You've likely heard of the immense amount of energy that cryptocurrency mining consumes and the negative impact on the environment.
It should therefore be alarming to learn that Bitcoin miners have been buying whole power plants in an attempt to make a lot of the speculative asset.
Stronghold Digital Mining, a Pennsylvania-based holding company, is currently operating a Bitcoin mining operation. It uses the Scrubgrass power station in Venango County in Pennsylvania. This plant was purchased by the company in the summer of 2021.
Stronghold raised $105million to open the power station for its Bitcoin mining ventures. The power plant currently uses coal waste to generate enough energy to power 1,800 bitcoin mining computers.
Stronghold Digital Mining claims that the company currently burns 600,000 tonnes of coal waste at Scrubgrass each year to power its Bitcoin mining operations. The company intends to make this information public by filings Stronghold with the SEC.
It gets worse. Stronghold plans to expand its coal-burning power station operations.
The company purchased a second Pennsylvania power plant, called Panther Creek power station, in August. The company is also looking to add a third power plant.
Bitcoin mining requires powerful computer processors to solve complex mathematical equations. This is how the blockchain, or cryptocurrency's digital ledger, is maintained. Bitcoin miners are rewarded with the cryptocurrency when these math problems have been solved.
The more computational power an individual has, the more equations can be solved and more Bitcoin they can earn. Because of the intense nature of the process, individuals can't earn Bitcoin just by using the computing power they have. To mine Bitcoin, miners spend thousands to thousands of dollars on equipment. But only multi-million-dollar operations can mine enough Bitcoin to make it profitable.
According to The University of Cambridge's bitcoin electricity consumption index, Bitcoin miners will consume around 130 Terawatt-hours of power (TWh). TechCrunch points to the fact that Bitcoin's carbon dioxide emissions is roughly equal to Jordan with 10 million inhabitants.
The cherry on top is that Stronghold Digital Mining's Bitcoin power plants profits are funded by taxpayers.
Bloomberg reports that Pennsylvania offers tax credits to burn coal waste. Stronghold estimates that each Bitcoin earned through mining will cost the company less than $3,000.
Bitcoin traded at over $42,000 at the time of this article. This is a good profit for a taxpayer-subsidized cryptocurrency mine operation that's destroying the environment.
