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Bitcoin Mining and the Environment

• tromp 4y ago
  > The bitcoin network keeps getting more energy efficient because of the relentless improvement in the semiconductors (SHA-256 ASICs) that power the bitcoin mining centers, combined with the halving of bitcoin mining rewards every four years that is built into the protocol. This results in a consistent 18-36% improvement year after year in energy efficiency. Energy efficiency is of no benefit to the environment since hash power just grows correspondingly to maintain the same energy expenditures... > The only proven technique for creating a digital commodity is Proof of Work (bitcoin mining) deployed in a fair, equitable fashion Halvings make it far from equitable, with early miners enjoying exponentially higher rewards than later miners.