New top story on Hacker News: Crypto mining of crypto currencies could influence Venezuala economy?
Crypto mining of crypto currencies could influence Venezuala economy?
4 by jamesmurray | 3 comments on Hacker News.
(Note: This is not a "pro-crypto" post. I am not a crypto proponent nor do I have any libertarian ideologies. I hate the price increases on GPUs, I laughed at Bitcoin when it hit 50k or whatever, etc.) Shouldn't we expect to see crypto mining of cryptocurrencies (yes crypto-crypto mining) to become prevalent in Venezuela at a scale to influence the economy? Basically, my argument is that we should expect to see a massive amount of mining from small to moderate scale rigs in the economy. Using the efficient market framework, crypto mining can be seen as conversion of electricity (and the amortized value of hardware) into cryptocurrency. Because of Venezuela's currency collapse (as well as standard issues of the government propping up electricity prices), there's a huge gulf between electricity prices and the value of USD. My guess is that if you look at the figures, the incentives are truly enormous. This is being exploited by the authorities, but separate to this, but I would expect to see lower-middle class and up to get into mining in a huge way (albeit individually at a low scale). This is because if I can stash a small rig somewhere, then I can produce currency.This seems like a viable way to save funds at a personal/family level. If any of the above logic is true, the following questions are interesting: - Is anyone seeing evidence of this? - Will this occur on a massive-enough scale influence the provision of electricity? - Is this one actual use case of crypto currency that can affect history in a benevolent (or at least neutral) way by "democratizing" wealth?
4 by jamesmurray | 3 comments on Hacker News.
(Note: This is not a "pro-crypto" post. I am not a crypto proponent nor do I have any libertarian ideologies. I hate the price increases on GPUs, I laughed at Bitcoin when it hit 50k or whatever, etc.) Shouldn't we expect to see crypto mining of cryptocurrencies (yes crypto-crypto mining) to become prevalent in Venezuela at a scale to influence the economy? Basically, my argument is that we should expect to see a massive amount of mining from small to moderate scale rigs in the economy. Using the efficient market framework, crypto mining can be seen as conversion of electricity (and the amortized value of hardware) into cryptocurrency. Because of Venezuela's currency collapse (as well as standard issues of the government propping up electricity prices), there's a huge gulf between electricity prices and the value of USD. My guess is that if you look at the figures, the incentives are truly enormous. This is being exploited by the authorities, but separate to this, but I would expect to see lower-middle class and up to get into mining in a huge way (albeit individually at a low scale). This is because if I can stash a small rig somewhere, then I can produce currency.This seems like a viable way to save funds at a personal/family level. If any of the above logic is true, the following questions are interesting: - Is anyone seeing evidence of this? - Will this occur on a massive-enough scale influence the provision of electricity? - Is this one actual use case of crypto currency that can affect history in a benevolent (or at least neutral) way by "democratizing" wealth?
