Bitcoin mining is something of the most curious, while on the one hand, the Bitcoin network is managing to solve the scalability problems that are the result of its characteristic type of consensus (PoW), through second layer implementations or sidechains, On the other hand, miners try to do their mining work in the best possible way, and lowering electricity costs.
As is well known, the Bitcoin mining process (which is the process of creating new blocks) happens thanks to the verification of the transactions and events that are executed within the chain itself. The miners are in charge of verifying these transactions to add them to the corresponding block where they stay registered, in a constant use of the technology of hashes and elemental cryptography.
Throughout this process, miners are rewarded with new units of Bitcoin for each block produced. Of course, the verification or mining process becomes more and more complex as the number of operations increases exponentially, and it is for all this that Bitcoin miners require (also given the Proof of Work consensus that uses the network) of increasingly powerful computers.
While it is true that online mining exists, which is remote-type mining that is executed through the cloud, it is also true that the mining that produces the most blocks and on which the network is based is private and direct, that is, that is carried out by individuals with ASIC mining computers, which are very powerful equipment suitable for the task of solving complex mathematical computations, act which is mining itself.
Now, the Bitcoin network is decentralized, which means that no one can monopolize the transactional verification system, because the same system guarantees that those who have the most powerful equipment (the ones who can verify the blocks in the shortest time possible) being the verifyers and those who can get the minning reward before anyone else.
But there is anothe fact the miners has to take account in the minning proccess.
In the midst of all this, miners know very well that mining itself is a process that generates large electricity consumption, and that such electricity costs are high in some countries.
Since these electricity costs can be seen as production costs, miners try to lower them by establishing their mining equipment where electricity service is cheap. This is why until recently, the country with the highest level of global mining was China, because due to the low costs of electricity in that country, a large part of the Bitcoin miners owned mining farms there.
But China prohibited the use and mining of cryptocurrencies within its territory not too long ago, and this made miners have to turn their eyes to other countries with low electricity costs; This is how countries like Paraguay have become one of the new target destinations for Bitcoin miners.
Paraguay is a small country in South America with just over 6 million inhabitants, but in that country electricity is very cheap, due it produces more electricity than it requires to supply its population. And this is evidenced by the fact that Paraguay provides electricity for some of its close neighbors (such as Argentina and Brazil), in view of this, Chinese Bitcoin miners (and many miners from other countries) have chosen this country for establish its mining farms and continue its block production activity.
As well as Paraguay, there are several other countries that are being taken advantage of by the miners of the Bitcoin network to continue with their mining work due to their low electricity costs. However, as crypto regulations increase in most of the planet, fewer and fewer options are left in the picture, that is, there are fewer and fewer countries that are really conducive to low-cost mining and this could be seen as a problem for the Bitcoin ecosystem in the not too distant future.
Given the aforementioned, in the most benign scenario, it will turn out that if there are not enough miners available in the Bitcoin network, what will happen in the first place is that verification operations will slow down, and transaction costs will rise exponentially. But in the worst case scenario, the functioning of the network may really suffer and the very and total survival and permanence of the network itself can be in risk.
Due to all the aforementioned, it is normal for us to wonder if Bitcoin will really come into existence until the 2140 year, as stipulated. But I believe that we should not be alarmed, because there are many reasons to remain optimistic in this regard. On the one hand, we have the second layer solutions of the Bitcoin network (such as Lighning Network and Liquidity Network), and on the other, we have crypto developers striving more and more to create new alternatives to make more efficient, faster and scalable the verification and mining processes within the network.
As if that were not enough, I think that the intrinsic value of Bitcoin as a project, and the price of BTC itself, will increase more and more in this process. One of the proofs of this is that Elon Musk, who had refused to continue receiving BTC as a means of payment for the purchase of Tesla vehicles on the grounds that Bitcoin mining was not energy-friendly, has recently raised in his statements the possibility that Tesla maybe it will accept BTC again.
If this happens, it would be a remarkable and very important fact, because many companies and investors worldwide would take it as a signal that Bitcoin now it is really ecologically friendly in its mining process, and thanks to it, they will decide to invest in BTC. And you know, if more investors put their money in Bitcoin, the greater the capitalization market it will own and the price it will reach.
So, despite all the current setbacks, I believe that Bitcoin has a great future ahead of it and that many altcoins will also be able to take advantage of the advances that the Bitcoin network is making, which as a pioneer network in the cryptographic world, is always configuring (before than any other network) the best way in his walk and showing it.
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