In September, 20021year, China took the lead in issuing a ban on completely cleaning up bitcoin mines. A large number of domestic mines were forced to go out to sea to find a way out. Many mines are aimed at Nordic countries rich in green energy, while others are aimed at energy countries rich in coal and natural gas, such as Kazakhstan, Iran and Kosovo. Even tiny Abkhazia has attracted many mine owners. By the autumn of 20021,more than a quarter of the world's bitcoin was produced in mines in Kazakhstan and Iran.
However, in recent months, some countries that once welcomed Bitcoin have also begun to drive away mine owners in large numbers. For nothing else, these bitcoin mines are big consumers of electricity, causing power shortages and even large-scale blackouts in various places, and even capital cities such as Tehran and Almaty have not been spared. For those who believe that the bitcoin industry will be able to solve the pollution problem through renewable energy, this can be said to be a slap in the face. Even the Nordic countries, which are extremely rich in renewable energy, said that if bitcoin is allowed to mine and consume more and more wind energy and geothermal energy, the Nordic countries themselves may not be able to achieve the clean energy goal.
Recently, some places have become the targets of these "mining guerrillas". These places should be vigilant and seriously consider why these mines are not allowed in China, Kazakstan, Szaszko and Iran. For example, many mines have landed in Texas recently, becoming the hottest destination in the mining circle. Alex de Fries, a Dutch economist, runs a website called Digiconomist, which tracks the energy consumption of Bitcoin. He said: "The idea of Texans in the United States is that with new demand, they can repair the fragile power grid in the state. This is the most ridiculous idea I have ever heard. Winter and summer are generally when the power grid needs electricity most. Bitcoin mining will only make the power supply more stretched, and the result will definitely not look good. "
At present, more and more countries are taking actions against bitcoin mining, which is a warning signal to some European countries that still welcome bitcoin mining, such as Texas, new york, Kentucky, Germany and Ireland. Let's take a look at which countries have clearly stated that they want to crack down on Bitcoin recently, starting with the raid on Bitcoin in Kosovo on New Year's Eve.
Kosovo hits bitcoin hard
In recent years, cheap electricity produced by thermal power plants in Kosovo has attracted many bitcoin mine owners. The total population of Kosovo is 654.38+800,000. Bitcoin miners should be concentrated in northern Kosovo, especially among the young Serb population. Serbs are the opposition forces in Kosovo. They don't recognize Kosovo as a country and refuse to pay the electricity bill. In recent months, due to the shutdown of many local thermal power plants, the Kosovo authorities have to import a lot of expensive natural gas from European neighbors for power generation. At present, about 40% of Kosovo's energy depends on foreign countries. Kosovo declared a 60-day state of emergency, during which the electricity consumption of households and enterprises will be restricted. The ban on bitcoin mining is a heavy blow to Kosovo's response to the energy crisis.
202 1, 12, 3 1, the Kosovo authorities announced that "the production of virtual currency is prohibited throughout the territory". It is hoped that after the promulgation of the bitcoin ban, the excess electricity released will help Kosovo survive this winter. The message from Kosovo is clear: with the global energy shortage, more and more countries are beginning to question whether it is meaningful to use energy in a large amount with a currency that has little practical use.
Iran strikes again.
In May of 20021year, major cities in Iran were blacked out by turns. In order to reduce the pressure on power plants and reserve more electricity for families, the Iranian government announced that it would suspend bitcoin mining for four months. However, shortly after the short-term lifting of the ban, the Iranian government decided to suspend bitcoin mining again on February 28th, 2002165438 (that is, three days before Kosovo decided to crack down on bitcoin). According to official statistics, the power consumption of bitcoin mining is roughly equivalent to 3% to 4% of Iran's national power generation. The ban will last until mid-March 2022, when the Iranian government may allow re-exploitation in exchange for much-needed foreign exchange. However, the biggest problem of Iran's mining industry is that more than 60% of the mining is carried out in illegal "black workshops", and even some industrial miners are illegally "black digging". Former Iranian President hassan rouhani has personally admitted that these "black workshops" are hard to limit and will continue to occupy a large number of household and commercial electricity. Now Iran's attitude towards Bitcoin has obviously become negative, so it is doubtful whether Iran will continue to allow mining after the ban expires.
Kazakhstan's attitude change
In addition to the United States, Kazakhstan is also one of the gold destinations for mine owners who have left China. In the autumn of 20021,Cambridge University found that Kazakhstan's bitcoin production had reached 22% of the global total. It is estimated that within a few months after China issued the ban on bitcoin, about 90,000 mining machines were transferred to Kazakhstan, and they were digging around the clock. In Almaty, the largest city in the country, the mining scale doubled from May 2002 to mid-October, reaching 1 1. Generally speaking, Kazakhstan's electricity consumption will increase by 1% to 2% on average every year. However, in 20021year, due to the influx of a large number of mines in China and the soaring price of bitcoin attracted a large number of new people to join the mining industry, the national electricity consumption in Kazakhstan increased by 8% compared with the previous year.
