There’s a new energetic Bitcoin (BTC) FUD in town: noise. In Sortland, a Norwegian municipality, locals are waging war on Bitcoin miners to thwart the development of BTC mining. His latest protest against proof-of-work (PoW) mining is that it is too noisy.
It is not enough that the Bitcoin miners in Sortland use 100% renewable energy sources, create jobs and even use the waste heat from the PoW process to dry wood and algae for local businesses; They must do it quietly.
Kjetil Hove Pettersen, CEO of the local company, KryptoVault, explained that this could be another case of media spin aimed at Bitcoin. He explained the situation to Cointelegraph:
“It’s often the negative voices that get the most media attention – this doesn’t reflect all local opinions.”
Pettersen detailed that the owners of the networks are, in fact, happy to welcome Bitcoin miners -as they help balance the networks (as recently demonstrated in Texas)- and that “there is a political or social cost to being frank about this in the current climate.” False narratives being created by the media are not new, Pettersen said:
“[…] “[…] The narrative that we are suppressing other industry establishments by using (skeptics use the word “wasting”) so much energy, while in reality, the opposite is true. Sometimes we are accused of driving up the price of energy, which is also not true.”
Arcane Research analyst Jaran Mellerud, and a regular contributor to Cointelegraph, explained: “Northern Norway has a huge surplus of electricity due to low local demand and limited transmission capacity.” In northern Norway, where Sortland is located, energy costs are very low and, in fact, available hydroelectric power is abundant.
Pettersen listed the benefits of Bitcoin mining as adding more revenue to local municipality power grids while supporting grid balance; the reduction of general network fees for consumers; job creation; earning revenue for the Norwegian treasury from taxes paid by Bitcoin miners, and ultimately contributing to Norway’s national balance of trade. That’s not to mention the direct consequence of mining Bitcoin, securing the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
Pettersen admitted that the Bitcoin sector has “a lot of work to do to tell our story and dispel myths and misconceptions.” Bitcoin provides a lifeline to many people around the world – especially in the southern hemisphere – but the narrative that mining Bitcoin uses more energy than neighboring Finland continues to force mainstream media outlets.
Like Pettersen, for Mellerud it is a matter of storytelling. He sums it up succinctly: “Municipalities in Northern Norway should appreciate Bitcoin mining as a way to refine electricity locally.” And he added:
“Bitcoin mining facilities create local jobs and increase revenue for municipalities, as they often own local power generation companies.”
Unfortunately, narratives demonizing Bitcoin mining and energy consumption continue to make headlines. The noise could be next.
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