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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.

by 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.