Arsenic. Nightshade. Cyanide.

These are three of the most well-known poisons. But are we about to add Bitcoin to the list?

The argument surrounding Bitcoin’s environmental impact has long been raging.

But could this latest development spell the end for Bitcoin?

Or could this be the end of every fish on the planet?

More in the deep dive.

Espresso Shots

☕️ Bitcoin Posts First Monthly Loss Since December 📉 🪙

Bitcoin has posted its first monthly loss in six months, down roughly 5% for the month of May.

The situation is making some analysts and spectators reassess their positions that inflation, a weakening dollar, and the FED would send Bitcoin skyrocketing.

On the bright side, it would seem that Bitcoin has truly decoupled from the NASDAQ, which was up 8% this month while Bitcoin, again, dropped 5%.

Hopefully, an influx of liquidity and new drivers in the market can send Bitcoin back up.

But for now, us BTC bulls will just have to bow our heads in shame.

“Damn, what a brutal, season-ending loss,” said the Boston Celtics.

☕️ Nvidia Beats Tesla and Meta 🥇📈

Nvidia has overtaken both Meta and Tesla’s market cap due to the company’s fluent adoption of AI.

Nvidia has almost hit the trillion mark and reached a market cap of $963.18 billion, far surpassing Meta and Tesla at $671.53 and $612.25, respectively.

And the driving force behind it has been Nvidia’s Avatar Cloud Engine (ACE) which allows AI in video games to respond to player characters by developing their own unscripted dialogues.

“This is the future of video games,” said CEO Jensen Huang. “Not only will AI contribute to the rendering and the synthesis of the environment, AI will also animate the characters. AI will be a very big part of the future of video games.”

We consider this an even bigger win because Nvidia doesn’t sound so much like an AI company as a yogurt intended to promote bowel health.

☕️ The Failed Texas Bitcoin Heist 🚨🏦

Seven people have been arrested in connection to a failed attempt to steal a Bitcoin ATM from a Texas smoke shop.

The group crashed a stolen truck through the front window of a Houston smoke shop. They ultimately failed to steal the ATM, but made off with several tools from the hijacked vehicle.

All of this was caught on security camera and the suspects were promptly arrested. The damages they caused to the store are estimated at $10,000.

And despite months of practice, when the thieves turned the Bitcoin ATM on its side, none of the BTC fell out as expected.

Spilling the Beans

Bitcoin's Poisonous Consequences 🤢 ☢️

Crypto’s effect on the environment is a hot topic.

It’s a relatively new industry and like all new industries, will have its environmental impact accounted and held against its worth.

And because it seems that most of the public fundamentally doesn’t understand crypto, they have been quick to ignite criticism.

And much of that criticism seems ill-founded. The Biden administration wants to launch a full scale investigation into the environmental consequences of Bitcoin mining, but when it comes to Bitcoin’s drain on the environment, we’re actually more likely to agree with an unlikely source.

We’ve already mocked Robert F. Kennedy for being less of a wonk and more of a tin-foil-hat-wearing conspiracy theorist, but admittedly we really like his take on Bitcoin’s environmental impact.

“Cryptocurrencies, led by bitcoin, along with other crypto technologies are major innovation engine. It is a mistake for the U.S. government to hobble the industry and drive innovation elsewhere,” RFK wrote. “Biden’s proposed 30% tax on cryptocurrency mining is a bad idea. Yes, energy use is a concern (though somewhat overstated), but bitcoin mining uses about the same as videogames and no one is calling for a ban on those.”

And yes, crypto’s electrical use may not match the hysteria it’s invoking.

But there’s been a new, disturbing environmental development around Bitcoin mines.

Obviously, we’re bullish on BTC here at Coffee & Crypto, but when an unintended consequence emerges from crypto, we’re going to report on it.

The Greenidge Bitcoin mining plant in New York’s Finger Lakes has become the poster child for the debate around crypto’s environmental impact.

Environmentalists are alleging that the plant is heating up the nearby lake, killing thousands of fish and causing toxic algal blooms that are poisoning the native wildlife.

And the allegations around the plant’s runoff prompted Governor Kathy Hochul to sign a new two-year ban on new crypto plants in New York.

And that ban was certainly prompted by Democratic Assemblywoman Anna Kelle’s impassioned appeal to the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Subcommittee regarding plants like Greenidge.

“Facilities like Greenidge also negatively impact aquatic life, killing thousands of fish every year and increasing the risk of harmful algal bloom outbreaks that are toxic for both wildlife and humans,” said Kelles.

But this evidence is anecdotal and the issue around Greenidge may not be that simple.

Though environmentalists and critics have likened the temperature of Greenidge’s surrounding lake to a “hot tub,” and insisted the water is approaching 108 degrees, that… doesn’t seem to be the case at all.

The difference between the water that the Greenidge plant takes in and the water that surges out is only between 9 and 13 degrees. That’s 32 degrees cooler than the legal limit established by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

What’s more, the locals don’t seem to notice that the lake has changed at all. They insist that the algal blooms have been a natural part of the lake’s ecosystem and the water temperature hasn’t noticeably changed over the past decades.

In fact, the locals seem to want the plant there.

“Kids I used to coach are now working near home, where you never would have expected that. Their parents sure wouldn’t have expected their kids to be able to live near them, making more money than they probably made out of college,” said Steve Griffin, CEO of Finger Lakes Economic Development. “It’s honestly everything from an economic development perspective you’d hope it to be.”

Not only has Greenidge been creating jobs in the region, many locals allege, including Mayor Michael Hall of Dresden, that the environmentalists were bussing people in for local hearings to get an outcome that favored critics outside the community.

Now, we’re really not sure where to take this one.

When we hear about people being bussed in for voting events, we immediately think phrases like “crisis actors” or “conspiracy,” in other words, “bullshit.”

Additionally, environmental activists are not one of the first groups that comes to mind when you consider politicians with nefarious aims.

But on the other hand, the locals are saying the lake is fine! They live there! They love the lake and the plant is really only creating jobs for ten or fifteen families.

At the end of the day, this one’s pretty ambiguous.

The truth behind the Greenidge Bitcoin Mining plant and its true effects on the lake is one of those endings like BladeRunner, Inception, or 2001: A Space Odyssey where you’re just going to have to figure it out by getting stoned and arguing with your roommates.

Meme of the Day

Now about those poisonous consequences… which cup are you choosing?

Crypto 101

Drivers: This is the same term in crypto, finance, and general economics.

Drivers refer to key factors that can influence major areas of interest. These are uncontrollable factors that change the market.

They could be geopolitical, like war or governmental upheaval, or they could be natural, like a resource scarcity or natural disaster.

Also, of all of the clubs in your golf bag, drivers are meant to give you the greatest distance off the tee.

The Last Sip

Though the debate still rages about the Greenidge Bitcoin Mining plants effect on local waters, we are seeing some pretty strange fish, such as:

• The three-eyed goldfish from The Simpsons

• A Loch Ness Monster with fetal alcohol syndrome.

• Lake Trout that can explain the blockchain.

Stay Caffeinated,

Coffee & Crypto Team

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