5 ms·

and nothing of value was lost..

j-pb 7y ago
I can't wait for the Tulip... err Blockchain hype to die down. Using the energy of a mid size european country for what is now essentially a pyramid scheme is just shitty. (And I make that statement after having made a few thousand bucks by mining BTC at 5$ per coin.)
- hc91 7y ago
  Using the energy of a mid size european country for what is now essentially a pyramid scheme is just shitty. It is all fun and games until you realise this is NOT a metaphor and that shitcoin does indeed consume as much energy as a country.
- helpPeople 7y ago
  Anyone who calls it a tulip isn't taken seriously. I don't believe in the hype of altcoins, but I do see the problems Bitcoin solves.
  - arcticbull 7y ago
    I genuinely don't. It's not clear that Bitcoin does anything better than what's out there today. Not one thing. And it's less efficient.
- nicky0 7y ago
  Bitcoin seems to be just quietly sticking around for now.
  - andirk 7y ago
    Quietly like the best investment of 2019? Quietly like a multi billion dollar industry/currency/space cash? Quietly like the owners of NYSE creating a new exchange for BTC trading? Or do you mean quietly compared to when everyone and their moms was saying the word bitcoin from Sep-Dec 2017?
- undefined3840 7y ago
  Living in a country where you have no choice but to earn in a local currency with runaway inflation is objectively shittier.
  - arcticbull 7y ago
    Bitcoin doesn't solve that problem. 600kWh of electricity are consumed for each transaction. Venezuelans would be mad to trade 2 weeks wages for a single BTC transaction. And that's when transaction fees are socialized by block rewards. If they actually had to pay the electricity consumed for their transactions it would be 10X higher. Their problems are societal and need to be solved by societal means. Pretending magic beans in your computer will solve the Venezuelan objective nightmare is just ignoring objective reality. But don't just listen to me -- they all have access to Bitcoin. They know what it is. If it could solve their problems they would have started using it already. Bitcoin has no extrinsic barriers to adoption -- only intrinsic. People just don't want it, and why on earth would they? The Bank of Canada study by real economists showed a BTC economy would have as much drain on the economy as a 48% inflation rate haha.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
      > Bitcoin ... 600kWh of electricity are consumed for each transaction That’s jaw dropping. Where can I read more about this? Found this: https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption Which appears to support your claim.
      - arcticbull 7y ago
        Yeah, that's where I realized the magnitude of the number. They've got a bunch of extra reading articles at the bottom. The CBECI data from Cambridge University lines up with it (and I think is referenced from the Digiconomist writeup). Its methodology section explains how they got where they did [1]. [1] https://www.cbeci.org/methodology/ https://www.cbeci.org/methodology/
        7y ago
dang 7y ago
Maybe not, but please don't post unsubstantive comments to Hacker News.

j-pb 7y ago

I can't wait for the Tulip... err Blockchain hype to die down. Using the energy of a mid size european country for what is now essentially a pyramid scheme is just shitty. (And I make that statement after having made a few thousand bucks by mining BTC at 5$ per coin.)

hc91 7y ago
Using the energy of a mid size european country for what is now essentially a pyramid scheme is just shitty. It is all fun and games until you realise this is NOT a metaphor and that shitcoin does indeed consume as much energy as a country.
helpPeople 7y ago
Anyone who calls it a tulip isn't taken seriously. I don't believe in the hype of altcoins, but I do see the problems Bitcoin solves.
- arcticbull 7y ago
  I genuinely don't. It's not clear that Bitcoin does anything better than what's out there today. Not one thing. And it's less efficient.
nicky0 7y ago
Bitcoin seems to be just quietly sticking around for now.
- andirk 7y ago
  Quietly like the best investment of 2019? Quietly like a multi billion dollar industry/currency/space cash? Quietly like the owners of NYSE creating a new exchange for BTC trading? Or do you mean quietly compared to when everyone and their moms was saying the word bitcoin from Sep-Dec 2017?
undefined3840 7y ago
Living in a country where you have no choice but to earn in a local currency with runaway inflation is objectively shittier.
- arcticbull 7y ago
  Bitcoin doesn't solve that problem. 600kWh of electricity are consumed for each transaction. Venezuelans would be mad to trade 2 weeks wages for a single BTC transaction. And that's when transaction fees are socialized by block rewards. If they actually had to pay the electricity consumed for their transactions it would be 10X higher. Their problems are societal and need to be solved by societal means. Pretending magic beans in your computer will solve the Venezuelan objective nightmare is just ignoring objective reality. But don't just listen to me -- they all have access to Bitcoin. They know what it is. If it could solve their problems they would have started using it already. Bitcoin has no extrinsic barriers to adoption -- only intrinsic. People just don't want it, and why on earth would they? The Bank of Canada study by real economists showed a BTC economy would have as much drain on the economy as a 48% inflation rate haha.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
    > Bitcoin ... 600kWh of electricity are consumed for each transaction That’s jaw dropping. Where can I read more about this? Found this: https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption Which appears to support your claim.
    - arcticbull 7y ago
      Yeah, that's where I realized the magnitude of the number. They've got a bunch of extra reading articles at the bottom. The CBECI data from Cambridge University lines up with it (and I think is referenced from the Digiconomist writeup). Its methodology section explains how they got where they did [1]. [1] https://www.cbeci.org/methodology/ https://www.cbeci.org/methodology/
      - 7y ago

dang 7y ago

Maybe not, but please don't post unsubstantive comments to Hacker News.