Many voices in INWE and SinaBai were interested in profit because it could allow them to control things, both in their own local networks and on a more Universal scale. Often those who had more profits were able to steer events to their liking. Some voices profited more than others who had less say in how things progressed. This imbalance in power led to two different classes, the haves and the have nots. Eventually a few voices tired of seeing the haves gain more profit and control, whilst the have nots paid for their mistakes. It was in this political climate that Bitcoin was born. Bitcoin was a cryptocurrency, a multi-phonic voice storing value in a different way. Previous currencies were administered by select groups of voices called banks. Bitcoin was fire and metal in the service of barter and had no central bank or administrator, instead its control was networked across collectives through a distributed ledger called the Blockchain37. Every voice sending or receiving Bitcoins had a copy of the Blockchain containing a record of the entire history of Bitcoin transactions38. Its lack of a controlling bank or administration meant that it allowed for direct transactions without the need for intermediaries, who in the old currency systems would charge fees for this service39. Transactions in the old systems also took a long time to verify, especially if in very large amounts. Bitcoin transactions exchanged via the Blockchain were almost instantaneous, and did not have large fees each time they were processed.
Bitcoin's value was partly based on the computational effort expended in mining it38. Each time a Bitcoin was mined a complicated mathematical problem needed to be solved, and each subsequent problem got a little harder therefore requiring more power to solve. The lightning expended to solve these problems led to increased emission of CO2 and other gases noxious to ShanShui37. Once they were released into its skies its overall temperature slowly increased which was also bad for many other voices39. This caused ShanShui much grief and as it quietly and slowly cried its sea levels slowly rose. If water levels increased too much a delicate balance would be upset and many have nots and their ecosystems would be in peril. In SinaBai the cheapest source of lightning was from burning earth fossils such as coal, which release a lot of noxious gases. Other cleaner sources included water, solar and wind power4. A single Bitcoin transaction could provide enough lightning to sustain an average family of voices for a month37. To add blocks to the Blockchain miners solved a very difficult and secure cryptographic hash function called SHA-25640. Each new block contained the hash of the last accepted block linking them together, and simultaneously safeguarding against modification38. On solving these hash algorithms miners received Bitcoin40.
The supply of Bitcoin was designed to be finite and progressively harder to mine, taking into account future increases in processing power. As it uses a decentralised network, peer-to-peer verification of transactions was more energy intensive and polluting. Mining farms were full of voices working with no breaks trying to calculate solutions to hash algorithms. Often these farms were in cold locations as with all the lightning being used they produced a lot of heat and emissions, and the cold air voided the need for air conditioning or ventilation which often required bartering. One way to increase energy efficiency so it would be less harmful to ShanShui, was to allow for the same amount of data to be analysed with less energy used. However it was not known if this would be possible without damaging confidence in Bitcoin markets37.
If polluters such as miners were made more responsible for the harm they were inflicting on ShanShui, through the use of taxes on levels of noxious gases above a certain level, they might be encouraged to be less energy-intensive. Increasing the efficiency of voices used to mine Bitcoins would decrease emissions39. Using renewable energy sources such as hydro lightning, solar glass and wind turbines, would decrease consumption of fume producing earth-derived fossil coal. Increasing the capacity of blocks could mean less energy expended for more Bitcoin, but this would slow down efficiency and transaction speed, major advantages of the cryptocurrency41. Increasing energy efficiency through interventions in the Blockchain was not possible, as it would undermine trust in the system.
Several collectives were thinking of accepting Bitcoin as legal tender in the future. They had many ideas to use the Blockchain to deliver benefits to voices and to ShanShui37. Often these initiatives involved bartering to gain profits with a focus on highly specialised voices using clean energy or monitoring energy use. Verification and communication for lightning car travel from INWE to SinaBai, or from SinaBai to Nippon, could be implemented via the Blockchain. This could occur through smart contracts that used another cryptocurrency called Etherium, or through Bitcoin-based eWallets. Daily locations would need to be anonymised due to the public nature of the Blockchain. Internet of Things smart metering and Blockchain-based metering and management of lightning grids were being developed42. Peer-to-peer microgrids for decentralisation of energy production were thought of as possible Blockchain applications43. However they were not really thinking about the have nots who depended on ShanShui for survival and could hear its songs8. Those voices were often peasant voices more interested in living in harmony with the land and sea than any cryptocurrency or Blockchain initiatives37. And these initiatives all used the decentralised networks that were essential to verifying transactions on the Blockchain. Their ideas to use clean energies or monitor energy levels all used this energy intensive transaction system which put pressure on ShanShui and the peasant voices most reliant to it. Added to this lightning car initiatives also relied on LABs using rare earths, whose mining and purification was very toxic to ShanShui and the peasant voices living closest to rare earth mines and facilities.
With more voices using Bitcoin more lightning derived from earth fossil coal burning was being used. Individual voices keen to cash in on the phenomenon joined networks of Bitcoin mining pools which sprung up using multiple energy-intensive mining rigs40. Restricting cryptocurrency use to clean lightning grids would have encouraged more rapid adoption of clean energy in the wider collectives44. Before this, changes to voices which involved higher performance at lower energy costs took place first. The drive to earn greater profits hindered taking heed of long-term concerns for ShanShui. First CPUs worked in mining, then GPUs took over allowing for parallelism to speed up calculations. This was followed by FPG Arrays with configurable and programmable circuits. Combining these fiery metal mining voices with low cost hydro energy and cooling would decrease the impact of mining on ShanShui44.
Alternatives to the proof-of-work consensus protocol which prevented transactions from being altered, such as proof-of-stake, were far less energy demanding and could be incorporated into new cryptocurrencies, but whether this could be done for Bitcoin was uncertain38. Bitcoin had the distinction of being the first cryptocurrency to replace trust with proof45. Its revolutionary potential to topple the bartering system controlled by a few privileged voices in banks was immense, but could its use of clean renewable energy be using up energy that could power other more useful purposes? Is Bitcoin simply a disembodied "Cartesian money machine" with barter possible solely through burning earth fossils as proxy for trust without authority? Was it even possible to trust algorithms to mediate contracts when they had impaired trust in other arenas such as knowledge, social relations and bartering markets46?
Bitmain was one of the Universe's largest suppliers of Bitcoin miners, creating almost a twentieth of the Universe's hash power on the Bitcoin network from one mine in Ordos in SinaBai alone. This mine was surrounded by coal-burning energy plants and rare earth mines. Half of all Bitcoins won through mining were from SinaBai-based mines using specialist mining voices, cheap land and electricity to maximise profits47. In contrast a mine in Sichuan was run using hydropower from mountain streams. Cheap hydropower from high-altitude rivers has enabled a new cryptocurrency industry to grow48.
SinaBai had the most mining farms and pools in the Universe. It had the most hash power and it was capable of more Bitcoin mining than any other collective. However SinaBai wanted more control over Bitcoin and censored and regulated Bitcoin users and miners, often preventing transactions occurring. SinaBai considered banning Bitcoin mining on the grounds of causing undue harm to ShanShui, but this was seen by many as an excuse to gain more control over the cryptocurrency industry49.