quote:

A neighborhood’s cryptocurrency mine: ‘Like a jet that never leaves’

Cryptocurrency mining brought constant noise to this remote part of Appalachia

It's a gift link, so everyone should be able to read the article, including the ups and extras.

https://wapo.st/3TGB2FV

It sounds like a residential air conditioning unit, but they are going to add noise cancelling insulation?

Ok, then.

Ether, the coin that is part of the Ethereum blockchain, is switching from proof of work to proof of stake. That sounds like some random words thrown together, but the net result is that it will decrease Ethereum’s electricity usage 99%. And Ethereum is the blockchain that houses some of the decentralized finance activities that go on across the web.

The bad news is that, while Ethereum is the second biggest blockchain, the biggest is a Bitcoin, and it isn’t switching away from proof of work. (Bitcoin is the blockchain that uses more electricity than the country of Iceland.).

From the article:

“Creating a single bitcoin requires 1,556.99 kilowatt hours of electricity, according to Digiconomist, which monitors crypto consumption — about the same amount used to power an average house for 53 days.”

A Bitcoin is still worth about 20,000 USD on the open market today, and that amount of money can pay for many multiples of 53 days of powering an average house. That’s some very serious misallocation of resources there, a great inefficiency in the market, it looks like.

I feel for those folks, that kind of incessant noise is really unpleasant.

Also, the modern world has all these weird problems that no one could have conceived of even a few years ago.

I think very few people are aware of the byproducts (e.g., noise pollution) of modern technologies...

These guys need to move to CLE. Seriously.

A rich industrial heritage, hollowed out by globalization, has left a landscape of abandoned industrial properties well served by cheap electricity and more than ample additional infrastructure. Power, supplied by (of all things) coal plants in W VA, is absurdly cheap, and believe me when I tell you that cooling is not an issue in the winter.

You run that silly crypto mine next to the sole remaining steel mill and I guarantee that there will be no complaints. Won’t need containers either - you can get a fine brick building for next to nothing.

I’m sure there is more to this that I don’t understand but it seems like a win-win.

I have long thought Cleveland a huge opportunity for redevelopment. It's inner city neighborhoods like Old Brooklyn are largely in pretty good shape, unlike Detroit, and the climate is about to get better. The place has a lot going for it, not the least of which Lake Erie.

Ohio is an interesting state. Northeast Ohio belongs more properly to the East rather than the midwest. It is much more like upstate NY than the rest of Ohio. Columbus is solidly midwestern, while Cincinnati is more of a southern city. Then you have the southeastern Appalachian areas which are seemingly unrelated to the rest of the state.

Bitcoin (and others that use proof of work) also require massive amounts of water. Many municipalities have high-use triggers that will, in effect, raise the total cost of water for all its customers, including residential use, when that trigger hits. When cryptocurrency businesses open in these municipalities the trigger is almost immediately hit and water rates increase for all. Residents are not happy.

Cryptocurrency is ridiculous.