3 ms·
Bitcoin and friends eat energy (lots of) without producing anything of collective value: there is no more creating businesses, research, jobs, products, that is
by squarefoot 4y ago
Bitcoin and friends eat energy (lots of) without producing anything of collective value: there is no more creating businesses, research, jobs, products, that is, progress.
A family can easily manage a mining farm that eats the same energy of a business block that normally would provide jobs for a hundred people or more; can you see the implications?
Also, since energy is turned directly into money, it then becomes money, which translates in its price being dictated by the highest bidder.
Read this as: building 100 more nuclear plants per country won't solve the problem because the sudden increase in available energy will shortly be defeated by more and more of it allocated for more mining, creating in a few years a new shortage.
- rufusroflpunch 4y agoThis is not a correct analysis. Firstly, Bitcoin is far more price sensitive to electricity than almost any other industry. Remaining profitable requires very low electricity costs, and are usually not competing in the same price bracket as other uses of electricity. Bitcoin mining is most prevalent in places where the energy is already wasted (thus very low price at market). Because Bitcoin miners can act as a buyer of last resort, it actually incentivizes energy development, not only for Bitcoin, but for every use. Also, Bitcoin miners aren't destined to grow infinitely, consuming all spare electricity. There will be an equilibrium point where Bitcoin mining computers can only get so efficient and so fast.
- actionfromafar 4y agoThere will be an equilibrium point - but that equilibrium will be between how many mining computers there can be run on the one side, and how much of the economy is parked in Bitcoin on the other side. How efficient the computers are is completely beside the point, by protocol design.