A short BBC report on a bitcoin mine

At present in the UK our main media outlets are just at the beginning of reporting on crypto technologies to the public. One of the main reasons for setting up this platform was to give my opinion of these technologies as I am sure into the future, our media sources will show more and more bias towards the negative environmental implications of blockchain tech. I stumbled upon this youtube clip which I have put a link to below. The reporter is inside a bitcoin mining plant which has its own power plant. This power plant is currently run mainly on fossil fuels and provides an example of where the financial gains are so excessive that, at present, fossil fuels are being used to mine crytpocurrencies. It also shows a prime example of where changes can be made to make our infrastructure much more sustainable. I outline below some key points to think about after you have watched the video.

So although I am happy that we are finally trying to alert the public to a huge movement in society and from here we can begin to help the public understand and become more educated on blockchain technologies. I believe that although this is not a great topic for the BBC to reporting on at present, I am however happy to see some involvement from the BBC. Here are some general points to think about regarding bitcoin mining and how it will move into the future.

1. Firstly we have to take into account that the report focuses on a POW blockchain (bitcoin mining) and in the future the development of smart contracts, sharding, more and more layer 1 crypto adoption, etc will allow the fundamentals of the mining process to become more efficient. This will mean less resources or fuel to mine moving forward as the technologies improves and is further adopted.

2. Secondly this mining station was previously in a situation where it was to become unused and local infrastructure in the area was suffering. By changing the power station from supplying electricity and changing to mining has meant that jobs and local residents to the area still have jobs. Although at present the facility could be made a lot more environmentally sustainable it is just in its primary stage of beginning to mine bitcoin, moving forward it can now start to improve efficiency and processes. By mining bitcoin the are now not mining raw materials, so bear this in mind.

3. In order to maximise profits moving forward, crypto mining companies will look to mine other crypto currencies that are POS and hopefully have more environmentally friendly tokenomics as pressure from users becomes more apparent. Although at present this facility is mining bitcoin, as time goes on it will begin to mine more sustainable blockchains.

4. I have searched endlessly for months to try and find a good figure that I feel is unbiased on energy consumption from our current financial systems that are in place. Today we power banks and all their associated bodies. We power servers that run our credit cards and our bank payments. We at present expend a huge amount of energy on our current financial systems. Blockchain technology and competitive mining practices will improve this financial system massively into the future. Not only that it will be run by a decentralised community who in turn will have more voting power to make the systems more sustainable moving forward also.

In conclusion I am happy to see that the BBC is reporting on Bitcoin mining as it is a start in educating the public on this amazing technology. However I do feel that a bad light has been put on bitcoin mining from an environmental standpoint, which at present some of this may be true, long term, crypto mining processes will help mankind move towards a fairer more sustainable future for mankind and its societies. Also mining a decentralised blockchain means that often the everyday user can have a say in how the technology is used into the future by simply playing a part.