Will countries ban Bitcoin mining due to environmental concerns?

[Abiky]

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.

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[stompix]

The state of New York did not ban bitcoin mining!
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/A7389
https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/bills/2021/A7389C

1. For the period commencing on the effective date of this section and ending two years after such date, the department, after consultation with the department of public service, shall not approve a new application for or issue a new permit pursuant to this article, or article seventy of this chapter, for an electric generating facility that utilizes a carbon-based fuel and that provides, in whole or in part, behind-the-meter electric energy consumed or utilized by cryptocurrency mining operations that use proof-of-work authentication methods to validate blockchain transactions.

Same for renewal of licenses.

[LoyceMobile]

Banning mining isn't the same as banning Bitcoin. It's basically what happens when electricity prices go up: miners move to another country.
Here, taxes are high enough to make Bitcoin mining not profitable. That makes a ban on mining useless.

[ultrloa]

There are several issues rises about this but I guess this is not relevant information to believe on, most provably the miners are not totally afraid about those things and they just rather think about the rising prices of electricity since this is more realistic problem to them. Maybe there are few country will impose this law but I don't think this will happen on all of the country around the world.

[Rruchi man]

Do you think countries worldwide will ban Bitcoin mining due to environmental concerns?

So far, because mining involves large consumption of electricity, the real threat which bitcoin mining posses is an increased consumption of power which sometimes means increased carbon emissions. Countries with already a high percentage of carbon emission via massive industrialization and having much concerns for the environment and global warming will seek out ways to cut and reduce their carbon emission and making their country unfavourable for miners through policies, increased tariffs and even total ban are all options for them.

Carbon emissions are not equal worldwide, so countries with lower carbo emissions may not pay attention to miners even if they ban bitcoin use in the country.

[Jating]

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.

No, I don't think that countries will immediately jump on banning bitcoin just because some organizations saying that it harms the environment.

I'm also not convince that it needs to switch to PoS. And it will survived being the only PoW crypto, after all its the prime mover so I'm not sure what will make people not to invest despite this bad publicity. Banks as well is contributing and should be considered as environment concerns.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/banking-system-consumes-two-times-more-energy-than-bitcoin-research

[avikz]

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.

There is a possibility of banning POW mining by some countries. I know NY has recently drafted a bill proposing such ban and that might gain traction if other US states decides to go to the same way. If US decides on imposing a ban on POW mining, EU may start looking into the same option. So I would say possibility exists!

But chances are very high that some other countries may come forward and seize the opportunity. Especially those countries where the temperature remains low throughout the year. An absolute ban will not be possible but some major economies and their allies may impose such bans.

[yazher]

They won't do it because as of now, the world has different opinions regarding it and that would not totally affect bitcoins once some country became hostile against miners, other countries will warm-heartedly welcome it. As for the critics out there. they won't cease to find some way to mock and degrade bitcoins, we just need to ignore them and leave them alone with their false claim because if ever we gonna give them some attention, that's when they think they are right and pursue their claims even though they don't even have enough evidence at all. It's sufficient for us to see big companies such as Paypal and others are now supporting it today, that would be a big slap to haters.

[Darker45]

To clarify, if I'm not mistaken, the bill does not call to ban Bitcoin mining. I guess the word ban is not apt at the very least, a FUD at most. The bill simply calls for a moratorium. The moratorium will last for two years. Moreover, the bill only applies to certain Bitcoin mining operations, those that use electricity coming from nonrenewable sources. Those Bitcoin mining operations that use green energy shall be allowed to continue within and beyond the 2-year moratorium.

Anyway, I don't believe that there will be a worldwide ban on Bitcoin mining.

[Lucius]

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.

In a world completely dependent on fossil fuels it looks really idiotic when someone deals with something they can't control in this way. Bitcoin mining is at the very bottom of the problem when it comes to the environment and this cannot be a compelling argument when it comes to any ban. Of course, that won’t stop some countries from continuing to push that pointless agenda, or that geniuses like Mr. Mars from time to time say Bitcoin isn’t green enough to use it for transactions.

POS will never happen, no matter what blackmail they come up with - and in about 10 years, will this debate make any sense at all if we know that 99% of BTC will be mined, which means that the 1% (210 000) what remains will not certainly increase the number of miners, but will drastically reduce it.

[mk4]

Knowing that a lot of countries won't like the fact that they can't effectively control Bitcoin, it isn't outside the realm of possibility that some countries would ban Bitcoin — claiming it will be because of "eNviRoNmEnTaL cOnCeRnS".

[n0ne]

It doesn't look like countries ban bitcoin mining due to environmental concerns. Countries begin to make ban on mining due to power shortage happening around. More problem takes place when mining is done illegally. Countries tried the best to make stop illegal mining and give way for registered miners. The governments weren't able to do this, and the same has resulted in the complete ban of mining.

[TheUltraElite]

I can divide the countries of this world into two groups - one being pro-bitcoin mining and another anti-bitcoin mining.

In that case all the miners from anti-bitcoin mining countries will move to pro-bitcoin mining countries. Very soon this group of countries will start to take advantage of these "foreign miners" by taxing them or putting them under certain monetary restrictions so as to generate some income from them.

Eventually if such bans actually happen this above scenario is how it plays out. Then the second group will understand its own folly and become pro-bitcoin mining too and welcome its outcasts back.

But such events have happened in the past concerning other matter, so I guess the governments will not take such steps without thinking twice. The narrative of "environmental concerns" has been debunked several times with data.

[Findingnemo]

Countries can ban mining but the miners will move to other place and that is what exactly happened when China banned mining due to shortage of electricity. So Bitcoin mining can happen until all the countries ban mining but this isn't really due to environmental concern just a reason to stop the future of decentralized payment system.

[Marvell1]

To clarify, if I'm not mistaken, the bill does not call to ban Bitcoin mining. I guess the word ban is not apt at the very least, a FUD at most. The bill simply calls for a moratorium. The moratorium will last for two years. Moreover, the bill only applies to certain Bitcoin mining operations, those that use electricity coming from nonrenewable sources. Those Bitcoin mining operations that use green energy shall be allowed to continue within and beyond the 2-year moratorium.

Anyway, I don't believe that there will be a worldwide ban on Bitcoin mining.

That's right, NY explains that they have no intention of banning Bitcoin mining. This is a 2-year suspension for the issuance and renewal of the fossil fuel use. It's still legal to mine bitcoins with other energy. This rule does not affect miners (<20 miners).
https://cryptoslate.com/lawmaker-behind-ny-crypto-mining-bill-clarifies-it-is-not-a-blanket-pow-ban/

[ChiBitCTy]

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.

I think if countries do start to ban bitcoin mining it will be an excuse for them to ban bitcoin/cryptocurrencies.  The amount of waste countries create in all sorts of different situations pales in comparison to bitcoin mining.  It also might be pretty difficult for them to enforce.  Again I think if they do ban, it's more so they don't want bitcoin being around than it is they are concerned for the environmental impact.

[Apocollapse]

This environmental concerns is just a gimmick for government to make a bad news that will affect the newbies to not invest on Bitcoin. Many newbies are just only believing what the media is saying and not doing any research to prove it's legit or false, if they do a bit research, they will know banks system do harm the environmental rather than Bitcoin mining.

[Zlantann]

The crypto industry is doing all it can to diversify to renewable energy. According to Bitcoin Mining Council Q3 2021 report, 57% of the energy used for crypto mining comes from renewable sources (hydro, wind, solar, nuclear, geothermal and carbon generation with carbon offsets as defined by the). Moving to green energy is a gradual process hence; the government needs to give crypto miners time to diversify their energy source.
Harsh policies against the crypto industry also have its economic effect on the state or country. Economic analysts have warned that this bill can lead to massive job loss because many local vendors consisting of electricians, engineers, and construction workers earn from the crypto industry. Bitcoin mining operations are providing high-paying and high-grade, great jobs for local communities in New York. An exodus of crypto miners could translate to jobs and tax dollars moving out of state. More countries would become Bitcoin friendly in the nearest future because the so-called environmental concerns would be reduced drastically due to mass adoption of green energy.

[NeuroticFish]

This was the reason I fear NY situation can create a dangerous precedent: govts have just seen the can ban mining operations and throw to the plebs the "bitcoin is bad for environment" story, which most seem to believe.
Still, the NY so-called ban still needs to be signed by the governor, and this didn't happen (and may not happen too soon, if ever). So there may be just another newspapers worthy useless drama.

[tadamichi]

Do you think countries worldwide will ban Bitcoin mining due to environmental concerns?

The better question to this is, can they and will it have lasting effects and will enough countries do it? And the answer to this is no.

If mining is banned, do you think Bitcoin will switch to PoS?

Maybe some altcoin will, but not BTC

Will it still survive being a PoW cryptocurrency?

1000%

then cryptocurrencies with PoW algorithms will be forced to switch to PoS altogether.

Also this isnt possible if you look at how nodes work.

Growth for the pioneer cryptocurrency will stifle, forcing miners to close down their business for good.

This FUD, bans and so on exist since years, yet bitcoin has more hashpower than ever and is the most successfull asset of all since its beginning and is still here doing fine.

If not, why?

You can check out the technical development section, there was many great answers to this.

Dont buy into the FUD guys.

[PrivacyG]

I think if countries do start to ban bitcoin mining it will be an excuse for them to ban bitcoin/cryptocurrencies.  The amount of waste countries create in all sorts of different situations pales in comparison to bitcoin mining.  It also might be pretty difficult for them to enforce.  Again I think if they do ban, it's more so they don't want bitcoin being around than it is they are concerned for the environmental impact.

They are trying to misleadingly separate their actions from actions that drive communities away from their objectives.  They are using private jets but you using an airplane with dozens of others inside as well is bad.  Bitcoin mining is obviously something they want to target and this is their perfect excuse.  And people are taking the bait so easily.

Also.  I do not think they necessarily plan on banning Bitcoin.  They are looking to make Bitcoin less powerful than it is.  Think about it.  They are suggesting Bitcoin to move to Proof of Stake, which significantly weakens its security against attacks.  They want Bitcoin mining gone for the same reason.  It either lowers down the hash rate, allowing them to gather a ton of equipment in case they want to initiate an attack, or it just means we are moving to PoS which is the worst thing Bitcoin can do.  Look at Solana's downfall.  We do not want Bitcoin to have 'outages', do we?

-
Regards,
PrivacyG

[The Cryptovator]

Haters just looking for an excuse to ban Bitcoin mining, nothing else. For that reason, I don't think Bitcoin will replace by PoS technology. Because Bitcoin isn't controlled by a team that can move it easily. Miners would just move to reasonable places where mining Bitcoin is low cost and legal. They can't stop Bitcoin anyway, just trying to dump it.

[bitbunnny]

Haters just looking for an excuse to ban Bitcoin mining, nothing else. For that reason, I don't think Bitcoin will replace by PoS technology. Because Bitcoin isn't controlled by a team that can move it easily. Miners would just move to reasonable places where mining Bitcoin is low cost and legal. They can't stop Bitcoin anyway, just trying to dump it.

I don't think this is about the haters and the excuse to ban mining
This is really environmental concern but compared to all other environment destroyers I don't think that Bitcoin mining has the key impact. So, I don't think environment will be the show stopper for Bitcoin mining.
However, I think that all Bitcoin users and miners shout be more aware of their impact om environment and try to find the way how to contribute to its protection.

[wxa7115]

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.

We know this is an excuse to try to weaken bitcoin and nothing more as a significant amount of the electricity being used for bitcoin mining comes from renewable sources, however I do not think we will reach the point in which this will happen everywhere and there will still be many countries which will allow bitcoin mining.

However this means miners will have to keep getting more and more efficient as they may be forced to move to countries in which the rates of electricity are higher than what they are used to pay right now.

[tadamichi]

This is really environmental concern

Look at how the same people trying to ban this travel around and then think about this again.

However, I think that all Bitcoin users and miners shout be more aware of their impact om environment and try to find the way how to contribute to its protection.

