With Bitcoin going big, mining has become a costly and intense exercise. It takes a lot of computing power to validate the millions of transactions that happen on a daily basis. This is why environmentalists are down on Bitcoin as a viable mainstream currency. Mining Bitcoin uses the same electrical output as the entire country of Switzerland.
If Bitcoin is adopted by the masses as a legitimate currency, then there will need to be even more servers working overtime to compute and complete the encryptions that are the backbone of the currency.
With climate change front and center in many concerned citizens’ minds, it stands to reason that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general would need to greenify if they stand a chance at growing.
In this article, we will go over what the future could mean for Bitcoin as it attempts to go green and use solar energy to power itself.
Lines between price and profit
A few years ago Bitcoin was generally stable in its value around $2,000 per coin. This meant that for miners to make a profit they needed to find a cheap way to power the servers to do the computing. Once these companies have mined the cryptocurrency they usually sell it onto the open market to be traded by investors who are looking to convert cash to Bitcoin.
Luckily for them, Bitcoin servers are rather portable in the sense that miners could set up shop anywhere in the world where the cost of energy was cheap.
Now that people are more concerned about the environmental cost of this mining it was not looking good for Bitcoin as a viable currency. At the time, renewable energy was more costly than fossil fuels so it would have cut massively into the profit margin and possibly even seen some losses.
Now, Bitcoin shattered the $20,000 mark per coin and at the same time, the cost of using solar and wind power has dropped dramatically. Suddenly, it is feasible to use solar-powered Bitcoin mining.
This could allow Bitcoin to be adopted by the masses and grow as a currency and still be the responsible thing for people concerned about the environment.
It can go anywhere
There are many places all over the world from deserts to regions around the Equator that get a lot of sunlight year round. And there isn’t much of an economy in those areas which makes it an ideal location for Bitcoin mining centers.
They can use solar farms to power the servers and keep costs low since there is no shortage of sunlight. The long days and cloudless skies makes the price per kW hour in those areas very cheap and can compete with fossil fuels.
Another benefit is that bringing cryptocurrency mining centers to those areas can lift the economy. There will be a lot of jobs in construction and maintenance where there was little possibility of work previously.
*This article has been contributed on behalf of Paxful. However, the information provided herein is not and is not intended to be, investment, financial, or other advice.
