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Cryptocurrency Miners Are Using Old Tires to Power Their Rigs (vice.com)

Christopher Malmo, writing for Motherboard: An entrepreneurial cryptocurrency mining company has just announced an unusual deal: it has partnered with a tire-based waste-to-energy company in the United States to power its mining computers. Standard American Mining and PRTI, a tire "thermal demanufacturing" company based in North Carolina, are powering graphics cards-based mining equipment to earn a range of alternative cryptocurrencies like Ethereum. Basically, they take used tires and heat them to a precise temperature, resulting in components like steel (from belted tires), carbon black, and a burnable fuel. That fuel is the energy source driving turbines to make electricity, which powers an onsite cryptocurrency mining farm. Taking advantage of an underutilized electricity source to run computers isn't groundbreaking, but the unusual set-up shows that cryptocurrency mining is now profitable enough to justify finding quite unconventional sources of cheap or new energy generation.

34 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Aka "burning tires" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Sounds like a splendid idea.

    1. Re:Aka "burning tires" by vtcodger · · Score: 2

      So, we're going to burn tires -- which are pretty much inert, and produce a variety of toxic chemicals and nasty particulates -- all in order to create something that is completely useless. My counterproposal is that the gubmints "print" units of cryptocurrency without bothering with all the computing overhead and gives them away to each and every person on the planet on any birthday year that is a prime number. That'd make about as much sense.

      I'll be turning 79 in a few months. 79 is a prime number. So let's get moving on this.

      --
      You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
    2. Re:Aka "burning tires" by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      From what I gather from TFA they where already burning the tires when the cryptominer company approached them about utilizing the otherwise wasted heat from the burning process.

  2. Where the rubber meets the... by ZenShadow · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...Silk Road?

    Yeah, I got nothing.

    --
    -- sigs cause cancer.
    1. Re:Where the rubber meets the... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Crytpocurrency is literally a tire fire.

  3. The very definition ... by PPH · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... of dirty money.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:The very definition ... by Voyager529 · · Score: 1

      The very definition... of dirty money.

      Sounds like there's a market for washing it...perhaps with a washing machine...

  4. Re:burning tires... by superdave80 · · Score: 1

    I usually take my old ones somewhere out in the woods or in a field remote...

    Well, I guess this isn't TOO terrible...

    ...and douse them with diesel and light them, and then get away.

    Wait, what? Why would you waste fuel, possibly start an out of control fire AND fill the air with toxic smoke? Just leave them there!

  5. Re:REEEEEEEEE by jellomizer · · Score: 2

    The energy could go to supporting the local grid, using the computing power to process more useful calculations.

    The problem isn't that Bitcoins are evil, it is just they are in a bubble, and people are wasting time and money on them. 16k a bitcoin, and still growing... Why would I actually buy anything with a bit coin, its growth is too fast to be useful to spend on anything else.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  6. Re:burning tires... by zlives · · Score: 1

    yes, but how would AC then make an asinine statement.
    only AC can start forest fires.

  7. Re:Interesting Concept by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    In the Obama-era EPA this company would have been regulated out of existence.

    Bullshit. Gasification, a technology which was commonly used during WWII, was not only allowed but encouraged during the Obama Administration.

    In the Trump-era EPA it might be hailed as "MAGA" and allowed to pollute the environment.

    Pollute the environment, how exactly?

    I guess there can be no "happy medium" between those 2 extremes....

    Maybe, instead of guessing and remaining ignorant, you could actually learn something. The alternative is to remain willfully ignorant.

    Gasification

    The Fischer–Tropsch process

    "Heaven is where the police are British, the cooks French, the mechanics German, the lovers Italian, and it is all organized by the Swiss.
    Hell is where the chefs are British, the mechanics French, the lovers Swiss, the police German, and it is all organized by the Italians."

    That may be true but idiots abound, as you have so fervently pointed out.

    Please consider taking your idiotic politics somewhere where people will simply nod in agreement with you.

  8. Re:I was sexual assaulted by a female coworker by nwaack · · Score: 1

    I think the middle portion was actually mansplaining.

  9. Hyperspeculation by ClickOnThis · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We can blame this on hyperspeculation in the value of cryptocurrencies. When these currencies become insanely valuable, it becomes profitable to get energy to mine them from insane sources.

    Recall hyperinflation of the German Mark in the 1920s. At one point its value was so low that it made more sense to burn the notes than to use them to buy firewood. How long before it becomes profitable to burn actual bank notes to make electricity to mine bitcoin?

    --
    If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    1. Re:Hyperspeculation by ShamblerBishop · · Score: 2

      How long before it becomes profitable to burn actual bank notes to make electricity to mine bitcoin?

      I think we've found our new economics 'Nobel' Prize winner here.

    2. Re:Hyperspeculation by ClickOnThis · · Score: 2

      I think we've found our new economics 'IgNobel' Prize winner here.

      FTFY ;-P

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
  10. Re:REEEEEEEEE by Gavagai80 · · Score: 2

    Actually, one of the problems is that they're evil. They're explicitly designed to unnecessarily waste huge amounts of electricity. Might as well be a mad super-villain plotting to melt Greenland.

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    This space intentionally left blank
  11. Re:burning tires... by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

    You're right, it is.

    But this is the normal tire recycling process. Instead of selling the syngas produced, they're burning it onsite in a turbine to produce electricity to run bitcoin miners.

    They're just making the recycling of tires more profitable.

