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Bitcoin mining required more energy. Thus, ramped up power plants to burn MORE fuel. Burning more fuel means more emissions. More green house gases. More globa

Bitcoin mining required more energy. Thus, ramped up power plants to burn MORE fuel. Burning more fuel means more emissions. More green house gases. More global warming. IF bitcoin was going to push energy companies to go more green. It would have already. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/bitcoins-insane-energy-consumption-explained/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/bitcoins-insane-... Bitcoin has been the best thing to happen to fossil fuel power plants across the planet.

keymone 7y ago
> Bitcoin mining required more energy This is only part of the story, you should ask yourself “why did bitcoin mining require more and more energy”? And “if there was no bitcoin, would similar amount of energy have been spent via different means to satisfy the demand from whatever is the answer to the first question”?
- corodra 7y ago
  Tons of folks bought extra gpus (and in proxy cpus/mobos/etc) and ran extra computers strictly to mine bitcoins (and other coins, which occurred strictly due to the popularity of bitcoin). They bought and mined for the idea of getting easy rich on the disguise that it helps the poor that don't have access to money or computers since the governments of the world forced them to be poor with currency that wasn't created by the internet. I'm wondering if there was a decrease in self-help book/video sales. The companies that really profited were power providers and gpu manufacturers. Nvidia even publicly claimed that the mining rise really helped their stocks. It was an artificial demand like Beanie Babies. I'm open to a real argument that it was a real demand outside of those people who think that Tai Lopez is a business messiah.
  - keymone 7y ago
    > Tons of folks bought extra gpus early days yes, that ended more than five years ago (for bitcoin). > I'm open to a real argument that it was a real demand outside of those people who think that Tai Lopez is a business messiah. here's an argument: bitcoin's value is first and foremost in it's security, specifically in how immutable is the ledger. level of security is defined by hashrate and difficulty. security of one's money/investment is always in demand - that's why bitcoin's price is what it is and that's the real driving force behind ever growing hashrate. of course there are other feedback loops, there are periods of unreasonable bullishness and bearishness, but there always was and always will be demand for security of your wealth and if not via bitcoin that energy would have been spent via different means to achieve that level of security.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  > "why did bitcoin mining require more and more energy"? It's actually pretty simple: people figured out how to run a get-rich-quick scheme directly on electricity. Demand for Bitcoin is just this: demand for easy money. If cryptocurrencies weren't invented, I doubt there would be anything else to use up that energy.
  - keymone 7y ago
    That’s a simplistic and dismissive attitude to a project that keeps on surviving and going up in value for more than ten years with original creator quietly disappearing without any trace and/or suggestions about governance or development direction. But value is in the eye of the beholder - you value bitcoin at zero and so you don’t have any and don’t see the reason why would anyone value it at anything else. I doubt there is anything I can say that might change your opinion.
    - corodra 7y ago
      People still believe in Charles Manson's teachings. He's rotting away in fed pen but still has a following of organized nutters. Same goes with the KKK. Same goes with crystal healing. Same goes with psychics. And ghost hunters. And, to be a real dick, pick any religion, ever, and the same applies. Just because people still believe/follow, doesn't mean shit. I could mention the dude with the funny little mustache from the 30s and 40s, but that's too easy.
      - dillonmckay 7y ago
        Charles Manson died in 2017.
        DonHopkins 7y ago
        So he's rotting away in grave but still has a following of organized nutters. His point still stands: Just because people still believe/follow, doesn't mean shit. I know a gay black Trump supporting bitcoin shill. No amount of facts or logic or appeals to his own self interest or dignity or self respect will ever get through to him. I am absolutely sure there is nothing anyone can ever say that might change his opinion. All he ever wants to talk about is how everyone he knows should be investing everything they have in Bitcoin. It's pathetic.
DonHopkins 7y ago
Bitcoin is China's way of exporting coal to the rest of the world through the atmosphere.

keymone 7y ago

> Bitcoin mining required more energy This is only part of the story, you should ask yourself “why did bitcoin mining require more and more energy”? And “if there was no bitcoin, would similar amount of energy have been spent via different means to satisfy the demand from whatever is the answer to the first question”?

corodra 7y ago
Tons of folks bought extra gpus (and in proxy cpus/mobos/etc) and ran extra computers strictly to mine bitcoins (and other coins, which occurred strictly due to the popularity of bitcoin). They bought and mined for the idea of getting easy rich on the disguise that it helps the poor that don't have access to money or computers since the governments of the world forced them to be poor with currency that wasn't created by the internet. I'm wondering if there was a decrease in self-help book/video sales. The companies that really profited were power providers and gpu manufacturers. Nvidia even publicly claimed that the mining rise really helped their stocks. It was an artificial demand like Beanie Babies. I'm open to a real argument that it was a real demand outside of those people who think that Tai Lopez is a business messiah.
- keymone 7y ago
  > Tons of folks bought extra gpus early days yes, that ended more than five years ago (for bitcoin). > I'm open to a real argument that it was a real demand outside of those people who think that Tai Lopez is a business messiah. here's an argument: bitcoin's value is first and foremost in it's security, specifically in how immutable is the ledger. level of security is defined by hashrate and difficulty. security of one's money/investment is always in demand - that's why bitcoin's price is what it is and that's the real driving force behind ever growing hashrate. of course there are other feedback loops, there are periods of unreasonable bullishness and bearishness, but there always was and always will be demand for security of your wealth and if not via bitcoin that energy would have been spent via different means to achieve that level of security.
TeMPOraL 7y ago
> "why did bitcoin mining require more and more energy"? It's actually pretty simple: people figured out how to run a get-rich-quick scheme directly on electricity. Demand for Bitcoin is just this: demand for easy money. If cryptocurrencies weren't invented, I doubt there would be anything else to use up that energy.
- keymone 7y ago
  That’s a simplistic and dismissive attitude to a project that keeps on surviving and going up in value for more than ten years with original creator quietly disappearing without any trace and/or suggestions about governance or development direction. But value is in the eye of the beholder - you value bitcoin at zero and so you don’t have any and don’t see the reason why would anyone value it at anything else. I doubt there is anything I can say that might change your opinion.
  - corodra 7y ago
    People still believe in Charles Manson's teachings. He's rotting away in fed pen but still has a following of organized nutters. Same goes with the KKK. Same goes with crystal healing. Same goes with psychics. And ghost hunters. And, to be a real dick, pick any religion, ever, and the same applies. Just because people still believe/follow, doesn't mean shit. I could mention the dude with the funny little mustache from the 30s and 40s, but that's too easy.
    - dillonmckay 7y ago
      Charles Manson died in 2017.
      - DonHopkins 7y ago
        So he's rotting away in grave but still has a following of organized nutters. His point still stands: Just because people still believe/follow, doesn't mean shit. I know a gay black Trump supporting bitcoin shill. No amount of facts or logic or appeals to his own self interest or dignity or self respect will ever get through to him. I am absolutely sure there is nothing anyone can ever say that might change his opinion. All he ever wants to talk about is how everyone he knows should be investing everything they have in Bitcoin. It's pathetic.

DonHopkins 7y ago

Bitcoin is China's way of exporting coal to the rest of the world through the atmosphere.