Re: Will countries ban Bitcoin mining due to environmental concerns?
Most recently, the state of New York (in the US) passed a bill to ban Bitcoin mining due to environmental concerns. Some time ago, the EU did something similar (although it came into law) making both investors and miners largely concerned about the future of PoW cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Dogecoin. If FUD related to PoW mining damaging the environment persists (remember Elon Musk also criticizing Bitcoin?), then cryptocurrencies with PoW algorithms will be forced to switch to PoS altogether. Bitcoin will be the mostly affected since it's the biggest PoW cryptocurrency in the world. Growth for the pioneer cryptocurrency will stifle, forcing miners to close down their business for good.
Do you think countries worldwide will ban Bitcoin mining due to environmental concerns? If not, why? If mining is banned, do you think Bitcoin will switch to PoS? Will it still survive being a PoW cryptocurrency? Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Do you think countries worldwide will ban Bitcoin mining due to environmental concerns? If not, why? If mining is banned, do you think Bitcoin will switch to PoS? Will it still survive being a PoW cryptocurrency? Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Bitcoin mining energy consumption is just a symptom of possibly (considering environmental concerns raised lately) too cheap energy prices. If energy became 10 times as expensive, difficulty would just adjust, and energy consumption would drop.
Therefore, banning PoW mining would not really be an example of sane politics. Not saying that it won't happen - insane decisions in politics are surprisingly common. But the most reasonable approach towards environmental concerns would be to just tax electrical energy. This way, not only Bitcoin energy consumption would drop, but also energy consumption of other industries that are less transparent about how much energy consume, compared to Bitcoin.