  12. All hail the Springfield Tire Fire! by tlambert · · Score: 3, Funny

    All hail the Springfield Tire Fire!

    Cryptocurrency embiggens us all! They're the most cromulent currency!

  13. My counterproposal... by denzacar · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...is a #cryptocurrency called #AwesomCoin which would be powered by labor of small children harvested from impoverished villages.
    Preferably working in a combination of coal and uranium mines - and oil rigs. Oil is needed cause uranium won't burn as easily on its own.
    Also, where possible, whale and dolphin fat would be added to the mix - for flavoring.

    From time to time, in order to increase the value of #AwesomCoin through magic, some of the children would be offered as human sacrifices to Kali, Quetzalcoatl, Beelzebub, Donald Trump and Santa.
    Not necessarily in that order.
    #AwesomCoin mining facilities would be built on a large swat of land presently used as rain forests, in cooperation with Russian and South American criminal cartels and oligarchies.

    #AwesomCoin would be combined with an app where one could purchase and kill real life kittens through a variety of means - from sitting on them until they are crushed to throwing them against an oncoming train (other methods to be added).

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
    1. Re: My counterproposal... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      (*Throwing investment dollars*)

      (*Removing all legal obstacles to fast-track this venture*)

      -- Republicans

  14. This is just Thermal Plasma Gasification by Noishkel · · Score: 1

    While as the source article says in more detail this company does have a novel new process for this, but what they're doing here is hardly new. It's just thermal plasma gasification with another name. I'm not against such a thing myself, assuming they are property filter the waste gases that these systems release. But at the end of the day here this is just a novel way for make a big of money on disposing of old tires. It usually cost money to dispose of these tires in a landfill.

  15. Re:This is starting to sound like... by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

    > Religion (Particularly Christianity, but also Islam) and Corporatism are literally leading us to the extinction of the Human species.

    Hyperbole much?

    /sarcasm Oh Noes! Those terrorist Christians -- they are out murdering everyone! Wait, what?

    HOW _exactly_ are the religious people causing the extinction of the human species again???

  16. Just what we need, tire fire power by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    Want to swipe some Bitcoin?Just follow the tower of oily black smoke and go in with guns blazing..

    Here in Arizona, we use old tires to make an asphalt replacement that is longer lasting and quieter to drive on than the traditional material.

  17. Re: REEEEEEEEE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Netscape, the browser so valuable you xant even remember uts name.

  18. Wake me up by Drunkulus · · Score: 1

    when they can turn tires into Magic the Gathering cards.

    1. Re:Wake me up by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Drunkulus, wake up!

      Those people are burning tires to mine Bitcoins to buy Magic the Gathering cards!

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  19. Re:burning tires... by Trogre · · Score: 1

    Please tell me you're joking.

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
  20. Thermal recycling of tires by rfengr · · Score: 1

    It was Mr. Reinhardts invention. As a kid in the 80’s, got a tour of his operation after the great “Tar’ Far’” in Virginia. https://www.google.com/amp/amp...

  21. Re:I was sexual assaulted by a female coworker by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    "for"?

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  22. Cryptocurrency will propel humans into space ... by basicprimitives · · Score: 1

    Cryptocurrency will propel humans into space exploration. We can built solar plants on the moon and transmit back only calculations :-) Stupid idea yea?

  23. Re:I was sexual assaulted by a female coworker by Lanthanide · · Score: 1

    There was a high profile court case about this in New Zealand:
    ==============
    The man who allegedly told Christine Rankin he felt uncomfortable when she moved as he could "distinguish her breast", today told the Employment Court he did describe her dress as "indecent" and "offensive".

    Mark Prebble, head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, was giving evidence for the Crown on the eighth day of the Department of Work and Income boss' damages case.

    In describing his first meeting with Mrs Rankin in April 1999, Mr Prebble told the court:
    "I was surprised that she had a very low-cut neck line. I thought it was revealing to the point it was indecent, and I found it offensive."

    He said he was embarrassed by her low neck line, which was "improper for senior staff".
    ==============

    She wasn't re-appointed to her role after her fixed term contract ended. She alleged sexism and political interference, and lost her case.

  24. Enough power for Bartertown? by Babel-17 · · Score: 1

    Or is it too dirty for even that resource barren place.

  25. Re:This is starting to sound like... by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

    What you are describing is NOT Christianity, nor Islam.

    > excuse that our actions have no consequences,

    The Bible teaches The Law of Karma:

    * Matthew 7:12 "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."
    * Matthew 26:52 "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword."
    * Galatians 6:7-9 shares, "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap"
    * 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

    > that a savior will come save us,

    Irrelevant.

    > and we can pollute all we want and it doesn't matter.

    They are _completely_ twisting Genesis 1:26 "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

    The second chapter of Genesis commands man to be a "good steward" of the earth.

    * Genesis 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

    The Mosaic Law teaches the same thing.

    * Numbers 35:33 You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

    Peter says the same thing

    * 1 Peter 4:10 - As every man hath received the gift, [even so] minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

    The Bible _ends_ with the same message:

    * Revelation 11:18 "The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth."

    Next time, try READING the Bible, you might actually learn something.

  26. Re:Cryptocurrency will propel humans into space .. by iggymanz · · Score: 1

    ha, more sunlight falls on the ground than a thousand earth civilizations could use. it might propel the destruction of deserts, though after this current bubble pops bitcoin and "cryptocurrency" (really just virtual game tokens) might be unpopular for quite a while.