Mining is already economically incentivized to use the cheapest energy available, which is energy that wouldve went to waste. The block reward already subsidizes the building of renewable energy sources, that wouldnt have been possible otherwise, because of how the energy market works(power spikes). Its more than any of these politcians ever did. I think its a stretch to even buy 1% into this hysteria and say BTC should do more, because its already greener relative to how countries generate their energy and just ignores real environmental concerns(where theyre silent about).

[Zilon]

Lawmakers in New York just passed a bill to ban certain bitcoin mining operations that run on carbon-based power sources. which means bitcoin mining isn't completely banned in the US. The ban is only on Proof of work algorithm that is done with carbon-based power sources that both consumes approximately  1,173 kilowatt hours and causes carbon emission. I think other source of power generation for this same bitcoin mining is permitted e.g solar energy

[carlfebz2]

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.

You know that certain countries will follow in terms of decisions of the majority.Some might be in neutral or would go opposite but in vast decisions then they would go in line with other countries decisions.

Environmental issues are just bullshit things that they do really throw into bitcoin without even thinking into other things which had been a long time problem in terms of environmental.

This is really just showing off  that they do really hate up bitcoin and now even with the slightest energy consuming issues will really be tagged about being bad in the environment.LOL!

[Fatunad]

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.

You know that certain countries will follow in terms of decisions of the majority.Some might be in neutral or would go opposite but in vast decisions then they would go in line with other countries decisions.

Environmental issues are just bullshit things that they do really throw into bitcoin without even thinking into other things which had been a long time problem in terms of environmental.

This is really just showing off  that they do really hate up bitcoin and now even with the slightest energy consuming issues will really be tagged about being bad in the environment.LOL!

This is on point.
How they would consider this ranking?

 Climate Change.
 Energy.
 Water.
 Biodiversity and Land Use.
 Chemicals, Toxics and Heavy Metals.
 Air Pollution.
 Waste Management.
 Ozone Layer Depletion.
 Oceans and Fisheries.
 Deforestation.

Source: http://www.vanguardenvl.com/Sustainability_Environmental_Stewardship/Top_10_Environmental_Issues

Is this something where Bitcoin do surpass them all.?

[bhooscream]

Unfortunately yes, Several countries have rejected moroever ban bitcoin miningbecase they think that mining is against the environtment. Mining is cosndiered not friendly to the environmental, moroever in China, they banit becaus eof the use of electirc supply and demand for mining itself. This has beena big concern actually so far. Bitcoin mining always becomes a pros and con in the cyrpto industry.

[Captain Corporate]

I have to say, its understandable if you would like to just ban crypto outright, it is not really a great for a financial situation for the country because its making crypto a better and its not making the fiat part of that nation better at all. This results with the fact that we are going to see some fiat get devalued just because of crypto, which already happened in some smaller nations. But to say that about crypto for environmental changes? I really do not think that it would be a good idea to just do that at all, I have to say that it would be a bad move, just to find some crappy reason and nothing else. Like make it renewable energy required, but not banned, that makes no sense.

[Abiky]

To clarify, if I'm not mistaken, the bill does not call to ban Bitcoin mining. I guess the word ban is not apt at the very least, a FUD at most. The bill simply calls for a moratorium. The moratorium will last for two years. Moreover, the bill only applies to certain Bitcoin mining operations, those that use electricity coming from nonrenewable sources. Those Bitcoin mining operations that use green energy shall be allowed to continue within and beyond the 2-year moratorium.

Anyway, I don't believe that there will be a worldwide ban on Bitcoin mining.

As long as Bitcoin mining isn't banned completely, there should be nothing to worry about. The moratorium will only last for a short amount of time, so my guess is that New York miners will resume their operations in full after the dust settles. So far, only one state in the US has taken the approach to "ban" Bitcoin mining but we cannot discard the possibility of other states or countries doing the same in the future. Only mining with alternative energy will change governments' stance against Bitcoin for good. With decentralization at the forefront of Bitcoin, nothing should be able to stand in its way. Just my thoughts

[Darker45]

To clarify, if I'm not mistaken, the bill does not call to ban Bitcoin mining. I guess the word ban is not apt at the very least, a FUD at most. The bill simply calls for a moratorium. The moratorium will last for two years. Moreover, the bill only applies to certain Bitcoin mining operations, those that use electricity coming from nonrenewable sources. Those Bitcoin mining operations that use green energy shall be allowed to continue within and beyond the 2-year moratorium.

Anyway, I don't believe that there will be a worldwide ban on Bitcoin mining.

That's right, NY explains that they have no intention of banning Bitcoin mining. This is a 2-year suspension for the issuance and renewal of the fossil fuel use. It's still legal to mine bitcoins with other energy. This rule does not affect miners (<20 miners).
https://cryptoslate.com/lawmaker-behind-ny-crypto-mining-bill-clarifies-it-is-not-a-blanket-pow-ban/

As a matter of fact, it is still legal for all kinds of Bitcoin miners to operate until now. This bill, if approved and signed by the governor, will not ask Bitcoin mining operations to stop, not even those that are getting their power from nonrenewable energy sources. After all, the bill is not retroactive. It only prevents future mining farms using fossil fuels from getting licenses. It also prevents current farms from having their permits renewed as soon as they expire if they don't shift to green energy.

It seems this bill has been interpreted in such a way that it now grows into some kind of FUD. First, this is not a law yet. Second, even if it is signed into a law, it doesn't ban Bitcoin mining. As a matter of fact, even if signed into a law, Bitcoin miners using fossil fuels will still be allowed to operate provided they only have 20 rigs at most.

[Ale88]

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.

Did you ever do any kind of research about the origin of energy used to mine bitcoin? Or do you just read articles written by people who know nothing about bitcoin and their job is just to create FUD? Another advise, go look also the amount of energy that the bank system and gold extraction required, and check especially what kind of energy they use, then you tell me if bitcoin is bad and not environmentally friendly 

[Minecache]

Haters just looking for an excuse to ban Bitcoin mining, nothing else. For that reason, I don't think Bitcoin will replace by PoS technology. Because Bitcoin isn't controlled by a team that can move it easily. Miners would just move to reasonable places where mining Bitcoin is low cost and legal. They can't stop Bitcoin anyway, just trying to dump it.

I don't think this is about the haters and the excuse to ban mining
This is really environmental concern but compared to all other environment destroyers I don't think that Bitcoin mining has the key impact. So, I don't think environment will be the show stopper for Bitcoin mining.
However, I think that all Bitcoin users and miners shout be more aware of their impact om environment and try to find the way how to contribute to its protection.

There is no denying that bitcoin mining releases a certain amount of carbon and contributes to environmental instability but look at what other industries are doing, mineral resource extraction, heavy industries contribute a lot to environmental pollution and cause serious environmental concerns. But I haven't heard any accusations about it, they seem to be trying to put the blame on bitcoin when it's only a small part of it. I agree with @The Cryptovator, those guys are just looking for an excuse to ban bitcoin.

[Abiky]

Did you ever do any kind of research about the origin of energy used to mine bitcoin? Or do you just read articles written by people who know nothing about bitcoin and their job is just to create FUD? Another advise, go look also the amount of energy that the bank system and gold extraction required, and check especially what kind of energy they use, then you tell me if bitcoin is bad and not environmentally friendly 

Yes. I'm fully aware about the origins of the energy used to mine Bitcoin. But the general public does not know about this. Mainstream media is evil, so they will keep pushing the "high energy consumption" narrative in order to try to destroy Bitcoin as much as possible. Governments could be behind this, as they don't want people to gain true financial freedom. You're absolutely right that the bank system and gold extraction consumes a lot more energy than Bitcoin itself.

Most people believe what they're told (instead of doing their own research), so they will agree with a full mining ban just to "save the planet". So far, only China and the state of New York have an anti Bitcoin mining agenda. The vast majority of the world's governments is on Bitcoin's side. As long as the majority is supporting Bitcoin, there should be nothing to worry about. Just my opinion

[bitterguy28]

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.

for 13 years of Bitcoin existence ? Bitcoin mining is banned only in selected countries and specifically few so meaning the question exaggerates the situation , and like what Loyce says above , it depend in taxations , how will a miner operates in place where the tax will take all the possible profits?
meaning there is no need to Ban crypto mining .
but also worldwide? Am not sure it will happen because look around , there are come countries now that adopted Bitcoin so surely they are not part of this worldwide banning if ever will going to happen right?

[worle1bm]

They always have the backup plan for environmental issues that they come forward for bitcoin mining and POW based cryptos mainly btc as it uses the highest amount of electricity depending on the heavy ASIC machines being used in it.They are saying it's bad for environment although many miners are shifting towards green energy usage for mining but if they have planned they will ban mining not bitcoin as a whole.

[pooya87]

FUD against bitcoin will always exist like the past decade and people like you would fall for it to some extent and start asking questions like this but the reality is that bitcoin is not affected by the FUD and will not change anything.

As for the PoW ban, it will definitely happen in some countries where the incompetent governments try to hide the fact that they could not provide their country with enough energy and they had to find something they could redirect the blame to and bitcoin has been a good option for them.
Other than that, the world is too big for a small portion of it banning mining affecting bitcoin's overall hashrate. For example if US and the colonies (ie. EU) banned bitcoin the rest of the world still continues mining bitcoin.

[CryptoYar]

Do you think countries worldwide will ban Bitcoin mining due to environmental concerns?

No! some countries like to ban and unban bitcoin mining. I would not be surprised when they'll( might be in winter) unban it.

Will it still survive being a PoW cryptocurrency?

If it can survive till now. Then surely it will.

Some countries will ban and others will mine. It is the same as some people selling their BTC and some buying.

[davis196]

1.Even if some countries ban crypto mining, they will ban the mining that uses "dirty energy" (produced via burning coal). This doesn't make sense because other industries aren't punished for using "dirty energy". "Green energy" crypto miners won't be banned.
2.Nobody can force the PoW cryptocurrencies to become PoS cryptocurrencies. Even if some governments try to do this, the users of PoW coins like Bitcoin will migrate their coins to crypto exchanges located in other countries or to the darkweb, the PoW miners will also migrate.
There's nothing to worry about.

[Leviathan.007]

I recently saw a topic and article where people are discussing banning bitcoin mining in new york city, It's not really surprising if I see some countries are doing the same thing for the whole country. bitcoin mining ban is profitable for the government because they can milk some money from the miner by getting tax from them but on the other hand, they have to supply some power for them and this can be hard especially during the summer when power usage increases also some governments have to use fossil energy resources to supply the power which is not good for the environment and this can be another reason.

[Argoo]

Lawmakers in New York just passed a bill to ban certain bitcoin mining operations that run on carbon-based power sources. which means bitcoin mining isn't completely banned in the US. The ban is only on Proof of work algorithm that is done with carbon-based power sources that both consumes approximately  1,173 kilowatt hours and causes carbon emission. I think other source of power generation for this same bitcoin mining is permitted e.g solar energy

The topic of the prohibition of cryptocurrency mining, which at the same time uses the PoW algorithm, is increasingly found in the media, which quote high officials from various countries. We see that New York has even adopted a similar bill, which, however, still needs to be signed as a measure.
Our climate continues to change at a rapid pace and states are forced to take some measures to prevent these undesirable consequences. It is easier for them to make such prohibitions in cryptocurrency than in their industries, which need fundamental changes and additional investments for this. I think that such a ban can indeed be adopted in the future by different states.

[Reatim]

I think this will never happen worldwide , maybe there is a chance that there are many countries that will put this into Law but there will always other country that will stand supporting Bitcoin mining as they can see the potential from this than a threat .
But still we cannot predict this to happen until it comes close as the environment needs to be healed and if Mining will continue damaging this? then that is the moment that world will take this into actions.

[Natalim]

I think this will never happen worldwide , maybe there is a chance that there are many countries that will put this into Law but there will always other country that will stand supporting Bitcoin mining as they can see the potential from this than a threat .
But still we cannot predict this to happen until it comes close as the environment needs to be healed and if Mining will continue damaging this? then that is the moment that world will take this into actions.

