Plattsburgh Follows Through With Bitcoin Mining Ban On No Legal/Moral Grounds
Well, Plattsburgh went through with it. They have become the first city to ban (new) bitcoin mining - expect old operations to be targetted later.
After stirring up the requisite populist approval from local morons, Bitcoin now has the distinction of being the only legal use for electricity now unjustly banned on no fundamental ethical logic.
This is exactly the sort of self-righteous, fascistic tack we can expect increasingly more groups of out-of-touch technopobes and government plutocrats, given their salaries depend on the maintenance of their monopoly ion seignorage and endless deficit spending and money printing.
This new regulation comes at a time of other concerns for Bitcoin miners. Owing to the extended drop in crypto prices and the near death cross on Bitcoin (50 DMA crossing under 200 DMA), mining profitability is not exactly at recording breaking levels. The whole reason these crypto-entrepreneurs are out looking for the best power prices are because they are already running on slim margins. This is a dangerous situation, as miners must be incentivized to continue processing transactions and preventing 51% attacks on the network.
After the cost of hardware, constructions, refrigeration (often necessary), burned out components, and the inevitable tax of non-100% mining up-time...the truth is, Bitcoin mining is not that profitable right now. In fact, we're dangerously close to break-even for many miners as the decreasing rate of Bitcoin release comes up against the increasing rate of network hashpower and total miners.
In fact, yet another difficulty increase is just around the corner that will take another bite out of miner profits.
Though I may have supported less heavy-handed measures, such as graduated power rates that increase for users as they pass certain megawatt-hour usage rates each month, I can in no way support a complete ban with no moral or legal justification outside schadenfreude and jealousy. This is not an attempt to curtail power use, but ban and attack something new and different out of ignorance and malice.
I hope it costs the city governments their jobs.
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If using public utilities becomes a widespread issue, then I guess the alternative (literally) is to give the renewable energy resources a try. Maybe alt coin mining will be the way to make those more cost efficient, more energy efficient, and more streamlined. Get off the grid!
Realizing here that we're talking solar and/or wind farms to generate megawatts of electricity probably, but the only way I see to get away from the government is to decentralize it all.
Or wait it out, until the cities and states who are forward thinking enough are the ones left prospering with a concentration of alt coin mining while the others fall completely apart.
I like the proactive (prevent governmental intervention) myself, but that might not be the most practically achieved.
I've wanted to install solar panels on my house for a while now. Not to eliminate my electricity bill, but at least help put a dent in it.
So have I. I guess I could look at the prices again. The last time I did, admittedly, several years ago, the price of panel vs. solar efficiency vs. obsolescence didn't make sense. It was like 100 years before they paid for themselves. :)
We do have a neighbor that put some up a few years ago that I've been meaning to ask how it's going.
And I'm in an area where sunlight isn't the strongest year round (Minnesota). Though the Tesla solar shingles recently got my attention. I'm posting close attention to those. They seem like they'll be an interesting investment...
In many places, including an area I recently lived, they won't even let you do this. They charge you if you overproduce as some sort of wicked back-end subsidy to the power company.
My area is a bit more progressive, and they've been encouraging solar power. I know a couple people in the metro have actually made sales arrangements to sell electricity back to the local power utility.
True statement - "the only way I see to get away from the government is to decentralize it all". I believe we all call that true sovereignty.
You make some great points above. Especially I liked the one about how these are public utilities we are getting upset about lets not forget public utilities were designed for basic needs of the people and are not always prepared to handle major advances in technology.
Answer: renewable energy from the people. Lets not forget, its the people that drive innovation, the government just reacts to it.
Hey @lexiconical , this is a great post that will update all Bitcoin fans . Also people should be aware ;
80% OF TOTAL BITCOIN SUPPLY HAVE NOW BEEN MINED;
Only 20% left to be mined .
THERE ARE ONLY 4.2 MILLIONS BITCOINS LEFT TO MINE:
So far, 16,800,000 BTC have been mined and there’s only 20 percent left for miners to acquire. When Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the bitcoin protocol to the public by launching the codebase in 2009, the cryptocurrency came with a capped supply. The supply will never be increased and Nakamoto set the number to 21 million bitcoins ever to be found. So far the creator’s plan and miners securing the network have successfully secured this rule from changing with hashpower. Theoretically, however, skeptics believe there could be a way to increase the supply through manipulative tactics such as a 51 percent or Sybil attack. As the digital asset’s life approaches a decade no one has been able to break the rules of 21 million supply cap.
