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For those in the know, mining cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, demands a lot of processing power from your computer, and will also very quickly rack up your electricity bill.
Students are ‘dropping out’
For this reason, university students in the US have been at an advantage, because their electricity bill is often included in the rent for their dorm rooms.
This hasn’t changed, but what has changed is the increase in mining costs, combined with a fall in many of the cryptocurrencies being mined.
Crypto-miners are not alone in facing these issues – it affects avid gamers too. The rising cost is linked to the graphics cards used in computers, and these graphic cards alone can easily cost as much as the average person spends on a whole laptop.
Is mining still feasible?
Whereas university students were making quite a lot of money off of mining in the past, these days it can yield as little as $100 per month – which, if they paid for the electricity themselves, would not be a feasible business for the students.
One student reported that he last year managed to mine .00027 Bitcoins daily, but that it cost him 24 kilowatt of electricity to mine. With the soaring price in Bitcoin back then, it seemed like a great idea – these days, it’s a less attractive option.
The simple reason why crypto-mining is becoming more expensive is due to the fact that currencies like Bitcoin are inflation-proof: the system is set up in a way that there is a limit to how many Bitcoins can be in circulation at any one time.
This means that mining Bitcoin, for example, becomes more difficult as time passes. The equation computers need to solve to yield Bitcoins become harder the more Bitcoins are in circulation.
As the amount of Bitcoins comes closer to the limit, mining will only be possible for those with the most sophisticated computers – and those who can afford the incredibly expensive energy bill.
Mining costs around the world
The price of mining Bitcoins varies depending on where you are in the world. In South Korea, for example, the price of mining a Bitcoin is double of what Bitcoins are currently worth. Anyone mining in South Korea would therefore have to be very confident that the value of Bitcoin will go up.
In Venezuela, conversely, the government subsidizes the energy, and so the price for mining one Bitcoin is only around $500 – around 1/20th of the current value of Bitcoins.
The US falls somewhere in the middle – depending on which state you’re in, mining a Bitcoin will cost you around $3,000-4,000. So for the US citizens, mining is still a profitable business.
For those considering to begin mining Bitcoins, there are some good news on the horizon, however. Intel is currently working on a solution that will lower the power consumption of computers used for mining.
Have you been affected by the rising cost in mining? Leave your comments below!
Reports have emerged that the G20 Summit is expected to deliberate on the Cryptocurrencies’ and ICO Markets’ activities in-depth. The Finance Ministers and Central Bank heads from the world’s top 20 wealthiest nations will be paying attention to the emerging use of Cryptocurrencies as security. The G20 communique draft read in part “cryptocurrencies lack the traits of sovereign currencies.” The communique suggests that the finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the most advanced countries in the world are already in consensus that the currencies are assets.
The summit being convened in Buenos Aires, Argentina is held in the wake of increased tax evasion by corporates and individuals who convert their wealth to Cryptocurrencies to evade taxation. The ICO Markets have seen increasing participation since the September 2017 debut. Hundreds of startup Blockchain technology firms have made tens of thousands of tax-free dollars ever since. In particular, Filecoin raised a total of close to $300,000 in its ICO venture.
However, the agenda of the summit-recognizing Cryptocurrency as assets-departs from the various regulators’ mission of regulating ICO Markets and Cryptocurrencies for economic growth, investment protection and capital formation for startup firms. While some countries like China have banned Cryptocurrencies, India shows non-commitment in addressing the issue, the SEC of US, AMF of France and FCA of the UK have initiated a policy to make up the process of developing ICO markets and Cryptocurrencies in their respective economies.
Hosted by President Mauricio Macri. The G20 summit will be attended by leaders of about forty-five countries and regional organizations. The attendees will represent the US, Canada, Russia, China, India, Japan, France, UK, Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey and South Korea. Additionally, the European Union (EU), African Union (AU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be represented by their respective presidents. The G20 members are a powerful Economics and Financial coordination force in the world as they collectively generate 85% of the world’s GDP and represent over 70% of the world’s population. Formed in 1999, the G20 has been, over the years, adopting decisions to regulate emerging global issues from a global standpoint.
What To Expect
As per the draft communique, it is expected that the G20 will deduce that Cryptocurrencies are assets. With such a proclamation, they will advise Economic and Financial leaders to introduce regulations that are customized for the specific markets. The summit will, further, propose approaches to imposing capital gains taxes on ICO markets to raise public revenues. In so doing, the ICO markets and Cryptocurrencies will be accepted as an emerging business idea.
Not only will such an endorsement prompt China to lift the Cryptocurrency ban, but we are likely to see a future lift on the Cryptocurrency advertisement bans by Google and Facebook. Most importantly, the world will get clarity of Cryptocurrencies and the way they can be exploited for the economic benefit both in the macroeconomics and microeconomic spheres.
Finally, we are likely to see a timely conclusion on the part of the US House of Representatives Committee of Finance Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities and investment process of enacting laws to regulate this new industry. The prices of Cryptocurrencies are likely to surge to unprecedented levels following this “endorsement.”