Bitcoinpolitisk institutt Noreg gathers researchers, industry and politicians for a seminar in Oslo on Monday. The subject is what bitcoin mining demands of power, and what it does to a grid. It is free and streamed live.
Bitcoin mining is the process in which computers compete to confirm transactions and are rewarded with new bitcoin. The method is called proof of work, and it consumes electricity. That power consumption is the most contested aspect of the industry in Norway. Bitcoinpolitisk institutt Noreg is holding a half-day seminar on Monday 14 September in the Skram room at Litteraturhuset in Oslo, from 12 to 16, on the premise that the parties to the Norwegian debate do not agree on what they are arguing about. The seminar takes on both the arithmetic and the reality: what mining actually requires in power, what it does to a grid, and what is at stake politically.
The first session is held in English and covers international perspectives. Rachel Geyer, head of the European Bitcoin Energy Association, speaks under the title "Mine or Decline: Europe's Energy Reality".
Alexander Neumüller is head of research at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge, the group behind the most widely cited estimates of bitcoin's electricity use. He addresses the mining ecosystem globally.
The second session is in Norwegian and deals with domestic conditions. Sander Berg Stople, an employee of the Brønnøysund Register Centre appearing here as a BPI member, covers power, infrastructure and the economics of mining in Norway.
Bitcoin veteran Sturle Sunde speaks on the prospects for mining in Norway. Ola Borten Moe, a former minister of petroleum and energy and now project director at Norsk Kjernekraft AS, opens on the Norwegian power market, its trajectory and its challenges.
The third session is given over to the political conversation. The organiser describes opposition to bitcoin mining in the Storting as broad, and that is the starting point for this part of the programme.
Nils Forren, leader of Senterungdommen, and Tejn Rolland, first deputy leader of Unge Venstre, are coming nonetheless to discuss mining and the future of bitcoin in political terms. Håkon Sandbakken, head of Bitcoinpolitisk institutt Noreg, hosts and moderates. The institute says more politicians and speakers have been invited, and that the programme may be expanded.
The seminar is free and open to all. Registration is voluntary and used only to estimate attendance. The address is Wergelandsveien 29 in Oslo.
The full seminar is streamed live on Vimeo from 12:00 on Monday, for those who cannot get to Oslo.
Sources: Bitcoinpolitisk institutt Noreg
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