We are often told that the verification of bitcoin transactions eats a lot of energy. The largely inaccurate comparison to a small country, the size of Ireland or Denmark, is evoked thanks to numerous clickbait headlines. What mainstream media fails to explain, however, is that bitcoin mining is actually helping electricity producers prevent energy waste. Hydropower plants, for example, can generate and sell much more electricity during rainy seasons in some regions or when snow melts in others. Wastage can be mitigated through a symbiosis with bitcoin farms, at no additional cost for the environment.
The Russian city court in Tobolsk has “banned the import of equipment for the mining of cryptocurrency,” local media reported last week. Tobolsk is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia. The ban, which has already entered into force, applies to a local crypto miner who tried to import mining equipment for his own personal use. 