But what I think this can be temporary only. I feel the Government will help to keep this Bitcoin mining continue to run, I really be expecting support and to find solutions in regards to environmental concerns like energy consumption. Some people just think straight that Bitcoin is a threat to the environment without seeing that there is a way to prevent it, which in fact, I don't think it was.

Well, it's up to them to decide. But what I think about this proposal couldn't get approval and possibly this will just end up discussing how to improve and lessen the environmental effect of crypto mining.

[stompix]

There is no denying that bitcoin mining releases a certain amount of carbon and contributes to environmental instability but look at what other industries are doing, mineral resource extraction, heavy industries contribute a lot to environmental pollution and cause serious environmental concerns. But I haven't heard any accusations about it, they seem to be trying to put the blame on bitcoin when it's only a small part of it. I agree with @The Cryptovator, those guys are just looking for an excuse to ban bitcoin.

You haven't seen any accusations?
You haven't seen thousands of people chaining themselves to the fences of factories, blocking access to mines, protesting every day in front of companies' offices?
Do you know what extra taxes are imposed on the extraction of raw materials for transportation on the energy bill?
Do you know how much money some of that pay in green certificates to keep producing stuff?

I just have to admire the level of basis some have here, after 3 years in which everyone was saying bitcoin mining is green, bitcoin mining is doing now with only renewables somehow everyone now is angry that a bill states the same as they were shouting, mine only with green energy or don't mine! What happened to those 80-90% percentages, where those just lies feed through laser eyes to the gullible masses for another pump?

The other thing is that some still want to compare bitcoin mining with some industries, let's compare bitcoin mining with car manufacturing.
Tomorrow, in two parallel worlds one of them stops, let's see the impact on the economy for each case!

Did you ever do any kind of research about the origin of energy used to mine bitcoin? Or do you just read articles written by people who know nothing about bitcoin and their job is just to create FUD? Another advise, go look also the amount of energy that the bank system and gold extraction required, and check especially what kind of energy they use, then you tell me if bitcoin is bad and not environmentally friendly  

Show me that "research" and I can show you 20 cases of large farms using coal and gas, and you're free to try and at least match the one's mining with renewables.
Do you have an example of mining farms using wind or solar? I have tens with coal!

As for the whole bitcoin vs banks..

Ok, let's compare it
Galaxy Digital (which is pro-Bitcoin) estimated the consumption of banks  at 263 TWh
Bitcoin Mining council estimated the bitcoin mining consumption at   247 TWh.

Been there, done that!

To all of you, stop trying to picture bitcoin as a thing that uses 10w and all those come from a windmill in Switzerland, it's not like that, a lot of energy is dirty, because it's CHEAP and that's all that matters for miners, it's also a bad approach to keep comparing it to banks, if Bitocin goes to 100k, the reward will triple, miners will put twice as much gear in place and the consumption will double, you're going to end up willing to delete your posts about comparisons.

The right approach is to acknowledge these facts and understand the economics behind them, the energy is consumed because it produces something that is valued enough to generate this usage, that's a basic law of a free economy, you can't have security trust and demand with nothing to compensate.

[Ale88]

Did you ever do any kind of research about the origin of energy used to mine bitcoin? Or do you just read articles written by people who know nothing about bitcoin and their job is just to create FUD? Another advise, go look also the amount of energy that the bank system and gold extraction required, and check especially what kind of energy they use, then you tell me if bitcoin is bad and not environmentally friendly 

Yes. I'm fully aware about the origins of the energy used to mine Bitcoin. But the general public does not know about this. Mainstream media is evil, so they will keep pushing the "high energy consumption" narrative in order to try to destroy Bitcoin as much as possible. Governments could be behind this, as they don't want people to gain true financial freedom. You're absolutely right that the bank system and gold extraction consumes a lot more energy than Bitcoin itself.

Most people believe what they're told (instead of doing their own research), so they will agree with a full mining ban just to "save the planet". So far, only China and the state of New York have an anti Bitcoin mining agenda. The vast majority of the world's governments is on Bitcoin's side. As long as the majority is supporting Bitcoin, there should be nothing to worry about. Just my opinion

The mainstream media will keep up with the FUD because that's what the majority of the people outside of the crypto want to read, many people think they missed this train so they just hope the whole crypto world will somehow fail. Of course writing that bitcoin uses clean energy is not interesting, so they'll keep lying.

[Next-door]

Bitcoin mining poses a major threat to the environment.

Did you know that as the price of Bitcoin rises, so does the vote for electronic waste? Environmental opponents will increase!

Bitcoin mining produces enough electronic waste. Which is calling for ‘growing conditions for the environment’. Such a suggestion is a study.

Investment in Bitcoin is on the rise. Mining is growing at an equal pace. All in all, the processing power of mining computer will soon become obsolete.
The fact of the matter is that as the price of bitcoin rises, so does the amount of electronic waste. This is according to a study published in the scientific journal Elsevier.n
Alex de Vries works as an economist at the Dutch central bank. On the other hand, Christian Stall, co-author of the report, works at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Bitcoin mining is done through computation. Several studies have previously shown that this method uses enough electricity. A similar study a few months ago said that bitcoin mining costs about 1 percent of the world's electricity supply. That is why in the case of bitcoin mining, in addition to the unconventional energy, renewable energy, fossil fuel is also being used.

[Doan9269]

Do you think countries worldwide will ban Bitcoin mining due to environmental concerns? If not, why?

I don't really think this is possible for every country to ban bitcoin mining, the reason being that they know themselves that bitcoin poses less environmental disaster compared to other activities carried by government such as mining of natural resources, what i think government want is the power to regulate the entire bitcoin mining sector but their rule of power is limited to only tax payment from those minners.

If mining is banned, do you think Bitcoin will switch to PoS? Will it still survive being a PoW cryptocurrency?

The worst that might happen is to ban the bitcoin mining and if this is achieved then the alternative is to switch to renewable energy use, all this threat created by government is because of the full dependency on thier electric power supply for bitcoin mining, government can't be the determinant to using PoW or PoS.

[Lanatsa]

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.

for 13 years of Bitcoin existence ? Bitcoin mining is banned only in selected countries and specifically few so meaning the question exaggerates the situation , and like what Loyce says above , it depend in taxations , how will a miner operates in place where the tax will take all the possible profits?
meaning there is no need to Ban crypto mining .
but also worldwide? Am not sure it will happen because look around , there are come countries now that adopted Bitcoin so surely they are not part of this worldwide banning if ever will going to happen right?

For sure those countries who do have banned mining or does have strict rules or policies would surely be reverted or something be ignored on the time that these miners would be paying up taxes.

Despite on banning it then they would surely allow it since they do know that they can really benefit out of it which is something a very common government behavior.
Since these things arent something that couldnt be pointed out easily then these actions or false calls or environmental issues would really come out which is something very
not surprising.

[fiulpro]

Yes and no
There are certain countries which would definitely not only ban bitcoins but also mining as well since some of them needs to take care of their environment urgently in some countries they do have a scope of letting miners sore the benefits of ' renewable resources ' but not many countries have adopted it, with cheaper electrical outlet and greener countries we would ofc have these places be the new hub of mining whereas the countries like China would try and put a halt on it because of not just the population but pollution as well. Therefore choose your country to mine intelligently if you are thinking of investing.

[SirLancelot]

I recently saw a topic and article where people are discussing banning bitcoin mining in new york city, It's not really surprising if I see some countries are doing the same thing for the whole country. bitcoin mining ban is profitable for the government because they can milk some money from the miner by getting tax from them but on the other hand, they have to supply some power for them and this can be hard especially during the summer when power usage increases also some governments have to use fossil energy resources to supply the power which is not good for the environment and this can be another reason.

Not surprising because this wasn't the first one and this won't also be the last one but I think this isn't bothering at all because the majority of the countries are still not against mining and if there are countries that banned mining, there are also countries which unbanned it, china for example. So, many times they ban and unbanned mining on their country.

If someone bans mining then they can't get a profit out of it because people will stop mining as they are also scared for the consequence if they continue and get caught out tho corrupt authorities can charge them and make a profit this way. About the power, I don't think they will be needing the help of the governments. All people are free to use a lot of electricity as long as they are willing to pay big for the bills.

[rby]

Yes and no
There are certain countries which would definitely not only ban bitcoins but also mining as well

Any country that bans bitcoin will definitely not welcome bitcoin mining. So if a country bans bitcoin, it means that it also banned bitcoin mining. But some countries might ban bitcoin mining but still allow bitcoin to operate. We need to ensure we differentiate between the two.

Bitcoin mining locations are subjected to the availability of power. Then power is  not monopolised by a single country. So, if one country bans bitcoin mining, miners would relocate to another country. I have read somewhere that q company in Kenya, a country in Africa sent an open invitation to miners to come mine with discounts in electricity bill.

This ban and relocation will continue until the whole miners began to use renewable source of energy. Until then, expect every real and unreal news targeted to defame bitcoin and discredit the enviable legacy of Satoshi.

[lalabotax]

This mining  an problem has been for several years before, right? Some countries do banning because it is harsh for environment, it is considered not friendly environment. We have seen that China also bans this mining, that is why many miners move to other countries to still can continue mining. And maybe his will continue to other countries that have similar problems of environment and powers.

[coolcoinz]

Countries will not ban bitcoin mining because every country is different and what one sees as danger, another sees as opportunity.
People who use this argument that bitcoin is bad for the environment are a bit like the EU parliament that voted on new anti car laws to reduce fuel consumption and such. They want to stop production of cars no matter how much co2 they produce. They want to make you buy electric cars and that's all there is to it. They don't care how much their private jets and supply trucks pollute the air. Those aren't going away, but your little car is.

[TimeTeller]

Countries will not ban bitcoin mining because every country is different and what one sees as danger, another sees as opportunity.
People who use this argument that bitcoin is bad for the environment are a bit like the EU parliament that voted on new anti car laws to reduce fuel consumption and such. They want to stop production of cars no matter how much co2 they produce. They want to make you buy electric cars and that's all there is to it. They don't care how much their private jets and supply trucks pollute the air. Those aren't going away, but your little car is.

You have a point on this. Some will really see this as opportunity for its people rather than a concern.
And yes, some industries are contributing more pollution than bitcoin mining.
But they are blind with the facts and they are just finding weak spots in bitcoin mining to highlight it.
But anyway, if one country totally closes the door with bitcoin, there will be others that are willingly to embrace it.
Just look at what happen in China, take note that it is a big country but mining doesn't stop from them.

[Oshosondy]

This mining  an problem has been for several years before, right? Some countries do banning because it is harsh for environment, it is considered not friendly environment. We have seen that China also bans this mining, that is why many miners move to other countries to still can continue mining. And maybe his will continue to other countries that have similar problems of environment and powers.

Yes, China did banned bitcoin mining, as at last year when bitcoin was at $45000, the price falled to $30000 at that time but the market bounced back, it was funny this year that China has one of the highest hashrates again after it got to zero after the ban last year. Even in countries, states or town that banned PoW mining, some miners are still having undisclosed mining rigs while as some countries wanted it banned, some wanted it legalized like Kenya.

[evichi]

Governments that mean well for cryptocurrency growth will rather aim for alternative energy for the mining of Bitcoin. Government itself are the greatest violators of green environment support since most of them collect royalties that permit emission of hydrocarbon gases. They allow royalties when there is pollution - oil/gas pollution. Unless the government have other mission against crypto, the proper thing is to emphasize on the use of Solar Energy, Wind Energy, etc. to power computers for the mining of Bitcoin (uses Proof-of-Work algorithm). Governments that understand the good values of crypto will not be in a hurry to advocate to ban Bitcoin due to mining using hydrocarbon.

[AicecreaME]

If it is about environmental concerns, it's so lame if countries will ban Bitcoin Mining. I mean, there's a lot of things already that are destroying our environment, pollution because of car smokes, smokes from factories, deforestation, overpopulation, and many more. Other miners stopped mining because of it's maintenance, bills, and taxes, but others still continue using hash pool to maximize their profits and lower the energy cost.

