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Disclaimer: I have invested in Bitcoin, and I think that PoW is outdated. However, I also think that people that keep attacking this aspect are better off tackl

Disclaimer: I have invested in Bitcoin, and I think that PoW is outdated. However, I also think that people that keep attacking this aspect are better off tackling other issues. As everyone else before me said, the banks are wasting a much greater amount of electricity in order to operate. I am not talking simply about gas, lights et al. (although all banks where I live keep lights on 24/7, and in some cases even air conditioners), but also about the massive, MASSIVE amount of legacy infrastructure that keep them going. I'm talking software and hardware that are several decades old, stacked on top of each other with little to no optimization in order to support legacy features and to avoid breaking anything. I fully expect that if we even had a way to calculate how much power is wasted in order to support that kind of jurassic infrastructure for every bank, Bitcoin would still come out on top by an order of magnitude at the very least. And on top of that, we have to compound the aforementioned energy to operate the physical locations. Yes, I know that this is pure and simple whataboutism, but seeing this kind of argument over and over and over again is tiresome, especially since the fact that we found a way to monetize power consumption could also -hopefully, I admit- have the added benefit of incentivizing renewable power sources such as solar panels. And remember, cryptocurrencies are at their infancy, and we are already moving away from PoW. I fully expect that at some point Bitcoin will move on too, if it is not replaced by Ethereum or something much more sensible energy-wise.

misja111 8y ago
You might have a point if banks provided the same service as Bitcoin, but they do multitudes more. Such as, providing a infrastructure for doing payments that is actually used by billions of people. Bitcoins are mainly used as an investment or as a store of value, for payments they are not a very good fit.
iainmerrick 8y ago
I fully expect that if we even had a way to calculate how much power is wasted in order to support that kind of jurassic infrastructure for every bank, Bitcoin would still come out on top by an order of magnitude at the very least. If Bitcoin is around .01% as estimated, that would mean banks account for 1% of world energy usage. I’d bet against it being anything like that high. High-frequency trading might waste a lot of energy, but that’s another silly arms race with dubious social value, exactly like Bitcoin.
spookthesunset 8y ago
> And remember, cryptocurrencies are at their infancy, and we are already moving away from PoW. Bitcoin and the crypto "space" is 10 years old. Its only use cases so far have been money laundering, child trafficking schemes, cryptolocker scams, pump & dumps, ICO scams, murder for hire, securities fraud, exchange fraud, and don't forget massive speculation. All while converting massive amounts of non-renewable fossil fuels into heat. Sorry dude. The market has already spoken. Crypto isn't really useful for anything above-ground real-world. We've got fiat. It ain't perfect, but it does the job.

misja111 8y ago

You might have a point if banks provided the same service as Bitcoin, but they do multitudes more. Such as, providing a infrastructure for doing payments that is actually used by billions of people. Bitcoins are mainly used as an investment or as a store of value, for payments they are not a very good fit.

iainmerrick 8y ago

I fully expect that if we even had a way to calculate how much power is wasted in order to support that kind of jurassic infrastructure for every bank, Bitcoin would still come out on top by an order of magnitude at the very least. If Bitcoin is around .01% as estimated, that would mean banks account for 1% of world energy usage. I’d bet against it being anything like that high. High-frequency trading might waste a lot of energy, but that’s another silly arms race with dubious social value, exactly like Bitcoin.

spookthesunset 8y ago

> And remember, cryptocurrencies are at their infancy, and we are already moving away from PoW. Bitcoin and the crypto "space" is 10 years old. Its only use cases so far have been money laundering, child trafficking schemes, cryptolocker scams, pump & dumps, ICO scams, murder for hire, securities fraud, exchange fraud, and don't forget massive speculation. All while converting massive amounts of non-renewable fossil fuels into heat. Sorry dude. The market has already spoken. Crypto isn't really useful for anything above-ground real-world. We've got fiat. It ain't perfect, but it does the job.