A Bitcoin mine moved to a small town in Texas. One by one, the residents fell ill.

cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/14304762

Over the course of several months in 2024, TIME spoke to more than 40 people in the Granbury area who reported a medical ailment that they believe is connected to the arrival of the Bitcoin mine: hypertension, heart palpitations, chest pain, vertigo, tinnitus, migraines, panic attacks. At least 10 people went to urgent care or the emergency room with these symptoms. The development of large-scale Bitcoin mines and data centers is quite new, and most of them are housed in extremely remote places. There have been no major medical studies on the impacts of living near one. But there is an increasing body of scientific studies linking prolonged exposure to noise pollution with cardiovascular damage.

    • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      5 months ago

      There’s one two guarantees in life: Death and taxes. Real currencies are the ones you can use to pay the latter.

      • QuadratureSurfer@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        4 months ago

        If you live in El Salvador you can pay your taxes in bitcoin… that makes it a “real currency” according to your test.

        • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          4 months ago

          Won’t last for long because deflation is built into bitcoin and every sane state matches monetary supply to economical output to keep prices stable. El Salvador isn’t doing that anyway, though, otherwise using USD, or getting many tax payments in bitcoin, the thing being about as liquid as asphalt, so it doesn’t really change much.