Bitcoin 101

 Dave Carlson, a local bitcoin miner, joined us to explain the concept.  Jim is a technical consultant and software engineer drawn to this area by the low energy costs that could sustain his business which uses very large quantities of electricity to run computer servers.

Dave explained the bitcoin is a way to pay safely and securely over the internet.  The lower cost of Bitcoin could save merchants money they now spend on credit card transactions.

Currently $50 to $80 million dollars per ay are exchanged using Bitcoin.  14.2 billion bitcoins have been created.

Dave explained that mining is taking transactions, evaluating their legitimacy, securing them through a computer process, and adding them to the public ledger.

Dave sees a future for bitcoin because it is more accessible and fraud resistant.  He also sees it maintaining a lower cost than credit cards.

Carol Adamson presented Dave Carlson with a book in his name
to the local public library

Dave reports 100,000 merchants accept bitcoin and $368 million in venture capital has been invested.

There are concerns about the high electrical load on local PUDs, but Dave thinks there are opportunities for utilities to have data mining operations that could function during times of excess energy capacity.

Thanks to Dave for joining us to discuss this complex topic.