• Ritabrata Santra, an engineer focused on energy tech, shares his experience of buying his first bitcoin in 2016.
• He explains the energy trilemma and how bitcoin mining is at the center of solving it.
• Innovative monetization of stranded or excess energy resources will create positive economic opportunities and drive bitcoin mining’s growth.
My Introduction To Bitcoin
I bought my first bitcoin in 2016 when I was a college sophomore living in the U.S. After reading an article about it, I was intrigued by its value proposition and decided to purchase one off Coinbase for $1,500 – but two months later, when I got an internship in Germany, I sold it for a ticket to Berlin. Little did I know that six months later one Bitcoin would be worth around $16000!
The Energy Trilemma and Bitcoin
Living in the U.S., I noticed how reliable access to electricity impacted health, knowledge and opportunity – something many developing countries lack today. We often waste gas (and emit carbon dioxide) without creating any economic value because we don’t have the necessary technology to transport it where it’s needed most. This is known as the energy trilemma – balancing energy reliability, affordability and sustainability – which is one of our biggest challenges this lifetime. That’s why bitcoin mining sits at the center of solving this problem: capturing wasted economic potential from excess energy resources to accelerate renewable development.
When Harry Met (Stranded) Sally
Innovative monetization of stranded or excess energy resources will create positive economic opportunities and drive bitcoin mining’s growth – no matter how carbon-intensive the source may be. Every producer has to deal with stranded assets like wind turbines or solar installations that can’t be utilized fully due to low demand; fortunately these technologies can now generate revenue from crypto-mining activities like bitcoin instead!
A Potential Solution?
Crypto-miners are constantly looking for new sources of power – so much so that there has been an increase in companies offering services specifically aimed at them such as blockchain hosting providers who help miners find cheap electricity sources near them . There are also projects aiming at utilizing idle/stranded renewable capacity with blockchain based distributed systems through what is called ‘proof-of-resource’ protocol; this could help incentivize producers while providing clean power to miners all over the world!
Final Thoughts
By enabling innovative monetization strategies for otherwise stranded assets, cryptocurrency mining can play a major role in solving the global energy trilemma while providing new opportunities for those looking to get involved with renewable energies as well as digital asset investments!