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If Bitcoin is here to stay, would increasing the dollar value of Bitcoin improve this ratio / metric implying society is better off?
by alephnan 6y ago
If Bitcoin is here to stay, would increasing the dollar value of Bitcoin improve this ratio / metric implying society is better off?
- IfOnlyYouKnew 6y agoNo. Power usage is proportional to Bitcoin value. At $ 1 million, the network will consume as much power as the continental US. The willingness and ability of nations/humanity to allow such a state should probably factor more into investment decisions than it currently does.
- exo762 6y ago> Power usage is proportional to Bitcoin value Not precise enough. Power usage is proportional to block reward USD value, which is proportional to BTC value. But once in 4 years number of BTC awarded for mining a block is halved.
- cpcallen 6y agoThe difficulty is that the increasing dollar value of Bitcoin incentivises more mining activity (even though no additional coins will be produced as a result), so energy use is almost directly correlated with the price, at least in the medium term. Fortunately as the block mining reward continues to be halved approximately every four years, the incentive to mine will decrease as well (though not quite as much, because miners also receive transaction fees).