Former NY Federal Reserve Bank researcher: wearing the US power grid down by mining ‘worse than frivolous’

The optimization of the power grid of the United States is currently one of the most pressing domestic issues in this country. Ex-analyst from the New York Federal Reserve Bank James McAndrews implies that mining is not making any good to the energy networks.

His main argument is the following: why use the real energy and the real power capacity to mine something that does not exist offline? What if it’s a waste of energy? Then it’s “worse than frivolous”, concludes the analyst.

Managers from other Federal Reserve Banks have also been seen voicing their personal position on cryptocurrency and blockchain in the past. For example, Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Jim Cunha stated that blockchain might become the next SWIFT, and William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, recommended to invest in cryptocurrency only with due expediency. Both statements were made last year amidst the growth of Bitcoin and the growth of interest of the public to this theme, although Dudley has recently reiterated his position.

Mining can actually be a very dangerous enterprise if the power grid is old and was established during the times nobody imagined the modern power consumption. Recently in Russia, a very unsuccessful miner has accidentally burned his flat down together with the neighboring apartments in the same building.

Image courtesy of Craig Mayhew/Robert Simmon/NASA GSFC