A UAE telecom just launched crypto-mining subscriptions. Your monthly phone bill might soon include virtual currency generation.
Du, a Dubai-based telecommunications company, started offering Cloud Miner this week. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Customers can now subscribe to Bitcoin mining through their telecom provider, the same way they’d add extra data or international calling.
The service launches via online auction between November 3-9. Du hasn’t disclosed pricing yet. But they’re clearly betting customers want cryptocurrency mining bundled with their phone plans.
How Mining-as-a-Service Actually Works
Du’s offering breaks down like this. Customers bid on 24-month contracts during the initial phase. Each contract provides 250 terahashes per second of mining capacity monthly.
That computing power gets converted to Bitcoin. The coins transfer directly to users’ crypto wallets. Du plans to add a calculator showing expected monthly Bitcoin earnings and their dollar value.
Jasim Al Awadi, du’s chief information and communications technology officer, told The National he expects adoption to grow. “We are planning even to expand the capabilities of mining-as-a-service moving forward,” he said.
Translation? This is phase one of a bigger crypto push.
The Energy Problem Nobody Wants to Discuss
Bitcoin mining consumes massive amounts of electricity. Studies suggest it represents 0.6 to 2.3 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption. That might sound small until you consider what it produces.
The process solves complex math problems. Successfully solving one occasionally rewards miners with Bitcoin. That’s it. No productive output. No tangible benefit beyond generating speculative digital assets.
Plus, we’re already drowning in energy-hungry tech. AI data centers devour power. Cryptocurrency mining adds more load. Our digitally-connected lives keep pushing electrical grids harder.
So bundling crypto mining into telecom subscriptions feels particularly wasteful. It normalizes unnecessary energy consumption as just another monthly service charge.
What Happens When Telecoms See This
Du is testing whether customers want crypto mining as a utility service. If it works in Dubai, other telecoms might follow.
Imagine U.S. carriers offering similar packages. Verizon could bundle Bitcoin mining with unlimited data plans. AT&T might add Ethereum mining to family plans. T-Mobile could promote “mine while you stream.”
That’s not far-fetched anymore. Crypto industry continues expanding despite environmental concerns and financial volatility. Companies keep finding new ways to monetize the hype.
The problem? Making crypto mining accessible through phone bills removes friction. It hides the real costs behind convenient monthly charges. Users won’t see the energy consumption. They’ll just watch Bitcoin accumulate in their wallets.
Why This Feels Different
Crypto mining used to require dedicated hardware, technical knowledge, and conscious effort. Those barriers forced people to consider whether mining made sense.
Now du is removing those barriers entirely. No equipment needed. No technical setup. Just subscribe and collect Bitcoin passively.
That convenience masks uncomfortable realities. Mining profitability fluctuates wildly with Bitcoin prices. Energy costs remain constant. So users might pay du monthly fees while their Bitcoin rewards lose value.
Moreover, du hosts the mining equipment. They control the infrastructure. They can adjust terms, fees, and payouts. That’s centralized control of supposedly decentralized currency.
The irony is obvious.
The Bigger Picture Nobody Wants to See
Bitcoin advocates often claim cryptocurrency represents financial freedom and decentralization. Yet here’s a major telecom offering to mine Bitcoin for you through managed subscriptions.
That’s not freedom. That’s just another corporate service extracting monthly payments. And it comes with environmental costs that don’t appear on your bill.
Al Awadi says du will “evolve our services to fit our clients” as technology advances. But maybe some technology evolution doesn’t need telecom involvement.
Cryptocurrency mining already strains power grids worldwide. It competes with essential services for electricity. It generates heat that requires cooling, consuming even more energy.
So packaging this into phone plans normalizes waste. It makes unnecessary energy consumption feel routine. Just another line item between data charges and device payments.
I hope U.S. telecoms don’t follow du’s example. But given how eagerly companies chase cryptocurrency trends, optimism feels misplaced.
Your phone plan should connect you to people and information. It shouldn’t generate speculative digital assets that consume electricity solving pointless math problems. That’s not progress. That’s just expensive make-believe with an environmental cost.