Large-scale cryptocurrency mining operations began popping up across the United States a decade ago. But it was China’s crackdown on miners in 2021, leading many to relocate to the US, that cemented the country’s role as the global hotspot for minting bitcoin. With at least 137 commercial-level facilities across the country, clustered mostly in Texas, the sector uses up to 2.3% of the nation’s grid, according to estimates by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), a government agency that gathers and disseminates statistics on energy use. Whereas Joe Biden had promised to crack down on the industry, Donald Trump wants bitcoin to be “mined, minted and made in the USA”, setting the scene for bitcoin mines to roar louder throughout the rural US in the coming years.
“President Trump and his administration have done a lot to deliver on the promises that they made during the campaign, and we see this industry growing rapidly” Fred Thiel, the CEO of Mara, the world’s largest miner and owner of the 300-megawatt (MW) site in Granbury, told Fox Business in March. “We want to see the US be the dominant bitcoin mining country in the world.” Shortly before that interview, the firm acquired a 354-MW Texan wind farm to power a new mine, and has begun tapping natural gas from oilfields to fuel new facilities.
“They promised to be good neighbors, but so far their noise is constant,” says Dave Simpson, who lives a quarter of a mile from the Wyoming site. The facility is yet to reach full capacity. Simpson worries about how a constant drone will affect his property’s valuation. “I miss the quiet times,” he says.
Fraudster con man loves untraceable money laundering tool, go figure
Not a crypto expert, but I’ve heard countless times from various sources that bitcoin is far from untraceable.
Bitcoin is pseudonomynous. All transactions are public, and thus traceable. but it relies on obscenely large random numbers to work, and if the numbers you generate are sufficiently random, there is no practical way for anyone to link any particular random number to you without additional info.
However, if you are a target of an investigation, and the government compels you to give it your numbers the old fashioned way, then poof! they can now get your entire transaction history without a warrant because it’s all technically public. (They wont necessarily know where the transactions are going unless they conduct a similar exercise on the other side of the transactions.) They can also seize everything left in your wallet – while they may legally need a warrant for that they don’t technically need it if they possess the keys and we’ve seen how the Justice Department in the US is no longer constrained by laws.
This relative pseudoanominity makes it good for money laundering, but not as good as cash. Still, it is hard to move large amounts of cash across borders undetected, but it is as “easy” to move $1 in Bitcoin across a border as it is to move $1B.
Most crypto is traceable, if someone is willing to spend the time and energy on it.
Monero is not traceable. Because of the better privacy, I’m surprised Monero isn’t more popular. But I guess other cryptos are “private enough” while offering other advantages (like not having to mirror the entire blockchain).
Convicted felons love this one simple trick!
One of the neighbors a ¼ mile away from one of these mega mining facilities said they are reading noise levels between 80-100 decibels daily. Imagine some prick opened a giant loud energy sucking machine that’s strictly there to produce profit for them. Nothing tangible beyond that. I just can’t fucking imagine how furious i would be if i was that guy
They’re loud, and the construction of them is pollutes the air with dust and debris. I read a story where someone’s well water and pipes were ruined by all the increased sediment
Mining for bitcoins isn’t even profitable anymore, the stupid loon.
That’s why you’ve got to invent your own coin to pump and dump!
