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Once mined, gold is gold and we can just hand it to each other, or exchange notes of ownership on a very efficient ledger. Bitcoin requires a constant supply o

Once mined, gold is gold and we can just hand it to each other, or exchange notes of ownership on a very efficient ledger. Bitcoin requires a constant supply of electricity to maintain its utility. Without electricity, Bitcoin would collapse. Gold’s utility as a medium of exchange and a store of value is secure in a crisis, bitcoin’s is not.

moralsupply 6y ago
Feel free to keep all your wealth allocated in gold. We'll talk again in 5 years time.
- rpadovani 6y ago
  Will gold lose its value in the next 5 years?
- CalChris 6y ago
  Gold is a useful metal over and and above its currency value. Bitcoin is not useful except as a currency.
  - moralsupply 6y ago
    Except that most gold being traded under the "store of value" premise doesn't exist, it's "paper gold". Also, gold is the one most manipulated market in the world, having both banks, central banks and governments actively interfering in its price discovery.
ArtTimeInvestor 6y ago
There is no set amount of electricity needed to move Bitcoin. The exchange of Bitcoin costs just as much as people are willing to pay for it. That amount can go arbitrarily low.
- bitcharmer 6y ago
  > There is no set amount of electricity needed to move Bitcoin. This is simply untrue. We're not talking about simply moving your wallet on a pendrive. In this context moving bitcoin means changing ownership and this simply cannot happen without electricity.
  - ArtTimeInvestor 6y ago
    Only as much energy as people are willing to pay for.
- JeremyBanks 6y ago
  Sure, but that becomes problematic when your proof-of-work security level depends on that. It's inherently fucked.
- numbsafari 6y ago
  Perhaps to clarify, by “constant supply of electricity”, I did not mean a supply that is fixed in either price or amount, simply that it is necessarily greater than zero, which is definitely more than is required to exchange gold, which was done quite successfully long before we understood how to harness or generate electricity.
oconnor663 6y ago
> Without electricity, Bitcoin would collapse. I'm curious about this: What portion of the electricity used for mining is needed to prevent the collapse of bitcoin? My understanding is that the answer looks something like "however much is required to make a 51% attack impractical." If that's right, how should we go about estimating it? Should we understand "practical" to mean "profitable", or should we be thinking more about unprofitable, terroristical attacks?
fredfoobar 6y ago
You need to transport and secure gold between transacting parties, you will need to audit the gold coin/bar/jewelry for purity (you aren't going to blindly trust people are you?)

moralsupply 6y ago

Feel free to keep all your wealth allocated in gold. We'll talk again in 5 years time.

rpadovani 6y ago
Will gold lose its value in the next 5 years?
CalChris 6y ago
Gold is a useful metal over and and above its currency value. Bitcoin is not useful except as a currency.
- moralsupply 6y ago
  Except that most gold being traded under the "store of value" premise doesn't exist, it's "paper gold". Also, gold is the one most manipulated market in the world, having both banks, central banks and governments actively interfering in its price discovery.

ArtTimeInvestor 6y ago

There is no set amount of electricity needed to move Bitcoin. The exchange of Bitcoin costs just as much as people are willing to pay for it. That amount can go arbitrarily low.

bitcharmer 6y ago
> There is no set amount of electricity needed to move Bitcoin. This is simply untrue. We're not talking about simply moving your wallet on a pendrive. In this context moving bitcoin means changing ownership and this simply cannot happen without electricity.
- ArtTimeInvestor 6y ago
  Only as much energy as people are willing to pay for.
JeremyBanks 6y ago
Sure, but that becomes problematic when your proof-of-work security level depends on that. It's inherently fucked.
numbsafari 6y ago
Perhaps to clarify, by “constant supply of electricity”, I did not mean a supply that is fixed in either price or amount, simply that it is necessarily greater than zero, which is definitely more than is required to exchange gold, which was done quite successfully long before we understood how to harness or generate electricity.

oconnor663 6y ago

> Without electricity, Bitcoin would collapse. I'm curious about this: What portion of the electricity used for mining is needed to prevent the collapse of bitcoin? My understanding is that the answer looks something like "however much is required to make a 51% attack impractical." If that's right, how should we go about estimating it? Should we understand "practical" to mean "profitable", or should we be thinking more about unprofitable, terroristical attacks?

fredfoobar 6y ago

You need to transport and secure gold between transacting parties, you will need to audit the gold coin/bar/jewelry for purity (you aren't going to blindly trust people are you?)