We know that blockchain technology is moving away from the Proof of Work mechanisms for mining, but public concerns over power consumption are not in sync with the advancements in technology. Proof of Stake, batch transactions, and other efficiencies drastically reduce electricity needs for blockchain networks.
However, Bitcoin still uses tremendous amounts of energy, and it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. An estimated 121 terawatt-hours used per year is more electricity than the entire country of Argentina needs. If Bitcoin was a country, it would be among the top 30 energy users in the world. That number will only increase over time. Although Ethereum 2.0 is coming soon, which aims to reduce power consumption, it currently uses about a third of the energy that Bitcoin uses.
Ideally, the world will eventually run on 100% renewable energy. After all, 99% of the earth is powered by the sun. And we should be sharing in all of that free radiation, but our desire to move towards a green future might see that technology put into the wrong hands. Industries tend to centralize themselves through convenience, efficiency, and legal precedent. If one single company manages to corner the solar market, their stranglehold on green energy could last decades.
Any resource humans need to survive and flourish needs to be decentralized. Energy is a great starting point. We should be crowd-funding solar farms to maximize cash flow, and then distribute ownership of those farms to those small investors. This way, anyone with a few dollars can own a piece of the energy infrastructure that they are plugged into. We can use the profits made from the energy to reward the small investors and pay for panel maintenance.
Better yet, use the energy harvested to mine Bitcoin and power blockchain transactions. That exponential revenue can be used to pay the investors, maintain the equipment, reinvest in growth, and research new and better technologies. If we put these solar-powered mining rigs in the desert, it would maximize energy efficiency and minimize environmental impact.
The best part is, low income or highly mobile individuals wouldn’t need to build their own solar panels or mining rigs in order to be a part of the energy infrastructure and the economy. Mining rigs are loud, hot, and cumbersome. But that shouldn’t stop the average person from having a voice and making a profit. Currently, centralized entities are mining massive amounts of Bitcoin. We need to make sure to maintain full decentralization in order to prevent a 51% attack. This is because the blockchain works by consensus. If 51% of the computers in the network make a claim, the other 49% cannot stop them.
One company, iM Intelligent Mining, provides these solutions through the simplicity of a token. Owning an iM token provides the user with passive income through staking rewards, just like they would get from owning their own mining rig. The token can be bought, sold and traded with other tokens, and its value rises in scale with the Bitcoins that are mined by the network. That’s because the mining rewards are used by the system to buy its own token, causing a rise in value by self-created demand.
The token also gives holders governance power over operations and future commitments. These rigs belong to everyone. It truly is the same as building a mining rig with your friends in your garage. The only difference is the entire community is buying proprietary equipment in bulk, driving down costs for everyone. This equipment has advanced cooling systems, but stores and re-uses any extra heat given off by the GPU’s.
iM Intelligent Mining even has plans to launch a fleet of satellites into low earth orbit someday, creating a blockchain network in outer space.
No matter who ends up making this happen, decentralized autonomous revenue creation is absolutely necessary for the future of our economic systems. Money should belong to everyone, and we can’t sacrifice our environment to make that happen.
