TFG ... bitcoin ... Harvard ... is this the "Why"?

[UpInArms]

…snip …

Less than four years ago, Trump said Bitcoin "just seems like a scam". Yet those reservations have now gone: the Trump family has since started the crypto firm World Liberty Financial, and Trump launched his own cryptocurrency, $TRUMP – 220 of its top buyers were invited to a private gala dinner with the president on Thursday.

Trump's sons Eric and Donald Jr are behind a crypto mining venture called American Bitcoin, which plans to trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange, and aims to build one of the world's largest and most efficient Bitcoin mining platforms, rooted in American soil.

… snip…

As well as the hum, mining's energy use has environmental impacts. A Harvard study published in March in the peer-reviewed science journal Nature Communications found that Bitcoin mining exposes millions of Americans to harmful air pollution each year - and that 34 Bitcoin mines consumed a third more electricity than the city of LA. (There was some pushback from the crypto industry to the study, which was called The environmental burden of the United States' Bitcoin mining boom.)

… more at link (from BBC) …

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2qg6e03l2o

(Bolding mine)

[Alice Kramden]

1. Good article

The environmental effects are stark

"34 Bitcoin mines consumed a third more electricity than the city of Los Angeles"

[Mblaze]

2. Trump was right

It is a scam. That's why he's all over it.

[Sneederbunk]

8. He meant it was a scam that he was not running.

[Codifer]

3. I must be

too damn old to understand the first thing about bitcoin and bitcoin mining.

To me it seems to be mere vapor.... cotton candy, no there there. Nothing from nothing leaves nothing.

But it may become coin of the realm and my dollars will be worth shit.

Where is my bong......

[Silver Gaia]

4. Yeah, i had no idea it involved mining.

WTF? What mineral is bitcoin made of?

[Swede]

5. Bullshitium.

[krkaufman]

11. well done

nt

[Silver Gaia]

13. LOL

[SunSeeker]

6. The "mining" is virtual, using computers. Those computers suck a shitload of electricity.

Bitcoin mining uses electricity because it requires substantial computing power to solve complex cryptographic puzzles, which are part of the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. This process validates transactions and secures the Bitcoin network. Miners compete to solve these puzzles, and the first to do so is rewarded with newly minted Bitcoin. https://river.com/learn/why-does-bitcoin-mining-use-energy/#:~:text=%2Dof%2DWork.-,Proof%2Dof%2DWork,all%20the%20blocks%20are%20valid.

[Silver Gaia]

14. Thanks for the explanation.

Bitcoin is something I've largely ignored because it just seems stupid.

[love_katz]

9. Not from the soil kind of mining.

Someone else posted an explanation: bitcoin is a computer creation. It's based on something called block chain. Every time someone purchases a bit coin, a unique number has to be generated for it, and it has to be linked to a specific location in the block chain in order for the purchase to be authentic.
Apparently, this process requires massive usage of electricity, because the computers run constantly generating the block chain, and they have to be cooled because the process generates a lot of heat.
In addition, bitcoin only has whatever value the owner of the company says it has. In other words, the "value " can vanish like a fart in a hurricane.

[Silver Gaia]

15. Thanks.

I've paid no attention to Bitcoin til now. The snippets from the article did not explain that it was DATA mining, and since I am willfully ignorant in regard to Bitcoin, I appreciate your explanation.

[Be Leave On]

16. prime numbers

It's not made of minerals. It is "mined" by computers generating ever larger prime numbers.

[live love laugh]

7. Data mining in general seems to be an environmental problem.

Musk’s AI plant Colossus also emits harmful pollutants.

In addition to polluting, data mining technology will drive up costs for everyone. I just read an article here yesterday saying that electricity costs will skyrocket over the next 25 years.

[Gaugamela]

10. Another possibility: there's speculation Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford all rejected Barron

There’s no confirmation of this, but rumors have been spreading on social media.

[UpInArms]

12. What a smarmy looking specimen