PayPal’s Sustainable BTC Mining: Crypto Incentives
According to PayPal’s Blockchain Research Group, it wants to designate green miners and reward them with additional Bitcoin.
According to Texan Congressman Pete Sessions, Bitcoin mining will have a massive influence on the way energy is used not only in the state of Texas but in the United States overall. As a proponent of Bitcoin mining, Sessions took to Twitter to make the statement that he believes Bitcoin will “play a critical role” in energy independence for the country, pointing to mining as the root cause.
#Bitcoin Mining will play a critical role in rebuilding energy independence in the USA
— Pete Sessions (@PeteSessions) March 21, 2022
Cryptocurrency mining as an industry
Bitcoin mining has become an inherently expensive activity for miners, both in terms of the equipment needed and the energy required to mine new coins. It has become a source of criticism as such an energy-intensive process and there has been regulation and legalities surrounding the industry as a result.
The Chinese government, having banned Bitcoin and all cryptocurrency transactions, slapped a blanket ban on the industry altogether, meaning miners that were operating in China have relocated to crypto-friendly countries and Texas, as one of the regions that promote Bitcoin mining, has attracted miners who needed to move. As it stands, Texas now contributes towards 14% of Bitcoin’s total hash rate in the United States, there has been more conversation surrounding how and where energy comes from and whether it can be sustained under the current energy climate.
In conjunction, lawmakers across the United States have been calling for regulation and policies endorsing the cryptocurrency industry as a whole, looking for ways the country can adopt the emerging technology and stay ahead in the fintech space.
Could energy-conscious Texas lead crypto mining in a new direction?
Session’s belief on this points to a bullish idea that innovations in the mining industry in the United States could have a global impact on how industrial energy is both produced and used. Various researchers in the industry provide similar opinions as Sessions, suggesting that more miners in Texas, which is an energy-friendly region, could have an overall positive impact on reducing energy demands on the public energy grid. According to the United States Energy Information Administration (the EIA), Texas stands as the country’s leading power generator of wind energy. This means miners in the region aren’t fully relying on non-renewable energy sources, making Bitcoin mining in Texas slightly greener than in other hubs across the world. This also means there is less of a reliance on external sources for energy. The EIA released a paper which indicated that miners could make use of a model that promotes sustainable energy, noting:
“The (integrated energy system) may contribute to grid stability by locally using generated electricity instead of feeding it into the grid.”
The EIA is not the only administration to have findings that look to the renewable sources as reliable ways to ensure the grid stays stable. According to Lancium, a software firm, using renewable sources such as wind and solar along with fuel-based energy, miners will likely expand in a much more sustainable way without facing shortages. According to its research:
“As grids move towards incorporating higher levels of intermittent resources, such as wind and solar, flexible demand will play an ever more important role in keeping the electrical grid system stable.”