Bitcoin is a crypto-economic ecosystem that divides the world. Countries can be classified (even by own definition) as Bitcoin-friendly or anti-Bitcoin declared. Often the news in one way or another takes headlines, and polarize socio-economic agents and even society.
In the most adverse side for Bitcoin and for cryptoeconomics (at least as a decentralized concept) we have known cases such as China, Venezuela, or South Korea. Its anti-Bitcoin regulations produce seismic waves throughout the cryptosalmon planet with each new movement. But the club is now adding a new member unsuspected, and that the illegality of Bitcoin mining has reached the United States itself.
Bitcoin gets enemies (and friends) wherever it encrypts ...
Those who frequent these lines more often already know about our crypto-enthusiasm, although this has not prevented us from warning them about the Bitcoin bubble and other cryptocurrencies since the very beginning of their formation, and with the final culmination of the manipulation suspicions massive cryptoburbuja. As cripto-enthusiasts that we are, we have written long and hard on varied and interesting topics of cryptoeconomics, and a recurrent theme has been the legality, illegality or alegalidad of Bitcoin and its mining.
In fact, for example, we already talked to you in your day about how "Bitcoin is already a" Too big to (make it) fail "for some economies, and that is why a black Bitcoin market will emerge in China". Or in particular about the illegality of mining in "Venezuelans escape hyperinflation thanks to Bitcoin and ... they are arrested for it".
Known must be for our readers also the brusque turn of the Russian authorities with respect to cryptoeconomics, that to speak of prohibiting Bitcoin taxically and even imprisoning the Bitcoiners, happened to throw themselves into the arms of the new socioeconomic paradigm. Known is also the recent crusade of the South Korean authorities against the cryptosystem in general, and against Bitcoin in particular.
We have even allowed ourselves the (honorable) license to make an analysis of why Bitcoin's regulation has not just arrived, and about the reasons why the very Central Banks of the whole world are not entering the swampy terrain of regulate the cryptoeconomy as they should. Their motives (obviously) have; another thing is that they justify them in the alegality that they open up before a cryptoeconomy that, nevertheless, continues advancing and imbricating itself in our socioeconomic tissues.
And the cradle of capitalism, the United States, begins to opt for the issue of the (i) legality of mining Bitcoin
But now comes negative news for Bitcoin from the most influential country in terms of capitalist economy. We are talking about the very cradle of modern capitalism. After the precedent that supposed that the USA was to identify Bitcoin users, assuming the beginning of the end of the crypto-privacy, now it turns out that mining Bitcoin is already illegal in some places in the United States.
As you will have read, in the state of New York, the city of Plattsburgh has unanimously imposed by the local political forces an 18-month moratorium on Bitcoin mining, which in practice has meant the first prohibition of criptominar on US soil . The reason was not other than to prevent the miners from making massive use of the city's cheap electricity.
The decision in the plenary session of the city council comes after the complaints of the citizens for the recent increase in the bill of the light. This has risen between 100 and 200 dollars, which is a drastic increase for a city with electric prices among the cheapest in the country. This is possible thanks to the proximity of the St. Lawrence Dam and its hydroelectric power: the mining complexes there pay only 2 cents per KwH.
These low costs are intended to make the city attractive for economic activity, but they have also attracted industrial-scale cryptomer installations. Due to the weight that the energy consumption of the miners supposes in the whole of the electrical capacity of the city, last January the city had to go out to the free market to buy additional energy, which was what caused that the prices shoot.
In response to the legal moratorium, the miners have obviously positioned themselves against it, and as consideration they are willing to assume the extra cost in the energy bill in the months when there is overconsumption.
In Brussels they are aware of the energy problem, but they do not see a legal solution
With the current precedents, it is not surprising that the concern for the energy impact of Bitcoin mining and other cryptocurrencies has a global reach. In fact, in Europe they are very aware of this fact, but remain outside of legislating in this particular energetic cryptomateria.
From Brussels they argue that cryptoming is not currently an illegal activity in the European Union, and that the Commission has therefore not put in place any measure for its control. According to the statements of the Commissioner of Economy and Digital Society, Mariya Gabriel, while the energy consumed by this activity is produced in compliance with legal requirements, there is no legal basis to limit it, let alone prohibit it.
The fact is that the first and dramatic effects of that very high electricity consumption of the Bitcoin ecosystem are emerging, as a result of its tremendous energy inefficiency. But these energy problems associated with Bitcoin should not suddenly catch our regular readers. A few months ago, we analyzed in the article "Bitcoin is an absolute energy (and environmental) disaster" how Bitcoin presents a galloping energy inefficiency.
This inefficiency is due to the design of the so-called "Proof of work" (PoW or "Proof-of-work") of Bitcoin, and we have already proposed several alternatives to solve consumption that are totally avoidable without losing a bit of the most idealistic advances brought by cryptoeconomics. In addition, this unnecessary energy consumption implies, given the energy mix used by the main mining complexes, that the energy disaster is also environmental.
Time passes, the cryptoeconomy expands and is taking the assault new portions of our socioeconomies, but nevertheless the Bitcoin community does not assume the inescapable challenge of making Bitcoin an energy efficient alternative. And the main argument of some is that mining is economically profitable, but do not see that its profitability will remain there while the price of Bitcoin makes it worthwhile.
But we are not talking about profitability in that more short-term sense. We speak of pure and hard efficiency. And, as much as mining Bitcoin is economically profitable, throwing energy out the window does not make any sense, because it is totally avoidable. Now we can see that it is not socio-economically sustainable either, since the impact of this inefficiency is already reaching even the citizens who, as in Plattsburgh, have to pay out of pocket for over-demand. And that for not entering more into the environmental issue.
We insist one more day that, like everything in the fast-paced world that we have had to live, Bitcoin must reinvent itself or die. If the bitcoiners community is not able to agree to embrace energy efficiency, then do not complain when politicians react to the discomfort of ordinary citizens.
Because all inefficiency is bad per se, but if in addition to energy inefficiency we have the obvious ineffectiveness of the crypto community, then I am afraid that the most idealistic and decentralized principles of cryptoeconomics would end up being questioned.