美國能源部 (DOE) 正在仔細研究比特幣 {BTC} 的開采。

這是否值得警惕？

更具體地說，美國能源部下屬的統計機構能源信息管理局（EIA）將在提出“緊急收集數據請求”后，從下周開始對選定的美國礦商在未來六個月內的用電量進行調查。

這是 Node 時事通訊的摘錄，該時事通訊是 CoinDesk 及其他領域最關鍵的加密貨幣新聞的每日綜述。

您可以在此處訂閱以獲取完整的新聞通訊。

鑒于“緊急”命令的措辭和現任政府對加密貨幣的批評立場，許多人擔心收集的信息將被用來為采礦業提供潛在有害的政策。

EIA 在其公開文件中指出，通過加密貨幣挖礦收集數據可能會造成“公共傷害”。

“環境影響評估是政策中立的機構，不制定政策、實施政策、執行政策或對政策發表評論。

EIA 發言人摩根·巴特菲爾德 (Morgan Butterfield) 在電子郵件回復中告訴 CoinDesk。

“我們收集的數據結果將有助于我們了解未來六個月定期三年清關的前進方向?！?/p>

但政策中立并不一定意味著調查不會影響政策。

有足夠的理由相信，通過進行這項調查，EIA 正在詢問有關比特幣的更大用途以及它是否有益于社會的問題，并且已經有了答案。

例如，管理和預算辦公室授予緊急命令的理由是最近的加密貨幣價格上漲，比特幣在幾個月內上漲了 50% 以上，EIA 表示這將“激勵更多的加密貨幣挖礦活動，這反過來又增加了電力消耗?！?/p>

“鑒于這個問題的新興和快速變化的性質，并且由于我們無法定量評估公共傷害的可能性，EIA 感到迫切需要生成可靠的數據，以便深入了解這一正在展開的問題，”它說。

Butterfield 表示，運營著約 150 個設施的 82 家公司被選為全國“加密貨幣公司領域”的代表。

該機構指出 2018 年普拉茨堡遭遇寒流，以證明加密貨幣對公眾構成的風險是合理的。

報告寫道：“加密貨幣挖礦增加和電力系統緊張的綜合影響導致電力市場的不確定性增加，這可能導致需求高峰，從而影響系統運營和消費者價格?！?/p>

Since then, New York State has passed a two-year moratorium on opening new crypto mining facilities unless they are powered entirely by renewable energy. Texas, which was a major benefactor after China passed a nation-wide crypto mining ban, has also sought to slow down the mining industry. Crypto miners in Texas work directly with the state-owned grid operator and get paid to power down during periods of peak demand or moments of network stress.

See also: How Texas Became a Global Mecca for Bitcoin Mining

To be fair, a public version of the survey shows the EIA is asking fairly routine questions of mining firms, including how many and what type of chips they’re running, their electricity consumption at the facility and how much goes directly towards mining.

“We will specifically focus on how the energy demand for cryptocurrency mining is evolving, identify geographic areas of high growth, and quantify the sources of electricity used to meet cryptocurrency mining demand,” the agency said in a statement. The reports are due on the last Friday of the month until the end of July, after which it may be renewed.

Further, there’s an argument to be made that having high-level statistics like this will benefit the country and the industry, given that it’s more detailed information, straight from the horse’s mouth.

At the moment, the best data we have for the mining industry’s footprint come from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, which gives hypothetical lower- and upper-bound estimates of the Bitcoin network’s daily energy consumption, essentially by extrapolating out from the current hashrate.

But you have to ask, why run the survey now? Why was the most recent run-up in bitcoin prices a cause for an emergency but not others? It’s worth noting that the Biden administration has prioritized reducing the country’s carbon footprint. And that crypto-critical Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) asked federal regulators to have crypto miners disclose their emissions and energy use.

Bitcoin mining will likely become a popular topic of debate in the media in the run-up to halvening event, the programmatic reduction in the “bitcoin subsidy” paid to miners that happens every four years. It’s not yet clear how the halvening will impact the mining sector beyond making less-efficient mining equipment unusable in the short-term. Some are expecting the crypto carbon footprint to grow in the coming years, while others see it shrinking.

Moreover, in recent months, there has been something of a public reckoning on Bitcoin’s environmental cost, particularly after the second-largest network, Ethereum reduced its energy consumption by 99% through a single upgrade. While some organizations like Greenpeace are pushing for Bitcoin to abandon energy-intensive mining, some are starting to see the sector as a boon to environmentalism.

Read more: How Does Bitcoin Mining Work? - CoinDesk

例如，劍橋最近下調了對比特幣年度能源使用量的估計，麻省理工學院和畢馬威等機構也發布了報告，認為該網絡可以幫助“平衡”電網，補貼可再生能源開發，并有助于綠色經濟。

挖礦是一個能源密集型過程——比特幣運行的加密算法工作量證明 (POW) 是由計算機科學家設計的，旨在通過增加交互成本來抑制網絡上的垃圾郵件、女巫攻擊和拒絕服務 (DoS) 攻擊通過服務器，通常以解決數學難題的計算機處理時間的形式。

一些反對挖礦過程的觀察家經常將比特幣挖礦描述為“浪費”的能源，但事實并非如此——這些能源是有目的地被用作一種代幣或一種證明形式。

比特幣礦工競相“解決”的問題沒有任何意義，因為它們不會增加人類知識體系，也不會為像 Folding@home 這樣的富有成效的東西做出貢獻，但它們確實具有價值——保護網絡。

這就是棘手的部分：對比特幣進行估值。

比特幣值多少錢？

標準的反應是看看市場對其的估值，在撰寫本文時約為 42,000 美元。

但大多數圍繞比特幣巨大能源足跡的真正爭論與比特幣的價格無關。

相反，它們以比特幣的成本和收益為中心。

我希望我能說 EIA 的調查將幫助我們更好地了解這些成本和收益。

然而，調查作者似乎已經回答了他們自己的問題，即比特幣是否對公眾構成風險，并正在尋找數據來支持這一結論。

熱點：挖礦 比特幣 比特幣挖 比特幣挖礦