Kahn: Decentralized mining incentivizes cheap fossil fuels over Big Tech net-zero goals
Brian Kahn · How bitcoin is keeping zombie power plants alive · Apr 20, 2022 · at 9:51
Brian Kahn is a climate journalist discussing the difference in carbon commitments between big tech companies like Google and decentralized Bitcoin mining networks.
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“When it comes to these big tech companies, like Google, for example, like they want to get to net zero. They want to get to a hundred percent renewables. That is like a centralized decision that Google is making for crypto and for cryptocurrency mining in particular, no one's making centralized decisions necessarily. Instead it's this decentralized decision-making process where everyone is actually like, okay, like what's the cheapest way to get the most cash out of this, to generate the most Bitcoins possible. And to do that requires I mean, in a lot of cases, fossil fuel energy”
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