Flux Proof of (usable) work – and taxes

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TechElucidation
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Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2022 2:01 pm

Flux Proof of (usable) work – and taxes

Post by TechElucidation » Sun Jun 05, 2022 8:22 am

Recently NY put a 2-year moratorium on proof-of-work mining that uses fossil fuel power plants, in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint. On one hand I kind of understand this, all that energy being used for shares that (other than being compared for a winner) are then just disposed of – energy (and pollution) being generated, work done, and results going into thin air. Some may argue that so long as the miners are paying for the electricity, they should be entitled to use it how they choose. My counter-argument to that is that unfortunately, while we pay for the generation & delivery of the electricity, we really never pay for the cost to environment that comes with it – but I am not here to kick that hornets’ nest.

I have mentioned a few times in the past that I have been looking for Crypto that has more of a purpose. There are a couple of projects that I have been interested in, such as Helium (used to build a network of LoRaWa nodes), SCPrime (providing storage space to companies), and Planetwatch (doing environmental monitoring around the world). I think they have all had some rocky patches, but like I said, I like that they are all accomplishing something or providing a valuable service.

As I was looking around to see what I should do with my GPUs, I started taking a look at Flux and discovered that last year they announced a “Proof of Useful Work” concept, and just recently announced a partnership with a [CENSORED] in Switzerland to continue that development. If anybody is interested, here is the article - https://fluxofficial.medium.com/buildin ... 78ce3f20c8

They still seem to be a ways off from being able to complete the project, and I am wondering what has happened in the 9 months since they announced they are working on it till now. But I am glad to see that the idea is still alive, and still moving forward, and hopefully picking up momentum. However I really do like the idea, and this is topping my list of where to go after the merge.

But while it is nice to be noble and feeling like you are doing good with your mining, getting paid is also a high priority for me and I assume many of you. At this point I think the future is too unclear to know where the profits are going to come from, and if Flux will be competitive in that space.

However, this concept of my mining work having value outside of the blockchain made we wonder if I could then treat if as a charitable donation? I realize I am getting Flux in exchange for the mining – but one could argue that is for the blockchain work, just like mining any other coin so that is separate. The work produced that you put time and energy into also has value to somebody else. I don’t expect the organization who is benefiting from the work to have to pay for it; but if I can claim it as a tax deductible donation, then my costs go down and take-home improves, which is just as good. So it would be a sort of back-door way to make Flux more profitable.

This concept may be on rocky ground, but I would like to put the question to the Flux team. Hey ProHashing team, if you read my other post this morning, where I suggested getting in people from projects, this may be one to consider, and a question to ask. I think they also have resources and grants for development of the Flux pools… (hint hint)
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