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Even if one accepts the underlying assumption that bitcoin "store" the energy wasted on "mining" them, the theory espoused in the article simply does not hold w

Even if one accepts the underlying assumption that bitcoin "store" the energy wasted on "mining" them, the theory espoused in the article simply does not hold water. If a new energy source becomes available, so 10x as much energy as before gets put into aluminum smelting, you end up with 10x as much aluminum. Bitcoin "mining" does not work that way. The computations are an artificial hurdle erected to hit a predetermined level of scarcity/difficulty. If 10x as much energy as before gets put into bitcoin "mining", difficulty levels will adjust, and you end up with exactly the same amount of bitcoin as before.

randomhodler84 6y ago
What happens when you print 10x the money... let’s see shall we, they are doing it now!
- microtherion 6y ago
  Depends on whom you mean with "you". US money supply has not grown at anywhere near 10x recently: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MZM https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MZM Tether supply has grown roughly 10x since January 2020, though, but that's on a blockchain, so surely everything is on the up and up: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/ https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/
poundofshrimp 6y ago
If more energy is spent on bitcoin, it is usually because the value of the miner reward grows and attracts more mining. Miner reward value grows due to either 1) the market value of the coin itself grows or 2) the miner fees grow. Both are market forces and ultimately depend on demand for bitcoin transactions. So I don’t see a contradiction here.
- microtherion 6y ago
  But you will notice that my hypothetical stipulated a new energy source becoming available (or cheaper). The difference between bitcoin and aluminum is that bitcoin values the energy not qua energy, but purely for its wasted cost, so if energy becomes cheaper overall (or hash computation becomes more efficient), you have to use more of it to create the same value for bitcoin, if it becomes more expensive, you can create the same value using less energy. That's why I find it silly to say that bitcoin stores "energy". It stores sunk cost.

randomhodler84 6y ago

What happens when you print 10x the money... let’s see shall we, they are doing it now!

microtherion 6y ago
Depends on whom you mean with "you". US money supply has not grown at anywhere near 10x recently: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MZM https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MZM Tether supply has grown roughly 10x since January 2020, though, but that's on a blockchain, so surely everything is on the up and up: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/ https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/

poundofshrimp 6y ago

If more energy is spent on bitcoin, it is usually because the value of the miner reward grows and attracts more mining. Miner reward value grows due to either 1) the market value of the coin itself grows or 2) the miner fees grow. Both are market forces and ultimately depend on demand for bitcoin transactions. So I don’t see a contradiction here.

microtherion 6y ago
But you will notice that my hypothetical stipulated a new energy source becoming available (or cheaper). The difference between bitcoin and aluminum is that bitcoin values the energy not qua energy, but purely for its wasted cost, so if energy becomes cheaper overall (or hash computation becomes more efficient), you have to use more of it to create the same value for bitcoin, if it becomes more expensive, you can create the same value using less energy. That's why I find it silly to say that bitcoin stores "energy". It stores sunk cost.