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If you could summon gold from the ground in a more efficient way, would you? Bitcoin mining is meant to be inefficient - why not try for a better way with simi

• cdiddy2 7y ago
  wouldnt making gold mining more efficient just mean that you would mine more of it eventually taking the same amount of overall energy use?
  • mikeash 7y ago
    Not really, because most of your costs aren’t energy.
• velox_io 7y ago
  Of course you would, this is the same reason ASICs have come onto the market. I'd say the inefficiency is one of the smartest moves in the design of Bitcoin. Not only does it counter Moores law, it also provides a scarcity; the more bitcoins that are mined (so there must be a demand for them), the harder mining becomes (limiting supply) - Adding inflation into the mix. Had they just dumped 21 million Bitcoins into the market, it would have never taken off, and it would have probably been written off as a Ponzi scheme. While you may not like the social or environmental impact of Bitcoin, it is hard to deny there is some brilliance in its design (like how the coins become the product of their own transaction logs).