Do You Think Bitcoin Mining Will Be Banned Due to Fears of Climate Change?

[Pmalek]

In a world increasingly worried about climate change and its effects on our planet, everything our leaders deem unwanted could be in trouble. We have heard numerous stories about how much energy Bitcoin uses. Those against Bitcoin often say that it requires more energy than whole countries.

But Bitcoin’s Proof-Of-Work consensus algorithm relies on that power to keep the blockchain safe. This will not be a discussion about PoW, its advantages, or disadvantages. It will also not be about how much renewable and clean energy is used in mining bitcoin already.

This is about why Bitcoin is scrutinized while other industries aren’t? For example, a report from 2019 shows that electronic devices on standby in the United States alone consume more electricity than the whole Bitcoin network would in over 3 years. Yet, nobody is talking about their impact on our environment.

If you want to read more about this, Bitcoin’s use of clean energy, PoW, and myths about Bitcoin’s energy consumption, check out Bitcoincleanup.com.  


Soon after US President Joseph Biden took office, he signed Executive Order 14067 - Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets. This document mentions words like “environment,” “environmental impact,” “pollution,” “climate change,” “climate impact,” and similar terms dozens of times.

Both the EU and the US are discussing new crypto regulations. One of their agendas is, again, the crypto economy's impact on the environment. Let’s not talk about how the actual goal is to further restrict their citizens from using unregulated and decentralized assets they can’t control or adequately tax through their institutions and puppets in suits.

With all this in mind, what do you think will be the future of PoW and Bitcoin mining?

1.   Do you think it will be banned entirely after scaring people with climate change concerns?  
2.   Will they find ways to make it harder to mine Bitcoin? More regulation, bigger taxes, regular inspections, overly complicated paperwork, and heavy fines for not complying with CO2 emissions are some of the ways they could penalize entities involved with PoW mining.
3.   Do you think the world governments could incentivize those still mining with fossil fuels to transition to clean energy?
4.   Or will all this calm down one day, Bitcoin and its POW will be left alone, and world leaders will focus on other, more important things?

Please vote in the poll and share your thoughts and ideas below.

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[o_e_l_e_o]

This is about why Bitcoin is scrutinized while other industries aren’t?

Two reasons. First, they need some angle to attack bitcoin. It has been attacked for being worthless magic internet money, which has been proven to be false. It has been attacked as being a scam or a Ponzi, which has been proven to be false. It has been attacked as being too volatile, too risky, dying hundreds of times, all of which have been proven to be false. The latest attack is that it is killing the planet. This is also false, but it is the angle they are using for the time being until education wins out and they pick a new angle.

Secondly, they need a big bad boogieman to blame their failings on. Most western countries will massively miss their targets for cutting emissions over the next decade, because they have failed to invest in renewables, continue to invest in new oil and gas, and continue to allow private companies to pollute with abandon. Rather than turn around next election cycle and say "We failed because we accepted bribes from oil companies", much better if they can say "We would have succeeded if not for those pesky kids bitcoins!"

I am still hopeful that education will win out. It's not difficult to prove that bitcoin's energy consumption is completely insignificant. It's also starting to be recognized by various governments that bitcoin mining is uniquely placed to help facilitate a move to robust renewable network via what is known as demand response. See my posts here and here about this.

And even if we are stupid enough in the US to fall for this nonsense and ban mining outright, there is absolutely zero chance of a global ban. We already saw how quickly the hashrate recovered and starting hitting new ATHs again after the (ninth?) Chinese ban on bitcoin. And with bitcoin mining being one of the lead users of green and renewable electricity in the world, I'm not too concerned.

[HeRetiK]

Secondly, they need a big bad boogieman to blame their failings on. Most western countries will massively miss their targets for cutting emissions over the next decade, because they have failed to invest in renewables, continue to invest in new oil and gas, and continue to allow private companies to pollute with abandon. Rather than turn around next election cycle and say "We failed because we accepted bribes from oil companies", much better if they can say "We would have succeeded if not for those pesky kids bitcoins!"

Also (1) Bitcoin usage is still far from mainstream and (2) PoW is too abstract a concept.

Regarding (1) it's easier to blame something that only a fraction of the population is using rather than something the majority of people, like driving fossil fuel cars, eating meat, short distance air travel etc. All things that get plenty critized of course, but also all things that politicians rarely dare touch for fear of public backlash.

Regarding (2) a lot of people simply don't get PoW. It's easy to attack something that is not properly understood and thus perceived as useless.


