Proof of Work (PoW) mining has come under fire by Swedish financial and environmental regulators. A recent proposal was signed by both the Financial Supervisory Authority and the Environmental Protection Agency that points out many of the common but often misplaced fears about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies;
By Andrew Senior
November 10th, 2021
“The consumer risks are significant, and crypto-assets are commonly used for criminal purposes such as money laundering, terrorist financing and ransomware payments. Crypto-assets also have a significant negative impact on the climate as mining leads to both large emissions of greenhouse gases and threatens the climate transition that needs to happen urgently. This is alarming, and crypto-assets therefore need to be regulated.”
The proposal goes on,
“The EU to consider an EU-level ban on the energy-intensive mining method proof of work. There are other methods for mining crypto-assets, that could also be used for Bitcoin and Ethereum, that are estimated to reduce energy consumption by 99.95% with maintained functionality.”
In reality, miners have been increasingly focused on reducing CO2 emissions and have continued to explore ways to incorporate renewable energy into their mining. Sweden, and the Nordi region as a whole, have become more into focus as a destination for crypto mining as taxes for mining and crypto related transactions are favorable and renewable energy is easily accessible.
There is also, as of this writing, no energy source in existence that would “reduce energy consumption by 99.95% with maintained functionality.” PoW mining utilizes its energy consumption to provide layers of security for its environment while also solving the Byzantine Generals Problem, by providing a single truth in which the system can function and allowing it to function without a central controlling party.
Erick Wall, Chief Investment Officer at Arcane Assets, added;
“…they talked about how crypto mining was an excellent ”buffer” in energy production that is highly useful for controllable load management and a way to monetize excess energy which would otherwise go to waste. Their thesis is that if countries with great access and infrastructure to harvest fossil-free fuel were to ban crypto mining, crypto mining will happen in countries and from sources with much worse CO2 emissions. So banning it here would be shooting nature in the foot.”
In a direct rebuttal to the proposed ban on PoW mining, Sweden’s biggest green energy power company strongly rejected each of the claims made about cryptocurrencies and PoW mining on national public television;
With proponents on both sides of the aisle, it seems that the future of crypto in Sweden is far from decided.
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