[Detritus]

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.

Bitcoin can never key in to POS and is never possible that countries world wide will ban mining, if Bitcoin mining is stop in Some country by law due to environmental concern then miners will have to shut down and move to another country where they can carry out their mining.

[kryptqnick]

Bitcoin switching to PoS won't find enough support. PoW ensures decentralization and validation of transactions, and it's not like financial industry doesn't use energy either. The way forward is not via banning mining (although I think some did that and some might do it in the future), but via restricting the usage of dirty energy sources like fossil fuels and gas, which impact the ecology very negatively. But the crackdown should be not on crypto mining in particular. It should be on all those who use energy sources which are not eco-friendly, starting with all those using them in big quantities. That would both be more fair to the crypto industry and a more efficient way of combating climate change.

[amishmanish]

Bitcoin is future gold, any country that will ban bitcoin mining will be a loss. So yes there are  downside to bitcoin mining like many human actions, but I dont think so that it is big enough to make bitcoin a pariah and force countries to ban its mining. Especially when we are seeing a uptrend in the market penetration of bitcoin. SO bitcoin will continue to flourish and be mined

[eaLiTy]

~
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.

There will be countries that will be banning BTCitcoin mining in the name of environmental concerns but you cannot expect there will be a global ban on these aspect as there will be countries that will be taking up the opportunity to welcome miners. BTCitcoin will be a POW cryptocurrency and that is how it should be in the future as well. POS has its drawbacks as it will power the centralized investors and in due time the community will understand them .

[dothebeats]

Some countries can really be petty and ban bitcoin on the pretense of protecting the environment. But if we are going to be 'rational' these countries would just seek to implement taxes on bitcoin and crypto instead of banning it due to their concern for the environment. Remember the Paris agreement? We're almost near 2030 and not a lot of signatory countries reached their pledge goals of carbon emissions. If they can't commit to what they pledged, do you think they'll move to ban bitcoin just to 'save' the environment?

[Disruptivas]

This is a dispute over narratives, not facts. The question was never about the environment or about serious analysis of Bitcoin's impact. The point is about how to use a narrative with wide appeal (environmental issues), to enforce a point that is invalid (ban bitcoin). If the issue were really the climate issue, the focus would be on the largest industries in CO2 generation, as is the case with superships. Nobody bothers to debate the issue in depth, or analyze the matrix, the machines in places where energy would be thrown away or the potential of layer2, because the point is not to solve / improve, it's just about creating an enemy.

[Doan9269]

Bitcoin is future gold, any country that will ban bitcoin mining will be a loss.

I don't see any reason tangible enough for bitcoin ban compared to other resources mining and their impediment dangers to the environment, if you consider how gold is been mined to that of bitcoin then you could imagine the difference and margin between the two in terms of the rate they poses environmental hazards, i believe governments make these proposals to ban bitcoin since it beyond thier ability to regulate it, otherwise many are saying if it's been ban POS may be the solution but PoW is what we cannot do without for now not until the whole 210,000 blocks were achieved.

[Slow death]

Do you think countries worldwide will ban Bitcoin mining due to environmental concerns? If not, why?

it is not possible for all countries in the world to ban bitcoin mining because all countries in the world want green energy and consequently that same green electricity will be used by miners, so it would not make sense to ban mining when there is green electricity, what countries will do is demand that the miners use green electricity in their operations, of course this will take years to happen, maybe even 10 years, all countries in the world are still not 100% ready to just use green electricity, that's why it makes no sense to ban mining from bitcoin, even 10 years from now it won't make sense

If mining is banned, do you think Bitcoin will switch to PoS? Will it still survive being a PoW cryptocurrency?

bitcoin doesn't need to move to POS, not even 10 years from now, bitcoin doesn't need to move to POS, as the years go by more green electricity sources will appear and miners will use

[AakZaki]

Governments that mean well for cryptocurrency growth will rather aim for alternative energy for the mining of Bitcoin. Government itself are the greatest violators of green environment support since most of them collect royalties that permit emission of hydrocarbon gases. They allow royalties when there is pollution - oil/gas pollution. Unless the government have other mission against crypto, the proper thing is to emphasize on the use of Solar Energy, Wind Energy, etc. to power computers for the mining of Bitcoin (uses Proof-of-Work algorithm). Governments that understand the good values of crypto will not be in a hurry to advocate to ban Bitcoin due to mining using hydrocarbon.

After china yesterday New York, it seems that The current New York is the place of migration of chinese people. But New york also regulates mining. They use the environment to make regulations for the ban on bitcoin mining.
In fact, I believe that mining also provides state income. I think actually the government can find a solution with the use of alternative energy that is environmentally friendly and will not run out like fossils.

[Gyfts]

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.

They don't need any reason to ban Bitcoin. If they wanted to ban bitcoin, they could and wouldn't need to cite environmental concerns. What you're currently seeing is Bitcoin regulation for security concerns as their excuse.

Politicians don't understand energy consumption and so they have false notions that Bitcoin mining requires copious amounts of energy. It doesn't when compared to other financial systems and payment processors, and of course they wouldn't know that because they haven't done the most basic amounts of research.

[qwertyup23]

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.

I do not think so but there are environmental movements being created against cryptocurrency mining.

As far as I remember, there was a similar post like this one and someone extensively replied, saying that the heat generated by cryptocurrency mining is relatively low to the point that it does not produce as a pollution perse compared to other pollutions present. Unfortunately, instead of addressing current and worse pollutions in the world, these movements are targeting cryptocurrency mining because of pure hatred.

Like what some countries have done, a miner can geographically and strategically setup their mining equipments in countries or places with a cool climate to reduce the outgoing heat. But I really doubt that countries would permanently ban cryptocurrency mining.

[zeuner]

The more reasonable approach in case mining energy consumption is considered as too much would be to nudge down the mining volume, e.g. by taxing the mining itself or the energy required to do so. After all, Bitcoin will still work with a proportional reduction of global mining power.

Banning mining completely without any scientific evidence that PoW can be replaced without degrading some of the characteristics of the consensus protocol would essentially unmask the decision-making as being driven by emotion rather than by rationality. Of course, these things happen, which can be seen with comparable decisions like dictating "encrypted" communication protocols that involve a man-in-the-middle setup.

[tadamichi]

The more reasonable approach in case mining energy consumption is considered as too much would be to nudge down the mining volume, e.g. by taxing the mining itself or the energy required to do so. After all, Bitcoin will still work with a proportional reduction of global mining power.

Wont work in practice, because not every country will do it. So any country that introduces this tax will just weaken themselves, without much effect on mining power.

But im sure there are countries who will try this for virtue signaling purposes.

Also taxing energy will affect everyone and not just miners. And if miners use renewables it will be hard to even trace their energy.

[pooya87]

The more reasonable approach in case mining energy consumption is considered as too much would be to nudge down the mining volume, e.g. by taxing the mining itself or the energy required to do so. After all, Bitcoin will still work with a proportional reduction of global mining power.

That's now how it works. If one country started placing any kind of restriction on mining whether it is an all out ban or high taxation, what would happen is that the miners start migrating to another country and the hashrate will stay up but in another territory.

[RealMalatesta]

I recently saw a topic and article where people are discussing banning bitcoin mining in new york city, It's not really surprising if I see some countries are doing the same thing for the whole country. bitcoin mining ban is profitable for the government because they can milk some money from the miner by getting tax from them but on the other hand, they have to supply some power for them and this can be hard especially during the summer when power usage increases also some governments have to use fossil energy resources to supply the power which is not good for the environment and this can be another reason.

Banning and taxes are different things. If you ban something, that means the person who mines there needs to pack it up and leave to another place, taxing is another because there you get to just make money from it however you want.

You are right about the other parts, where it would be hard for nations to provide energy for those who need it, miners require a ton of energy and during summer months between the AC and the heat, mining becomes a very very difficult thing, it becomes such a difficult thing that you start to reconsider what you are doing with it and even maybe pause it during, because cooling that system down becomes more expensive than the revenue itself.

[Nrcewker]

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.

This only happens in the US I guess. I mean there are also multiple factors that hampers the environment, yet they are not banned, but yes they are planning to ban bitcoins.
This is just another excuse i guess.
I mean when they are unable to control something, they try to ban it.
Due to Bitcoin’s decentralised nature, it cannot be controlled by the government, so hence they are seeking some ways to ban it.
Nevertheless this won’t happen in the near future for past some years. So let’s do not worry about this.

[coupable]

The more reasonable approach in case mining energy consumption is considered as too much would be to nudge down the mining volume, e.g. by taxing the mining itself or the energy required to do so. After all, Bitcoin will still work with a proportional reduction of global mining power.

It's quite clear how/why governors of the new world discuss the threatens brought by the spreads of Bitcoin technology. One aspects is the energy consumption for money, so following the same logic by which we treat the bictoin energy cases, then why we don't discuss the dilemma with the military weapons industry? Does anyone talked about those big urgent problems?

[bitterguy28]

Yesterday I saw that the Chinese state banned bitcoin miners in their country, but not because of environmental factors but maybe other factors so that the Chinese government concluded that bitcoin mining in their country was illegal.

What? Yesterday? are you sure about that? Mining had been banned from Chinese government since last year , where did you read this  News? are your news team are delayed by years? 

and also it is not about the chinese , but the world is in questioned here.

Bitcoin is future gold, any country that will ban bitcoin mining will be a loss. So yes there are  downside to bitcoin mining like many human actions, but I dont think so that it is big enough to make bitcoin a pariah and force countries to ban its mining. Especially when we are seeing a uptrend in the market penetration of bitcoin. SO bitcoin will continue to flourish and be mined

this should be heard and understood by all countries because it is their losses for not letting bitcoin mined and circulate in their areas.

[Rufsilf]

Yesterday I saw that the Chinese state banned bitcoin miners in their country, but not because of environmental factors but maybe other factors so that the Chinese government concluded that bitcoin mining in their country was illegal.

I think you miss the information mate as they ban Bitcoin and any crypto activities in their country for many years, I don't think they have a plan to lift the ban.

https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/04/27/bitcoin-ban-these-are-the-countries-where-crypto-is-restricted-or-illegal2

But their issue is not about environmental concerns, it is all about failing to control Bitcoin and crypto mining. They make their own digital currency instead of having Bitcoin.Many countries are opposing Bitcoin mining but somehow, many countries had also given their support. That I think banning in one country can't influence to other especially if electricity is not a problem with them.

[AicecreaME]

Some countries can really be petty and ban bitcoin on the pretense of protecting the environment. But if we are going to be 'rational' these countries would just seek to implement taxes on bitcoin and crypto instead of banning it due to their concern for the environment. Remember the Paris agreement? We're almost near 2030 and not a lot of signatory countries reached their pledge goals of carbon emissions. If they can't commit to what they pledged, do you think they'll move to ban bitcoin just to 'save' the environment?

Unfortunately, some countries are really just petty and low. It's not really unknown that some countries are not really in favor and doesn't really like bitcoin. Perhaps this is their real agenda on such banning. They just use the environmental concern as a front to be able to ban bitcoin without stirring much argument and unnecessary attention from its users. Although not every country is like this. There are still a few which are open about it and have a neutral stance.

If they will really ban bitcoin, surely the users in that certain place will protest. They will have lesser opportunity to generate taxes and there will be people who will lose their livelihood if such will really push through. I just hope that before the government officials finally decide, they must ask their constituents first because after all, they are the ones they are serving and not the other way around.

[Rotas World]

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.

There’s more good than harm. BTC might have a strong issue surving being a PoW cryptocurrency but it’s BTC it always survives. It’s way better being PoS though

[wxa7115]

Some countries can really be petty and ban bitcoin on the pretense of protecting the environment. But if we are going to be 'rational' these countries would just seek to implement taxes on bitcoin and crypto instead of banning it due to their concern for the environment. Remember the Paris agreement? We're almost near 2030 and not a lot of signatory countries reached their pledge goals of carbon emissions. If they can't commit to what they pledged, do you think they'll move to ban bitcoin just to 'save' the environment?

