Dear Readers,
This Sunday morning, let's try to understand Ethereum miners a little better. We've discussed in previous newsletters how and why Ethereum abandoned proof-of-work and switched entirely to proof-of-stake . If you'd like to refresh your memory or take a look, you can find our #TheMerge issue here . You can reach them. But what about the miners who have been investing all this time to earn ETH with their GPUs? One might think they could actually heat their homes with all those GPUs. Why not?
Imagine you've spent the last ten years mining ETH and you own a GPU battalion . Every morning you wake up to the sound of your computers, like miniature airplanes taking flight from your backyard. You're making money, but you can't help but think about the potential losses you could suffer due to the decisions of a group of managers you wouldn't like if you knew them.
Decentralized Bulletin: Mining and Empathy
Finally, the news you feared arrives: the #TheMerge update is happening, and the little kingdom you've built all this time faces collapse. What would you do?
We don't know what you would have done. However, these people who have been earning and even generating income from Ethereum mining for a long time had to find other ways out.
For example, a miner who calls himself Alphamine is currently using his mining rig to mine a much less profitable coin. He wants to contribute to the crypto ecosystem, and he's earning perhaps a tenth of what he used to earn mining ETH. However, he plans to compensate for this loss by using it to heat his home.
Another miner, “stepwn,” uses his small army of mines to heat his greenhouse, not his house. He says he's transitioned from mining to a kind of farming, setting up an aquaponic, sustainable food production system in his tiny 18-square-meter green production house. He does this using Monero (XMR) and can no longer naturally mine ETH.
Mining taught me that I could create passive income when I had the right equipment under the right conditions, and that growing and producing things comes down to using the right equipment and creating the right conditions for the plants. I had to do quite a bit of experimenting and eventually realized that okra, tomatoes, beans, and peas were the best options.
We hope she makes herself some okra soup too.
Another quirky project is being brought to life by Nick Hansen, one of the founders of Luxor. He's trying to power large neural networks, AI data centers, and digital processing products with his remaining GPU fleet. Hansen believes he can largely regain his lost regular income. He's essentially investing his efforts, savings, and therefore his GPUs, into innovative robots like DALL-E , which are becoming popular and require a lot of computing power.
BNB Chain announced on Twitter that they had temporarily shut down the network due to unusual transactions. The attack could have resulted in the theft of approximately 2 million BNB , worth about $600 million .
As you know, Huobi Global has become one of the largest token platforms in the Asian markets over time. Now, there are rumors that the company will be acquired by About Capital , a Hong Kong-based investment firm.
Arthur Hayes , one of the founders of the crypto trading platform BitMex , said that central banks will have to print money again and that we will see inflation rising again and again in the future. Hayes argues that this situation will have a positive impact on cryptocurrency values.
Lithuania, with its newly announced legislation, has decided not to become "New Estonia." The Lithuanian regulation aims to prevent money laundering operations; anonymous accounts used in the cryptocurrency world will become completely obsolete. Companies established in Lithuania will be prevented from being managed entirely from abroad, requiring a second authorized person residing in Lithuania.
This brings us to the end of our newsletter this week. Thank you so much for joining us this Sunday. We hope you have a peaceful and trouble-free day and that it inspires you on your other days. We love you and wish you prudent investments.
If you, our valued readers of the Decentralized Bulletin, would like to connect us with people who might be interested and enjoy reading us, you can use our link bit.ly/merkezsizbulten . 😎 And if that's not enough, you can follow our Twitter profile to stay updated on developments throughout the week.
See you again soon! 🫡
Decentralized Bulletin
Originally published on Medium on October 09, 2022. English translation of “Merkezsiz Bülten: Madencilik ve Empati”.