Seriously, the only way I would accept Bitcoin mining is as a winter heating source that pays for itself. Why can't people sell those?

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yellowcake0 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

The economics of bitcoin mining dictate that the work must have no other utility. If you increase its profitability by using it for auxiliary winter heating, then more people will mine bitcoin until there is an oversupply of heating and we return to the current equilibrium amount of "wasted" heat.

	▲	EGreg a day ago \| parent [-]
		This seems to indicate a serious misunderstanding of both bitcoin's economics as well as the feasibility of having an "oversupply of heating". Hundreds of millions to over a billion people globally lack reliable energy for lighting, heating, and cooking. And bitcoin's economics don't dictate that mining never have a side benefit.

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wmf 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Those exist but they're too expensive to pay back their cost. And heat pumps are 3x the efficiency of resistive heating.

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anon84873628 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Unfortunately, Bitcoin mining is pretty hot as far as regular computer use goes, but not very hot at all compared to burning some fuel.