Unfortunately, some countries are really just petty and low. It's not really unknown that some countries are not really in favor and doesn't really like bitcoin. Perhaps this is their real agenda on such banning. They just use the environmental concern as a front to be able to ban bitcoin without stirring much argument and unnecessary attention from its users. Although not every country is like this. There are still a few which are open about it and have a neutral stance.

If they will really ban bitcoin, surely the users in that certain place will protest. They will have lesser opportunity to generate taxes and there will be people who will lose their livelihood if such will really push through. I just hope that before the government officials finally decide, they must ask their constituents first because after all, they are the ones they are serving and not the other way around.

At least to me it is clear that is what they want, they have been trying over the years to find something to incite the public against bitcoin, and they think they have finally found what they need to ban bitcoin and gain the support from the population.

They tried to use the fact that bitcoin is not backed by them to damage its reputation but this backfired as this is something we like, they tried to link criminal activity to this market and people just understood that criminals will use whatever they have available, including fiat, however it seems environmental concerns will be one of their main weapons to ban bitcoin, but over the long term not even this excuse will work.

[sklopan]

I'm more interested in the reason why they do it. Do they really not want to come up with an algorithm that would allow them to control these flows?

[doomloop]

Yesterday I saw that the Chinese state banned bitcoin miners in their country, but not because of environmental factors but maybe other factors so that the Chinese government concluded that bitcoin mining in their country was illegal.

I think you miss the information mate as they ban Bitcoin and any crypto activities in their country for many years, I don't think they have a plan to lift the ban.

https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/04/27/bitcoin-ban-these-are-the-countries-where-crypto-is-restricted-or-illegal2

But their issue is not about environmental concerns, it is all about failing to control Bitcoin and crypto mining. They make their own digital currency instead of having Bitcoin.

I mean they have banned crypto multiple times now, so there is really no shocking results when people mistake it. If you have been here long enough, you would know that they have banned bitcoin and related stuff maybe 10+ times already. That means we need to actually end up with seeing more news about China banning another part of crypto.

It is not like "we straight up ban anything related to crypto" at all, it is more about how they ban exchanges first, then stablecoins, then mining and what not, so each part gets banned separately, which causes drops in price. There is even conspiracy theories about them shorting before they make some news again.

[Queentoshi]

So far as I am concerned, countries will continue to ban bitcoin mining with another excuse even if solutions to the environmental concerns that they are highlighting as problems and their reasons is put forward. I think most government's do not like the idea of bitcoin in general and constantly as a result will always seek out excuses to ensure that they frustrate the growth of bitcoin. Until the opinion of the government change, temporary or permanent bans will always be a challenge to bitcoin growth through mining.

[Argoo]

Most likely, this is the case. States and their governments will always be biased against a cryptocurrency that they cannot control. Therefore, the prohibition of the mining of cryptocurrencies using the PoW algorithm is quite possible. But can this ban somehow affect bitcoin? Unlikely, given that there are only about two million bitcoins left to mine. Bitcoin will be able to function with the already issued amount of bitcoins. In addition, it is unlikely that absolutely all states will be able to make such a decision and, most importantly, control its implementation. There will always be secluded places on our planet where you can continue to mine.

[stompix]

But can this ban somehow affect bitcoin? Unlikely, given that there are only about two million bitcoins left to mine. Bitcoin will be able to function with the already issued amount of bitcoins.

Minting new bitcoins is a secondary thing, without miners you don't have confirmations, and without enough miners, you don't have security.

Luckily the price of gear is still over the top and still, revenues per TH/s are still higher than back in 2020, but if things really start to get worse, like it going around 15k you will see a lot of offline gear that can be sold for cheap to guys with not so good intentions. This is my only fear when it comes to bitcoin, and reducing the regions where power is cheap one by one also plays into a dangerous scenario as it will be less and less hash rate guarding the network.

That being said, it's funny how despite my post with the actual law being the second one on this topic 5 pages later and people still think NY is banning bitcoin mining.

[Uang_kartal]

when it comes to the environment and the waste that is left behind, does it have anything to do with electricity consumption and noise from the hardwhare generator that is turned on?
efficiency of miners is getting more and more innovations and making these miners more creative to create new things and cut equipment that is used even multi-functional.
if the developer has to close alses as a pool, vps, rdp or whatever, I don't think bitcoin can be stopped all at once..
privilege is in control and bitcoin a powerful resource.

I hope the problems in the environment will be resolved little by little. and become an effective bitcoin custodian country. although not all countries.

[Crypto2047]

Not at all/totally disagree.

[Abiky]

I do not think so but there are environmental movements being created against cryptocurrency mining.

As far as I remember, there was a similar post like this one and someone extensively replied, saying that the heat generated by cryptocurrency mining is relatively low to the point that it does not produce as a pollution perse compared to other pollutions present. Unfortunately, instead of addressing current and worse pollutions in the world, these movements are targeting cryptocurrency mining because of pure hatred.

Like what some countries have done, a miner can geographically and strategically setup their mining equipments in countries or places with a cool climate to reduce the outgoing heat. But I really doubt that countries would permanently ban cryptocurrency mining.

If Bitcoin mining brings huge taxation benefits, then it's unlikely governments will go against it due to "environmental concerns". Everything must be in the governments' own interest to avoid further obstacles/hurdles in the future. With alternative energy sources, it's likely Bitcoin mining will become greener over time. El Salvador is planning to establish a huge Bitcoin mining hub powered by Geothermal energy (volcanoes). Other countries can make use of solar and/or wind energy (even hydroelectric energy) to help contribute to the cause.

I think the "harming the environment" situation is nothing more than FUD spread out by Bitcoin haters worldwide. Banks and some millionaires could be behind this, in order to minimize Bitcoin's presence in the mainstream world. It's a good thing the pioneer cryptocurrency is decentralized or it would've already been defeated by its enemies already. Who knows if Bitcoin remains the only PoW cryptocurrency in existence within the not-so-distant future? Just my thoughts

[dataispower]

You know starting from the first time government you and I know better does not what Bitcoin to continue to exist, so any country or place mining farm is situated they will to impose force of rejection of mining processes there. Yes we know that mining of bitcoin consumed a lot energy during the processes of mining, but proven that their is a formidable tax being paid for electricity supply for mining farms of bitcoin i don't think that government is supporting the life of bitcoin because they would have allow it to be.

[Vaskiy]

You know starting from the first time government you and I know better does not what Bitcoin to continue to exist, so any country or place mining farm is situated they will to impose force of rejection of mining processes there. Yes we know that mining of bitcoin consumed a lot energy during the processes of mining, but proven that their is a formidable tax being paid for electricity supply for mining farms of bitcoin i don't think that government is supporting the life of bitcoin because they would have allow it to be.

In most of the countries the illegal mining firms have turned to be a problem. To find the same several steps have been taken, but they weren't able to come up with a solution. Because the registered miners use specific amount of electricity whereas a big leak happens with the illegal mining. This have made different countries like Iran, Turkey, to end cryptocurrency mining.

On the other side countries want their cities to be made the crypto center understanding the future of the market. Now on this race is United Kingdom. The Johnson government have made plans and we don't know how far this is gonna make changes.

[Penelope Wheeler]

It's difficult to say anything right now. However, countries such as China have already banned it due to environmental concerns.

[Reatim]

Not at all/totally disagree.

It is a question and not a  argument so give your opinion depend on how you understand the topic and not just because of the title in which obviously the only thing that you read.

It's difficult to say anything right now. However, countries such as China have already banned it due to environmental concerns.

China does banned this not because of environmental concer , but because of their Own coin to produce and introduce so that is a different thing to compare and consider.

[uneng]

Any excuse is valid to go against bitcoin for bureaucrats, so you can expect anything from them, doesn't matter how absurd it may sound. Even Wikipedia was forbidden from receiving donations in bitcoin by its own community for environmental concerns, now imagine countries which have their governments directly affected by bitcoin adoption among their citizens. That means fiat is losing territory, so are the central authorities, and of course measures will be taken to avoid this from happening.
The point is that mining isn't the issue and never was, but it's the perfect straw man which fits the purpose of creating the narrative bitcoin mining is bad and evil, therefore it must be stopped. And without mining we know there isn't bitcoin (that is the point ).

[Abiky]

Any excuse is valid to go against bitcoin for bureaucrats, so you can expect anything from them, doesn't matter how absurd it may sound. Even Wikipedia was forbidden from receiving donations in bitcoin by its own community for environmental concerns, now imagine countries which have their governments directly affected by bitcoin adoption among their citizens. That means fiat is losing territory, so are the central authorities, and of course measures will be taken to avoid this from happening.
The point is that mining isn't the issue and never was, but it's the perfect straw man which fits the purpose of creating the narrative bitcoin mining is bad and evil, therefore it must be stopped. And without mining we know there isn't bitcoin (that is the point ).

Of course. Bitcoin will always have its haters. After all, there are powerful enemies that don't want it to prosper. I'd say Bitcoin mining doesn't harm the environment as much as banks and processing plants do. Some miners rely on green energy sources to expand their profit opportunities, anyways. No matter how you see it, you cannot deny that Bitcoin's energy consumption is not put to waste. The more energy it's consumed, the stronger Bitcoin will be against external attacks. Some governments have adopted Bitcoin as legal tender despite the "environmental concerns" from naysayers. I'd say we should "turn the page" and move on to what really matters most. As long as decentralization and censorship-resistance prevails, there should be nothing to worry about. Just my opinion

[rahmad2nd]

Any excuse is valid to go against bitcoin for bureaucrats, so you can expect anything from them, doesn't matter how absurd it may sound. Even Wikipedia was forbidden from receiving donations in bitcoin by its own community for environmental concerns, now imagine countries which have their governments directly affected by bitcoin adoption among their citizens. That means fiat is losing territory, so are the central authorities, and of course measures will be taken to avoid this from happening.
The point is that mining isn't the issue and never was, but it's the perfect straw man which fits the purpose of creating the narrative bitcoin mining is bad and evil, therefore it must be stopped. And without mining we know there isn't bitcoin (that is the point ).

Of course. Bitcoin will always have its haters. After all, there are powerful enemies that don't want it to prosper. I'd say Bitcoin mining doesn't harm the environment as much as banks and processing plants do. Some miners rely on green energy sources to expand their profit opportunities, anyways. No matter how you see it, you cannot deny that Bitcoin's energy consumption is not put to waste. The more energy it's consumed, the stronger Bitcoin will be against external attacks. Some governments have adopted Bitcoin as legal tender despite the "environmental concerns" from naysayers. I'd say we should "turn the page" and move on to what really matters most. As long as decentralization and censorship-resistance prevails, there should be nothing to worry about. Just my opinion

bitcoin haters are countries. 

This issue has been widely heard and has become a global issue. according to them the impact on the environment is broadly from bitcoin mining into 2 parts (electronic waste, energy consumption) the impact that is often debated is the problem of excessive energy use and this has become illegal in some countries for miners. 
There have been many campaigns that have been launched badly for bitcoin by state bureaucracies around the world to create FUDs. 
the only problem is that bitcoins are out of their control

[Abiky]

bitcoin haters are countries. 

This issue has been widely heard and has become a global issue. according to them the impact on the environment is broadly from bitcoin mining into 2 parts (electronic waste, energy consumption) the impact that is often debated is the problem of excessive energy use and this has become illegal in some countries for miners. 
There have been many campaigns that have been launched badly for bitcoin by state bureaucracies around the world to create FUDs. 
the only problem is that bitcoins are out of their control

That's certainly true, mate. Most countries hate Bitcoin simply because it proves to be an alternative to the existing financial system powered by Fiat. They think Bitcoin will undermine their economies, leaving them behind in the dust. Countries may be complaining about Bitcoin's "harm" to the environment today, but tomorrow they will be complaining about Bitcoin's ability to be used for money laundering and tax evasion (which we all know that's not usually the case). Governments will always come up with an excuse in order to get what they want. As long as Bitcoin is put to the ground, nothing else matters.

