5 ms·

Where did you get the notion that the energy usage is planet destroying? Current Bitcoin usage is literally a rounding error of global energy usage (0.1%) and i

Where did you get the notion that the energy usage is planet destroying? Current Bitcoin usage is literally a rounding error of global energy usage (0.1%) and if wildly successful would still be < 1% of energy usage. https://www.lynalden.com/bitcoin-energy/ https://www.lynalden.com/bitcoin-energy/

yashg 5y ago
Please. This one is not even up for debate. Crypto mining is a waste of electricity.
- tasuki 5y ago
  Yes it is. I have a friend who thinks heating his apartment in winter is a waste. He puts on a lot of layers, drinks warm beverages, and exercises to keep warm.
FabHK 5y ago
> Current Bitcoin usage is literally a rounding error of global energy usage I'd say that BTC + ETC use up about 1% of world electricity. That is significant, given that the main value is to make a few miners rich ($50m a day). > and won’t increase too much. The energy usage (more precisely: the amount of money spent on energy and electro waste) is roughly proportional to BTC price, I posit (until the next halving), and so would go up dramatically if BTC went up dramatically (like 100x, as Peter Thiel suggested at Bitcoin 2022 in Miami recently).
- gregwebs 5y ago
  > I'd say that BTC + ETC use up about 1% of world electricity Where did you get that figure? If you read the researched article I linked, the estimate is around 0.1%. > would go up dramatically if BTC went up dramatically Not as dramatically as you think: if BTC goes up to 1 million per coin it will still be using less than 1% of global energy consumption (again relying on the article I previously cited as my source). 1% is no longer a rounding error that we can just dismiss, but a price of 1 million per coin would imply that Bitcoin-based financial systems have become incredibly valuable and are displacing other financial systems.
  - invalidname 5y ago
    Despite all the hype. Very few people use Crypto. It doesn't matter if it's "just" 0.1% what matters is how much do all the banking and credit card systems in the world consume by comparison. I would bet it's less than that. So it's not tenable as a currency. It's also not very valuable as a commodity since it fluctuates too much and has no intrinsic value. It has no value to "disconnect from the banks/government" since you need to convert it to "real currency" for usage. There's the claim that green is possible with Crypto but I don't see how. Without turning it into a centralized system. The wastefulness is the system designed to discourage bad actors from taking over. Without it, what will stop the hacks? (not that it helps with all the robberies anyway).
    - gregwebs 5y ago
      > So it's not tenable as a currency. Did you read the article that I linked to? It's helpful also to read this one about Bitcoin: https://www.lynalden.com/gold-and-bitcoin/ https://www.lynalden.com/gold-and-bitcoin/ Bitcoin's usage is not as currency, but as money (read this article about what money is: https://www.lynalden.com/what-is-money/ https://www.lynalden.com/what-is-money/. So Bitcoin is useful as a store of value, rather than a currency. The ability to transact like a currency is being built in layers on top of it (Lightning Network, etc), somewhat similar to how currencies used to be backed by gold.
    - tasuki 5y ago
      > what matters is how much do all the banking and credit card systems in the world consume by comparison. I would bet it's less than that. Thing is, with bitcoin the energy consumption is easily quantifiable and it's a single number. The banking system also uses a lot of energy to heat/cool the employees, builds lots of office buildings, and does many things which could be considered wasteful. It really is a little tricky to compare. The banking system employs a lot of people. Depending on your point of view, this can be a bad thing (they could be doing something more productive instead!) or a good thing (the people are getting jobs, employment is good!).
      - 5y ago

yashg 5y ago

Please. This one is not even up for debate. Crypto mining is a waste of electricity.

tasuki 5y ago
Yes it is. I have a friend who thinks heating his apartment in winter is a waste. He puts on a lot of layers, drinks warm beverages, and exercises to keep warm.

FabHK 5y ago

> Current Bitcoin usage is literally a rounding error of global energy usage I'd say that BTC + ETC use up about 1% of world electricity. That is significant, given that the main value is to make a few miners rich ($50m a day). > and won’t increase too much. The energy usage (more precisely: the amount of money spent on energy and electro waste) is roughly proportional to BTC price, I posit (until the next halving), and so would go up dramatically if BTC went up dramatically (like 100x, as Peter Thiel suggested at Bitcoin 2022 in Miami recently).

gregwebs 5y ago
> I'd say that BTC + ETC use up about 1% of world electricity Where did you get that figure? If you read the researched article I linked, the estimate is around 0.1%. > would go up dramatically if BTC went up dramatically Not as dramatically as you think: if BTC goes up to 1 million per coin it will still be using less than 1% of global energy consumption (again relying on the article I previously cited as my source). 1% is no longer a rounding error that we can just dismiss, but a price of 1 million per coin would imply that Bitcoin-based financial systems have become incredibly valuable and are displacing other financial systems.
- invalidname 5y ago
  Despite all the hype. Very few people use Crypto. It doesn't matter if it's "just" 0.1% what matters is how much do all the banking and credit card systems in the world consume by comparison. I would bet it's less than that. So it's not tenable as a currency. It's also not very valuable as a commodity since it fluctuates too much and has no intrinsic value. It has no value to "disconnect from the banks/government" since you need to convert it to "real currency" for usage. There's the claim that green is possible with Crypto but I don't see how. Without turning it into a centralized system. The wastefulness is the system designed to discourage bad actors from taking over. Without it, what will stop the hacks? (not that it helps with all the robberies anyway).
  - gregwebs 5y ago
    > So it's not tenable as a currency. Did you read the article that I linked to? It's helpful also to read this one about Bitcoin: https://www.lynalden.com/gold-and-bitcoin/ https://www.lynalden.com/gold-and-bitcoin/ Bitcoin's usage is not as currency, but as money (read this article about what money is: https://www.lynalden.com/what-is-money/ https://www.lynalden.com/what-is-money/. So Bitcoin is useful as a store of value, rather than a currency. The ability to transact like a currency is being built in layers on top of it (Lightning Network, etc), somewhat similar to how currencies used to be backed by gold.
  - tasuki 5y ago
    > what matters is how much do all the banking and credit card systems in the world consume by comparison. I would bet it's less than that. Thing is, with bitcoin the energy consumption is easily quantifiable and it's a single number. The banking system also uses a lot of energy to heat/cool the employees, builds lots of office buildings, and does many things which could be considered wasteful. It really is a little tricky to compare. The banking system employs a lot of people. Depending on your point of view, this can be a bad thing (they could be doing something more productive instead!) or a good thing (the people are getting jobs, employment is good!).
    - 5y ago