Thank you for actually engaging! Let me preface this by saying I'm usually the first to deride Bitcoin as a payments platform. However, using energy to mine Bit

Thank you for actually engaging! Let me preface this by saying I'm usually the first to deride Bitcoin as a payments platform. However, using energy to mine Bitcoin does provide value to the user - profits over and above what the power bill and ASICs/GPUs cost. And you're right - for a payments platform, it is a regression in terms of energy consumption. That, however, does not change the fundamental issue - the severe underpricing of emissions-heavy power generation. The externalities that the author is so worried about (in the form of climate change) are not priced into the going rate for electricity. Blaming bitcoin miners is silly - if I pay for my power, I should be able to use it however I see fit. The alternative leads to absurdity, such as a law that states your aircon may be set no lower than 22C in summer, as anything more would be "a waste". I pay for it, I use it, bugger off. The external social cost of electricity generation needs to be internalised into the private end-cost - a carbon tax or an ETS. Pick one, follow through, and stop blaming rational agents for acting rationally. EDIT: Spelling