I'd have to say it's been 13 years since BTC's inception, yet governments have been unable to shut it down completely (meaning the pioneer cryptocurrency is truly unstoppable). Who knows if Bitcoin remains as the only PoW cryptocurrency will the rest of the other coins turn to PoS? Just my thoughts

[Ummarr]

You know starting from the first time government you and I know better does not what Bitcoin to continue to exist, so any country or place mining farm is situated they will to impose force of rejection of mining processes there. Yes we know that mining of bitcoin consumed a lot energy during the processes of mining, but proven that their is a formidable tax being paid for electricity supply for mining farms of bitcoin i don't think that government is supporting the life of bitcoin because they would have allow it to be.

[AmoreJaz]

You know starting from the first time government you and I know better does not what Bitcoin to continue to exist, so any country or place mining farm is situated they will to impose force of rejection of mining processes there. Yes we know that mining of bitcoin consumed a lot energy during the processes of mining, but proven that their is a formidable tax being paid for electricity supply for mining farms of bitcoin i don't think that government is supporting the life of bitcoin because they would have allow it to be.

also, don't forget that miners are already tapping the renewable energy sources like the use of solar panels and others. big crypto mining companies are deploying their solar energy source also. i don't think government will ban btc mining if they see that it is contributing to their economy. they can treat it as just like any other industry which are using electricity.

[KennyR]

You know starting from the first time government you and I know better does not what Bitcoin to continue to exist, so any country or place mining farm is situated they will to impose force of rejection of mining processes there. Yes we know that mining of bitcoin consumed a lot energy during the processes of mining, but proven that their is a formidable tax being paid for electricity supply for mining farms of bitcoin i don't think that government is supporting the life of bitcoin because they would have allow it to be.

also, don't forget that miners are already tapping the renewable energy sources like the use of solar panels and others. big crypto mining companies are deploying their solar energy source also.

It is true that a good number of hosting service providers have moved to renewable energy sources for mining. This will cost them initially, but help with the additional spending on electricity. Apart from this, several oil companies in different countries have called for miners to set the firms close to the plant, so that wasted oil can be used to generate power for the mining purpose.

[pooya87]

You know starting from the first time government you and I know better does not what Bitcoin to continue to exist, so any country or place mining farm is situated they will to impose force of rejection of mining processes there. Yes we know that mining of bitcoin consumed a lot energy during the processes of mining, but proven that their is a formidable tax being paid for electricity supply for mining farms of bitcoin i don't think that government is supporting the life of bitcoin because they would have allow it to be.

Actually it depends on the country and their government. They are not all the same dictatorship wanting to shut down anything they cannot control. For example el Salvador government has been accepting bitcoin with open arms, if they could manage some excess electricity they would accept mining with open arms too. There are others like that too. For example the Iranian government has accepted bitcoin mining with open arms too specially since the electricity is by far the cheapest ($0.002 /KWH).

[LegendaryK]

You know starting from the first time government you and I know better does not what Bitcoin to continue to exist, so any country or place mining farm is situated they will to impose force of rejection of mining processes there. Yes we know that mining of bitcoin consumed a lot energy during the processes of mining, but proven that their is a formidable tax being paid for electricity supply for mining farms of bitcoin i don't think that government is supporting the life of bitcoin because they would have allow it to be.

Actually it depends on the country and their government. They are not all the same dictatorship wanting to shut down anything they cannot control. For example el Salvador government has been accepting bitcoin with open arms, if they could manage some excess electricity they would accept mining with open arms too. There are others like that too. For example the Iranian government has accepted bitcoin mining with open arms too specially since the electricity is by far the cheapest ($0.002 /KWH).

Iran bans bitcoin mining every time their power supply decreases, which is more and more.
Temporary Bans usually become permanent if they keep happening.
Plus no miner will survive only getting power for only 6 months out of the year.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/19/iran-to-cut-electricity-to-authorized-crypto-miners-report/

Electricity to all 118 government-authorized mining operators in Iran will be cut off from June 22 ahead of seasonal spikes in power demand,

But the country has also repeatedly halted operations of crypto mining centers.
The government ordered two shutdowns to mitigate pressure on its power infrastructure last year, during which electricity demand hit a record high

New York
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/23/new-york-governor-signs-law-cracking-down-on-bitcoin-mining.html

New York's Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law Tuesday a two-year moratorium on proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency mining.

Any PoW Miner not currently running on 100% renewals , will also not have their license renewed.
So even present PoW miners will be kicked out as their licenses expire.

Industry insiders tell CNBC it could have a domino effect across the U.S.
“Not only is it a clear signal that New York is closed for business to bitcoin miners, it sets a dangerous precedent for singling out a particular industry to ban from energy usage,”

Texas
https://abc13.com/houston-boil-water-notice-city-of-plant-power-outage-what-to-do-under/12502921/

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A boil water notice has been issued for the City of Houston's main water system after a water treatment plant experienced a power outage Sunday morning.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/houston-issues-boil-water-notice-after-treatment-plant-power-outage-2022-11-28/

A ground trip and current overload caused a transformers and an electric feeder to go offline and a backup transformer at a water purification plant failed

Texas is now suffering from Bitcoin PoW miners making their grid unstable.

https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/bitcoin/crypto-mining-strains-energy-grid-and-creates-fresh-demands-for-housing-in-texas

This will put a massive amount of stress on the Texas energy grid," William Magnuson, an expert in cryptocurrency and the law at the Texas A&M Law School told CBS News. "We know the Texas energy grid has had its struggles in the last couple of years, so I do worry about the effects of imposing massive new energy use on a grid that we know is has been relatively unstable."

[joebic541]

I don't think so it will happen. In my country is not ban yet.I hope they don't ban.

[Yatsan]

You know starting from the first time government you and I know better does not what Bitcoin to continue to exist, so any country or place mining farm is situated they will to impose force of rejection of mining processes there. Yes we know that mining of bitcoin consumed a lot energy during the processes of mining, but proven that their is a formidable tax being paid for electricity supply for mining farms of bitcoin i don't think that government is supporting the life of bitcoin because they would have allow it to be.

Actually it depends on the country and their government. They are not all the same dictatorship wanting to shut down anything they cannot control. For example el Salvador government has been accepting bitcoin with open arms, if they could manage some excess electricity they would accept mining with open arms too. There are others like that too. For example the Iranian government has accepted bitcoin mining with open arms too specially since the electricity is by far the cheapest ($0.002 /KWH).

Technological mining does not cause that much harm to environment. It is not literally the same with mining concerning land and minerals. It only uses electicity and ofcourse equipments. If it is only electricity which is concerned, then governments could demand miners to use solar panels. Also, it is another thing if prohibition is directly towards usage of cryptocurrency. An individual can mine Bitcoin and be not allowed to use it for daily transactions, as simple as that. Governments are just wanting taxes and they just cannot do it with currencies other than taxation. Sk if it is mining alone, then I guess it would be a blurry reason for them to ban such activity, especially if it won't be announced and such.

[kro55]

snip

US and Europe are not the judges of the world, just because they ban bitcoin mining doesn't mean other countries will do the same. Countries like El Salvador or the Central African Republic are not superpowers, but they are welcoming bitcoin, bitcoin just needs people to accept it no matter who it is, not necessarily the major powers.

I don't know about Iran but as I know Asian countries, some countries still have cheap electricity despite the current energy crisis. If the US and Europe ban mining, maybe Asia will be a welcome place for miners. It is not possible to completely ban bitcoin mining in the world, as long as bitcoin can be profitable there will be countries that accept it.

[LegendaryK]

US and Europe are not the judges of the world, just because they ban bitcoin mining doesn't mean other countries will do the same. Countries like El Salvador or the Central African Republic are not superpowers, but they are welcoming bitcoin, bitcoin just needs people to accept it no matter who it is, not necessarily the major powers.

I don't know about Iran but as I know Asian countries, some countries still have cheap electricity despite the current energy crisis. If the US and Europe ban mining, maybe Asia will be a welcome place for miners. It is not possible to completely ban bitcoin mining in the world, as long as bitcoin can be profitable there will be countries that accept it.

Asia , China already ban bitcoin PoW miners.

US/ Europe/ Canada PoW bans are coming.

Thinking El Salvador energy grid can succeed where China/US/Europe / Canada could not , is pure delusion.

Africa is just your attempt to make me laugh, South Africa can't even keep the power stable now.
https://www.biznews.com/sa-investing/2022/11/21/eskom-cash-buy-diesel

South Africa’s government said it’s urgently seeking funds to buy diesel needed to fuel auxiliary power plants after the state electricity utility said outages will intensify this week.

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan met members of Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s board on Sunday amid “serious concerns” about the risk of increased nationwide blackouts in the months ahead, his department, which oversees the utility, said in a statement. The outages are expected to deepen this week.

Bitcoin PoW supporters complete and utter lack of understanding about the weakening power grids is amazing to say the least.

Why don't you claim sri lanka next as a bitcoin miner hub. 
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63038013

Last week, Sri Lanka increased its daily power outage from 80 minutes to 140 minutes because of a drop in power generating capacity.

Once the US ban bitcoin PoW mining, bitcoin is basically DOA.

[Abiky]

Technological mining does not cause that much harm to environment. It is not literally the same with mining concerning land and minerals. It only uses electicity and ofcourse equipments. If it is only electricity which is concerned, then governments could demand miners to use solar panels. Also, it is another thing if prohibition is directly towards usage of cryptocurrency. An individual can mine Bitcoin and be not allowed to use it for daily transactions, as simple as that. Governments are just wanting taxes and they just cannot do it with currencies other than taxation. Sk if it is mining alone, then I guess it would be a blurry reason for them to ban such activity, especially if it won't be announced and such.

Of course. Governments could force miners to rely on alternative energy sources to reduce carbon emissions as much as possible. But I see they're using the "high energy consumption" narrative as an excuse to get rid of Bitcoin for good. And what better way than banning PoW mining altogether? The EU already banned Bitcoin mining due to "environmental concerns", so what makes you think the US won't do the same as world countries try to fight climate change?

The pressure is already mounting on Bitcoin, as many cryptocurrencies are switching to PoS without second thoughts. Imagine what would happen if Bitcoin were the only PoW cryptocurrency in the world. Most countries will ban it, greatly reducing worldwide adoption. No one knows what the future holds for the cryptocurrency so we can only hope for the best. Just my thoughts

[kro55]

Asia , China already ban bitcoin PoW miners.

China is a great power in Asia, but they are not someone who can command others, other than China, I have not seen any Asian country that bans bitcoin mining, Japan, Korea, or Vietnam...they are all very bitcoin friendly. I just see them giving warning people to be careful when investing in cryptocurrencies but not any complaints about bitcoin mining.

US/ Europe/ Canada PoW bans are coming.



Once the US ban bitcoin PoW mining, bitcoin is basically DOA.

The US still does not have a ban on POW, it seems that it is just your wish. The white house has not announced that it will ban POW. Do you have a link?

[Nrcewker]

Yesterday I saw that the Chinese state banned bitcoin miners in their country, but not because of environmental factors but maybe other factors so that the Chinese government concluded that bitcoin mining in their country was illegal.

In china, cryptos aren’t legal right. So definitely they gonna ban any activity that is connected with cryptos or Bitcoins. Moreover there are many other things which contribute for the environmental degrade. Bitcoin mining isn’t at all coming in 1% of total pollution. Moreover Bitcoin mining can be done via solar energy also, if concerns regarding this is rising. At last this is just an excuse for many countries to prohibit crypto mining. As they cannot regulate Bitcoins, therefore trying their best to ban it.

[binbaro11]

Banning bitcoin mining is not the same as banning bitcoin.

The main mining cost of large-scale mines is not hardware purchase and update, but electricity costs, which is also an important consideration for mine site selection.

In order to maximize profits, some mine owners adopt a mobile operation method and install mining machines in containers or large trucks. Once they find a place with lower electricity costs, they can move at any time.

And now everyone will give priority to wind power and hydropower.

[LegendaryK]

The white house has not announced that it will ban POW. Do you have a link?

