While I do believe people are exaggerating the effect mining has on hardware supplies (it's not like they are buying millions of GPUs…), it's still annoying that hardware in short supply is completely wasted on something this pointless.
Putting the core idea of cryptocurrencies aside, the concept of regulating the generation of currency through an exponential difficulty level has to be one of the most ridiculous ideas humanity has ever conceived. At times this mining has been artificially consuming energy rivaling medium sized countries, all for absolutely no real purpose. And in this day and age where everything should be "sustainable" and "eco friendly", and people are shamed for buying a plastic bag…
He can afford dozens of $3000 notebook but not $350 air conditioner?
Oh my, he got his work cut out for him managing that many machines running Windows
I believe governments should ban this mining craze, as it's just a waste of energy while producing absolutely nothing.
Then what kind of legislation would you propose that's wide enough to catch all these "stupid" miners so they can't just slip through a loophole, and yet specific enough to prevent serious industries from being hurt?
Since when has politicians proven they're competent enough to regulate anything in the tech industry?
Governments should legislate mining farms be self sufficient, produce their own power and pay carbon tax.
And precisely how would that legislation work?
I would rather propose the following;
1) Governments should stop subsidizing data centers in general (subsidies which has also been exploited by miners), including tax brakes, free land, funds or discounted/free power. These days some countries are fighting to attract "data centers" (including mining operations), offering substantial subsidies.
2) All tech media should just ignore cryptocurrencies and mining. It's 100% driven by hype. If media stops giving it attention, it will calm down.