Bitcoin miners (quotation Real-time BTC) and cannabis growers may not seem to share much in common at first glance. But there is a surprising connection between these 2 emerging assets.
An electrical connection, to be precise. As the British police found out last week.
How much electricity do we need?
Growing cannabis indoors requires some electricity, mainly to power the high wattage lights that are meant to mimic the sun.
In the fast growing world legal cannabis markets, growers tend to follow the line when it comes to tapping into the web. It means they do it legally. And they pay their bills like any other business.
Illicit cannabis growers, on the other hand, sometimes make a loop around public services by illegally tapping into energy sources for which they are not monitored.
Now, with electric usage of Bitcoin mining skyrocketing, it would appear that some Bitcoin miners are following the same illegal path.
As Bloomberg reports, police using drones in the West Midlands, England, have discovered a warehouse that emits an unusual amount of heat. “When the British police raided a warehouse, they expected to find a cannabis farm. Instead they found computer banks illegally stealing the electricity needed to mine Bitcoin.
In all, there were about 100 computers illegally connected to the network
Police Sergeant Jennifer Griffin admitted, “It's certainly not what we expected. It had all the characteristics of a cannabis growing plant ”.
While Bitcoin mining is perfectly legal in the UK, electricity theft is not and the charges may be pending.
So how much electricity does Bitcoin mining require? According to Citigroup Inc, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market value uses 66 times more electricity today than in 2015. And, as Bloomberg noted, the University of Cambridge "estimates that it uses more electricity globally in a year than it did in XNUMX. Netherlands".
Snapshot of the bitcoin price
The price of Bitcoin has risen by 1% in the past 24 hours. One Bitcoin is currently trading for $ 34.940.
Although the token is now well below its all-time high of $ 64.829 set in mid-April, it is still up 19% year to date. And not to forget, just 12 months ago cryptocurrency investors could have buy Bitcoins for $ 9.423.
Are you among the lucky investors who bought the token at its lows, or among those who have suffered the collapse of the last few weeks? However, we want to remind you that investing in cryptocurrencies is risky and that you should only do it if you are willing to lose your capital.
This means that if things can go incredibly well, they can also go extraordinarily bad. Therefore, use only regulated and authorized platforms, at least to protect your investment from illegal activities.
