The Flood

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The Flood touches upon the cryptocurrency mining that is inseparable from the environmental damage exerted by the intense use of electricity needed to carry out the process. The film is based on footage shot in various cryptocurrency mines in Estonia combined with footage from Estonian oil shale mines. Virtual currency, such as Bitcoins, offer an attempt to withdraw from the existing financial system, because it offers the idea of releasing money production from the central bank’s control. Every utopian idea is inevitably accompanied by the risk that new centers or “bubbles” could arise. Small crypto mines are being replaced by increasingly bigger ones. Despite the fact that some Estonian crypto mines are located in the territories of ex-power stations, this does huge environmental damage because of the vast demand for energy needed to mine virtual currencies.