For a long time I've been watching with dismay the rapid growth of Bitcoin's energy consumption. At some point it dawned on me that a global currency must be ba

For a long time I've been watching with dismay the rapid growth of Bitcoin's energy consumption. At some point it dawned on me that a global currency must be backed by a non-trivial share of world's energy consumption, simply as a signal of strength. For example, the US dollar is backed by the US military, which burns as much fuel as Peru or Portugal. In practice Bitcoin's relative energy use may be too high, and perhaps we should discuss ways of bounding it to a reasonable amount. But we should not expect Bitcoin's energy use to be negligible. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/619155 https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/619155