Global Energy Crisis: The end of PoW?

[Abiky]

Now with oil prices rising to the moon (due to the US-Israel-Iran war), it will be more expensive to mine PoW cryptocurrencies at home. Particularly, Bitcoin and a few prominent PoW alts (Litecoin, Dogecoin). Even countries where electricity is cheap, prices are starting to rise. China is beginning to feel the pain of the Iran war, with the rising cost of oil. The increased difficulty of obtaining oil through the Strait of Hormuz, will certainly increase power costs in the country.

If crude oil goes to $200 a barrel, then we'd be all doomed. It will be so expensive to mine BTC and other PoW cryptocurrencies at home. Perhaps, this will force most miners to shift into PoS "shitcoins".

What do you think? Will rising oil prices mark the end of PoW? If not, why?

Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[shinratensei_]

This is why nuclear power plant is the way and the future of energy. No more fossil fuel. What we need is low carbon emission and high energy density. The future of humanity won't advance if we don't invest into it. At the end of the day if crude oil got choked to the brim just because a strait is closed, isn't it far better to eliminate the problem by switching to nuclear power plant?
Anyway, I heard miners are using renewable energies so it will be less impacted than any other sector that used non-renewable energy such as AI data center.

[viljy]

Miners will not switch to shitcoins. They will simply stop the equipment until the bitcoin price becomes profitable. The hashrate of the network will decrease, but the difficulty will also decrease. Up to a certain balance. Something else is more interesting. The oil factor should push the price of bitcoin up, but the chaos in the economy pushes the price down (by withdrawing money from bitcoin, investors cover losses in other assets). On the other hand, bitcoin is interesting as a promising safe haven asset, which should push the price up. Of the assets of the safe havens, only gold remains, and treasuries are turning into toxic assets. Real estate and gold have huge flaws - location-based (real estate) and difficult to transport (gold) - bitcoin does not have these flaws.

How will all these factors affect the price of bitcoin? Everything that used to be doesn't work anymore, bitcoin during the war and the global economic crisis is completely different from bitcoin in peacetime.

[Alpha Marine]

What do you think? Will rising oil prices mark the end of PoW? If not, why?

Currently, more than half of the energy for Bitcoin mining comes from alternative energy sources like hydo, wind, solar and nuclear. I think about 54% or so. The oil prices will make energy prices more expensive of course, but not to the level of putting an end to PoW. Worse case scenario, miners will reduce their usuage of natural gas even lower than the current rate which is aroun 20-35%.

This is why nuclear power plant is the way and the future of energy. No more fossil fuel. What we need is low carbon emission and high energy density.

Not just nuclear, but other alternative sources too. Strategically placed dams will reduce flooding and also generate a shit ton of energy. We need to invest more in solar energy and wind turbines. Although the world has evolved a lot because currently, about 30-40% of the world's energy comes from oil, I feel it can be better than that. As expensive as it may seen to set up, if the world is serious, we can reduces the reliance on oil for energy to about 20-30%

[dansus021]

If crude oil goes to $200 a barrel, then we'd be all doomed. It will be so expensive to mine BTC and other PoW cryptocurrencies at home. Perhaps, this will force most miners to shift into PoS "shitcoins".

What do you think? Will rising oil prices mark the end of PoW? If not, why?

Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Agreed especially in a country that made energy from the source of oil and gas, tho because oil is high the price of coal is get soaring too. Miner would force to shutdown their rig if mining isnt viable unless first they have dirt cheap electricity or they move to another country or the ASIC manufacturer keep producing high efficient mining that is impossible in sort of time

But end of PoW is too soon in my opinion the price of oil could be finnaly had a correction just like other instrument aswell the price gonna down at the local support zone in my opinion

[demondelanuit]

I think, the rise in oil prices will not bring about the end of PoW. Because although mining costs are tied to electricity prices, the global energy mix is variable and miners turn to efficiency, renewable energy, and geographic arbitrage. Large scale operations relocate to cheaper sources or negotiate special agreements. Additionally, many major cryptocurrencies are not transitioning from PoW to PoS. Therefore, while home mining is declining, it is unlikely that PoW will completely disappear. I believe that increasing costs will still accelerate mining centralization and increase environmental and regulatory pressures.

[X-ray]

Coal is the more common fossil fuel for global electricity generation and not oil. The mining farm will be fine because nobody is running a generator with oil in their mining farm like ever. The cheap electricity are all coming from coal and you can be rest assured that the distribution supply isn't going to be blocked because of high availability across countries.