12 Comments

I'm glad to see this getting some attention. There's no rational response to cryptocurrency that doesn't involve outrage. I'll share a link to your article in my next climate-focused newsletter (not this week as it's my vaccine week).

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Exactly. The more research I do on this, the harder it is to wrap my head around the ridiculousness of the whole thing. But there's more, and that will be next week's post.

And Thanks for sharing the link. I really appreciate any opportunity to find more readers! Looking forward to it, and please let me know if I can provide any additional info. Would be happy to.

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Lots of great information. I knew it was bad, but not how REALLY bad. The NFT craze always reminded me of The Emperor's New Clothes fairytale. What I don't understand: how can crypto-currency be used? Is it just like stockmarket gambling? What else can one buy besides NFTs?

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Crypto currency started off with noble ambitions: A global currency which no single government or dictator can manipulate, a currency truly anonymous that you can't track it to an individual (avoiding surveillance). i.e. true financial freedom. But the reality has gone off track, and now its a speculative asset which big money pumps and dumps. And governments still regulate it. So for many such reasons, it has nearly become gambling. Unlike stocks, where you can analyze a company's market performance and and find a "fair price", crypto is almost entirely speculation ... simply because we don't actually use it as currency. And the sheer volatility in it prevents it from being used as one. Hope this explanation helps? Next week's post will elaborate on the social aspects in more detail :)

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Thanks. Looking forward to your next post.

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Thank you for shedding more light on this. I knew a bit about it from some reporting in The NY Times about an actor who was anti-crypto and this was one of the reasons, but I didn’t know about China or Montana (my home state) or connect the dots with the Texas grid failure so thank you! I have never bought crypto nor plan to in the future and I hope I am smart enough to not take financial advice from sports figures. But now I realize I need to write another letter to the one Senator in my state who might listen around our coal and crypto mining policies. It sounds like as the world begins to rely more and more on electricity we’re going to need to shut any wastefulness down so that we don’t freeze in the winter and fry in the summer.

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Janelle, Your comment made my day. Part of my lofty, ambitious goal writing this newsletter was to get people to take action in their own communities, by providing niche information that doesn't occupy center-stage in the media. I am glad you are considering writing to your senator and I truly appreciate your readership! Thank you. Please feel free to email if you need more info on this topic, and I would be happy to share my research for this post (which contains more specific data). Push back from such informed citizens has already led to legislation in NY last week. I agree that we need to be more careful about our power grid with everything being electrified (I still have the post on grid stability on my calendar :) )

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Thank you! I really appreciate your work, and am glad to reach out to my Senator and other state legislators. I would love to see the research you did on Montana. Could you email me at jhold35@gmail.com? I don't know where to find your email here.

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Nov 26, 2022Liked by D'Nivra

I never thought about what's going on behind the scene, never even realized this was an issue. Thanks for sharing this information, it was for sure inlightful

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Right? It sounds so benign but its crazy how carbon intensive it has become. Glad you found it useful!

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Nov 26, 2022·edited Nov 26, 2022Liked by D'Nivra

Thanks for sharing. This issue will gain traction going forwards. The cryptocurrency sector brings a whole lot of negative connotations in relation to climate change, and only few people talk about them.

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I appreciate your readership, Adetokunbo! I also find it surprising how little coverage this issue gets. But I think the tide is turning. And Bitcoin continues to crash, mining becomes less profitable and less carbon intensive. So in the end, the market may save us.

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