Search “bitcoin mining” in Google News, and see what’s returned. The top results are packed with several-hundred-word throwaway articles about the environment written by authors who barely know how to buy bitcoin and published only because websites need to meet weekly click quotas to sell ads. 

The real problem of bitcoin mining isn’t the amount of energy consumed by miners. It’s the amount of energy spent correcting and disproving false narratives about mining. 

From slamming Tesla for buying bitcoin to decrying NFTs for Ethereum’s proof-of-work mining to whatever comes next week, the anti-mining tirade never ends . Yes, this newsletter observes and opines on it all. At some point, though, facts should rule the day and the discourse should move on...right? 

Brandolini's Law

Refuting a new opinion piece by Bloomberg contributor Noah Smith titled “Bitcoin Miners Are on a Path to Self-Destruction ,” Castle Island Ventures founder Nic Carter took the author to task for his numerous factual inaccuracies and misrepresentations. Carter’s piece is well worth a (long) read. 

The only problem? Carter spent almost 4,600 words to debunk less than 1,000 words in Smith’s article. And Smith’s bad writing is far from an outlier, as readers of this newsletter know. “Brandolini's law strikes again,” Carter tweeted, referencing an internet adage sometimes called the “bulls**t asymmetry principle.”

The timing of these articles is not coincidental. False narratives around bitcoin mining are the most pervasive when bitcoin mining is the most profitable, and right now business is booming. 

• Miners have already brought in $1.5 billion this month. 
• Bitcoin mining’s hashprice is sitting just below record highs at $0.37, tracking with the BTC price. 
• Massive growth in mining, especially for North American miners, continues. 
• And Compass itself is thriving, as reported here. 

The Good Stuff

A couple examples of good mainstream journalistic content sit beneath the torrent of incoherent and inaccurate writing though, and they should be highlighted. 

• Business Insider reporter Emily Graffeo wrote on why concerns over bitcoin mining’s energy consumption are overblown. 
• Bloomberg TV hosts gave Nic Carter ample time to share a high-level overview of the truth about bitcoin mining’s environmental impacts. 

These examples are very few. But mainstream audiences (who aren’t miners) would be so much better served by consuming more of this journalism. Maybe then miners and their pundit counterparts could move on to discussing new, interesting and accurate narratives. 

Ultimately, bad press for mining only matters insofar as the general public’s opinion on mining matters, which is to say somewhat but very little. New bitcoin blocks are still mined roughly every 10 minutes regardless of what a Bloomberg or New York Times journalist writes. The show goes on.

• Bitcoin’s price inches toward new record highs, currently trading just above $59,000 and pushing its year-to-date gains to above 100%. 

• AMD says it won’t try to stop crypto miners from using its graphics cards. 

• Mining difficulty is set to jump by more than 5% at the next adjustment on April 2. 

• Hut 8 scooped up $30 million of Nvidia’s new crypto mining GPUs. 

• Blockstream launched a security token tied to Bitcoin’s hash rate. 

• Miami’s mayor wants the city to become a bitcoin mining hub.

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🧭 Kazakhstan Mining: Read the unique advantages and challenges Kazakh bitcoin miners face in the Hashr8 research team’s latest report. A valid email address is required to download the report.

We are a modern media and Bitcoin mining company focused on driving the mass adoption of cryptocurrency. Our research analysts and content creators strive to provide actionable and engaging content on the most relevant industry topics.
 

For more information, to submit a story for review, or to share a newsworthy tip, please email us at media@compassmining.io.

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