The government wants to make life miserable for cryptocurrency factories

The Lefdal Mine Datacenter is located 700 meters inside the mountain and 60 meters below sea level.

In 2017, the old olive mine was transformed into the largest data center in Northern Europe, attracting companies with different interests, among others. German encryption company.

At the beginning of the new year, Ministers Ola Borten Moe (Sp) and Sigbjørn Gjelsvik (Sp) were invited to the same mine tunnels to Mark this step by the Norwegian supercomputer Sigma2.

Inside The Rock at its new address, the super machine must be safe from natural disasters, war, terrorism, fire, and robbery.

The move also marks a shift for a data center that will no longer be home to cryptocurrency mining.

– We are constantly saying no to all orders as we understand that cryptocurrency is at the bottom, says Jørn Skaane, daily director of the Lefdal Mine Datacenter.

Encryption, he adds, “has ruined the reputation of the data center industry.”

– There have been many unfortunate stories about cryptocurrencies. We don’t want to be a part of that, he says.

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency only exists on computer servers
You can buy the currency online and then get the value in the form of a code
The use of the currency is transmitted directly from one person to another, without an intermediary such as a bank
The first and most popular cryptocurrency is Bitcoin
Through computer networks, payments are made using cryptocurrency
The currency uses cryptography – among other things to transmit secure money transfers
Making more “coins” is called mining
Cryptocurrency mining requires a huge amount of computing power, because the calculations and calculations that are performed are very complex.
Using an ordinary home computer, it would take millions of years to mine a single bitcoin
Economists predicted that bitcoin mining would reach a level Half a percent of the world’s total energy use in 2018
Coins do not have a central bank behind them, and no one has a monopoly on creating new “coins”.

– Energy mode takes up important energy resources

In May, the Center Party and the Labor Party said no to a motion in parliament for the Block the most demanding extraction of power of cryptocurrencies.

The rationale was that the government wanted to “avoid a specific Norwegian cryptocurrency ban,” and that it “presents a fundamental problem in discriminating against data centers based on a politically defined societal benefit.”

Then Municipal and County Minister Sigbjørn Gjelsvik (Sp) in the fall Work started With the revised data center strategy, there are still signs that crypto factories could play a role.

– The minister explained that the energy situation is particularly demanding, and crypto mining consumes significant energy resources.

At the same time, Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) made life for crypto mills more complicated when he abolished the electricity tax deduction for all data centres.

– We see an increase in cryptocurrency mining in Norway. We need this power To the community, explained the Minister of Finance.

NRK
Explain

What is bitcoin?

Go to

This is Bitcoin

Bitcoin refers to the digital payment network and the unit of value in this network. Bitcoin is often referred to as the virtual currency or Cryptocurrency.

based on the blockchain

The network is digital, decentralized, and based on blockchain technology. Simplified explanation, this means that you can send bitcoin directly to the recipient, without the need for a bank.

Pros and Cons

Proponents of a cryptocurrency like bitcoin point to advantages such as lower transaction costs, accessibility, and anonymity. Critics point out that bitcoin is used for criminal activity, uses a lot of electricity and also that the exchange rate fluctuates a lot.

Source: The Great Norwegian Dictionary.

Here they balanced the digital currency with the official currency

– We cannot waste energy on cryptocurrency

So the impression left was that a “uniquely Norwegian cryptocurrency ban” was not out of the question, symbolized by a bipartisan decision in December at Nordland County Council to introduce such a ban. the ban.

At Storting, Raudt, MDG, and SV lobbied to ban crypto factories.

By referring to it Swedish Norway’s Financial Supervisory Authority, which wants to ban “more energy-intensive mining of cryptocurrency,” Requested Lars Haltbrekken (SV) asked earlier this year what the Støre government is doing to “stop using Norwegian power to produce bitcoin, or at any rate significantly reduce that production?”

– We don’t have electricity to waste mining cryptocurrency, says Geir Jørgensen at Rowdt.

– Nothing is better than if this was caught by the government now.

