Iceland’s bitcoin miners may leave the country without enough energy


Bitcoin mining in Iceland is sucking up so much energy that officials are worried they soon won’t have enough power to run the country.
In the last six months, miners have been flocking to the island nation, where abundant and cheap renewable energy and arctic air (to keep servers from overheating) make it a bitcoin miner’s paradise. But the energy-intensive process of mining cryptocurrency threatens to overwhelm the country’s energy infrastructure. If it continues apace, it’ll eat more energy than all of Iceland’s residents would consume before the end of the year.
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2 thoughts on “Iceland’s bitcoin miners may leave the country without enough energy”

  1. In 2013 it was reported that the impact the highland dam at Kárahnjúkar has on the lake Lagarfljót by Egilsstaðir in East Iceland is considered to be more severe than earlier anticipated.
    and still they want to build more dams – such a a wonderful country ruined by greed.
    I recommend the documentary ‘Sigur Ros: Heima’ which shows the country well…

    Reply
  2. The biggest problem with Bitcoin is not that it’s “backed by nothing”; but that its digital creation is a huge waste of resources. Last time I checked, the Treasury did not use half the power in America to produce the US dollar. Although proponents of BTC will claim this arbitrary power consumption is required to give the coin value, I think all those KWhs could be put to better use than “strip mining” the energy grid. Waste does not imbue a thing with value.

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