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>Number of U.S. households powered for 1 day by the electricity consumed for a single transaction: 5.58 The one that surprised me the most

• Taek 9y ago
  It's a bad stat. The electricity that goes into a block doesn't just confirm the transactions in the block, it also confirms all the transactions in all blocks prior to that block, and those transactions have a cumulative value of about $70 billion. The bleak picture painted on the article is an incomplete one by far.
  • lttlrck 9y ago
    Why is it a bad stat? Is having to confirm all transactions in all prior blocks not a direct result of a transaction? Why is the cumulative value relevant? I can see how there is a perceived value there but if the transaction didn’t happen it wouldn’t have been needed?
    • Taek 9y ago
      If the block had zero transactions in it, it still would have cost just as much energy to create. Similarly, if the price of the coin were 1/1000th but the block were full, it would have cost 1/1000th the price to confirm those transactions. What determines the cost/mining reward of a block is not the transactions in it, but the value of the chain as a whole.
      • lttlrck 9y ago
        Ah got it. Thanks.