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If you think it's for nothing you don't understand bitcoin. If it would require no energy to create Bitcoin it would be completely useless. Moreover, banks also

If you think it's for nothing you don't understand bitcoin. If it would require no energy to create Bitcoin it would be completely useless. Moreover, banks also burn energy. Arguably Bitcoin is potentially even more green than other carriers of value because it can be completely produced from natural resources such as wind and sun, whereas mining gold or other precious metals often requires more damaging techniques. Can it be improved: Yes, wholeheartedly, for me BTC died a little when I wanted to give the money for a beer back in BTC to a friend, as we used to do in the old days... but soon I realized that the transfer cost is 2 times the cost of a beer. Somethings has to change.

te_chris 9y ago
The parent commenter literally discounted your 'even more green' argument in his comment but you still made it as a rebuttal? Ye gods.
m-p-3 9y ago
Yeah, isn't the heavy computational work what's provide value and security to the blockchain?
heptathorp 9y ago
> If it would require no energy to create Bitcoin it would be completely useless. Why would an alternative consensus mechanism that doesn't involve finding a low target hash make it useless?
mangecoeur 9y ago
It's for nothing as in, energy is consumed and nothing of value to society is produced. When a bank uses energy to run its services, those computers actually achieve something (like, for instance, managing to process more than a handful of transactions per second). Bitcoin's 'proof of work' is just a very complicated heating system. You are literally going through the whole rigmarole just to increase the entropy of the universe. Considering the effort we are putting in to squeeze more efficiency out of everything from washing machines to jumbo jets, this is kind of waste is pretty shocking.
- SamReidHughes 9y ago
  Nothing of value? For real? Currency and a means of transacting it is produced. Being able to move your wealth outside of China is produced.

te_chris 9y ago

The parent commenter literally discounted your 'even more green' argument in his comment but you still made it as a rebuttal? Ye gods.

m-p-3 9y ago

Yeah, isn't the heavy computational work what's provide value and security to the blockchain?

heptathorp 9y ago

> If it would require no energy to create Bitcoin it would be completely useless. Why would an alternative consensus mechanism that doesn't involve finding a low target hash make it useless?

mangecoeur 9y ago

It's for nothing as in, energy is consumed and nothing of value to society is produced. When a bank uses energy to run its services, those computers actually achieve something (like, for instance, managing to process more than a handful of transactions per second). Bitcoin's 'proof of work' is just a very complicated heating system. You are literally going through the whole rigmarole just to increase the entropy of the universe. Considering the effort we are putting in to squeeze more efficiency out of everything from washing machines to jumbo jets, this is kind of waste is pretty shocking.

SamReidHughes 9y ago
Nothing of value? For real? Currency and a means of transacting it is produced. Being able to move your wealth outside of China is produced.