The computers needed to create and sustain bitcoin require as much electricity every day as 30 nuclear power reactors running at full capacity. Renewable energy is becoming the preferred way of mining digital currencies like bitcoin as prices surge and the industry seeks more computing power. Compounding the risk from volatile prices, some older operations are under pressure from regulators and investors, even in places where electricity prices are low. “Mining with clean energy is possible and economically sound in those places,” said Guy Lane, director of the Long Future Foundation, an Australian-based non-profit. In Paraguay’s Ciudad del Este, a municipality on the Parana River across the border of southern Brazil, cryptocurrency miners are setting up in the city’s free-trade zone.

Source: Mint February 05, 2018 10:07 UTC