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Bitcoin's staggering energy consumption raises climate concerns

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Bitcoin's 'Staggering' Energy Consumption Raises Climate Concerns (EcoWatch): As bitcoin's fortunes and prominence rise, so do concerns about its environmental impact. The process of mining the cryptocurrency is enormously energy intensive [...]

Bitcoin proponents say that the mining can be powered using renewable energy sources [...] However, the mining process does motivate miners to seek out cheap energy sources. "The more machines a miner operates, the more likely he is to find the solution to the puzzle," the CCAF explained. "However, more machines also means that more electricity is needed to run and cool the equipment, which in turn results in higher costs for the miner in question. Miners are thus always searching for abundant electricity sources at the lowest possible price."

Seeking the cheapest electricity source may mean coal in many places [...] More bitcoin is mined in China than in any other country, and about two-thirds of its electricity still comes from coal...
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How Bitcoin's vast energy use could burst its bubble (BBC): The University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) studies the burgeoning business of cryptocurrencies. It calculates that Bitcoin's total energy consumption is somewhere between 40 and 445 annualised terawatt hours (TWh), with a central estimate of about 130 terawatt hours. The UK's electricity consumption is a little over 300 TWh a year, while Argentina uses around the same amount of power as the CCAF's best guess for Bitcoin.

And the electricity the Bitcoin miners use overwhelmingly comes from polluting sources. The CCAF team surveys the people who manage the Bitcoin network around the world on their energy use and found that about two-thirds of it is from fossil fuels.

[...] Bitcoin is ... actually designed to encourage increased computing effort. The idea is that the more computers that compete to maintain the blockchain, the safer it becomes, because anyone who might want to try and undermine the currency must control and operate at least as much computing power as the rest of the miners put together. What this means is that, as Bitcoin gets more valuable, the computing effort expended on creating and maintaining it - and therefore the energy consumed - inevitably increases.

[...] The two essential features of a successful currency are that it is an effective form of exchange and a stable store of value, says Ken Rogoff, a professor of economics at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He says Bitcoin is neither. "The fact is, it's not really used much in the legal economy now. Yes, one rich person sells it to another, but that's not a final use. And without that it really doesn't have a long-term future."

What he is saying is that Bitcoin exists almost exclusively as a vehicle for speculation...
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llegal Crypto Mining – How cyber criminals tap into your computer: Basically, a distinction must be made between two types of illegal crypto mining. The most widespread method is the use of the crypto mining program Coinhive, which is classified as a “potentially harmful program” by most antivirus programs. Since it is based on JavaScript, it can be easily installed on web pages and is easily downloaded by most browsers. [...] Coinhive-infected websites force their visitors’ devices to dig up crypto-currencies – usually without the victim noticing or obtaining prior consent. Some of them even use the full CPU power ... But this method has a decisive disadvantage for Coinhive users: Cryptocurrencies are only mined as long as someone is actually actively on the website. If they leave the site, the crypto mining process is aborted.

Crypto mining using malware is a completely different matter. This method uses malware specially designed for mining cryptocurrencies. The cybercriminals use different ways to smuggle it onto the computers of their victims. The most popular method of distribution is via infected websites. But pirated software is also suitable as a hiding place for a crypto mining dropper. If a user calls up an infected download website, the malware is loaded onto the computer unnoticed via a drive-by download and begins to dig up a selected crypto currency for the hackers. Since the maximum computing power of the devices is to be used to the full, the cyber criminals must proceed with caution in order not to be discovered while digging. Because if the device is always running at 100 percent computing power, it can hardly be operated by its owner. In most cases, the user will then take countermeasures. As a result, Crypto Mining Malware usually uses only about two thirds of the computing power. In some cases, the malware is even programmed to detect the start of an application that uses resources and to throttle the malware’s activities accordingly. Crypto Mining Malware has even been detected that is able to bypass antivirus programs. However, many independently infected devices do not yet give cybercriminals much use. The important thing is that they can bundle their power to mine crypto currency. A bot network is the ideal tool for this. Some of these networks comprise several thousand computers, and the profits that cybercriminals make are correspondingly high.

First of all: There is no “that” protection against illegal crypto mining, but rather a combination of different security solutions to combat unwanted mining...
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