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Comment by pcj-github | Hacker News Reader

This seems backwards. In a country where there is a shortage of energy, they are using it to run bitcoin mining operations? Lord help us.

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No, you’re definitely right. I’m not sure where the author of this article got the idea that Lebanese citizens are in any way “turning to cryptocurrency”. Most blanket statements about losing faith in banks and whatnot come from a Mark Iskandar, who is a CEO of a cryptocurrency company, the one who set up the bitcoin atms mentioned.

The article briefly mentions power problems, before misleadingly suggesting a solution is to trade bitcoin instead of mining it, because “no machines are involved in the trading process” (false). Later on in the article, the crypto company responsible for the atms says their solution is to rent electricity from other people to mine in exchange for a bit of money, which is heavily downplaying the amount of power needed to make mining profitable.

Unless I’m missing something, this article seems to have a lot of text, but doesn’t actually say much.

Shortages are the result of mispriced electricity. Taking advantage of such mispricing is a good thing.

For whom?

The people taking advantage of the price difference, but also “the market” as a whole.

A lot of people in Lebanon get 2 hours of a electricity a day, if that. Regional slumlords are renting out generators and smuggle oil. The electricity is not so much "mispriced" as it is controlled by various mafias and terrorist organizations.

Sometimes cool cyberpunk theories crash upon the harsh shores of reality.

Then the market isn’t a benefactor because it isn’t properly functioning/free (from corruption) as they so often aren’t.

Harsh shores of reality also crash on capitalism.

There is almost an insight here.

Yes, people in lebanon don't value electricity as much as the miner, and so are allocating their resources in a more effective way.

Who loses here?

82% of the people in Lebanon are currently in poverty, many are living on $2/day and have to choose between food, fuel, and medicine. They have no resources to allocate. It is a failed state.

The miner in this case would be, once again to be painfully clear, a warlord.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cassandra

https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obama-hezbollah-d...

The losers predominantly would be the people of Lebanon, forever subsisting on the largesse of the UN and foreign powers with their own interests - their meager allowances paid out in dollars only to be completely squandered (the more UN donates the higher the prices will go, reliably soaking up all foreign assistance completely) on an artificially inflated energy "market" that enables narco terrorists to launder money via bitcoin.

People in Lebanon in general. Especially the poorest. Obviously.

So some newborns will freeze to death, but hey at least the markets are efficient!

For everyone.

The one doing the mining is being compensated with wealth.

And society in general is being compensated with a more effective allocation of resources.

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