March 28, 2024

Research: 98% of mining rigs will turn into electronic trash

Although the Bitcoin mining industry remains profitable, its impact on the environmentWednesday should not be underestimated. So, according to a study by PWC blockchain expert and Digiconomist blog author Alex de Fries, 98% of existing equipment will become useless over time and become huge heaps of electronic waste, writes The Sunday Telegraph.

“It is shocking that due to the advent of new generation devices that better cope with the solution of calculations, the average life of the equipment for mining bitcoins is 1.5 years.”- said de Vries.

According to TradeBlock analysts, afterthe upcoming halving in May, the price of bitcoin should rise to $ 15,062 to provide miners with at least a break-even job. And this is subject to an upgrade of at least 30% of the current Antminer S17 + models from Bitmain.

Alex de Vries, however, believes that amid a growing hashrate, 98% of ASIC devices that have only one use case will become simply unnecessary.

According to him, the bitcoin industry already produces more than 10 kilotons of electronic waste per year, which is more than the whole of Luxembourg, and it is expected that after halving this number will only increase.

Research: 98% of mining rigs will turn into electronic trash

Data: Digiconomist

Another issue that pays attentionResearcher, is the huge amount of electricity consumed by Bitcoin. Today, this indicator exceeds the amount of electricity consumed by a country such as Chile (77.78 terawatt hours), and only one BTC transaction emits more carbon dioxide than 780,650 transactions in Visa payment network.

“People react with disbelief, but these numbers are true.”— quoted by de Vries.

Recall earlier this week the largestBitmain mining equipment manufacturer Bitmain has unveiled specifications for the new Antminer S19 and S19 Pro. According to the Chinese company, the new devices will provide miners with a steady income even after the upcoming cryptocurrency halving in May.