By Daniel Kuhn
This week CoinDesk published one of the most thought-provoking and balanced articles on bitcoin mining I’ve ever read. The report is focused around the Greenidge bitcoin mining company in upstate New York, which was at the center of a protracted media cycle last year after environmental activists claimed the facility was boiling the waterways and poisoning delicate ecosystems. Those claims went on to influence an actual policy decision by Governor Kathy Hochul restricting bitcoin mining in the state.
The thing is, most of the worst claims about Greenidge were straight up wrong. CoinDesk’s Nik De, Doreen Wang and Cheyenne Ligon took a trip to Dresden, in Upstate New York, to take the temperature of the lake and speak to locals, finding that not a single lawmaker visited the rust-belt town or spoke to its mayor before drafting what is essentially a freeze on new bitcoin miners.