That being said, I don't think there will be any meaningful legislative interference. Just how going after Bitcoin's PoW is symbolic rather than effective, any regulation "attacking" PoW is likely to be little more than posturing as well. And even if some governments would ban mining outright, the way China did, some other country will always take their place, assuming they'd even be able to effectively crack down on it to begin with.

[tadamichi]

This is about why Bitcoin is scrutinized while other industries aren’t? For example, a report from 2019 shows that electronic devices on standby in the United States alone consume more electricity than the whole Bitcoin network would in over 3 years. Yet, nobody is talking about their impact on our environment.

It’s probably obvious by now why governments, authoritarians and big fish in finance scrutinise it, because it is coming for their ability to game the system, educating people about a lot of authoritarian-unfriendly subjects and would put them out of business in certain areas. On an individual level they have more power and wealth if they contain/ try to neuter Bitcoin than otherwise.

Simple conflict of interest that doesn’t exist for other industries, who can actually be milked and controlled by the same group of people. I think we would only see a change here when the incentives change, and people no longer accept being gamed by a broken financial system.

What’s more interesting is that regular people with zero actual knowledge about Bitcoin participate in this scrutinisation, which goes against their own interest. Probably because it’s so easy to scrutinise, when it gets falsely depicted as climate destroying by trusted authorities, used for crimes and speculations and there’s a general push in mainstream culture to scrutinise anything that questions the status quo. They value low-quality misinformation higher just because it’s coming from a place they trust, there’s no verification of anything. It’s easy and trendy to bash it, so people can depict themselves as wannabe critics and climate saviours without actually knowing anything they’re talking about.

With all this in mind, what do you think will be the future of PoW and Bitcoin mining?

1.   Do you think it will be banned entirely after scaring people with climate change concerns?  
2.   Will they find ways to make it harder to mine Bitcoin? More regulation, bigger taxes, regular inspections, overly complicated paperwork, and heavy fines for not complying with CO2 emissions are some of the ways they could penalize entities involved with PoW mining.
3.   Do you think the world governments could incentivize those still mining with fossil fuels to transition to clean energy?
4.   Or will all this calm down one day, Bitcoin and its POW will be left alone, and world leaders will focus on other, more important things?

Please vote in the poll and share your thoughts and ideas below.

It’s hard to give a general answer, we’ll probably see all four of these in different jurisdictions and changing over time. Mining will be fine.

[Pmalek]

It has been attacked as being too volatile, too risky... all of which have been proven to be false.

The volatility factor hasn't. Bitcoin remains a risky investment due to its volatility, but also because of all the interconnected threats that come with it. Self-custody is both a blessing and a death sentence depending on the person using the system. Phishing, hacking, malware, the irreversible nature of transactions. To us, it's a feature we have learned to cope with and use to our advantage. But to the enemy, it's reasons worth highlighting when they want to control, regulate, or ban & destroy. And if we go head-to-head, they are the ones with the bigger pull.   

I am still hopeful that education will win out. It's not difficult to prove that bitcoin's energy consumption is completely insignificant. It's also starting to be recognized by various governments that bitcoin mining is uniquely placed to help facilitate a move to robust renewable network via what is known as demand response.

But how loud are those voices in strength and numbers compared to those of the enemy? I don't think I am making a mistake calling them "the enemy" because that's what they are. How much influence do pro-bitcoin advocates have in US institutions of power, with the President, media, banking, business, etc. compared to the antagonists?   

And even if we are stupid enough in the US to fall for this nonsense and ban mining outright, there is absolutely zero chance of a global ban. We already saw how quickly the hashrate recovered and starting hitting new ATHs again after the (ninth?) Chinese ban on bitcoin.

The EU isn't that big of a mining hub as the US is, so a US ban would have muck more adverse consequences I think. The EU is just America's bitch. Pardon my French. When it comes to big global decision-making, they will ask Big Daddy how they feel about it.

[cabron]

Europe already have plans to be sufficient in renewable energy and will also monitor how much energy a home is using. With such monitoring, yep they can see thru whos doing stuff like crypto mining. If they wanna ban crypto mining, they can really illegalized it.

Or they could also incentiviced or provide mining licenses. Or the goverment it self will be mining.

[o_e_l_e_o]

It’s easy and trendy to bash it, so people can depict themselves as wannabe critics and climate saviours without actually knowing anything they’re talking about.

