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"One of their functions, which Wall Streeters call arbitrage, was to try to buy power at a low price in one place and sell it at a higher price somewhere else."
by ejfinneran 9y ago
"One of their functions, which Wall Streeters call arbitrage, was to try to buy power at a low price in one place and sell it at a higher price somewhere else."
http://articles.latimes.com/2002/may/09/business/fi-scheme9 http://articles.latimes.com/2002/may/09/business/fi-scheme9
Worked great for Enron.
Also, China's energy is cheap because 75% of their grid is powered by burning coal. He doesn't mention climate change at all in this article.
- xyzzyz 9y ago> Also, China's energy is cheap because 75% of their grid is powered by burning coal. What? Most Bitcoin in China is mined using cheap excess hydro power, using coal power would most likely be uneconomical.
- ForHackernews 9y agoI keep hearing this notion repeated, but I've never seen a citation. Do you have any evidence that: a) Most bitcoin in China is mined using hydroelectric power. b) That the generation capacity in question is "excess" (i.e. it would not have been put to productive use except for bitcoin mining) It's also worth noting that damming rivers for hydroelectric power is enormously damaging to the surrounding ecosystem, even if they aren't carbon-emitting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_reservoirs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_reserv...
- scottnyc 9y agoFully agree. Following suggest coal is still the main source of energy for Chinese miners. https://qz.com/1055126/photos-china-has-one-of-worlds-largest-bitcoin-mines/ https://qz.com/1055126/photos-china-has-one-of-worlds-larges... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-15/turning-coal-into-bitcoin-dirty-secret-of-2017-s-hottest-market https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-15/turning-c...
- jettybrew 9y agoChina's bitcoin mining firms essentially get state-subsidized power by giving kickbacks to local officials for below-market rates.