美国国家公共电台 NPR Cryptocurrency Miners Make Big Promises In Small Towns

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Like many American manufacturing towns, Massena, N.Y., has hemorrhaged jobs in the past decade. GM and Reynolds Metal closed. Aluminum¹ company Alcoa downsized. But now Massena is banking² on a new opportunity to boost its economy - cryptocurrency. North Country Public Radio's David Sommerstein explains.

DAVID SOMMERSTEIN, BYLINE³: Massena is the archetype of the company town that lost its companies. Main Street is a mix of stately old buildings and empty union hall, a couple banks and restaurants and a bunch of vacant storefronts. So back in January, Town Supervisor⁴ Steven O'Shaughnessy was over the moon when all of a sudden, companies that do something called bitcoin mining were knocking on Massena's door. The town has something they really need.

STEVEN O'SHAUGHNESSY: They need lots of power. They need to be able to count on it. And we can provide that.

SOMMERSTEIN: Massena has some of the cheapest electricity in the Northeast. It comes from a hydropower dam nearby on the St. Lawrence River. A quick primer on bitcoin mining - bitcoin is the best-known of the digital or cryptocurrencies, which operate completely independently of banks. Instead, they rely on powerful computers around the world to verify every transaction that uses a digital coin. People operating those computers earn new coins for doing that verification work. That's called mining. So now companies want to set up huge warehouses⁵ full of computers to mine digital currency. The thing is, all this mining gobbles up vast amounts of electricity, and that's why a Hong Kong-based company called Digital Skynet Limited came to Massena and set up hundreds of computers in an old factory.

TINA BARKSDALE: Yeah, these are the miners, and as you can hear, they make a lot of noise.

SOMMERSTEIN: Tina Barksdale says Digital Skynet employs 20 people here now, but she imagines something much bigger - way more computers, but also, an innovative⁶ hub for the cryptocurrency technology, generating hundreds of jobs - the transformation⁷ for the town of Massena.

BARKSDALE: From being just Massena, N.Y., to being a cryptocurrency sort of Silicon⁸ Valley. But, of course, it all depends on the power.

SOMMERSTEIN: When the value of a traded bitcoin soared to almost $20,000 late last year, a bitcoin-mining rush hit lots of places with cheap power. But it only takes so many employees to keep an eye on a bunch of computers, and in some places, the power-hungry miners started driving up electric rates for everybody else. Near Massena, the city of Plattsburgh, N.Y., put a moratorium⁹ on new mines because of rising electric bills. And so local leaders, like State Senator Joe Griffo, began to ask, will bitcoin mining really create enough jobs to justify¹⁰ using all that electricity? And will those jobs last?

JOE GRIFFO: I would not dismiss it out of hand, but I think you also have to look at things realistically. Where is bitcoin going to go over time?

SOMMERSTEIN: Bitcoin's value has been all over the place. It steadily¹¹ dropped most of this year. So the big question is, if the price keeps dropping, will miners stick around? Lex Sokolin of Autonomous¹² Research in London studies digital currencies, and he believes they have a promising¹³ future, but he thinks it's inevitable¹⁴ developers will come up with a more energy-efficient way to mine them.

LEX SOKOLIN: It just seems somewhat preposterous¹⁵ to me because the amount of electricity that's being used is growing, and growing and growing, and I think the community will try to find a different way to do this.

SOMMERSTEIN: Towns like Massena would lose their advantage. Digital Skynet's Tina Barksdale says that's why Massena should embrace bitcoin mining now to establish its position in an emerging digital currency economy. For NPR News, I'm David Sommerstein in Massena, N.Y.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE ALBUM LEAF'S "SYNTHESIS")

1 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

2 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

5 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

6 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

7 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

8 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

9 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

10 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

11 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

12 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

13 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

14 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

15 preposterous   

adj.荒谬的，可笑的

参考例句：

• The whole idea was preposterous.整个想法都荒唐透顶。
• It would be preposterous to shovel coal with a teaspoon.用茶匙铲煤是荒谬的。