Bitcoin mining is so intrusive in Niagara Falls, NY, it drowns out the roar of the falls.

In 2020, China controlled over sixty-five percent of the world’s cryptocurrency processing power. Hydropower and dirty coal powered the computer calculations of a currency that did not exist in physical form, no yuan, dollar, gold or coin.

Cryptocurrency exists only electronically, and it can buy cars, furniture, yachts, a trip to the Caribbean and other goodies. China kicked these industries out of the country in 2021. The reasons were financial risk and the enormous energy required for calculations of transactions processed by millions of investors worldwide for twenty-four hours a day.

Cryptocurrency is also not regulated and does not answer to any government authority. There are no transaction fees for those using crypto, and the buyer, but not the transaction, is anonymous. It is “permissionless”, writes Bitcoin Magazine. So anyone can use it, traitors, terrorists, criminals and rebels, along with users of good and evil will.

Since the industry lost its home base, it is desperate for a new home. Some have gone to neighboring countries with a lot of fossil fuel to run their businesses.

But the industry has found a home in the United States as some governors and mayors work to attract startups. “US miners are raising hundreds of millions of dollars to invest in bitcoin mining and convert abandoned factories and power plants into large-scale bitcoin mining facilities,” writes Renee Cho in an outstanding article published by the Columbia Climate School.

Besides the incredible environmental and climate damage, they are quite loud. When located near residential areas, people cannot sleep due to the noise of thousands of fans running constantly to keep computers cool.

In Niagara Falls, Blockfusion and US Bitcoin found a home in Western New York. Blockfusion took over an abandoned coal warehouse for their operations, while US Bitcoin occupies a former sodium plant. The hydropower of the Niagara River was too tempting not to move there.

AFP writes:

“I get four hours of sleep, maybe, because of the constant noise,” said Elizabeth Lundy, a Niagara Falls resident who lives about two blocks from the US Bitcoin facility.

“I can hear the noise even through the storm windows.”

From Elizabeth’s porch, the sound can be heard loud and clear. And it only gets louder as you get closer to the facility on Buffalo Avenue.

Another local, who lives more than 1.5 km from the facility, compares the sound to a 747 jet. Once he could hear the sound of Niagara Falls – over 3 km away – from his back garden, but now there is only the whirring sound of the Bitcoin plant.

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Faced with a flood of complaints, mainly regarding US Bitcoin, the mayor of Niagara Falls enacted a moratorium on any new mining activity in December 2021. In early September 2022, he set a strict noise limit of 40 to 50 decibels near residential areas.

In early October, City Hall ordered the closure of the two bitcoin farms until they comply with new local ordinances.

“The noise pollution of this industry is like nothing else that’s been there,” says Robert Restaino, Niagara Falls’ mayor.

That’s quite a statement in a city that has embraced heavy industry for decades.

Blockfusion is cooperating somewhat to quell the noise, but US Bitcoin has made little progress in responding to the city’s request.

The most consequential impact on the environment should scare us. The amount of fresh water needed, carbon emissions, e-waste and rising temperatures of lakes and rivers and intake pipes that kill wildlife when they are sucked into intake pipes.

Renee Cho writes:

The process of trying to come up with the right nonce that will generate the target hash is basically trial and error – much like a thief trying random passwords to hack yours – and can take trillions of tries. With hundreds of thousands or more computers churning out guesses, Bitcoin is believed to consume 707 kwH per transaction. In addition, computers use extra energy because they generate heat and need to be kept cool. And while it’s impossible to know exactly how much electricity Bitcoin uses because different computers and cooling systems have varying levels of energy efficiency, a University of Cambridge analysis estimated that bitcoin mining consumes 121.36 terawatt hours a year. This is more than the whole of Argentina consumes, or more than the consumption of Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft combined.

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Power plants such as Greenidge also use large amounts of water. Greenidge draws up to 139 million gallons of fresh water out of Seneca Lake each day to cool the plant and releases it 30 to 50°F warmer than the lake’s average temperature, endangering the lake’s wildlife and ecology. Its large intake tube also sucks in and kills larvae, fish and other wildlife.

And even if one day it becomes possible to run all bitcoin mining on renewable energy, the problem of e-waste remains. To be competitive, miners want the most efficient hardware, capable of processing the most calculations per unit of energy. This specialized hardware becomes obsolete every 1.5 years and cannot be reprogrammed to do anything else. It is estimated that the Bitcoin network generates 11.5 kilotons of e-waste each year, adding to our already major e-waste problem.

The issue of crypto-mining is not on the agenda at COP 27 nor calculated in any climate model.