War is breaking out in Washington state. A very civilized war, based mostly around numbers...numbers of megawatt usage...and hydroelectric dams.
Enter East Wenatchee, a city in the Columbia river valley-region of Washington State. Owing to an abundance of hydroelectric power thanks to the aforementioned river, megawatt-hour rates are very affordable in Columbia. Affordable enough to have been attracting miners almost since the beginning of the Bitcoin mining boom.
As reported by Politico, power devoted to commercial miners is already sucking up 30 megawatts a day, or as much as 13,000 homes. Politico further goes on to predict that by the end of 2018, this are in Washington could account for between 15% and 30% of all worldwide Bitcoin mining.
Politico related an amusing anecdote where foreign (Asian) "businessman" on some sort of "tour" of the hydroelectric dam requested to speak with the "dam master" so they could arrange "buying some electricity."
As I reported last week, power-related squabbles pertaining to Bitcoin mining are only increasing as of late. Shared power resources are a bit like a "take a penny, leave a penny" tray - and Bitcoin miners have found how to take most of them while not leaving any. Call it a loophole, or against the "spirit" of public utilities - but until something legal is changed, this is really no different than you deciding to power a pointless collection of electronic collectibles. The only real difference is that these "power seekers" are engaged in a profitable venture, as opposed to simply wasting their energy on hot tubs and outdoor track lighting.
I'm sure that won't prevent the creation of new "regulations" to control these entrepreneurs. We wouldn't want anyone experiencing any upward financial mobility, now would we?
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Sources: Google, CoinTelegraph, Politico, ZH
Copyright: Politico, Live Bitcoin News, Bloomberg