– If we wanted to block everything we don’t like, the list would be long

Fredrik Sieversen, Director of Strategy, Business Development and ICT Norway

– At the beginning of the year, the government introduced a Regulation Which requires registration for all data centers in Norway. With this in place, it becomes very easy to differentiate cryptography from regular datacenters. I think it is impossible to imagine banning cryptocurrencies through the law as being particularly Norwegian. If we were to ban everything for which we did not want to use our power, I think the list would be very long. We are aware that the government party led by Minister Jelesvik has shown a great understanding of the data center industry, and sees a clear difference between extraction and classic data centers.

– Politicians also did not like color television

Brønnøysund Register does not have its own business token for cryptocurrency mining. There is no requirement to report that you have mined cryptocurrency to the tax authorities.

Right and left are impatient

Alfred Burlow, left

– We’re impatient to get the revised data center strategy on the table. So far, the red and green government has used the time to brace the legs of the Norwegian data center industry, by imposing an electricity tax on all data centers under the guise of targeting cryptocurrency, higher employer tax and other forms of tax hikes on the Norwegian data center industry. The government should now take inspiration from what private investors in the Nordfjord have achieved in creating green value in the region with its Lefdal Mine Datacentre.

Linda Hofstad-Hellland, Senior

– The important thing for us is to increase value creation and job creation, also in rural areas. We will ask the government to provide an overview of the number of job data centers it is setting up in Norway, and we will not draw conclusions until we have this overview.

Thus, the feedback from the business community is that it is difficult, purely methodologically, to distinguish between desirable and undesirable activity in data centers; that attempts to “deal with cryptocurrency” are too broad; Moreover, “nobody knows what kind of innovations will emerge from crypto mining.”

The final words belong to Niels Ola Widme, Director of Business Policy at Abelia.

– We understand that politicians don’t like cryptocurrency. They didn’t like color TV either. What is certain is that the ban will hinder innovation in Norway.

He adds:

– We hope the government will not prevent this, but we fear it will.

Anti-coin mining affects the entire industry

Christine Bitland, Authority Contact at Microsoft

– We do not expect the Data Center Strategy Review to address the ban on encryption. However, what we expect is that in the 2024 budget it will be difficult that the winding down of the electricity tax for data centers now in 2023, in the fight against cryptography, will affect the entire data center industry. Instead of terminating the KDD with Ekomloven, the government could introduce a registration obligation for all data centers to ensure oversight and oversight.

Nils Ola Widme, Director of Business Policy at Abelia

Data centers are essential infrastructure for all further development of Norwegian industry. We expect the government to put high ambitions on the table in the new data center strategy.

Bjorn Rönning, daily director of the Norwegian Data Center Industry

– The signal we received from the political authorities is clear that it is out of the question to introduce a specifically Norwegian ban against cryptocurrency trading. With this as a background, it will be interesting to see how the revised data center strategy addresses the problem as long as there are no trade bans on crypto. The reporting obligation in the regulation will give the governing authorities an insight into the businesses that operate in the various data centers, and thus an overview of the extent of cryptocurrency trading. NKOM will be the supervisory authority, and will review the information provided by the actors.

During the fall, the government held several meetings in which businessmen, parties in working life, and parts of civil society participated. The last meeting to register was on December 8.

The ministry will work to reduce cryptocurrency mining

Gon Karen Gegul (AP) is the Minister of State in charge of Digitalization and Electronic Communications in the Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Affairs.

She says the ministry is in the final stages of preparing a guidance document to help ensure that each municipality can articulate “what realistic expectations are for a potential data center construction” and that they “feel the industry is taking the challenges ‘very seriously'”.

For those anticipating a cryptocurrency ban, she has the following tribute:

– The Norwegian private cryptocurrency ban will not be the result of a national strategy review.

– But I can say as far as we are investigating various measures to reduce mining.

Hanisi Anenih

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The government wants to make life miserable for cryptocurrency factories – NRK Vestland

– Energy mode takes up important energy resources