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If bitcoin stopped existing today, the environment would be better off because right now the impact is negative. It could only become net-positive, if there are
by DasIch 6y ago
If bitcoin stopped existing today, the environment would be better off because right now the impact is negative. It could only become net-positive, if there are changes in the future. Even if you believe such changes will happen, I think you'll have to agree that this is speculation. It's not net-positive for the environment, it might be net-positive for the environment.
That's unrelated to it being negative-sum though. Running the numbers on this is trivial. You can only profit from bitcoin by selling it to someone else for more than you paid for it. Inevitably for some people to profit, some people have to lose a corresponding amount. This alone would make bitcoin zero-sum. Some people, miners, are special though in that they are by design always making a profit. That they extract from the network making bitcoin negative-sum.
As a consequence it's positive only for those people who find a loser to sell to, are miners or "shovel" makers (electricity, hardware, ...)
- LAMike 6y agoI suggest you take a look at the stranded energy market and rethink your premise. Energy is, at this moment, being overproduced by design The reason for this is because in case there is an emergency (like a snowstorm in TX) energy producers can switch on overdrive and heat homes. By increasing the amount of energy capacity we have, we become more resilient to situations that require massive amounts of energy. Society needs an increase in energy production in order to uplift the lifestyle of the world, there is no way around that.