this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2024
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The Russian government has banned crypto mining in ten regions for a period of six years, according to reporting by the state-owned news agency Tass. Russia has cited the industry’s high power consumption rates as the primary reason behind the ban. Crypto is particularly power-hungry, as mining operations already account for nearly 2.5 percent of US energy use.

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[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 36 points 7 months ago
[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 7 months ago

heartbreaking: the worst person you know just made a great point

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 14 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Knowing Russia has been endorsing mining for years, that means their economy is so severely damaged it's on brink of collapsing

[–] GammaGames@beehaw.org 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

It’s only been legal to mine in Russia for a few months, and you still have to register with the government if you use over a certain amount of energy to monitor consumption. How is that endorsing?

Edit: Ah, it’s part of their attempt to get around sanctions:

“As part of the experimental regime, it is possible to use bitcoins, which we had mined here in Russia (in foreign trade transactions)," Siluanov told Russia 24 television channel.
"Such transactions are already occurring. We believe they should be expanded and developed further. I am confident this will happen next year," he said, adding that international payments in digital currencies represent the future.

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 12 points 7 months ago

The fact that they're spending money with a ban instead of raising money with a pigouvian tax tells us that they don't just want to save resources.

My conspiracy theory: the Russian economy is on the brink of collapse. The government is worried that its subjects will abandon the Ruble, and a mine is a huge source of money that people can use to flee the country or defect.

[–] GhiLA@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Seems like a terrible thing to invest in.

It gets more difficult as it goes along, requiring more power, more hardware, more energy...

At some point doesn't it break some kind of negative even, no matter how good you're doing? Eventually, it would have to be worth an extravagant amount to make it worth mining.

Isn't it a straight shot right into the garbage at base value?

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 months ago

The "difficulty" of the problem being solved automatically adjusts.