With bitcoin recovery in recent weeks, equipment and individuals plunged into unprofitable equipment during the downturn have returned to mining operations. However, in a recent Federal Communications Commission investigation, Brooklyn, New York the mining business creates a whole new problem, not electricity, heat and unacceptable noise pollution.
T-Mobile complained to the FCC that in Brooklyn, the interference of its 700MHz LTE network came from radio transmissions in homes. The FCC found this simply because the owner of the property used ASIC mining hardware to validate Bitcoin transactions. The specific problem hardware is Bitmain Antminer S5.
Okay, this @FCC letter has it all: #bitcoin mining, computing power needed for #blockchain computation and #wireless #broadband interference. It all seems so very 2018. https://t.co/EaXxmBAMXH
— Jessica Rosenworcel (@JRosenworcel) February 15, 2018
The FCC commented at the end of the investigation:
“At the frequency assigned to the T-Mobile broadband network, the mine spitters and generates harmful interference.”
The agency said in a letter on Thursday that continued use of the hardware by individuals would constitute a violation of federal law and could lead to fines or criminal prosecutions.
Digging and validating bitcoin has brought the pain of PC gamers and scientists before. That’s why NVIDIA recently urged retailers to curb the sale of their hardware to miners.
Source: transition.fcc.gov
