THE LEGEND OF THE BLUE TRACES
Rows of Bitcoin mining equipment extinguished their flickering glow in 2021 as the Chinese government’s strict regulation of Bitcoin mining went into effect. Since then, I have travelled to many Bitcoin mines in the southwest mountains. Although the mining sites have been demolished, historical traces are still visible.
At the time, the region’s rich water resources and cheap, plentiful electricity were a guarantee for the industry’s continued stability, while the Bitcoin mines’ continued and excessive electricity consumption had exhausted a significant amount of water and electricity for the local area. The proceeds from the sale of Bitcoins became part of the local income and established the economic basis for later regional development and exploitation. In contrast, the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index shows that China consistently produced the highest hashes in the world as of June 2021. Before Bitcoin mining was illegalised, statistics show that the region had the highest concentration of Bitcoin mines in the country, accounting for about 40% of the country’s Bitcoin production. The local electrical board estimates that hydropower makes up about 75% of the region’s total electricity production. Most Bitcoin producers are powered by hydroelectric facilities that run in one direction to lower electricity expenses. Due to its cheap operating costs, high efficiency, renewability, and much lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuel power generation, hydropower is an essential component of the environmentally friendly Bitcoin production process.
This story, inspired by local archaic beliefs and myths that have been passed down through generations, centres on the ghost of the Bitcoin mine looking for its final resting place. According to these beliefs, after a person passes away their soul departs from their body and wanders the land. A guide is required to ferry the spirits to their ancestors through the chanting of scriptures so that they can return to the ancestral realm. The story aims to discuss the effects of clean energy and Bitcoin production as well as the continuation of the industrial environment on local ecology and people’s livelihoods in the post-Bitcoin mining era by exhibiting the landscape that the spirits see on their journey. In addition to the carbon dioxide, heat, noise, and electronic waste associated with Bitcoin production, the story investigates the long-term impact of virtual mining on the continued colonisation of the local ecology, as well as the intergenerational sharing and continued use of resources after they were withdrawn.
亡者地上葬，生者地上食。
生者享祭牲，殆皆赴阴曹。
生者把路指，路途示汝知。
你死随祖去，祖先牵你行。
此是故土乡，祖先曾居此。
不要留恋呵，去寻祖先去。
Scripture Translation: Both the deceased and the living cherish the land. The living often sacrifice their animals to the dead in the hopes that the dead will take them to the underworld. The dead are shown the route to the netherworld by the living, and this is where their ancestors reside. Do not stay; instead, go and find the ancestors.
Chapter I: The Ghost of Blue Trace
For some reason, the ghost of the Bitcoin mine has come to life and is now wandering the land in a completely different form.
The wind had blown directly through my body when I woke up one day, my pet Echo Monster was gone, and my surroundings had grown eerily quiet. My body had long since vanished, leaving only a faint, pale blue trace on the ground. So why had my consciousness persisted?
I walked aimlessly across the valley, fearing that I would turn into a ghost of the digital era, residing in the space between the virtual and the real, and sharing the latter stages of oblivion with people’s vanishing memories. I am not sure how long it took, but a young man named Niu Bu woke me up and informed me that I was still in uncertainty because my bodies had been disassembled and were carrying on with life in another way.
Chapter Ⅱ: Meeting Niu Bu
A psychic finds the ghost of the Bitcoin mine and attempts to assist it in regaining its lost memories.
“Where is my body?” I couldn’t help but follow Niu Bu as he turned and moved forward without responding.
“Our people retain a record of what happens in our area through a certain rhythm of sound, and we believe in ancestors and experience.” He showed me his scripture and, declining to directly respond to my question, said, “This is the medium through which I converse with ghosts.”
“You are a psychic, right?”
“You may say, more accurately, that I’m a guide who directs the spirits of the dead to their places of rest in the afterlife.”
“Do you remember the things you did in your lifetime?” I asked.
“Bitcoin!” said Niu Bu.
My blood boiled as I recalled the sound of uncountable mining machines operating, and the relentless flashing of green lights which resembled fireflies in the dark or stars in the sky. My memory was gradually coming back to me.
“Yes,” I said, “a form of mining that existed in computers, even though it only existed here for a few years. At the market rate at the time my output per day was equivalent to 4–5 months worth of a middle-class American’s salary. In addition, a significant amount of abandoned hydroelectricity that was going to be released has generated a new electricity industry, and the electricity bills that the cryptocurrency factories pay are a significant source of income for the local economy.”
“Here we are. Remember what you were like?” He opened Google Earth. “You were constructed near a hydroelectric power plant not only to help with the demand for electricity but also to lower the cost of building the plant and transporting the machinery by using the valley’s scarce flatland resources and the already existing mountain roads.” Then he took me to the wall. “Fortunately, the word ‘DISMANTLE’ was retained and repainted. It must have been left behind during the final minutes of your fight against demolition.”
I saw a smiley face symbol on the wall not far away, which was probably my last pose in front of the camera.
“The original body is the only portion left, the upper and side air exchange components were sealed up, I guess it’s being used for something else,” Niu Bu explained, pointing to the last row of container cubicles in the distance.
“Where is the remaining material?”
