[LINK] Crypto crash and power use

[hamish at moffatt.email]

On 16/11/22 13:39, Jan Whitaker wrote:
> HI Linkers
>
> I haven't read the stories on the crypto crashing, but I wondered if 
> this might reduce the power hogging their server farms use. Or is 
> value of the currency not related at all? 


It definitely is related. Miners get paid in coins; if a coin is worth 
$10k but you spent $30k on electricity, you lose. At $60k it would be 
worth it. The drop in price cuts out the less efficient miners.

The lower prices for crypto have restored the prices of computer 
graphics cards to normal too. You can't use a graphics card for Bitcoin 
mining, but other coins can.


Ethereum switched their basis from proof of work (computationally 
expensive / wasteful of electricity) to proof of stake recently, which 
significantly cut its energy usage. Bitcoin is unchanged though.



Hamish