A Bitcoin mine moved to a small town in Texas. One by one, the residents fell ill.

cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/14304762

Over the course of several months in 2024, TIME spoke to more than 40 people in the Granbury area who reported a medical ailment that they believe is connected to the arrival of the Bitcoin mine: hypertension, heart palpitations, chest pain, vertigo, tinnitus, migraines, panic attacks. At least 10 people went to urgent care or the emergency room with these symptoms. The development of large-scale Bitcoin mines and data centers is quite new, and most of them are housed in extremely remote places. There have been no major medical studies on the impacts of living near one. But there is an increasing body of scientific studies linking prolonged exposure to noise pollution with cardiovascular damage.

  • TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org
    0·
    6 months ago

    Well, if you manage to retrieve my old phone I accidentally dropped off a sailboat into the Chesapeake Bay in 2013 and somehow retrieve the flash chip’s contents, you can be semi-rich. There’s no password on the wallet. And I made no backups. I’m poor now due to my own stupidity.

    • db2@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      Size: 4,480 square miles

      Max depth: 174′

      I’ll admit I’m tempted.

    • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      My friends and I would bullshit with the coin when they first started and they only cost a few cents each. Then one of us started collecting all of them. IDK what happened to that guy, he stopped coming around. But we figured he had at least 20 or 30 coins from us. He had gambling issues so I don’t think he ever saw the big payout but I always remember goofing off and giving someone a coin that’s worth thousands now.