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You’re looking at it the wrong way. It’s not primarily a technology for transactions. Number of transactions doesn’t scale with the number of miners, the amount

by jrsj 5y ago

You’re looking at it the wrong way. It’s not primarily a technology for transactions. Number of transactions doesn’t scale with the number of miners, the amount of value that can be securely stored in the network does. Environmental concerns are a temporary issue & Bitcoin is moving to renewables faster than most anything else for a variety of reasons. An outright ban is an absurd policy aimed at being punitive towards something people have an irrational hatred for. If you care so much about the environment just have reasonable energy policies such as a carbon tax and nobody would mine BTC with fossil fuels because it would be too expensive. Plus then you’re improving every other industry too instead of attacking cryptocurrency and making an insufficient impact on CO2 emissions in the process

nicbou 5y ago
So what is it for? I keep seeing this argument, but it the end it seems like it's wasting a ridiculous amount of energy while not being particularly good at anything. The energy being renewable doesn't mean much if it still wastes it. It could be used for something actually useful.
usrbinbash 5y ago
> It’s not primarily a technology for transactions. Well, what else is it for? All the things to be "put on the chain" (including transactions btw.) already existed in a more efficient form. > Environmental concerns are a temporary issue The environment is a concern for as long as humanity exists in it. And Carbon emissions are far from the only problem Mining causes: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58572385 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58572385 37,000 tonnes of waste per year. That's 37,000 tonnes of electronics for which raw materials must be gathered and processed, which must be assembled, transported. > Bitcoin is moving to renewables faster than most anything else for a variety of reasons https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Bitcoin-mining-is-dirtier-than-coal-Here-16663155.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Bitcoi... https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/bitcoin-mining-breathes-life-into-zombie-coal-plants/ https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/bitcoin-mining-breathes... https://fortune.com/2022/01/05/kazakhstan-internet-bitcoin-mining-mystery-crypto/ https://fortune.com/2022/01/05/kazakhstan-internet-bitcoin-m... https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/some-states-lure-crypto-miners-to-keep-their-coal-plants-alive/ https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/some-stat... And even without that: It's just a giant waste of energy. Using the Energy requirements of a nation to process less than 0.5M transactions a day, when credit cards alone process 1B in the same time? If we have surplus electricity, we can use it to power desalination plants, lower energy prices in underserved communities or literally just pump water uphill to store it. Almost everything is a better use than burning through tons of hardware, just so computers can scream SHA256 hashes at each other.

by jrsj 5y ago

nicbou 5y ago

So what is it for? I keep seeing this argument, but it the end it seems like it's wasting a ridiculous amount of energy while not being particularly good at anything. The energy being renewable doesn't mean much if it still wastes it. It could be used for something actually useful.

usrbinbash 5y ago

> It’s not primarily a technology for transactions. Well, what else is it for? All the things to be "put on the chain" (including transactions btw.) already existed in a more efficient form. > Environmental concerns are a temporary issue The environment is a concern for as long as humanity exists in it. And Carbon emissions are far from the only problem Mining causes: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58572385 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58572385 37,000 tonnes of waste per year. That's 37,000 tonnes of electronics for which raw materials must be gathered and processed, which must be assembled, transported. > Bitcoin is moving to renewables faster than most anything else for a variety of reasons https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Bitcoin-mining-is-dirtier-than-coal-Here-16663155.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Bitcoi... https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/bitcoin-mining-breathes-life-into-zombie-coal-plants/ https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/bitcoin-mining-breathes... https://fortune.com/2022/01/05/kazakhstan-internet-bitcoin-mining-mystery-crypto/ https://fortune.com/2022/01/05/kazakhstan-internet-bitcoin-m... https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/some-states-lure-crypto-miners-to-keep-their-coal-plants-alive/ https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/some-stat... And even without that: It's just a giant waste of energy. Using the Energy requirements of a nation to process less than 0.5M transactions a day, when credit cards alone process 1B in the same time? If we have surplus electricity, we can use it to power desalination plants, lower energy prices in underserved communities or literally just pump water uphill to store it. Almost everything is a better use than burning through tons of hardware, just so computers can scream SHA256 hashes at each other.