this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2024
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398
Over 2 percent of the US’s electricity generation now goes to bitcoin (arstechnica.com)
submitted 9 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Over 2 percent of the US’s electricity generation now goes to bitcoin::US government tracking the energy implications of booming bitcoin mining in US.

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[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

First of all I doubt the profits generated from this go towards anything or anyone worthwhile, second, doesn't bitcoin mining cause diminishing returns individually and across the network? Like aren't the problems getting harder and more expensive computationally?

[–] deafboy@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The mining difficulty adjusts automatically so that 1 block is produced every 10 minutes on average.

More miners join, more difficult and expensive it gets, to the point it forces the least efficient miners to be turned off, or seek cheaper electricity. If too many leave or the price of BTC raises, more people are incentivized to join.

[–] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

More miners join, more difficult and expensive it gets, to the point it forces the least efficient miners to be turned off, or seek cheaper electricity.

So wealth continues to be concentrated by the wealthy while polluting a bunch.

[–] deafboy@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

So wealth continues to be concentrated by the wealthy

You know the business is legit, when the only complaint is "BuT ThE RiCh!!"