On July 3, 2021, Bitcoin recorded the largest difficulty drop ever July 3, which fell by 28%. In the following adjustment on July 18, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty fell by a further 4.81%. Ben Gagnon, chief mining officer at Toronto-based Bitfarms, told Decrypt at the time that on-chain data indicates nearly all the Chinese hashrate had come offline.
That follows two months of mining easing as Chinese miners went offline. According to data on BTC, Bitcoin’s difficulty level, a measurement of how difficult it is to mine the cryptocurrency, increased by 6% today in its latest fortnightly change. It’s the first positive adjustment since the crypto crash began in May. The crash, hastened by anti-Bitcoin mining regulation from China, led to four consecutive difficulty drops.
Bitcoin mining difficulty measures how much computer power is required to earn Bitcoin from validating transactions on the network. The network adjusts the difficulty once a fortnight to reflect competition among miners. The more miners trying to earn Bitcoin, the more difficult mining Bitcoin becomes. Difficulty peaked in mid-May when the fortnightly adjustment increased the difficulty level by 21.53%, a record high. But since then, Bitcoin’s difficulty rate has been on a downward spiral. Difficulty decreased in June and July after Chinese miners, responsible for an estimated 65% of the network’s hash rate, emigrated en masse or sold mining machines to foreign farms after China launched a campaign to curtail Bitcoin mining in the country.
**Bitcoin Mining Records Largest Difficulty Drop Ever—Here’s What Miners Say**
Bitcoin’s mining difficulty fell by 28% in July, the largest drop in the network’s history. The decline shows the severe impact of China’s recent crackdown on its Bitcoin miners.
US Company Converts Coal Power Plant to Mine Bitcoin. In 2014, Greenridge Generation, a company engaged in power generation, acquired the Lockwood Hills coal-fired power plant located on Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York, and converted it into a type that uses natural gas. And today, Greenidge is using that plant to mine Bitcoin.
As the BBC reports, the converted facility now houses a turbine on one side to generate electricity that is then used to power hundreds of computers working on Bitcoin transactions.
That said, the company doesn't just mine Bitcoin. They operate on a hybrid model, where some energy goes to the grid, and some are used for mining. The amount of power used to mine Bitcoin, and the amount sold to the grid is determined by whichever is more profitable on any given day. As Tim Rainey, the company's CFO explained to Forbes, electric power production costs fluctuate. These fluctuations ultimately influence the decision to either mine crypto or sell power to the grid.
It is a novel formula, and Greenridge may be on the winning side of history in this model.
Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are going through a defining moment in their relatively short lives. Though they have been neglected and dismissed by countries and corporations for long periods of time, it seems like they are finally having their moment, with several countries saying they will finally allow it as legal tender.
But the shift in approach is not without detractors.
Environmentalists have pointed out that mining cryptocurrencies are energy-intensive, in some cases using the same among of power as entire countries. But that's not all. Globally, electricity is still generated using fossil fuels, such as coal and natural gas, leading to carbon emissions.
Where does Greenridge stand on all this? The company claims that it has reduced emissions from the site by 75 percent compared to the coal-fired plant. That may be an improvement. However, although the plant uses natural gas now and not coal, it still releases many CO2 emissions. As a result, residents continue to express significant concerns about pollution and other issues associated with the operation, and so do several environmentalists and environmental organizations.
In fact, there is a rather well-organized opposition in the entire region to this plant and its expansion. Citizens have staged marches and, in a Jan. 25 letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, more than 100 businesses expressed their opposition. The letter stated, in part, "With its transition to natural gas, the facility operates at less than half the efficiency of more modern natural gas power plants, and its expansion proposal means an increase from its 6% in 2019 to 100%, 24/7 usage, consuming enough power to fuel more than 90,000 homes....This facility will emit more greenhouse gases than it has in any of the past 15 years....It is reckless to allow a 70-year-old fossil fuel-burning facility (Greenidge) to power a Bitcoin mining operation generating bitcoin hash rate....In essence, the Public Service Commission and the Finger Lakes community have been misled so that Atlas Holdings LLC could secure a Certificate for Public Convenience and Necessity and Lightened Regulation and then turn around and use this facility for their own personal gain."
In April 2021, the legal campaign Earth justice and the Sierra Club also wrote a letter to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation opposing the expansion of the Greenidge facility, partially on climate grounds.
Nevertheless, the planning board, which consists of five people, voted to allow Greenidge to operate.
The company, for its part, went ahead and voluntarily purchased carbon offsets to make its operations carbon-neutral in May this year, claiming to be the first Bitcoin mining operation in the U.S. to do so. Now, the company says it is doing, even more, planning to invest a portion of the profits from its mining operations into renewable energy projects in New York.
Additionally, the company is working with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to permanently close a coal-ash landfill and construct a 5 MW solar power plant on the 143-acre site.
"Bitcoin mining at Greenidge is already a model for the industry," Jeff Kirt, CEO of Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc, said in a statement. "We are advancing this emerging financial platform for people across the world in a manner that fully protects our environment and drives economic growth across Upstate New York."
According to its website, the company currently operates only out of one location in Upstate New York. It plans to expand to South Carolina, where it will mine Bitcoin using zero-carbon sour.
For more information about digital currency mining areas, we can focus on our social media accounts on Twitter or visit our official site: [oxbtc.com](http://oxbtc.com).