SOLVING THE GENERAL'S PROBLEM :
This has given individuals reason to believe that Satoshi solved one of the hardest computational equations, the Byzantine General’s problem, a security flaw that had plagued computer scientists for decades. Essentially the problem exists with distributed networks as the issue brings certain faults or security flaws making it easy to attack. This, in turn, makes it hard for protocols to prove something because there is an unsolvability proof within the network.
PROOF OF WORK :
With Satoshi’s Proof-of-Work in the original bitcoin protocol, the economic measure makes it difficult to attack by making threats to the network costly, and time-consuming. For the first time ever in the world of digital computing, Satoshi introduced an asset that couldn’t be copied or double spent. And at the same time, he limited the supply which also introduced digital scarcity like no other technology before it.
DIGITAL SCARCITY AND THE NEXT HALVING :
Because there are only 21 million bitcoins the cryptocurrency’s limited availability make the asset harder to acquire the more scarce it becomes. In most cases when an asset is limited and resources are harder to come by, the supply causes demand for the market. The supply of bitcoin shows a significant gap between how many there are and those who want to obtain some. A great majority of bitcoiners believe digital scarcity will make bitcoin more valuable over time, and with 16.8Mn mined so far it will get harder.

In addition to the difficulty in accessibility miners themselves are going to have to up their processing power constantly. In two years or less depending on hashrate speed, the next miner reward halving is approaching. This means instead of miners getting 12.5 BTC for every block they mine they will get 6.25 BTC in two years time. This network consensus agreement of a halving every four years will make bitcoins more difficult to obtain even for the large warehouses all over the world filled with data processors. Every one of them and ASIC technology itself will have to progress for mining operations to continue profiting. Of course, the price per bitcoin should also be higher than the cost to mine the currency as well
That was quite a comment. If you wrote it, you should make it a whole post.
Really though. That's a bot for sure!
Yeah, the 2 rep is a dead giveaway it's an undesirable. It's hard to get that low.
All in all good article, awareness is important it gives us guidance in what direction we need to head next. Just remember, this whole thing is about taking our power back, we cant do that by playing the victim role. Focus on solution not the problem in other words. You may be saying just that and if so excuse me for my preachiness.
Because if it costs the city governments their jobs they will just be replaced by more of the same city government jobs, remember that. Like cutting the tail off a lizard it'll just grow back. The only way to show our sovereignty, is to prove it.
"this whole thing is about taking our power back"
No pun intended.
Nice! No I swear I didn't even catch that one. See you did. Haha. Too funny.
Thanks a lot for sharing your valuable post....
Carry on next
Best of luck..
I will still wait for your next post....
Very valuable post and bitcoin is a fore ever
Yes.thanks
For future viewers: price of bitcoin at the moment of posting is 8040.50USD
Sadly, you are one of my more human and engaged commenters this week.
For future viewers: I am aware I am conversing with a bot.
LOL
Dire isn't it, and this latest Bitcoin mining ban news too.
Is it easy to spot a miner?
'No officer, I've got 20 plants upstairs that's why'
Edit: I couldn't resist..
https://steemit.com/dmania/@zapncrap/meanwhile-in-plattsburgh-zg1hbmlh-3gb6w
Yeah, honestly, anyone familiar with the legal system already knows there is really no good reason to be an over-consumer of electricity. It already brings with it a stigma and its fair share of problems...
If they want to prevent the subsidy of Bitcoin mining, simply charge higher metered rates for individual users past X megwatt hours/month.
Hahaha, that's how I feel on some posts, just talking to bots.
It seems to me the battleground is set as the all-out war on cryptos is ramping up. The list of attackers is growing daily. There will be casualties; hopefully not just in the crypto side.
According to Fortune magazine at least, it's only an 18 month moratorium. By then, hopefully someone will pitch a simple cost escalation for miners. Hell, they could hire the proverbial room full of monkeys and they should be able to figure out out. It's just a small NY town (oh yeah, constructive criticism: you never mentioned the state), so if they can't figure it out in a year and a half, screw them ;)
Thats an amaizing post