A Bitcoin mine moved to a small town in Texas. One by one, the residents fell ill.

Over the course of several months in 2024, TIME spoke to more than 40 people in the Granbury area who reported a medical ailment that they believe is connected to the arrival of the Bitcoin mine: hypertension, heart palpitations, chest pain, vertigo, tinnitus, migraines, panic attacks. At least 10 people went to urgent care or the emergency room with these symptoms. The development of large-scale Bitcoin mines and data centers is quite new, and most of them are housed in extremely remote places. There have been no major medical studies on the impacts of living near one. But there is an increasing body of scientific studies linking prolonged exposure to noise pollution with cardiovascular damage.

  • Flying Squid
    12•6 months ago

    Some of it is definitely silly, but if it is outputting ultrasound, it very well could be causing health issues.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8954895/

    I’ve certainly heard cooling fans output loud high pitched whines, so it wouldn’t shock me to hear that they were putting out loud ultrasonic whines.

    • JustinEnglish
      12•6 months ago

      Ultrasound falls off quickly and is very easily blocked by obstructions. Bitcoin didn’t invent ultrasound, or computers either, for that matter. Even if it had an effect, then we’d see people dropping dead in electronics stores.