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> Bitcoin currently consumes over 0.1% of the entire energy of the planet bitcoin doesn't consume any energy at all, you have a severe misunderstanding of what

> Bitcoin currently consumes over 0.1% of the entire energy of the planet bitcoin doesn't consume any energy at all, you have a severe misunderstanding of what PoW is and how it works.

user-the-name 5y ago
I do not. You seem to have a severe case of trying to rationalise incredible destructive waste with pointless semantic arguments. I would recommend you stop that, and open your eyes to reality, where Bitcoin is causing massive, massive harm to society and you are helping.
- keymone 5y ago
  I think you're virtue signalling concerns about the environment in a situation where those concerns don't even apply. Bitcoin is an idea that opens a market for financial security expressed in form of energy expenditure. That kind of security apparently has value on the market and so while users are willing to purchase it - energy will be spent. If for whatever reason bitcoin ceases to exist, this kind of energy expenditure will just migrate into different system because idea is out of the bag. So get off your high horse and do something that actually helps the environment rather than fighting windmills.
  - user-the-name 5y ago
    Complete and utter libertarian nonsense and rubbish. Sociopathic rationalisation of dumb greed.
    - keymone 5y ago
      Great argument, as always, from people like you, enjoy your irrelevance :)
      - user-the-name 5y ago
        100% accurate. There's no counter-argument to be made to what you said, because it was in fact complete gibberish that only make sense in libertarian fantasy land. In reality, none of what you said even means anything.
yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
I was rather under the impression that using btc requires mining btc which uses a rather lot of energy. What am I missing?
- user-the-name 5y ago
  Nothing. This is just one more sociopathic bitcoiner excuse.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
    You know, I'm pretty sure you're only getting downvoted because of the name calling; if you didn't call people sociopaths your actual concerns would be better received.
- keymone 5y ago
  If btc required switzerland's worth of energy to mine a block - how on earth did satoshi mine blocks in 2009 all alone by himself? the answer is that bitcoin doesn't require any amount of energy beyond a single computer to churn out blocks. all the energy usually attributed to being "used" by bitcoin is in fact energy purchased by users to acquire and/or maintain certain level of security of their financial assets. bitcoin is simply an instrument through which security of financial assets can be expressed in form of pure energy, which is completely transparent and can't be faked. that security comes for a price and as long as users are willing to pay this much money for that amount of security - miners will continue producing it, consuming energy in the process.
JoeAltmaier 5y ago
That's deliberately misleading. It's impossible to mine bitcoin without burning up cpu time which means energy. And every year it gets harder, by design (to control the volume of new btc). But of course you know that. I wonder why the trollish comments.
- keymone 5y ago
  > impossible to mine bitcoin without burning up cpu time which means energy. i'm sure you would agree that amount of energy required to find signatures at 0 difficulty is negligible > And every year it gets harder, by design (to control the volume of new btc). no, it doesn't get harder "by design", it gets harder because bitcoin is an instrument that has created a market where financial security can be purchased in form of energy, so it gets harder because that kind of security has value on the market and users keep purchasing it. > But of course you know that. I wonder why the trollish comments. turns out you were wrong in your assumptions, yet you proceeded to call me a troll. how about not doing that in future?
baobabKoodaa 5y ago
You can play word games all day long, but the fact remains: without blockchains the world would use considerably less energy. Whether you call that energy usage "consumption" or "requirement" or what not is just pedantic nitpicking.
- keymone 5y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27025315 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27025315

> Bitcoin currently consumes over 0.1% of the entire energy of the planet bitcoin doesn't consume any energy at all, you have a severe misunderstanding of what PoW is and how it works.

user-the-name 5y ago

I do not. You seem to have a severe case of trying to rationalise incredible destructive waste with pointless semantic arguments. I would recommend you stop that, and open your eyes to reality, where Bitcoin is causing massive, massive harm to society and you are helping.

keymone 5y ago
I think you're virtue signalling concerns about the environment in a situation where those concerns don't even apply. Bitcoin is an idea that opens a market for financial security expressed in form of energy expenditure. That kind of security apparently has value on the market and so while users are willing to purchase it - energy will be spent. If for whatever reason bitcoin ceases to exist, this kind of energy expenditure will just migrate into different system because idea is out of the bag. So get off your high horse and do something that actually helps the environment rather than fighting windmills.
- user-the-name 5y ago
  Complete and utter libertarian nonsense and rubbish. Sociopathic rationalisation of dumb greed.
  - keymone 5y ago
    Great argument, as always, from people like you, enjoy your irrelevance :)
    - user-the-name 5y ago
      100% accurate. There's no counter-argument to be made to what you said, because it was in fact complete gibberish that only make sense in libertarian fantasy land. In reality, none of what you said even means anything.

yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago

I was rather under the impression that using btc requires mining btc which uses a rather lot of energy. What am I missing?

user-the-name 5y ago
Nothing. This is just one more sociopathic bitcoiner excuse.
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
  You know, I'm pretty sure you're only getting downvoted because of the name calling; if you didn't call people sociopaths your actual concerns would be better received.
keymone 5y ago
If btc required switzerland's worth of energy to mine a block - how on earth did satoshi mine blocks in 2009 all alone by himself? the answer is that bitcoin doesn't require any amount of energy beyond a single computer to churn out blocks. all the energy usually attributed to being "used" by bitcoin is in fact energy purchased by users to acquire and/or maintain certain level of security of their financial assets. bitcoin is simply an instrument through which security of financial assets can be expressed in form of pure energy, which is completely transparent and can't be faked. that security comes for a price and as long as users are willing to pay this much money for that amount of security - miners will continue producing it, consuming energy in the process.

JoeAltmaier 5y ago

That's deliberately misleading. It's impossible to mine bitcoin without burning up cpu time which means energy. And every year it gets harder, by design (to control the volume of new btc). But of course you know that. I wonder why the trollish comments.

keymone 5y ago
> impossible to mine bitcoin without burning up cpu time which means energy. i'm sure you would agree that amount of energy required to find signatures at 0 difficulty is negligible > And every year it gets harder, by design (to control the volume of new btc). no, it doesn't get harder "by design", it gets harder because bitcoin is an instrument that has created a market where financial security can be purchased in form of energy, so it gets harder because that kind of security has value on the market and users keep purchasing it. > But of course you know that. I wonder why the trollish comments. turns out you were wrong in your assumptions, yet you proceeded to call me a troll. how about not doing that in future?

baobabKoodaa 5y ago

You can play word games all day long, but the fact remains: without blockchains the world would use considerably less energy. Whether you call that energy usage "consumption" or "requirement" or what not is just pedantic nitpicking.

keymone 5y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27025315 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27025315