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I think your second point here often gets missed/understated. That energy and those computers could have been helping forecast severe weather events or working

I think your second point here often gets missed/understated. That energy and those computers could have been helping forecast severe weather events or working to fold proteins or any other number of useful tasks that don't involve tracking a ledger of other people's wealth.

spacedcowboy 6y ago
The energy perhaps. The "computers" aren't. They're just ASICs that can calculate hashes at a phenomenal rate, they're not general purpose. And the argument about energy isn't straightforward either. Most bitcoin mining sites are set up where there is an excess of energy - when I had miners a while ago, I used a place in Newfoundland, Canada to host them, because of the local hydro dam. The water falls through the sluices or goes via the generators, it's just based on demand.
- gruez 6y ago
  >The energy perhaps. The "computers" aren't. They're just ASICs that can calculate hashes at a phenomenal rate, they're not general purpose. The chips are made with recent-ish nodes, so the silicon/fab capacity could theoretically be used to make CPUs. edit: looks like at least one bitcoin ASIC maker is using TSMC 7nm, the same process used to make AMD CPUs. [1] https://blog.bitmain.com/en/bitmain-announces-next-generation-7nm-asic-chip-for-sha256-mining-delivering-breakthrough-energy-efficiency/ https://blog.bitmain.com/en/bitmain-announces-next-generatio...