Cisco’s research revealed that universities and colleges are the most popular places for cryptocurrency mining. The report was published by tech news outlet PCMag on March 5. It was created by Cisco researchers who examined cryptocurrency mining across different industries to determine which sector mines.
Umbrella
Umbrella, a Cisco-owned security software that monitors the network connections of clients to block suspicious crypto mining and other malicious activities, was used to enable the researchers’ efforts.
According to the findings, college students are the second largest crypto currency miners in the United States, accounting for around 22 percent of all crypto mining operations. Only the efforts of students on campus were surpassed by the country’s utilities sector and energy sector, who accounted for 34 percent of total crypto mining output.
Cisco Ranking
The Cisco ranking also highlighted the media and healthcare industries, which came in fourth and fifth with six percent and seven percent, respectively. Austin McBride, a Cisco Threat Researcher, commented on the findings. He explained the model used by college students involved with crypto mining.
He said that most of these students end-up mining digital assets for long periods, often during their school careers. McBride stated, “You leave your mining rig running in a dorm room for four year, and you walk out college with a large chunk of change.”
College Mining: Profitability
An Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) is required to mine Bitcoin profitably. It is specialized in improving crypto mining efficiency. ASICs are said to have up 100,000 times the processing power and computing power of regular desktop computers. However, they are not cheap.
But that’s not the main problem; electricity is. Complex calculations require a lot of power for ASICs. A miner must ensure that the asset’s value exceeds the utility cost to make a profit. This is where college students shine like diamonds.
Students have unlimited access to power, which makes it more attractive for them to participate in cryptocurrency mining at school. The school pays the power bill. They also get the cryptocurrency.
McBride also noted that it is very easy to set up crypto mining machines in dorm rooms and the school library. Students can mine virtual currencies for longer periods of time, at a lower cost than other miners.
Explanation
McBride explained the profitability of mining in schools by saying:
The difficulty of mining a lot coins is high right now. This means that electricity and internet costs are higher than the profits you can make from mining them. If you don’t have those costs, you’re in a great position to make money on the university’s dime.
It’s important to note that not all mining is done by students. Cybercriminals are increasing in number and hackers are installing malware to mine digital assets on student computers.
Can Schools Stop This?
However, it appears that certain universities have taken notice of the rise in utility bills and are working to reduce it. Stanford University’s management warned students not to mine digital currencies on campus in January 2018. They stated that they would not allow this to happen and that it was against the law.
However, schools may be able to actively prevent students from mining cryptocurrency. It might be counterproductive, and in some ways, ineffective, for schools to impose mining restrictions upon students, as more schools are adopting blockchain courses.