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[-] bulwark@lemmy.world 125 points 1 year ago

I was going to ask if these things are even profitable anymore, but I guess if you're stealing the electricity it is.

[-] Sibbo@sopuli.xyz 48 points 1 year ago

Yeah but if their hardware is now confiscated, does it still pay off? How long do you need to mine until the hardware is paid for, assuming free electricity?

[-] Wilzax@lemmy.world 93 points 1 year ago

Bold of you to assume the hardware wasn't also stolen

[-] Sibbo@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 year ago
[-] PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world 35 points 1 year ago

Poland gonna Poland.

Or, as they say in Germany: "Take a vacation in Poland. Your car is already there."

[-] KeyserSoze 6 points 1 year ago

Die Bild von vor 20 Jahren hat angerufen, sie will ihre Sprüche zurück

[-] PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Still true though.

[-] PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Still true though.

[-] Gork@lemm.ee 86 points 1 year ago

At least they had heated floors for a little while. Fancy.

[-] June@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago

I suddenly want to build a crypto mining rig in my encapsulated crawl space.

[-] someguy3@lemmy.ca 71 points 1 year ago

I wonder how much pollution has been created for crypto.

[-] 0110010001100010@lemmy.world 58 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Per Wikipedia:

As of 2022, bitcoin mining is estimated to be responsible for 0.1% of world greenhouse gas emissions.

Their source: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/2022/a-deep-dive-into-bitcoins-environmental-impact/

That's just bitcoin, I don't know how that translates into all cryptos.

Now that's still a decent chunk but not really a blip on the breakdown chart: https://ourworldindata.org/ghg-emissions-by-sector

For example, landfills generate almost 2%.

[-] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago

Wow imagine two different kinds of garbage having such a different impact on the climate

[-] columbus@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

At least crypto is allowing people send money without relying on paypal or other big tech.

[-] Traister101@lemmy.today 9 points 1 year ago

Or alternatively in actual first world countries you can just send money to people through your bank, for free. Hell in some third world countries they fuckn text their money around.

[-] ilmagico@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Until the banks (or the government, or someone more powerful than you) decides you shall not use your money and those funds get blocked. Or maybe you don't want to tell your bank, or the government, what you do with your money. Yes, there's cash, but it's going away. And please don't tell me "you have nothing to hide, so nothing to worry", there's plenty of legitimate reasons for privacy.

If people stopped thinking about crypto as "EaZZy MoNey" and instead, just treated it for what it was meant for, as a currency, it could actually be useful. But please let's get rid of proof-of-work and energy waste.

[-] thenightisdark@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah use those "to big to fail' having banks be integral to the system is a definition to first World. Not sure that's the dis you hoped it to be. Haha, you don't have banks too big to be capitalist they have to be socialized....

Zelle (/zɛl/) is a United States–based digital payments network run by a private financial services company owned by the banks Bank of America, Truist, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo.

[-] ilmagico@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Crypto was invented as a fully decentralized form of keeping and spending money, not as an "investment" (really, gambling) instrument as it is used now, so I fully agree crypto isn't evil, it's how it's currently used that's a problem. Proof-of-work though is evil, due to its energy requirements. Thankfully some coins (e.g. ethereum) are switching to proof-of-stake which doesn't waste energy for nothing.

[-] columbus@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Proof of stake is making the crypto centralized by the stake holders, also the ethereum blockchain size is huge compared to Bitcoin, making it even more centralized because less people are willing to volunteer except the stake holders.

[-] ilmagico@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I'm not sure about the social dynamics with proof of stake, you might be right but, why aren't people willing to volounteer? Is there a limit to how many stakeholders there are? or a minimum (large) stake, meaning you must be rich?

Anyways, one thing I can say for sure: these dynamics already exist with proof-of-work: miners started using specialized hardware, raising the barrier to entry for the "small guys", so instead, people join large mining pools which are becoming more and more centralized.

So at least proof-of-stake is not worse in this respect.

[-] columbus@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

People aren't willing to volunteer because of the hardware requirements for running a full Ethereum node and 32 ETH for staking. There are centralized staking pools which everyone uses, where people trusting those pools with there money.

And if a Bitcoin mining pool starts doing something suspicious, the miners can quickly switch to another pool. The miners have a choice in this case.

[-] ilmagico@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

A lot, but the solution exists, and it doesn't require getting rid of crypto coins, it's called proof-of-stake. Then maybe people can stop building stupid mining rigs ...

[-] FangedWyvern42@lemmy.world 57 points 1 year ago

This feels like it should be satire.

[-] repungnant_canary@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago

It's not any court. It's a Supreme Administrative Court - highest court instance in Poland dealing with crimes of administration

[-] sour@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago
[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 6 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


It's currently unknown how long the rig was running because the illegal operation went undetected, partly because the computers used were connected to the Internet through their own modems rather than through the court's network.

The Supreme Administrative Court is the last resort for sensitive business and tax disputes, but no records seem to have been compromised.

Judge Sylwester Marciniak—the chairman of the Judicial Information Department of the Supreme Administrative Court—told TVN24 that the discovery of the cryptomine "did not result in any threat to the security of data stored" in the court.

The Department of Homeland Security investigated for three months, and a former employee who had been serving as assistant facilities director for the town, Nadeam Nahas, was accused of vandalizing the school and stealing at least $17,492 in electricity to operate the cryptomine.

According to Boston news station WHDH, police traced SKU numbers on ductwork that Nahas allegedly installed to keep the rig from overheating.

Nahas reportedly got "nervous" when confronted with evidence allegedly showing that he purchased the materials from Home Depot, as well as his posts on the social platform formerly known as Twitter, which cops found indicated his strong interest in cryptocurrency.


The original article contains 532 words, the summary contains 198 words. Saved 63%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
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