Kazakhstan has huge oil reserves. At the beginning of 20021,there was also a large amount of power overcapacity. However, in just a few months, Bitcoin has restored the country's power generation capacity to its original shape. By July of 20021year, there was a power outage all over the country. To this end, the government introduced new regulations in September, limiting the electricity consumption of 50 registered coal mines. Two months later, the government promulgated another law to limit the number of users of all new mines to a very low level. Since then, Kazakhstan's mining boom has rapidly subsided.
Iceland says "no" to miners
Iceland is rich in cheap geothermal energy, which has attracted a large number of miners to come for gold in recent years. Mining companies such as Genesis in China, Bitfury and Hive in Canada all have huge businesses in this island country. However, Iceland's aluminum smelter and data center industries are also very developed, and these industries also have huge power demand. Now, Iceland has encountered an energy bottleneck, and bitcoin mining is the main reason for Iceland's energy shortage. The energy crisis even forced the government to cut off the energy supply to pillar industries. 202165438+on February 7th, Iceland's national energy company Landsvirkjun announced that it would no longer accept the power demand of the new virtual coin mine.
Sweden wants to join the European Union and ban bitcoin.
2021112 Two senior Swedish officials wrote an open letter to the country's regulatory authorities and made demands to the EU. This move is likely to affect many people's "green bitcoin" plans-for example, both elon musk and Jack Dorsey believe that clean energy can make Bitcoin take off its pollution label. The letter was written by the director of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the head of the financial regulator, who called on Swedish leaders to stop all bitcoin mining activities in the country. They also called on the 27 EU countries to sign a ban on bitcoin mining. However, their reason is not the carbon footprint of bitcoin mining, but because bitcoin mining consumes a lot of renewable energy and hinders the green transformation of traditional industries. More than 50% of Sweden's electricity comes from wind, solar and hydropower, and it is also one of the countries with the highest proportion of green energy in the world. Because of the low electricity price, it also attracted many miners who left China. Two officials pointed out that from April to August of 20021year, the electricity consumption of bitcoin mining in the country increased several times.
Two officials believe that the electricity consumed by bitcoin mining could have been used for some projects that are beneficial to people's livelihood, such as charging electric vehicles. They pointed out: "If Sweden allows virtual currency mining, then our renewable energy may not be enough to achieve the climate change we need." For example, promote clean energy in industries such as steelmaking and battery manufacturing. They believe that banning bitcoin mining is crucial to achieving the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. They also gave some examples, saying that the electricity consumption of mining with bitcoin in Sweden is equivalent to that of 200,000 households. "The power consumption of mining a bitcoin is enough to drive a medium-sized electric vehicle 1.8 million kilometers." Their conclusion is also straightforward-Bitcoin "is not the rational use direction of renewable energy".
Sweden banned it, and Norway followed suit with great probability.
Just a few days after the publication of this open letter from a Swedish official, a senior Swedish official joined their camp. Bj? rn Arieldgram, Swedish Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, said: "After reading the suggestions made by Swedish regulators, Norway is currently considering formulating relevant policies to deal with the challenges related to the virtual currency mining industry." Gram also said that like Sweden, Norway also needs a lot of green energy to promote industries such as steelmaking and aluminum smelting to get rid of fossil energy. With the soaring price of aluminum in recent years, the demand for electricity in aluminum smelting industry has also risen. Recently, Norway has also built some new cable projects, which will have the ability to export renewable energy to other European countries in the future, which will bring Norway a lot of income. On the other hand, Norway has reduced its energy production to a level that only meets the needs of the domestic market–and does not include Bitcoin. It is not clear whether Norway will follow Sweden's lead in restricting bitcoin, but whether the EU can achieve its extremely radical climate goals while allowing bitcoin mining has become a hot topic.
Abkhazia, a small place.
Abkhazia, a small country on the border of the Black Sea, split from Georgia in the mid-1990s. But it experienced the harm of bitcoin mining before Iran and Kazakhstan. Abkhazia has a population of only 250,000, but in 2020, there are 625 bitcoin mines here, and many mining machines are set up in the kitchens and bedrooms of ordinary people. The rise of bitcoin mining will increase local electricity consumption by about 20% in 2020. In 20201mid-October, 165438+, local families and factories were blacked out. At the end of that year, the government officially issued a ban on bitcoin mining. In order to prevent someone from being "hacked", the government also sent people to raid enterprises and houses, kick doors and pry locks, and move machines to cut network cables, which made everyone feel insecure for a while.
The more countries shut out Bitcoin, the fewer countries will welcome it, and the power grids in these countries will be under greater pressure. Texas, Kentucky and Alberta, Canada, which still welcome bitcoin mining, will soon face this challenge. Perhaps first you will hear that miners have established cooperative relations with local power companies, and the power companies have indicated that they will increase the total power generation, close mines during peak hours, and leave more electricity to families and enterprises.
On this issue, the CEO of Iceland National Energy Company summed it up best: "No one will build a power plant specifically for Bitcoin, and its future is uncertain." Bitcoin miners make the most money when their expensive mining machines are running at full capacity. "Therefore, they have no motivation at all to stop at the peak of electricity consumption, or even no motivation at all."
In the final analysis, the biggest problem of bitcoin mining is to increase the demand for energy, and the energy in this world is not enough. (Fortune Chinese Network)
Translator: Park Chengkui