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If you want to cut energy consumption, reduce goods inflation, and increase labor supply, the simplest way to to it is to destroy cryptocurrencies.

axg11 4y ago
A great, laconic statement to rally the anti-crypto troops. In reality, destroying cryptocurrencies would have zero effect on any of those three: Estimated total energy usage for all cryptocurrencies: 0.1-1% of global energy usage Inflation: I don't see a link whatsoever - any influence on inflation from crypto is dwarfed by a decade of quantitative easing. Labor supply: estimated number of developers working in crypto is <100,000, whereas estimates for total number of software developers in the world is ~20M, so ~0.5%.
- schroeding 4y ago
  While I agree with you on the last two points, this article from september last year[1], referencing this piece from the NYT[2], says that Bitcoin alone used 0.5% of the global energy used. 0.5% of the global energy consumption is an enourmous amount of energy, for one coin. Even if it is only 1% in total, for all cryptocurrencies - 1/100 of the yearly energy used by the whole planet is a gigantic amount of energy, isn't it? [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-mining-electricity-usage-more-than-google-2021-9 https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-mining-electricity-u... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/03/climate/bitcoin-carbon-footprint-electricity.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/03/climate/bitco...
  - axg11 4y ago
    I agree that 1% (if true) is not insignificant, but destroying all cryptocurrencies to reduce our energy consumption by 1% isn't a clear tradeoff to me. We also need to account for the fact that renewable energy as a percentage of energy used by crypto is increasing and already at significant proportions.
soared 4y ago
Crypto -> chip shortage -> inflation Seems like there may be other factors at play.

axg11 4y ago

A great, laconic statement to rally the anti-crypto troops. In reality, destroying cryptocurrencies would have zero effect on any of those three: Estimated total energy usage for all cryptocurrencies: 0.1-1% of global energy usage Inflation: I don't see a link whatsoever - any influence on inflation from crypto is dwarfed by a decade of quantitative easing. Labor supply: estimated number of developers working in crypto is <100,000, whereas estimates for total number of software developers in the world is ~20M, so ~0.5%.

schroeding 4y ago
While I agree with you on the last two points, this article from september last year[1], referencing this piece from the NYT[2], says that Bitcoin alone used 0.5% of the global energy used. 0.5% of the global energy consumption is an enourmous amount of energy, for one coin. Even if it is only 1% in total, for all cryptocurrencies - 1/100 of the yearly energy used by the whole planet is a gigantic amount of energy, isn't it? [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-mining-electricity-usage-more-than-google-2021-9 https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-mining-electricity-u... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/03/climate/bitcoin-carbon-footprint-electricity.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/03/climate/bitco...
- axg11 4y ago
  I agree that 1% (if true) is not insignificant, but destroying all cryptocurrencies to reduce our energy consumption by 1% isn't a clear tradeoff to me. We also need to account for the fact that renewable energy as a percentage of energy used by crypto is increasing and already at significant proportions.

soared 4y ago

Crypto -> chip shortage -> inflation Seems like there may be other factors at play.