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@ jasonb
2025-06-10 14:59:23Traveling with a miner...
I recently traveled over 13,000 kilometers to see a bitcoin circular economy of which I had developed some friendships and decided to bring a small miner to donate to one of the organizations spurring on this community. But every moment that thing was unplugged was a missed hash! So........
Let's first discuss, is mining in the terminal, using the airport's energy ethical?
I would say that the answer is unequivocally yes. They provide the outlets there so that you can charge your devices. I feel like if I want to use that to verify the transactions of freedom fighters fleeing Myanmar and preserve the savings of merchants in Zimbabwe instead of playing Candy Crush or doomscrolling Facebook, that's my prerogative. Am I wrong?
Is it allowed?
Well...I guess this post may bring that to light...
But is is possible?
Short answer, yes, but I couldn't quite figure it out in time with the miner I was using. The hard problem is the way you sign in to Wifi at the airport. There's no password and instead you normally open up a browser and agree to the terms there. I couldn't figure out in time (across multiple airports) how to circumvent this, but I think I would have been able to do it with a different device.
How about at a bnb?
Easy-peasy! Oddly enough, I was a little more torn on the ethics here. It was in fact pretty cold, and this thing was functioning as a space heater while I was at that desk. Also, you can't see it, but that cord on the right was for a blow dryer that consumes almost ten times the energy of my miner. Alas, you don't use a blow dryer continuously throughout the night and I really didn't want to risk offending the owner. She had actually only charged me 26,000 sats for the night, and even though she was a bitcoiner, I didn't want to risk any chance that she might feel I was taking advantage of her business. I ran it for a little bit to warm my hands while I wrote and then unplugged it until it was time to present the gift.
Have you ever mined like this?
I kept reminding myself that I wasn't using someone else's electricity, but in fact, using electricity that I already paid for. Nevertheless, it's an odd feeling. Am I wrong? I definitely think bitcoiners that run rental spots should be heating them with miners. If nothing else, what a cool education opportunity for the renters. Anyone ever mine anywhere weirder than this? It seems that as solo miners become more prevalent, there will be more instances of people travel mining, mining at work, or mining using power that they don't necessarily "own" or have full control over.
https://stacker.news/items/1002559