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I don't think you're wrong and there are other problems too. Widespread Bitcoin adoption would require more energy for mining coins than the entire world can cu

I don't think you're wrong and there are other problems too. Widespread Bitcoin adoption would require more energy for mining coins than the entire world can currently produce.

seabrookmx 9y ago
Yeah it's amazing how little people complain about this issue, especially when alternatives exist that leave the idea of a blockchain intact (proof of stake, for instance).
tarsinge 9y ago
How is energy consumption correlated to adoption? Thought it was the result of the mining “competition”, as the difficulty adjusts to the mining power
runeks 9y ago
Bitcoin has no particular requirement for energy, it’s an arbitrage involving the prices of three components: 1) a bitcoin 2) a KWh of power 3) mining hardware. As long as the value of newly minted bitcoins makes it profitable to buy mining hardware and burn off power to earn them, the amount of power used by bitcoin miners will increase. So, way before Bitcoin miners consume all of the world’s energy, either energy prices or mining hardware prices will increase, or the bitcoin price will fall, to make mining unprofitable.
- codecamper 9y ago
  And a kWh of power is of course done with coal. How pathetic.
  - runeks 9y ago
    I believe most mining operations make use of hydro-electric power, simply because it’s much cheaper than burning off coal.
    - lawn 9y ago
      Also practically free hydro-electric power which would otherwise be wasted.
      - Symbiote 9y ago
        That's not true at all. If the power were not used by Bitcoin miners, it would be used by other industries, and less more-expensive (coal etc) power produced by other power plants.
- rdiddly 9y ago
  If energy prices increase, indicating an energy shortage, mining does not increase, and Bitcoin can't scale past that point. I was not worried about Bitcoin eating all the world's energy.
lawn 9y ago
> Widespread Bitcoin adoption would require more energy for mining coins than the entire world can currently produce. No. Bitcoin could work exactly the same even without any more hash power, or energy consumption, ever being added. This is because mining is only a competition to produce a block and defines the security of Bitcoin. But it has no bearing on how many transactions the network can process. Any scaling that happens is completely orthogonal.

I don't think you're wrong and there are other problems too. Widespread Bitcoin adoption would require more energy for mining coins than the entire world can currently produce.

seabrookmx 9y ago

Yeah it's amazing how little people complain about this issue, especially when alternatives exist that leave the idea of a blockchain intact (proof of stake, for instance).

tarsinge 9y ago

How is energy consumption correlated to adoption? Thought it was the result of the mining “competition”, as the difficulty adjusts to the mining power

runeks 9y ago

Bitcoin has no particular requirement for energy, it’s an arbitrage involving the prices of three components: 1) a bitcoin 2) a KWh of power 3) mining hardware. As long as the value of newly minted bitcoins makes it profitable to buy mining hardware and burn off power to earn them, the amount of power used by bitcoin miners will increase. So, way before Bitcoin miners consume all of the world’s energy, either energy prices or mining hardware prices will increase, or the bitcoin price will fall, to make mining unprofitable.

codecamper 9y ago
And a kWh of power is of course done with coal. How pathetic.
- runeks 9y ago
  I believe most mining operations make use of hydro-electric power, simply because it’s much cheaper than burning off coal.
  - lawn 9y ago
    Also practically free hydro-electric power which would otherwise be wasted.
    - Symbiote 9y ago
      That's not true at all. If the power were not used by Bitcoin miners, it would be used by other industries, and less more-expensive (coal etc) power produced by other power plants.
rdiddly 9y ago
If energy prices increase, indicating an energy shortage, mining does not increase, and Bitcoin can't scale past that point. I was not worried about Bitcoin eating all the world's energy.

lawn 9y ago

> Widespread Bitcoin adoption would require more energy for mining coins than the entire world can currently produce. No. Bitcoin could work exactly the same even without any more hash power, or energy consumption, ever being added. This is because mining is only a competition to produce a block and defines the security of Bitcoin. But it has no bearing on how many transactions the network can process. Any scaling that happens is completely orthogonal.