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1. Bitcoin mining is a race to cheap power, it's of course going to lead to more efficient power delivery technologies. Excess energy being created by hydrodams

1. Bitcoin mining is a race to cheap power, it's of course going to lead to more efficient power delivery technologies. Excess energy being created by hydrodams is being sold to fund infrastructure and to subsidize energy costs during dry seasons. Oil companies are capturing energy once wasted: https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-helps-oil-companies-reduce-carbon-footprint/ https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-helps-oil-companies-reduce-... Bitcoin is an energy currency.

lottin 6y ago
> Bitcoin is an energy currency. Not a currency, but a digital asset that wastes enormous amounts of energy.
- inter_netuser 6y ago
  Last year it transacted more than a trillion dollars in transactions. It's in the top 20 or so of world currencies, and it's still in its infancy (thus volatility etc).
  - lottin 6y ago
    Sardines were also involved in transactions amounting trillions of dollars, but that doesn't mean sardines are a currency.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - blindgeek 6y ago
    "It's in the top 20 or so of world currencies, and it's still in its infancy (thus volatility etc)." My question, then, is how do we go about drowning Baby Bitcoin in the metaphorical bathtub?
- CryptoUnchained 6y ago
  Wastes enormous amounts of energy... The energy is literally being stored in the value of bitcoin. It's an energy credit. People are transforming excess electricity into bitcoin. Period. What do I do with my profits from mining bitcoin? Send my kids to college, buy groceries, remodel my bathroom, etc. It's an entire ecosystem, speculatively mining bitcoin by consuming electricity is just as evil as driving 1.5hrs to work because you're too lazy to find something near your house for example. People expend trillions of dollars in energy "mining" fiat.
  - tsimionescu 6y ago
    In a very real physical sense, the energy is not stored, it is getting converted to waste heat. Sure, the monetary value of that energy may be getting stored, but we can't buy lower temperatures with money, unfortunately. When you store energy by pumping water for example, you can later let that water flow to get back the energy itself (with some inevitable waste, of course). When you're converting energy to bitcoin and later require energy again, you have to use the bitcoin to buy more energy (either from the market or by building a new power plant or something), you can't just physically convert the bitcoin back to energy.
tsimionescu 6y ago
There are already plenty of incentives for improving energy generation, reducing waste, and getting better at efficient delivery: people are willing to spend money for electricity for useful purposes other than speculation. If anything, bitcoin mining is a disincentive in making a more energy efficient green economy: instead of reducing waste and reducing power production as needed, we now have a way to turn excess power production into money directly. While a carbon tax could have shut down a coal plant, now the coal plant could instead get a bitcoin mining rig and power that, as long as the carbon tax is lower than the (extremely volatile) value of bitcoin. To avoid the most apocalyptic effects of global warming, we have to close down most fossil-fuel based energy generation today, literally. Bitcoin is actively working against that by driving up the price of electricity to fuel a speculative bubble.

lottin 6y ago

> Bitcoin is an energy currency. Not a currency, but a digital asset that wastes enormous amounts of energy.

inter_netuser 6y ago
Last year it transacted more than a trillion dollars in transactions. It's in the top 20 or so of world currencies, and it's still in its infancy (thus volatility etc).
- lottin 6y ago
  Sardines were also involved in transactions amounting trillions of dollars, but that doesn't mean sardines are a currency.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- blindgeek 6y ago
  "It's in the top 20 or so of world currencies, and it's still in its infancy (thus volatility etc)." My question, then, is how do we go about drowning Baby Bitcoin in the metaphorical bathtub?
CryptoUnchained 6y ago
Wastes enormous amounts of energy... The energy is literally being stored in the value of bitcoin. It's an energy credit. People are transforming excess electricity into bitcoin. Period. What do I do with my profits from mining bitcoin? Send my kids to college, buy groceries, remodel my bathroom, etc. It's an entire ecosystem, speculatively mining bitcoin by consuming electricity is just as evil as driving 1.5hrs to work because you're too lazy to find something near your house for example. People expend trillions of dollars in energy "mining" fiat.
- tsimionescu 6y ago
  In a very real physical sense, the energy is not stored, it is getting converted to waste heat. Sure, the monetary value of that energy may be getting stored, but we can't buy lower temperatures with money, unfortunately. When you store energy by pumping water for example, you can later let that water flow to get back the energy itself (with some inevitable waste, of course). When you're converting energy to bitcoin and later require energy again, you have to use the bitcoin to buy more energy (either from the market or by building a new power plant or something), you can't just physically convert the bitcoin back to energy.

tsimionescu 6y ago

There are already plenty of incentives for improving energy generation, reducing waste, and getting better at efficient delivery: people are willing to spend money for electricity for useful purposes other than speculation. If anything, bitcoin mining is a disincentive in making a more energy efficient green economy: instead of reducing waste and reducing power production as needed, we now have a way to turn excess power production into money directly. While a carbon tax could have shut down a coal plant, now the coal plant could instead get a bitcoin mining rig and power that, as long as the carbon tax is lower than the (extremely volatile) value of bitcoin. To avoid the most apocalyptic effects of global warming, we have to close down most fossil-fuel based energy generation today, literally. Bitcoin is actively working against that by driving up the price of electricity to fuel a speculative bubble.