Can miners of cryptocurrency also slow down clocks across an entire continent? Perhaps, cryptominers are the reason behind global warming after all! Anything that can’t be explained–cryptominers must have done it! The world doesn’t have the computing power for more productive pursuits? Blame those digital miners!
At least, that’s what ENTSO-E (European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity) thinks. Following a drop in electricity transmission frequency (the alternating current that powers our homes and industries flows alternately in opposing directions and the frequency of this direction change is maintained constant through the power lines), the authorities directed their blame towards those who use excessive computing power for mining cryptocurrencies.
The frequency drop due to excessive power consumption has been pinned down to Serbia and Kosovo, but the exact activity causing the massive power drain has not yet been identified. Now, suspicions are falling on crypto miners as electricity rates are cheapest in Serbia and Kosovo and the cost of mining Bitcoin is marginally cheaper than mining in China, one of the cheapest places to mine Bitcoin.
The frequency drop has had a strange side effect in that it has slowed down clocks based on the power grid frequency. Such frequency based clocks are calibrated to measure time based on the constant frequency of power flowing through the power lines (50 cycles or Hertz per second). Any increase in frequency would make the clocks go faster while any dip would delay the clocks. Central heating timers and oven clocks are now estimated to be lagging behind by as much as 345 seconds while it’s not clear if the delays could be manually corrected.
All in all, it seems to be a good thing that after much criticism of cryptocurrency mining, the slowing down of clocks has provided some comic relief to beleaguered miners who now know ‘they can actually bend space-time’.
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