University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Cryptocurrency
Video

Cryptocurrency

Virtual Money, Real Power, and the Fight for a Small Town’s Future

Errol Barnett
CBS News, 2018
Watch the video

Read or listen offline

Amazon Kindle
automatisch generiertes Audio
  • 0.5×
  • 0.75×
  • 1×
  • 1.25×
  • 1.5×
  • 1.75×
1×
automatisch generiertes Audio

Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Overview
  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Cryptocurrency mining is an energy-intensive business that lures prospectors to communities where electricity is cheap and abundant. But what externalities does digital currency mining wreak upon those neighborhoods? CBS News correspondent Errol Barnett investigates. getAbstract recommends his thorough case study to digital entrepreneurs hoping to strike it rich and to communities considering a foray into cryptocurrencies. 

Summary

Wenatchee, Washington, calls itself ”the apple capital of the world,” but it is also the site of a burgeoning new industry: cryptocurrency mining. Governments and banks don’t issue cryptocurrencies; they are decentralized and digital. When someone makes a payment using bitcoin, for example, a “flurry of activity” takes place as every server on the bitcoin network records and verifies the transaction. This process also cultivates new bitcoins, making cryptocurrency mining an attractive source of passive income. David Carlson, owner of cryptomining business Giga Watt, estimates that each one of his computers earns him an income of $1,500 a year. But...

About the Speaker

Errol Barnett is an anchor and correspondent for CBS News.

Comment on this summary