Not only that, but without actually doing anything themselves. Reducing your own carbon footprint takes effort. You have to spend time sorting out your recycling, or composting your food waste, or walking more and driving less, or taking public transport and driving less, or changing your diet to eat less red meat, or god forbid going outside and exercising instead of watching TV. Much easier to just post online about how bitcoin is killing the planet while doing literally nothing to help.

The volatility factor hasn't. Bitcoin remains a risky investment due to its volatility, but also because of all the interconnected threats that come with it.

Sure, but there has been much less in the way of media attacks about its volatility this time round it seems. Maybe I'm just coming across such trash less frequently, but it seems to me it's difficult for any government to call bitcoin too volatile when they are printing trillions of dollars worth of fiat and have inflation rates in double figures.

[Z-tight]

Or the goverment it self will be mining.

Centralized governments mining BTC, surely that is not possible, governments can probably regulate, ban or try to influence BTC to move to centralized POS, but surely not mining BTC that they are adversaries to.

But how loud are those voices in strength and numbers compared to those of the enemy? I don't think I am making a mistake calling them "the enemy" because that's what they are. How much influence do pro-bitcoin advocates have in US institutions of power, with the President, media, banking, business, etc. compared to the antagonists?    

Not so loud by the way, and BTC being a network with no central authority, so it is not like there is any designed group that can seriously speak on its behalf, it is going to or has to be a community/collective stuff as is everything in the BTC network. E.g CSW lies didn't go unchallenged even though we don't have a central authority, he was called out for being a con man and a liar my numberous pro BTC users and Devs (both past and present), another example is Greenpeace's shitty 1 million dollar campaign against BTC, it is being challenged by one of our very own through bitcoincleanup.com, and i also know many other community member's are doing their own things to challenge that lie. So i am thinking it will be the same with this too, the community will still collectively challenge and prove that all of these are lies, and only a government that has no use of the truth won't see it.

[HeRetiK]

Europe already have plans to be sufficient in renewable energy and will also monitor how much energy a home is using. With such monitoring, yep they can see thru whos doing stuff like crypto mining. If they wanna ban crypto mining, they can really illegalized it.

Unlike China, Western democracies fortunately don't have the foundation for effectively executing such heavy handed legislation. Even if widescale monitoring of individual household's energy consumption becomes a thing in the near future (that is assuming both that smart meters become mandatory and available privacy-preserving techniques become outlawed), increased energy assumption alone would hardly warrant a... well, warrant.

Though it would be kinda funny for a police raid taking place at a suspected crypto-miner's home only for them to find out that they were merely running a cannabis farm.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Centralized governments mining BTC, surely that is not possible

Why not? If we ever reach the scenario where bitcoin is being used by anything even approaching a large number of the global population, can governments afford not to mine? If a good chunk of international trade ends up being conducted using bitcoin, are governments going to be happy not having a stake in the security of the network (never mind not earning more bitcoin for themselves)? If a chunk of US trade is happening in bitcoin, and the CCP in China start mining bitcoin, then the US government will almost certainly set up their own mining operation in return, for example.

increased energy assumption alone would hardly warrant a... well, warrant.

And that's of course assuming that people are mining with electricity from the grid, and not just hooking their miners up directly to their solar panels/wind turbines or other means of renewable generation.

[m2017]

I think that all this hype around the harm to the environment due to bitcoin mining is exaggerated and there are many other types of human activities in the world that cause more harm to the surrounding world. But for some reason, mining has recently been criticized from the standpoint of environmental friendliness.

Will mining be banned? Let's assume that it will be forbidden on an industrial scale, but who can forbid doing it at home in small quantities? Supervisory authorities will not be able to check or track this.

The difficulty of btc mining is only affected by the number of miners, isn't it? How will the problems of big mining companies affect btc mining ? It seems to me that these are their expenses, which will affect the profitability of their business, but this should not affect the mining itself. Let's say they stop mining due to low profitability (due to the ways voiced in OP's question), the hash rate will drop and this will become beneficial for small miners. Still, there will be those who want to. It will even be better for the bitcoin network due to better mining decentralization.

[Lucius]

I can never be surprised at human stupidity in the sense that they blindly believe what the mainstream media serves them - and this whole agenda that the world will remain in the dark because someone is mining Bitcoin might make sense if there were no statistics and elementary mathematics. How powerful those behind such an agenda are is not in doubt at all, but all those who have an elementary education should distinguish lies from truth.

