https://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/economy-and-ecology/how-cr…
Crypto mining involves the verification of digital transactions in order to receive cryptocurrencies as a reward. To illustrate the scale of the problem, let’s just look the staggering electricity consumption of the biggest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin: it is comparable to the power consumption of Thailand and has a carbon footprint similar to that of Kuwait.
Ultimately, miners are therefore after one simple thing: cheap electricity. But as electricity prices can fluctuate over time, miners might move on to the next country once their activities have become too costly in one place. This makes mining a highly unpredictable endeavour – in particular for power grids and electricity providers.
According to the article China has banned all crypto mining. Soaring energy prices and power blackouts in Kosovo led to a government ban. “a massive blackout that also affected neighbouring Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan – a country where about 70 per cent of energy is produced with particularly dirty ‘hard’ coal and a preferred destination for miners that had to leave China – also temporarily banned all mining activities.” “several Scandinavian countries intend to ban crypto mining despite their advances in the energy transition, as it sucks up too much of their renewable energy production – which is more urgently needed for essential services.”