Block Chain transactions taking over the power grid

http://grist.org/article/bitcoin-could-cost-us-our-clean-energy-future/

So much for reducing power demand.

I have seen recent articles where people are heating their homes with the waste heat from bitcoin mining.

Based on current climate predictions carbon taxes or the equivalent will pop up after a long series of enough climate disasters. When they do kick in I expect these hidden energy hogs are going to be outed as someone is going to need to pay the taxes. All the big tech firms are good at green washing but behind every data center "fed" by PV or wind is a fossil or nuclear power plant.

All I know is the system eats a lot of power and anyone who plays in the bitcoin market are playing a dangerous game. There is no SEC or any other organization keeping an eye out for abuse of the system. Only a small number of people own 40% of the bitcoins, they can legally manipulate the market in all sorts of manners that would be illegal in most other financial transactions. Sophisticated investors probably understand it but there are a lot of firms making it sound legit so that small clueless investors are going to "invest" in it. Its really far more like gambling.

Folks buying bitcoins may want to look up tulip mania https://www.investopedia.com/features/crashes/crashes2.asp

The 40% owners get on th phone and decide to do a coordinated dump of a block of bitcoins on the market. The price drops and then they buy back the block at the lower price. In securities markets this would be illegal collusion but perfectly legal in a market with no regulations.