A computer is much like a car or a gun, their ownership blurs the line of public, private, and personal property. I think we can all agree there is something fundamentally wrong with an individual buying a whole bunch of GPUs to mine crypto. How much computing power is too much for an individual person to be allowed to possess?

  • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I think we can all agree there is something fundamentally wrong with an individual buying a whole bunch of GPUs to mine crypto.

    Modern crypto mining is pretty thoroughly industrialized. The need for a cheap energy source and lots of high-end hardware filters out one-off miners. That's why you see businesses setting up around abandoned hydroelectric dams and out in West Texas near natural gas mines.

    I don't think a regulation on private ownership of GPUs would do anything substantive, in the same way that a ban on owning large numbers of cars or guns would meaningfully impact the prime offenders - rental companies or police agencies.