Jack Dorsey, CEO of American financial service provider, Square, has revealed plans on Twitter to build an open-source Bitcoin mining system with hopes to further decentralise the Bitcoin network.

He tweeted “Square is considering building a Bitcoin mining system based on custom silicon and open source for individuals and businesses worldwide. The more decentralised this is, the more resilient the Bitcoin network becomes.”

## 'Bitcoin Mining Should be Easier'

"Mining isn’t accessible to everyone. Bitcoin mining should be as easy as plugging a rig into a power source. There isn’t enough incentive today for individuals to overcome the complexity of running a miner for themselves.”

Square, Inc. is based in San Francisco, California and was founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey. The company launched its service Square Cash, which lets anyone with a debit card trade fiat for BTC. The company also offers payment processing services to merchants, charging 2.75 percent per swipe of a credit or debit card.

Dorsey believes that further decentralising the Bitcoin network will be critical for securely settling the transactions "well after the last bitcoin is mined."

More [Blockchain news](/news/category/blockchain-news).

Square's Jack Dorsey to Build Bitcoin Mining System

The United States is now the number one Bitcoin mining location after China announced plans to restrict cryptocurrency activity in the nation.

Bitfury, a US-based mining company, has recently opened a mining facility after receiving $80 million in funding from an international investor. Bitfury will be setting up its mining center in Georgia and is expected to provide over 100 jobs for Georgian citizens with salaries around $50,000 a year.

## Georgia Becomes Mining Hub

Georgia is known for being one of the friendliest countries in the world for Bitcoin miners and miners from all over the world have been flocking to set up mining centres in Georgia.

This move comes after China announced its plans to crackdown on cryptocurrency activity within the nation's borders. Mining centres are now expected to be set up in parts of the world that are more crypto-friendly, with Georgia being one of them.

More [Business news](/news/category/crypto-business-news).

US Top Location for Mining After China's Crackdown

Crypto and the Environment. It’s been a hot topic as of late and many don’t understand why. Today I’ll shed some light on what exactly is causing the concern and what some are trying to do to help.

To understand what the big deal is about crypto and the environment, first one must understand what [Bitcoin](/coins/btc) mining is to begin with.

## Mining all the livelong day

Have you ever wondered how Bitcoin is created?

It’s through ‘mining’. Crypto mining is the process by which new cryptocurrencies are ‘mined’ and added into circulation. This also serves as a critical component of the maintenance and development of the network.

As we know, one of Bitcoin’s most significant features is that it is decentralized. So as there is no central authority controlling the blockchain/network, individuals have to do the work ourselves, through mining.

Miners are rewarded for completing ‘blocks’ of verified transactions, which are added to the blockchain. If you are mining BTC, you are rewarded in BTC. If you are mining ETH, you are rewarded in ETH, etc.

All this mining takes computing power- and lots of it- Although that wasn’t always the case. Back in 2009, you can mine bitcoin with a simple desktop PC.  Fast forward to 2021 and you’re gonna need a substantial amount of computing power. Like a room full of computing power, type of substantial.

## Volcanic solution?

Recently El Salvador has turned to volcanos. Yes, volcanos.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele recently posted a short video of workers installing a shipping container full of cryptocurrency mining rigs at a geothermal power plant surrounded by thick jungle. “First steps … #Bitcoin,” the president tweeted.

The implications, not just for crypto but for geopolitics, could be huge. El Salvador sits on the edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and has 20 “potentially active” volcanoes, according to VolcanoDiscovery.com. They run the length of the entire country and have been harnessed to generate 21.7% of the country’s energy, according to the U.S. International Trade Association. (For comparison, all renewable energy sources together comprise only 12% of U.S. energy.)
## Nuclear Solution??

Recently Miami, Florida (USA) Mayor Francis Suarez has been approaching cryptocurrency miners about the prospects of setting up operations near South Florida’s Turkey Point nuclear-power plant.

While many are concerned about its use, it may offer a “cleaner” solution for the increasing need in energy consumption that crypto mining will no doubt continue to require.

## Crypto and the Environment - Not All Bad News...

Each year, investment bank Lazard releases a breakdown of energy costs by source. Its 2020 report shows that many of the most common renewable energy sources are either equal to or less expensive than conventional energy sources like coal and gas. And the cost of renewable power keeps going down.

With that and other options such as solar and wind energy, the future isn’t as bleak as some put it.

Regardless of what is done to solve this issue, one thing is clear:

The world doesn’t stop for anyone -not even [Bitcoin](/coins/btc).

Crypto Mining: The Environmental Effect

In an effort to be ‘maximally compliant with regulatory requirements’ the world’s second largest [Ethereum](/coins/eth) mining pool announced today that all operations are to halt at the end of the month.

Hangzhou based SparkPool released the information yesterday confirming all activities were to cease by Thursday 30th September.

This announcement closely follows Friday’s decision that all new users were banned from registering with SparkPool with immediate effect.

## SparkPool Contribute 22% of Hash Rate

Since its inception in 2016, SparkPool has evolved to become the world’s second largest Ethereum  mining operation by hash rate closely behind industry behemoth Ethermine. SparkPool currently contribute 22% of the entire Ethereum blockchain hash rate with a whopping 142 terra-hash per second.

SparkPool’s announcement follows a call from the State Council of China in May this year for local authorities to crack down on crypto mining activities and, while this had been somewhat of a success, a number of stealth mining operations have been slowly resuming work over the last few months.

## China's Decision May Have an Impact

Many people believe the announcement was heavily influenced by the Chinese Central Government’s recent decision to declare all crypto related activity illegal with immediate effect (Thursday 23rd September).

Following the initial country wide clampdown in May this year, Bitcoin miners Poolin and BIT Mining have been looking for new premises and had ear marked North America and Central Asia as possible new sites.

While SparkPool could also have circumnavigated the ban by taking their mining operation overseas they evidently have chosen not to.

Global mining outfit, Huobi, declared on Sunday September 26th that all China based users will be unable to access their services by the end of the year.

The news did not come as a huge surprise to many industry leaders as China continue to crackdown on the cryptocurrency eco-system within the country. Consequently, SparkPool seem to have made the decision with the purpose of protecting client assets.  
  
The impact on Ethereum network performance and price is yet to be seen.

Many proponents view the China ban as bullish for crypto as pushback from China has historically been good for the rest of the Western world. In 2009, China banned Facebook and YouTube from its shores closely followed Google and Wikipedia. All went on to see massive success in other markets.  
  
SparkPool have not released any further information regarding their future plans at this point however given Ethereum’s continued port to a Proof of Stake non-mining mechanism SparkPool’s decision may be rather telling.



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Square's Jack Dorsey to Build Bitcoin Mining System

US Top Location for Mining After China's Crackdown

Crypto Mining: The Environmental Effect

Ethereum’s Second Largest Mining Operation to Close