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/white-house-condemns-energy-use-of-mining-bitcoin

The White House Office of Science and Technology released a report claiming
bitcoin mining negatively impacts the environment and hints towards banning proof-of-work.

The executive order for the ban can come any day since the official report was published.

FYI:
A lot of bitcoiners are completely clueless about power generation.
Solar is only really good for 4 hours daily during the summer, Wind is intermittent.
BTC miners require 24x7 access to insane amounts of electricity, something current renewals can't provide them.
Nuclear is the only solution that could make an attempt at the insane amount of energy miners needs.
But that requires 1000s of new nuclear plants, time to build ~10 years.
BTC does not have 10 years before the ban, my best guess the US / Canada / Europe all Ban PoW mining ~2025 ,
maybe much sooner if too many grid failure s happen.  *New York has already started their own PoW ban.*

[Abiky]

Banning bitcoin mining is not the same as banning bitcoin.

The main mining cost of large-scale mines is not hardware purchase and update, but electricity costs, which is also an important consideration for mine site selection.

In order to maximize profits, some mine owners adopt a mobile operation method and install mining machines in containers or large trucks. Once they find a place with lower electricity costs, they can move at any time.

And now everyone will give priority to wind power and hydropower.

Miners are the ones who support the BTC blockchain. Without them, Bitcoin would simply die. And what better way to destroy Bitcoin than banning PoW mining with the excuse that it's "harmful for the environment"? Governments know they can't stop Bitcoin, so they're coming up with the "high energy consumption" narrative in order to prevent as much people as possible from using it. You can see how they've successfully forced ETH to turn from a PoW chain to PoS. The vast majority of altcoins are abandoning PoW due to fears of government scrutiny. It won't be long before the crypto space becomes extremely centralized, leaving us with Bitcoin as the only "truly decentralized" alternative to Fiat.

It's possible most (if not all) countries will ban Bitcoin because of the reasons mentioned before, but I don't think it'll be the end of the world. Everything will depend on how long Bitcoin will be able to retain its decentralized and censorship-resistant design. With many governments thinking about banning PoW mining, it's likely Bitcoin will be mined in secret for years to come. Who knows what the future holds for Bitcoin and the entire crypto/Blockchain industry? Just my thoughts

[dansus021]

For my perspective not all government will banning bitcoin mining because we already know there is two legal tender country that accepted crypto is elsavador and central Africa I think this two country will not bitcoin mining.

and second now most countries pledged zero carbon emission, if bitcoin using 100% renewable energy it should be fine

[Sang Veronike]

maybe. Everyone is talking about the EU choosing to ban Bitcoin mining right now. For seasonal reasons. Winter uses more energy than spring and summer. Countries all over the world attach great importance to the energy consumption of Bitcoin mining. Miners have been picking areas that are easier to mine. Countries may restrict Bitcoin mining, but not Bitcoin usage.

[Abiky]

For my perspective not all government will banning bitcoin mining because we already know there is two legal tender country that accepted crypto is elsavador and central Africa I think this two country will not bitcoin mining.

and second now most countries pledged zero carbon emission, if bitcoin using 100% renewable energy it should be fine

Exactly. Not every country will ban Bitcoin mining for good. Both El Salvador and Central Africa have embraced Bitcoin with open arms, so it's likely the mining industry will grow in those two countries alone. We're going to have to see if the EU will change its stance towards Bitcoin if PoW mining becomes greener over time. I'm pretty sure the bloc will revert its decision of banning PoW mining if it becomes carbon-neutral. After all, they wouldn't want to miss the huge taxation benefits the mining industry provides.

Rest assured that if the "mining ban" isn't lifted, Bitcoin will carry on as usual. That thanks to its decentralized and censorship-resistant design. If mining hashrate would've been concentrated on a single region, Bitcoin would've been doomed by now. At least, there are a wide number of miners spread throughout the world, making Bitcoin stronger and resilient than ever. Who knows if Bitcoin lasts for generations? Just my thoughts

[fuguebtc]

Exactly. Not every country will ban Bitcoin mining for good. Both El Salvador and Central Africa have embraced Bitcoin with open arms, so it's likely the mining industry will grow in those two countries alone. We're going to have to see if the EU will change its stance towards Bitcoin if PoW mining becomes greener over time. I'm pretty sure the bloc will revert its decision of banning PoW mining if it becomes carbon-neutral. After all, they wouldn't want to miss the huge taxation benefits the mining industry provides.

I think the EU bitcoin mining ban will be temporary as they are having a severe energy problem but once the energy is resolved, everything will be back to normal they will lift the ban. As you said, they won't want to miss out on huge tax revenue because they understand that even their ban won't stop bitcoin and only make miners move to other countries.

Rest assured that if the "mining ban" isn't lifted, Bitcoin will carry on as usual. That thanks to its decentralized and censorship-resistant design. If mining hashrate would've been concentrated on a single region, Bitcoin would've been doomed by now. At least, there are a wide number of miners spread throughout the world, making Bitcoin stronger and resilient than ever. Who knows if Bitcoin lasts for generations? Just my thoughts

This is only true if the ban is only in one US state and EU region, but if bitcoin is banned worldwide, then bitcoin will be destroyed for real.

[Abiky]

I think the EU bitcoin mining ban will be temporary as they are having a severe energy problem but once the energy is resolved, everything will be back to normal they will lift the ban. As you said, they won't want to miss out on huge tax revenue because they understand that even their ban won't stop bitcoin and only make miners move to other countries.

I hope so. Otherwise, Bitcoin would be doomed in terms of mainstream adoption. The more countries turn against PoW mining, the higher the risk of insecurity will be. For some reason, EU countries are pushing the "climate change" narrative targeting Bitcoin's damage to the environment. There may be a hidden agenda to try to destroy Bitcoin completely. If the US joins the train, then it's likely other countries will do the same. Let's see how everything will turn out to be after the Russo-Ukraine crisis comes to an end.

This is only true if the ban is only in one US state and EU region, but if bitcoin is banned worldwide, then bitcoin will be destroyed for real.

A worldwide ban would negatively impact Bitcoin, but not to a point where it'll be destroyed for good. I think some people will still mine BTC in secret just to help support the blockchain (even if it will be illegal to do so). You really can't stop something that's decentralized and censorship-resistant by design.

Of course, it will be much more difficult to get access to Bitcoin when the government is against it. But there will always be a way to circumvent restrictions, allowing Bitcoin to flow freely as usual. Who knows what the future holds for the cryptocurrency?

[Ebede]

maybe. Everyone is talking about the EU choosing to ban Bitcoin mining right now. For seasonal reasons. Winter uses more energy than spring and summer. Countries all over the world attach great importance to the energy consumption of Bitcoin mining. Miners have been picking areas that are easier to mine. Countries may restrict Bitcoin mining, but not Bitcoin usage.

Choosing a bitcoin or burning a Bitcoin in something that we know so I know right where that bitcoin some countries banned bitcoin and some countries also leave Bitcoin but it is very sore on their own rules and regulation they know all the until concerning their country I don't think that is a very big day of contraband in Bitcoin because this information has been circulating the former

[karabiber]

The computing power required to support Bitcoin's underlying network requires a great deal of energy. This leads to criticism of Bitcoin's environmental footprint. I am against the constant portrayal of Bitcoin as the enemy while there are so many things that piss the world off about it. Yes, some energy problems will arise for bitcoin in the future but i think that these facilities that consume huge energy are negligible compared to companies. The amount of energy consumed by the Bitcoin network will increase over the years and the issue of finding solutions with renewable energy will accelerate. Bitcoin will contribute to the use and increase of renewable energy. Bitcoin miners are shifting to places where electricity is cheapest. Because renewable cheap energy power has not been provided yet. Bitcoin will help accelerate the renewable cheap energy network.

[Abiky]

The computing power required to support Bitcoin's underlying network requires a great deal of energy. This leads to criticism of Bitcoin's environmental footprint. I am against the constant portrayal of Bitcoin as the enemy while there are so many things that piss the world off about it. Yes, some energy problems will arise for bitcoin in the future but i think that these facilities that consume huge energy are negligible compared to companies. The amount of energy consumed by the Bitcoin network will increase over the years and the issue of finding solutions with renewable energy will accelerate. Bitcoin will contribute to the use and increase of renewable energy. Bitcoin miners are shifting to places where electricity is cheapest. Because renewable cheap energy power has not been provided yet. Bitcoin will help accelerate the renewable cheap energy network.

I hope miners turn themselves to alternative energy sources just to make Bitcoin more appealing to governments worldwide. I know banks and companies consume a greater amount of energy than the whole Bitcoin network, but governments don't want to admit that because they want to keep away as much people from Bitcoin as possible. Some cryptocurrencies switched to PoS in an effort to become "carbon-neutral", yet they've sacrificed the decentralization of their blockchain networks. PoW would be the only way to ensure decentralization and censorship-resistance because of the way it was designed.

It seems to me that companies are still interested in keeping the mining industry alive, so it's likely PoW will become greener in the future. Who knows what would be of Bitcoin decades from now? Just my thoughts

[NotATether]

Who knows what would be of Bitcoin decades from now?

There will be university-level civics and environmental management classes where they teach students what imbeciles people were for going after a green-turning industry that stops other industries from rampantly polluting the environment.

[Woodie]

Bitcoin mining has always come under pressure over its carbon footprints emissions and all things considered this fight is far to big for bitcoin to fight alone because before it there has been carbon emissions coming from automobiles and this as gone on for a very long time and governments have had their hands tied on the best approach on this. But of course we don't need to wait to be told on the damage done to the environment, ones conscious needs to know that going green is the next best step.

[WeThePe0ple]

When a mining ban is imposed, does this mean BTC will go to 0?

Because even if only 80% of the maximum 21 million coins are mined, people can still keep these coins or trade them as a store of value.

[capedbaldy]

When a mining ban is imposed, does this mean BTC will go to 0?

Mining bans are enforced depending on the regulations of a country because some countries do not support the legalization of cryptocurrency, they will have any reason not to provide permits for mining, but mining continues without the influence of regulations. Even Shell will be involved in crypto to provide a solution to the high demand for energy required for mining and we hope that its efforts will provide positive support to crypto mining.

[mvdheuvel1983]

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.

There is no denying that mining bitcoins uses a lot of electricity. Adoption may be impacted by this. Building a system within Bitcoin that enables using a portion of transaction costs as a tax to fund renewable energy projects is one potential approach.
You can contribute 5% of your transaction charge to renewable energy if you are willing to pay outrageous rates for your transaction.

[Casdinyard]

There's a good chance they may impose restrictions or outright bans on small-scale bitcoin mining because it is the most deteriorating form of crypto mining that exists today. Large-scale minings aren't that debilitating as they use their very own energy source as a way to power their operations. Small-scale GPU/CPU miners use their local grid's electricity supply and therefore their local energy resource to power their operations which is not only sustainable on the provider's part, but is also detrimental to the quality of the environment. Add to this the fact that more and more people are becoming more aware and active in protesting for the welfare of the environment, and it's sure as shooting that they'd impose such bans in the future if this type of situation keeps up.

[zeuner]

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.

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.

[Davidvictorson]

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.

If the countries worldwide did not ban or cannot ban tree cutting to print fiat due the supposed climate change policy, I see no reason why bitcoin mining should be ban. Their argument about the effect of mining on the environment is just as the same as that of tree-cutting. However, I do believe that using solar and wind power would make bitcoin mining more environmentally beneficial. The issue is that many bitcoin miners are looking for locations with low electricity cost to mine the cryptocurrency, which is why the government is pushing to ban it.

[Abiky]

If the countries worldwide did not ban or cannot ban tree cutting to print fiat due the supposed climate change policy, I see no reason why bitcoin mining should be ban. Their argument about the effect of mining on the environment is just as the same as that of tree-cutting. However, I do believe that using solar and wind power would make bitcoin mining more environmentally beneficial. The issue is that many bitcoin miners are looking for locations with low electricity cost to mine the cryptocurrency, which is why the government is pushing to ban it.

