Collateralized Cryptoeconomic Systems

Physics-based cryptocurrency transmits energy (not just information) through blockchain

Jun 2022, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2022-06-physics-based-cryptocurrency-transmits-energy-blockchain.html

In their new paper, Lawrence Livermore researchers Maxwell Murialdo and Jon Belof have detailed how this connection between energy and information allows for the creation of a cryptocurrency token that is directly backed by and convertible into one kilowatt-hour of electricity. While it requires the input of one kilowatt-hour of electricity to mint an E-Stablecoin token, that digital token can later be destroyed to extract back out one kilowatt-hour of usable electricity. Thus, the price of one E-Stablecoin token is pegged to the price of one kilowatt-hour of electricity in a manner that is robust, stable and trustless (a system that does not depend on an institution or third party for a network or payment system to function).

via Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: Maxwell Murialdo et al, Can a Stablecoin Be Collateralized by a Fully Decentralized, Physical Asset?, Cryptoeconomic Systems (2022). DOI: 10.21428/58320208.adf5637a

https://dx.doi.org/10.21428/58320208.adf5637a

Image credit: AI Art - Anubis Surrounded by Cryptocurrency - 2024

Unused renewable energy an option for powering NFT trade, finds new research

Jul 2023, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-07-unused-renewable-energy-option-powering.html

The increased NFT processing activity could be powered, in part, from un- or underutilized existing power sources. Fifty megawatts of potential hydropower from existing U.S. dams that are not currently used to generate power, or a 15% utilization of wind and solar energy that can't currently be used or stored from sources in Texas, could be used to power an exponential increase in NFT transactions.

Blockchain technologies, including NFT transactions, offer a high level of security in a variety of applications, but the energy required to process each transaction is problematic in a warming world.

via Cornell: Apoorv Lal et al, Climate concerns and the future of nonfungible tokens: Leveraging environmental benefits of the Ethereum Merge, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2303109120

https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2303109120

Study reveals the hidden environmental impacts of bitcoin: Carbon is not the only harmful byproduct

Oct 2023, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-reveals-hidden-environmental-impacts-bitcoin.html

via the United Nations University: Chamanara, S et al, The environmental footprint of Bitcoin mining across the globe: Call for urgent action. Earth's Future (2023). DOI: 10.1029/2023EF003871

https://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2023EF003871

Read the full report: The Hidden Environmental Cost of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin Mining Impacts Climate, Water and Land, United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, https://inweh.unu.edu/. 

Cryptographic Carbon Markets

Using carbon is key to decarbonizing economy

Aug 2021, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-expert-carbon-key-decarbonizing-economy.html

Instead of burning the hydrocarbons for energy, split them into carbon nanotubes for a materials revolution, and hydrogen for a hydrogen power revolution. 

Graphene and Hydrogen factories for mining electronic money, if you don't think it's going to happen you're not trying hard enough.

(Granted, this project, at Rice University, is related to Shell, the oil company, who would really like to see a future where hydrocarbons are still really important. Then again, if carbon-based nanotubes could replace metals, which use a ton of energy to mine and process, that could be a benefit in itself?)

Post Script:

The Bitcoin saga continues to deliver:

Researchers found a seasonal movement of mining between Chinese provinces in response, it was suggested, to the availability of hydro-electric power.

Mining moved from the coal-burning northern province of Xinjiang in the dry season, to the hydro-abundant southern province of Sichuan in the rainy season.

-Cambridge data shows Bitcoin mining on the move. Jul 2021, BBC News. 

China's ban on cryptocurrency mining has forced bitcoin entrepreneurs to flee overseas. Many are heading to Texas, which is quickly becoming the next global cryptocurrency capital.

-Why China's bitcoin miners are moving to Texas. Sep 2021, BBC News.

"Bitcoin refugees" in the "Great Mining Migration" are looking for more relaxed digital currency policy, a stable regulatory environment, diverse sources of capital, and cheap electricity. (How about a reliable power grid though? Seriously?)

I hope people are taking notes, because the crypto saga is a playbook for the way things are going to be. Bitcoin is doing to the future of energy production and computation what the pandemic did to all things "remote" -- the work-from-home revolution would take another 10 years without the pandemic. 

With or without the climate apocalypse to speed things up, not only will renewable energy production decentralize and redistribute into a splintered scattering of nodes, but those nodes move with the weather.