As for the EU and their plans to ban POW, just the other day in another thread I wrote that except for Germany, which supposedly has about 3% hash rate, all other countries have maybe even that much (or less), so if the EU wants to stand by China and some other democratic countries I have nothing against them showing their true colors.

What gave momentum to the anti-POW group was certainly the merge in which a popular altcoin successfully switched to POS, and some of them think that now is the right time to do the same with Bitcoin. I'm glad they don't know the difference between a centralized altcoin where all the moves are made by one person, and the Bitcoin community, which knows very well that leaving POW would mean the end of Bitcoin as we have it today.

The myth that POW threatens the climate has long been debunked, and people just need to be prepared to prove it to anyone who says otherwise.

[Zanab247]

1.   Do you think it will be banned entirely after scaring people with climate change concerns?

No, the reason why it will not be banned entirely is because it has contributed to the growth of some of their users in the land, and they have seen what Bitcoin will do in their environment in future if they do everything to protect the miners . I guess, the government will do everything possible within their power not to allow such climate to happen to bitcoiners in the environment, because Bitcoin has helped many miners in the country to became successful in their business

2.   Will they find ways to make it harder to mine Bitcoin?

Yes, since many people know that miners are making big money from their mining business in the country, The government can decide to increase their taxes in the country just to make it difficult for them to earn well or not to have good network to mine bitcoins in the land.

[Pmalek]

Europe already have plans to be sufficient in renewable energy and will also monitor how much energy a home is using. With such monitoring, yep they can see thru whos doing stuff like crypto mining.

The monitoring of electricity consumption is already a thing. That's one way how to catch owners of home-made marijuana plantations.

Sure, but there has been much less in the way of media attacks about its volatility this time round it seems.

Attacking bitcoin due to the volatility has become boring. Throwing dirt at something for being dangerous (for its volatility for example) is not a credible threat when you consider how many people are gambling drinking alcohol, abusing drugs. No one listens to that don't trade Bitcoin, it's dangerous narrative.

But with climate change nonsense, you get to frighten your listeners with things like your children won't have a home on this planet if you don't do something quick. One of those pollutants is Bitcoin. Hopefully it won't work.

another example is Greenpeace's shitty 1 million dollar campaign against BTC, it is being challenged by one of our very own through bitcoincleanup.com, and i also know many other community member's are doing their own things to challenge that lie. So i am thinking it will be the same with this too, the community will still collectively challenge and prove that all of these are lies, and only a government that has no use of the truth won't see it.

Greenpeace is lobbying the US government. One way or the other, they have a voice. Maybe no one takes them seriously but they are shouting. Bitcoincleanup.com is a great initiative but it remains to be seen if it or something similar can become a valid counter argument in institutions of power. 

Will mining be banned? Let's assume that it will be forbidden on an industrial scale, but who can forbid doing it at home in small quantities? Supervisory authorities will not be able to check or track this.

You are forgetting about the implications of what such an industrial scale mining ban would have on the security of the blockchain. It's no longer the same secure network we have today and it becomes considerably easier to attack by adversaries.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

This is about why Bitcoin is scrutinized while other industries aren’t? For example, a report from 2019 shows that electronic devices on standby in the United States alone consume more electricity than the whole Bitcoin network would in over 3 years. Yet, nobody is talking about their impact on our environment.

this kind of their Attack has always been happening without any further consequence on bitcoin network, bitcoin is environmentally friendly and they themselves know that, but the central authorities will always agitate on this bitcoin bitcoin isn't centralized under them (government) and they shouldn't expect any change from PoW to PoS while the only one they should expect is the advance use of renewable energy source for bitcoin mining which everything about mining bitcoin will go green.

 

1.   Do you think it will be banned entirely after scaring people with climate change concerns?  

No, bitcoin mining cannot be banned and i they succeded then it's a way forward to quickly implement the use of renewable energy source allover and abandon the energy source from government but i believe they wouldn't also wanted to do such because of the tax and other means they generate income from bitcoin mining.

2.   Will they find ways to make it harder to mine Bitcoin? More regulation, bigger taxes, regular inspections, overly complicated paperwork, and heavy fines for not complying with CO2 emissions are some of the ways they could penalize entities involved with PoW mining.

bitcoin mining has gone beyond thier boarders of reach, miners now mine bitcoin right from the comfort of their homes and setup a rig under the improvised renewable source, converting environmental energy waste into use for bitcoin mining.

3.   Do you think the world governments could incentivize those still mining with fossil fuels to transition to clean energy?