It's all a matter of what's most convenient for the government. Bitcoin is decentralized, which means it's outside the scope of any government and/or central bank worldwide. You think governments will go easy on Bitcoin when it gives people true financial freedom? We should expect further scrutiny from such entities until they "destroy" Bitcoin for good. I know they won't succeed, but at least they will make an impact over its usage in the long run.

The mining ban is nothing compared to what's going to happen in the future the more popular Bitcoin becomes worldwide. I doubt Bitcoin will change to PoS, since that would mean sacrificing its decentralization and censorship-resistance. Who knows what will happen next? Just my thoughts

[dmamigo]

The mining ban can be prevented by the government itself in my opinion because if they go for renewable energy and promote it more, I believe it will make them energy and environment efficient to a certain extent. But obviously as many here said governments are kind of against Bitcoins or cryptocurrencies so they will for sure go against them as in miners and the industry. The environmentalists who are against Bitcoin can be tough for the industry and they can act as a catalyst as well for this controversial topic.

[Leviathan.007]

I don't believe this and I don't believe what the government says because a wise man will never ask the governments and political people if bitcoin mining is better than printing money or not, we all know that bitcoin mining can use renewable energy resources and this won't hurt the environment but this is not the problem. I think the problem is governments won't accept that bitcoin is better than printing money for the environment because they are worried about losing economic control in their countries, not environmental concerns.

[Abiky]

I don't believe this and I don't believe what the government says because a wise man will never ask the governments and political people if bitcoin mining is better than printing money or not, we all know that bitcoin mining can use renewable energy resources and this won't hurt the environment but this is not the problem. I think the problem is governments won't accept that bitcoin is better than printing money for the environment because they are worried about losing economic control in their countries, not environmental concerns.

Governments are only looking what's best for them. And I can say, Bitcoin is not something they want people to use at a large scale (even though they're able to tax it through centralized exchanges). That's why you see them spreading misinformation about Bitcoin's energy consumption, in order to drive away the masses from it. They will justify their actions by saying they're doing it to "protect the environment", but we all know that's not true. Bitcoin cannot be controlled by any government or third party, so we should expect greater opposition over time.

It really doesn't matter if all governments ban Bitcoin mining (which is very unlikely to happen anytime soon), since there will always be some people that will support the BTC blockchain no matter what. The pioneer cryptocurrency has remained decentralized up to this date, so I'm confident it will live for generations. Who knows if maybe someday governments give up and join the Bitcoin cause? Just my opinion

[Falconer]

Governments are only looking what's best for them. And I can say, Bitcoin is not something they want people to use at a large scale (even though they're able to tax it through centralized exchanges). That's why you see them spreading misinformation about Bitcoin's energy consumption, in order to drive away the masses from it. They will justify their actions by saying they're doing it to "protect the environment", but we all know that's not true. Bitcoin cannot be controlled by any government or third party, so we should expect greater opposition over time.

Makes sense, I think you're right. The government doesn't want bitcoin which is known as a decentralized currency. The government and the haters are just trying to brainwash the public so that they are not interested in bitcoin and mining, as a result it seems that they are not completely successful because people can find out about the advantages of bitcoin through many references.

I'd say the government would just keep spreading the theory around, but it's never really what they say it is. I don't hate governments, but they seem hard to accept something as uncontrollable as bitcoin.

[borovichok]

I don't believe this and I don't believe what the government says because a wise man will never ask the governments and political people if bitcoin mining is better than printing money or not, we all know that bitcoin mining can use renewable energy resources and this won't hurt the environment but this is not the problem. I think the problem is governments won't accept that bitcoin is better than printing money for the environment because they are worried about losing economic control in their countries, not environmental concerns.

Bitcoin doesn't have a single effect on environmental concern, rather it brings comprehend information to citizens and gives them golden opportunity which the government failed. Bitcoin have a very big impact on a country economy and will either affect the government in one way or the other. Government tends to blindfold the promising future of mining Bitcoin and impose strict regulations inother to stop the operation of Bitcoin. Government have the required capacity to stop what they they don't like and accept what they think it's good for their citizens.

[Reatim]

The mining ban can be prevented by the government itself in my opinion because if they go for renewable energy and promote it more, I believe it will make them energy and environment efficient to a certain extent. But obviously as many here said governments are kind of against Bitcoins or cryptocurrencies so they will for sure go against them as in miners and the industry. The environmentalists who are against Bitcoin can be tough for the industry and they can act as a catalyst as well for this controversial topic.

they are the government and they can do everything within their powers , mining can be regulated so nothing that can stop the government from banning those operation but they cannot hinder people from accumulating bitcoin that is for sure , so whatever the reason of banning yet this cannot stop the bitcoin from circulating in their countries.

[fennic]

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.

There are a lot of countries that ban Bitcoin and also crypto mining because there is High Power consumption for the Mining powers to run.
Iran is a country where Mining is legal and they are generating a lot of Bitcoin and they have huge plans in the future cause they know the real values of Bitcoin and so crypto. I wish that this might happen in my country cause still this is not authenticated by our government.
And also in America there is no van on the Bitcoin mining and they have also not given permission too. If someone wants to mine than do it and if do not than they will not be charged for guilty.

[Chato1977]

When a mining ban is imposed, does this mean BTC will go to 0?

Mining bans are enforced depending on the regulations of a country because some countries do not support the legalization of cryptocurrency, they will have any reason not to provide permits for mining, but mining continues without the influence of regulations. Even Shell will be involved in crypto to provide a solution to the high demand for energy required for mining and we hope that its efforts will provide positive support to crypto mining.

where can you see that Shell is acting towards the involvement in crypto?

remember that Oil company is always for sole purpose and that is to take advantage what they thing can mine them more money than Oil so never buy those big companies pretention .

[landheer]

Yes, of course it depends on the policy of the government. but if for example the government is worried about electricity. I think it will definitely be resolved. because of this? if for example bitcoin miners damage the environment? means that everyone in this world is also a destroyer of the environment, because all humans use electricity. and the ones that use the most electricity are not just bitcoin miners. of course there are still many people who use electricity with large usage. and also people who mine bitcoin also in my opinion don't harm anyone, because people who mine bitcoin also pay for electricity.

[Ayebabara]

Bitcoin mining can't be ban but the government can make a policy only to regulate the Mining process and the rate which bitcoin is mine in the country which they may think might affect the environment. And the only thing the government can do to stop bitcoin mining is to stop bringing light those mining industries, and they does that it will have bad effect on the Mining process, because the company might not have the capability or the capacity to use fuel for the 24/7 hours. And government takes tax from mining companies so t will be very difficult for them to ban bitcoin mining. And if peradventure government ban mining bin the public domain then micro mining will take place. That means mining continues

[Lida93]

[quote author=Abiky link=topic=5401795.msg60314505#msg60314505 date=1654687509

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.
[/quote]
There's nothing or any concept that have attained a worldwide complete acceptance in human history, for instance, despite how much democracy is prescribed as the Best form of governmental system for both the rulers and ruled, yet there are countries that still jettison the concept. So what am I say; bitcoin shouldn't be expected to receive a worldwide acceptance in as much as a few country's accepts it and allows it operations to persist then there's no cause for alarm but to work with the btc pro country's , let's just bear in mind that those countries that are against bitcoin will always look for ways to see to it's end.  For isn't it ironical and laughable that countries that secretly permits certain  biochemical activities that are inimical to the environment are also pushing for a ban on bitcoin mining.
Bitcoin mining switching from POW to PoS cryptocurrency will greatly threaten it's survival which may gradually lead to extinction of the value of the BTC and that's what these government's wants.

[zeuner]

The more reasonable approach in case mining energy consumption is considered as too much would be to nudge down the mining volume, e.g. by taxing the mining itself or the energy required to do so. After all, Bitcoin will still work with a proportional reduction of global mining power.

Wont work in practice, because not every country will do it. So any country that introduces this tax will just weaken themselves, without much effect on mining power.

Doesn't sound any different from banning mining...

Also taxing energy will affect everyone and not just miners.

Exactly. But what would be a reasonable justification for only penalizing miners _if_ energy consumption is the concern?

If we want to do something about disproportionate energy consumption, it doesn't seem sane to just approach those industries that are transparent about it (and what would be more transparent than PoW mining where the consumption can be calculated from hashing rate and hardware efficiency). Putting measures right on the energy consumption would also hit those who use insane amounts of energy while being silent about it.

[Abiky]

Makes sense, I think you're right. The government doesn't want bitcoin which is known as a decentralized currency. The government and the haters are just trying to brainwash the public so that they are not interested in bitcoin and mining, as a result it seems that they are not completely successful because people can find out about the advantages of bitcoin through many references.

I'd say the government would just keep spreading the theory around, but it's never really what they say it is. I don't hate governments, but they seem hard to accept something as uncontrollable as bitcoin.

There are conspiracy theories indicating that the FTX collapse was intentionally made by the government to make crypto unappealing to the general public. I wouldn't be surprised about this, especially when governments don't want to lose control over people's financial lives. Not only the FTX collapse might've been intentional, but also central banks' willingness to keep raising interest rates to add more pressure to BTC's market price. We've already seen the excuse of the mining ban by EU countries, so don't expect things to get better anytime soon.

Bitcoin is on a never-ending war against banks and governments, due to its decentralized and censorship-resistant nature. It'll be up to us to help keep it that way for future generations to enjoy. Who knows if it gets to live 100 years from now? Just my thoughts

[Argoo]

There's a good chance they may impose restrictions or outright bans on small-scale bitcoin mining because it is the most deteriorating form of crypto mining that exists today. Large-scale minings aren't that debilitating as they use their very own energy source as a way to power their operations. Small-scale GPU/CPU miners use their local grid's electricity supply and therefore their local energy resource to power their operations which is not only sustainable on the provider's part, but is also detrimental to the quality of the environment. Add to this the fact that more and more people are becoming more aware and active in protesting for the welfare of the environment, and it's sure as shooting that they'd impose such bans in the future if this type of situation keeps up.

Whether states will ban or tighten the mining of bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies with the PoW algorithm will depend on how they solve the current energy shortage problem. Most likely, the state will discuss this issue and such a decision is quite possible. However, this is unlikely to affect the circulation of bitcoin.
According to Blockchain.com, 90% of all bitcoins were mined 12 years after miners received the first bitcoins. This means that about 18.9 million coins out of a maximum supply of 21 million are now on the open market. Therefore, even if states decide to ban bitcoin mining, and even if they can control such a decision, then bitcoin may well get by with the current amount of almost 19 million.

[DiMarxist]

They might attempt to ban it because of the noise pollution of the Mining machines. But at the long run they will also accept the Mining. Because if you compare Gold Mining with crypto mining is no too much different. In comparism, gold mining is even the worst because there two disasters in gold mining. 1. The noise and 2. The ground as been damage with holes which can cause tremors if not properly fill up. But individuals can give up on bitcoin mining for lack of electricity power supply in some part of the world.

Let keep our environments safe

[Captain Corporate]

I am not really that much interested in mining being such a vocal point of bitcoin to be fair. And yeah I know that satoshi implemented that to make sure that its safe and secure, which is why it will probably stay PoW no matter how many others turn to staking, ETH started a chain probably. But at the end of the day, it doesn't have to be everywhere, and I don't even think it should be a big deal. With some new innovations, I am sure that we could make it a lot less hurtful to the environment and we would probably see the results being a lot better in the long run because we really need to clear up the energy usage in everything.

[Cryptodebjoe]

It's true that mining of BTC consume lots of energy but in the world we are today the chunk of greenhouse gas emissions from gas plant and CO2 emissions from automobiles has much more effect on our environment. That's not to say that a solution to mining mustn't be proffered I believe we should use solar panels which is safer....

[Anarkyas]

It is possible that some countries may consider banning or regulating Bitcoin mining due to environmental concerns, as the process of mining Bitcoins requires significant amounts of electricity. However, it is also possible that regulations or measures to mitigate the environmental impact of mining may be implemented instead of an outright ban. Ultimately, whether or not a country decides to ban or regulate Bitcoin mining will likely depend on the specific circumstances and priorities of that country.