Bathhouse In Brooklyn Use Bitcoin Mining Rig To Warm Up Spa

Bathhouse explained that they were running a Bitcoin mining rig at their Brooklyn location (photo: Instagram @bathhouse)

JAKARTA - A bathhouse in Brooklyn, New York, shared posts on Instagram and Twitter after revealing that they were using Bitcoin mining rigs to heat up their spas.

In an Instagram post on June 21, Bathhouse explained that it runs a Bitcoin mining rig at their location in Brooklyn that generates heat as a by-product. In the post, it is explained in three steps how the heat is taken by heat exchanges and used to heat swimming pools using a circulation system.

Bitcoin mining is a valid block creation process that adds transaction records to Bitcoin's public ledger, called blockchain. Bitcoin mining consumes a significant amount of energy, often sourced from fossil fuels. This contributes to carbon emissions and raises concerns over environmental impacts.

Some hip spa in Brooklyn posted that they heat their pools with bitcoin mining and the commenters are flipping out pic.twitter.com/5ZspFLIbuD

— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) June 21, 2023

Some hip spa in Brooklyn posted that they heat their pools with bitcoin mining and the comments are flipping out pic.twitter.com/5ZspFL IbuD

In January 2022, a report estimated that the Bitcoin mining network would produce 42 megaton carbon dioxide, which accounts for 0.08% of the world's total production.

Instagram users who follow the Bathhouse account don't fully agree with this idea. A user with the name Annalarranaga wrote, "This makes me less like Bathhouse. Now I'm worried about who mines this cryptocurrency, who benefits from it, and whether I support it. We need a little clarity."

Screenshot of comments on Bathhouse's Instagram post. Another user's Instagram also claims that Bathhouse subscribers "want pure and unpolluted heat to bath their salt, not dirty side heat."

On the other hand, some users enjoy seeing negative responses to swimming pools heated by mining, while at least one user is happy with this and says, "I think it's a great way to heat up the pool and I'll try that place because of this."

While Bathhouse provides a specific example of environmentally friendly Bitcoin mining, the impact of Bitcoin mining on the environment remains a significant concern for some, leading to unfavorable responses from them.

Apart from that, this isn't the first time Bitcoin mining has been used to save energy. In Europe, miners have found creative ways to recycle heat generated by a valid Bitcoin block. In Norway, Bitcoin miners and the Kryptovault data center use the hot air generated by Bitcoin mining rigs to dry up pieces of firewood.