“I think some of the material is still being used.” Following his finger, I saw the tin that was originally used for the roof had been patched onto the other structure, and the whole thing was wrapped up like a box. “The power plant that provided electricity is still in use, but the excess hydro needs to be resold.”
I had almost forgotten that this is a city beside a river, where people fear and revere the water. How much I once relied on the nearby river, which flowed continuously.
“Do you want to know what other people will think of you? I have a recording.” With that, he took out a recorder.
The sound of a voice emitted from the recorder: “They suggested that we invest in Bitcoin together, but I believe it is imaginary, and once the market falls it will be useless. I do not believe Bitcoin can generate money.”
“True,” I said, “Bitcoin is an imaginary currency that cannot be seen or touched, unlike coal, which can be used to provide heat for humans. The creation of Bitcoin is often used as a metaphor for mining because it gives economic value to arithmetic power, but in contrast to the traditional mining industry, where you have to break the ground, I only need a few cubicles and a few mining machines to produce around-the-clock with little fluctuation in electricity use and production value.”
“However,” Niu Bu continued, “many claim that you produce a lot of heat and carbon dioxide, which is harmful for the Earth’s atmosphere.”
“Another concern is: what exactly is a clean cryptocurrency?” I said, “From a technological standpoint, cryptocurrencies created by ending the arms race of miners and employing PoS rather than PoW for the algorithm’s proof of work are currently acknowledged as ‘clean’ cryptocurrencies in the market. In contrast, a Bitcoin made from renewable electricity, like mine, which accepts hydropower in one way, has a smaller carbon footprint than one made from thermal electricity and is hence closer to becoming a clean cryptocurrency. It is challenging to say whether or not this portion of the Bitcoin is clean if the electricity is generated using a combination of thermal and hydroelectric power. The infrastructure of all energy and media production is based on the colonisation of nature, and since cleanliness is a relative concept and the carbon footprint of construction has not yet been established, people are focusing on reducing their own environmental impact in order to buy time for system upgrades.”
Chapter Ⅲ: The Adventure of the Echo Monster
The pet of a Bitcoin mine takes advantage of the mine’s dismantlement to flee. Let’s hear its defence since it doesn’t believe that it betrayed the Bitcoin mine.
I did not disappear, but I did want to use the opportunity to get off the blue roof. After that, I inhabited the river and felt the immense energy of the flowing water, an energy that became my tentacles and allowed me to touch everything in the world.
That day, I joined a quarry party and witnessed the excitement of people removing vegetation from the hillside to reveal the bare layers of rock and soil. An excavator continued to explore inwards and the collected rock and soil was sent on a conveyor belt to be crushed, mixed, and sieved into machines that would eventually become raw cement. The noise of the machinery emitted from my body. I snarled as loudly as I could, and the sound echoed throughout the valley.
I fell in love with the feeling of being at ease. Spending my days in the quarries made me feel less lonely. More and more routes stretched deeper and deeper into the valleys, across the mountains and rivers to connect various villages, mines, and forests so that the stones and woods could be carried to far areas.
Gradually, blue roofs began to spread like a virus, replacing the area’s traditional tile roofs, due to their low material cost and durability. It started with one house, then another and another, until the entire town was covered in blue roofs. Instead of hearing the crisp singing of the tiles when it rained, there came the wild rock and roll of metal. It made me feel a little homesick all of a sudden. In my nightmares, I saw countless blue rooftops. I started to long for the past and for my exclusive blue roof. Where is it now in its ghostly form, I wondered?
Chapter Ⅳ: The Confusion of the Field Elf
The field elf has been negatively impacted by the growth of industry and is left with no choice but to whine, nonstop.
“Have you seen the Echo Monster?” A strange voice sounded from above, and as I looked up I saw a young man followed by a blue mist.
“What is your name?” I asked.
“I am Niu Bu, a guide, and this is the ghost of Blue Trace,” the young man said.
“Are you looking for the Echo Monster?”
“Yes, it is my pet, it got lost by accident,” the blue mist explained.
“See, it’s over there.” I pointed to the far side of the mountain.
This tiny monster was rather noisy. The valley had been considerably more lively since the little monster came, but the all-day and all-night partying was really interfering with my work and rest. But my problems did not end there. More and more young people were leaving me. They joined the parties of the Echo Monster because they were unsatisfied with the meagre income that farming provided. Then I noticed that an increasing number of lorries were speeding along the winding mountain roads.
The tentacles of the Echo Monster sometimes took over the entire mountain road as the lorry moved, and it occasionally provoked people who walked along it. They become accustomed to the little tricks the monster played on them.
The popularity of the quarry party in the mountains had stoked people’s desire for celebrity and financial gain. I had to make accommodations because of their increasing demand for land. The farming rhythm was disrupted and the traditional knowledge of nature was put into question by the involvement of contemporary science and technology.
“I am not sure if I will ever look the same again,” I said. “I hope you will recognise me the next time we meet. See you, young man and Blue.”
Chapter Ⅴ: The Road to Ancestry
“The valley has become more lively since you left, and while I’m not sure if you were responsible for it all, one thing is for sure: this is far from the end,” Niu Bu said.
“Why do you want to wake me up?”
“I want someone to remember your legend.”
🙂
“Echo Monster, let’s go.”