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> even cow farts are much bigger than CO2 footprint of Bitcoin. It sounds like you're trying to joke about "cow farts" but they're a well-known massive source
by arcticfox 9y ago
> even cow farts are much bigger than CO2 footprint of Bitcoin.
It sounds like you're trying to joke about "cow farts" but they're a well-known massive source of pollution, I don't think it's a flattering comparison
> but Internet uses more
So the most important innovation of this century, used by billions of people daily, uses more energy than a financial network doing only ~400,000 transactions per day?
If Bitcoin were to replace the entire financial sector, sure, it would be worth the energy expenditure. But as it is, there are solutions thousands of times more efficient for all of the problems Bitcoin tries to solve.
- jstanley 9y ago> there are solutions thousands of times more efficient for all of the problems Bitcoin tries to solve. No there aren't. Just because you don't agree with the validity of some of the problems bitcoin tries to solve doesn't mean it's not trying to solve them. I don't actually know what you have in mind, but if you name some of the more efficient alternatives to bitcoin, I'll tell you which problems they're failing to solve.
- arcticfox 9y agoWhat property does Bitcoin have that doesn't have a more efficient solution? Between proof-of-stake solutions and the traditional financial system, as far as I know Bitcoin doesn't solve anything more efficiently, from transaction processing rate to distributed consensus.
- kang 9y agoProof-of-stake has many problems like nothing-at-stake problem etc.
- Retric 9y agoAlt coins that don't waste as much energy solve all the same problems. Bitcoin the first of a new breed, but that just means it's unlikely for the first implementation to win.
- kang 9y ago> if you name some of the more efficient alternatives to bitcoin, I'll tell you which problems they're failing to solve. This. Nothing except prof-of-work generates inherent value. All those other proof-ofs are flawed.
- reefoctopus 9y agoThe energy is used to secure the network. The marginal cost per transaction is 0. Scaling solutions will improve the energy used per transaction.
- brazzy 9y ago> Scaling solutions will improve the energy used per transaction. No, they will not. They cannot, because the energy use is directly and irrevocably tied to the market capitalization of bitcoin as a whole.
- brazzy 9y ago> If Bitcoin were to replace the entire financial sector, sure, it would be worth the energy expenditure. Except in that case its energy expenditure would increase a thousandfold if not more.