alt Hacker NewsIf everyone stopped mining transactions couldn't go through anymore and the value of bitcoin would drop. If you're heavily invested in bitcoin that's bad. Also miners try to squeeze in their preferred transactions which they can't do when they're not mining. Finally the costs dont drop to zero when you turn the miners off, so the loss from mining might be less than the loss when not mining.
Replies
illiac786 • today at 2:04 PM
Isn’t mining and transactions separate? Sure you need to have online participants, but they don’t have to actively mine, right?
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singpolyma3 • today at 2:42 PM
What? That's not true. You don't need more than one CPU miner online for tx to go through. That's why there are difficulty adjustments.
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He's not saying everyone, just the ones who are unprofitable. Not everyone mines bitcoin at the same cost. The ones who do have to stop can also profit from curtailment depending on the price of energy relative to hash profit.