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美国能源部 (DOE) 正在仔细研究比特币 {BTC} 的开采。 这是否值得警惕？
更具体地说，美国能源部下属的统计机构能源信息管理局（EIA）将在提出“紧急收集数据请求”后，从下周开始对选定的美国矿商在未来六个月内的用电量进行调查。
这是 Node 时事通讯的摘录，该时事通讯是 CoinDesk 及其他领域最关键的加密货币新闻的每日综述。 您可以在此处订阅以获取完整的新闻通讯。
鉴于“紧急”命令的措辞和现任政府对加密货币的批评立场，许多人担心收集的信息将被用来为采矿业提供潜在有害的政策。 EIA 在其公开文件中指出，通过加密货币挖矿收集数据可能会造成“公共伤害”。
“环境影响评估是政策中立的机构，不制定政策、实施政策、执行政策或对政策发表评论。 EIA 发言人摩根·巴特菲尔德 (Morgan Butterfield) 在电子邮件回复中告诉 CoinDesk。 “我们收集的数据结果将有助于我们了解未来六个月定期三年清关的前进方向。”
但政策中立并不一定意味着调查不会影响政策。 有足够的理由相信，通过进行这项调查，EIA 正在询问有关比特币的更大用途以及它是否有益于社会的问题，并且已经有了答案。
例如，管理和预算办公室授予紧急命令的理由是最近的加密货币价格上涨，比特币在几个月内上涨了 50% 以上，EIA 表示这将“激励更多的加密货币挖矿活动，这反过来又增加了电力消耗。”
“鉴于这个问题的新兴和快速变化的性质，并且由于我们无法定量评估公共伤害的可能性，EIA 感到迫切需要生成可靠的数据，以便深入了解这一正在展开的问题，”它说。 Butterfield 表示，运营着约 150 个设施的 82 家公司被选为全国“加密货币公司领域”的代表。
该机构指出 2018 年普拉茨堡遭遇寒流，以证明加密货币对公众构成的风险是合理的。 报告写道：“加密货币挖矿增加和电力系统紧张的综合影响导致电力市场的不确定性增加，这可能导致需求高峰，从而影响系统运营和消费者价格。”
Since then, New York State has passed a two-year moratorium on opening new crypto mining facilities unless they are powered entirely by renewable energy. Texas, which was a major benefactor after China passed a nation-wide crypto mining ban, has also sought to slow down the mining industry. Crypto miners in Texas work directly with the state-owned grid operator and get paid to power down during periods of peak demand or moments of network stress.
See also: How Texas Became a Global Mecca for Bitcoin Mining
To be fair, a public version of the survey shows the EIA is asking fairly routine questions of mining firms, including how many and what type of chips they’re running, their electricity consumption at the facility and how much goes directly towards mining.
“We will specifically focus on how the energy demand for cryptocurrency mining is evolving, identify geographic areas of high growth, and quantify the sources of electricity used to meet cryptocurrency mining demand,” the agency said in a statement. The reports are due on the last Friday of the month until the end of July, after which it may be renewed.
Further, there’s an argument to be made that having high-level statistics like this will benefit the country and the industry, given that it’s more detailed information, straight from the horse’s mouth.
At the moment, the best data we have for the mining industry’s footprint come from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, which gives hypothetical lower- and upper-bound estimates of the Bitcoin network’s daily energy consumption, essentially by extrapolating out from the current hashrate.
But you have to ask, why run the survey now? Why was the most recent run-up in bitcoin prices a cause for an emergency but not others? It’s worth noting that the Biden administration has prioritized reducing the country’s carbon footprint. And that crypto-critical Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) asked federal regulators to have crypto miners disclose their emissions and energy use.
Bitcoin mining will likely become a popular topic of debate in the media in the run-up to halvening event, the programmatic reduction in the “bitcoin subsidy” paid to miners that happens every four years. It’s not yet clear how the halvening will impact the mining sector beyond making less-efficient mining equipment unusable in the short-term. Some are expecting the crypto carbon footprint to grow in the coming years, while others see it shrinking.
Moreover, in recent months, there has been something of a public reckoning on Bitcoin’s environmental cost, particularly after the second-largest network, Ethereum reduced its energy consumption by 99% through a single upgrade. While some organizations like Greenpeace are pushing for Bitcoin to abandon energy-intensive mining, some are starting to see the sector as a boon to environmentalism.
Read more: How Does Bitcoin Mining Work? - CoinDesk
例如，剑桥最近下调了对比特币年度能源使用量的估计，麻省理工学院和毕马威等机构也发布了报告，认为该网络可以帮助“平衡”电网，补贴可再生能源开发，并有助于绿色经济。
挖矿是一个能源密集型过程——比特币运行的加密算法工作量证明 (POW) 是由计算机科学家设计的，旨在通过增加交互成本来抑制网络上的垃圾邮件、女巫攻击和拒绝服务 (DoS) 攻击通过服务器，通常以解决数学难题的计算机处理时间的形式。
一些反对挖矿过程的观察家经常将比特币挖矿描述为“浪费”的能源，但事实并非如此——这些能源是有目的地被用作一种代币或一种证明形式。 比特币矿工竞相“解决”的问题没有任何意义，因为它们不会增加人类知识体系，也不会为像 Folding@home 这样的富有成效的东西做出贡献，但它们确实具有价值——保护网络。
这就是棘手的部分：对比特币进行估值。 比特币值多少钱？ 标准的反应是看看市场对其的估值，在撰写本文时约为 42,000 美元。 但大多数围绕比特币巨大能源足迹的真正争论与比特币的价格无关。 相反，它们以比特币的成本和收益为中心。
我希望我能说 EIA 的调查将帮助我们更好地了解这些成本和收益。 然而，调查作者似乎已经回答了他们自己的问题，即比特币是否对公众构成风险，并正在寻找数据来支持这一结论。
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