretches out the useful lifespan of modern bitcoin miners hardware.

Greenidge Generation bitcoin mining (1) (2)

Marty Bent's "Great American Mining" episode (1)

Correction: Before installing miners, Greenidge Generation previously shut down during off-peak season. During the episode Adam incorrectly stated that it previously shut down during off-peak hours.

Today's episode features Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy, Jonathan Mohan and Adam B. Levine.

This episode features music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats. Today's show is edited by Jonas, and sponsored by eToro.com.

Listen/subscribe to the CoinDesk Podcast feed for unique perspectives and fresh daily insight with Apple PodcastsSpotifyPocketcastsGoogle PodcastsCastboxStitcherRadioPublicaIHeartRadio or RSS.

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