In fact, vibrant bitcoin mining is a sign of poor decisions in the fiat energy realm.
Cheap/free hydro in SE Asia is because of centrally planned projects, cheap on-grid in Texas is due to renewable subsidies deployed creating supply/demand disconnects through ERCOT.
Alternatively, if a country’s energy policy reduces waste and lowers red tape, then that energy will be used for more valuable applications than bitcoin mining.
Bitcoin mining is the energy buyer of last resort, geographically agnostics interruptible demand. The most profitable miner will consume only waste, curtailed, stranded energy…not compete with other productive demand applications.
Login to reply
Replies (1)
True to some extent, but nuance will change the picture to some extent:
- you can't scale the production continuously in industry. You can allow other productive use by building a power plant. Bitcoin is the buyer of first resort in this case, allowing other production that would not otherwise happen.
- combined with energy futures, it's the best regulator, allowing the energy to be cheaper. Overproduce base load that will be consumed by miners, but incentivize them with futures to turn off the machines. It's cheaper than producing expensive peak load. This lowers the prices for productive use.
Energy is complicated.