The earlier the government knows that this is to thier own detriments, that all the earnings from bitcoin mining would stop coming in for them and government role regarding energy utilization will be less effective with bitcoin mining.

4.   Or will all this calm down one day, Bitcoin and its POW will be left alone, and world leaders will focus on other, more important things?[/quote ]

A time is coming that all this various attacks will cease to exist because everyone would have seen the truth with bitcoin PoW and it's mining, especially when there's a change in power to those that may support bitcoin mining.

[tranthidung]

Governments can do it or try to do it if they want to but to succeed, they must provide solid reasons to ban Bitcoin mining.

Honestly, I don't believe they can provide solid reasons behind their decision. Their citizens are not stupid and in free world, people can have access to multiple resources, governmental and non-governmental so that they can not what governments want to shill is not true.

Bitcoin mining industry contributes to carbon emission so it has effects on Climate change. However, if governments say they must ban Bitcoin mining because of it, just to reduce impact on Climate change, that is not convincing. If they care about Climate change, they should ban other industries that emit more carbon and green house gas than Bitcoin mining.

The latest report from Bitcoin Mining Council does not support governments.

[El Emperador]

A scientific study by Nature magazine on the subject
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-18686-8

[jrrsparkles]

1.   Do you think it will be banned entirely after scaring people with climate change concerns?  

Please vote in the poll and share your thoughts and ideas below.

First of all this is not entirely true, as you said government uses this statement to scare people and for the sake of escape solution if there is a question raised against their coal burning,etc...

Yes the Bitcoin mining requires high amount of electricity but its not that high comparing with the entire banking system, infrastructure, servers required for processing, so I hope in future the mining won't be affected and I expect the government to support mining farms to build ecosystem using renewable energy sources.

[Pmalek]

this kind of their Attack has always been happening without any further consequence on bitcoin network, bitcoin is environmentally friendly and they themselves know that...

Since when does the truth matter in circles that decide the course of action? If you have mass-media behind your back, powerful organizations, financiers, and politics, the truth can be bent to achieve a certain goal. Imagine trying to force the world's population to mass-inject a "cure" or "symptom reducer", for healthy people, lock them up in their homes, and prevent them to work and live freely? Now that would be crazy. But wait, why does that sound familiar and something that worked? 

No, bitcoin mining cannot be banned and i they succeded then it's a way forward to quickly implement the use of renewable energy source allover...

But it's not a question about banning the use of dirty energy in mining and having mining firms switch to renewable energy. It's about banning mining altogether, no matter if the energy is clean or not. If something is banned/illegal, you can't transition to a different source. You might not get caught if you, that doesn't mean you are in the right in their eyes.

The latest report from Bitcoin Mining Council does not support governments.

Like I said earlier, do voices and reports like the one you linked to get enough coverage on controlled media, are they considered in parliaments and senates, will they in the end be reasons why anti-bitcoin agenda will lose?

Yes the Bitcoin mining requires high amount of electricity but its not that high comparing with the entire banking system, infrastructure, servers required for processing

There are banks in the United States that can't go bankrupt ever no matter what they do. They worked out directives that make them essential and irreplaceable to the economy. If they become responsible for billions and trillions of dollars of debt and losses, they will be bailed out and the debts will be paid back by the American people. But if the regular Jos operates a business, goes into debt, and has to file bankruptcy, he won't be bailed out because the future of himself or his family isn't that important.   

[Flexystar]

I will say this again, bitcoin mining never ever impacted anything into the nature. That’s the shit load of maths and anyone with formal degree can calculate it smoothly.

The paradox is that: We invented electric vehicles but we charge them with the electricity that was generated using coal and nuclear plants with nuclear waste being drown to the ocean floors.

. . . . If this this still not concerning to the nature then I am pretty sure bitcoin is way way cleaner than what we already doing or did since hundreds of years.

Bitcoin 10-12 years old and every politician in the world mastered that it’s impacting the carbon emissions just like that. Ever seen smoke coming out of bitcoin mining farm?
The heat that is produced from the mining farms is lesser than what is needed to heat up the entire Europe throughout the winter season and still they blame it for natures disturbances.

All the environmental protection stuff is cover up stories slowly being injected on the minds of people so that they can stop using bitcoin slowly and get into the traditional banking in full fledge format.

This is just complex and well planned agenda being plotted against Bitcoin and it’s usage.

“Bitcoin mining is still greener and still worth it as compared to the mess that we have done with industrialisation”.