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Remains the question: Why was it allowed to even live a little, when for the first dimes, it was clear it was a scheme that necessitated illegal actions at ever
by eastbound 3y ago
Remains the question: Why was it allowed to even live a little, when for the first dimes, it was clear it was a scheme that necessitated illegal actions at every step?
- graphe 3y agoWhat’s illegal step is mining crypto on your gpu?
- matheusmoreira 3y agoNothing illegal about proof of work.
- pjc50 3y agoNo, but there should be a ban on proof of waste.
- matheusmoreira 3y agoWaste? Better forget about crypto then. Even at its peak it didn't even amount to 1% of global energy consumption. Maybe you should suggest putting a ban on trading with China instead.
- doctor_eval 3y ago1% of global energy consumption is outrageous.
- matheusmoreira 3y agoMore like 0.5%. A literal drop of water into the ocean of western wastefulness. My only objection to it is the fact all that energy is being poured into obsolete technology like bitcoin. I wouldn't even mind if Monero used even more energy. That energy is buying us something: a true cryptocurrency.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Mordisquitos 3y ago> More like 0.5%. A literal drop of water into the ocean of western wastefulness. If we accept the analogy, 0.5% of the oceans is 5 100 000 km³, which is quite a bit more than "a literal drop": https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=0.5%25+of+the+volume+of+Earth%27s+oceans+in+cubic+kilometres https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=0.5%25+of+the+volume+of...
- doctor_eval 3y agoA tiny fraction of the world’s total population use or benefit from cryptocurrencies, but it consumes “just” 0.5% of world energy consumption. This is self-evidently insane.
- matheusmoreira 3y agoMaybe they should start using the currency as well?
- doctor_eval 3y agoWhat the fuck are you talking about? You want to consume all the energy generated, just for currency? You think people will stop creating new coins? You think using the worlds energy to generate random numbers is a form of freedom? I want to ask rhetorically if you are out of your mind but, like I said, it’s self evident.
- matheusmoreira 3y ago> What the fuck are you talking about? Cryptocurrencies and the relative irrelevance of the energy consumption associated with them. > just for currency? Not just any currency, one that guarantees privacy and anonymity. > You think using the worlds energy to generate random numbers is a form of freedom? I don't see anyone complaining about the energy that gets poured into processors every single day to make them generate random numbers that are then used as secret keys in cryptography just so that users can securely shitpost on social media. All those advertisers are making a killing so all this activity must be moral, right?
- Qwertious 3y agoChina does useful stuff; their energy consumption is going up because they have over a billion people who e.g. want AC units in a tropical heatwave. They're building literally more renewables than any other country in the world and still aren't keeping up with demand. If we permanently switched off all those power plants then tens/hundreds of millions would die. In contrast, switching off all crypto farms would be a free reduction in emissions, and indirectly save lives.
- matheusmoreira 3y agoCheap consumer goods for entire western nations. Truly the peak of usefulness.
- Reubachi 3y agoOP didn't say China was the most "productive" state in the planet, instead that they do at least produce despite being seen as an obfuscator. The "maker" sphere in China is analagous to that in EU/US, the people are waiting for societal change.
- pertymcpert 3y agoTell me what they should stop producing. Most of what they make is just boring every day stuff that we need to live comfortably. Do you like using knives and forks? What about cookware? A toy for your 2 year old so they can have some fun? Useless shit right?
- matheusmoreira 3y ago> Tell me what they should stop producing. The consumer electronics people use to post environmentalist takes with. That'd be a good start.
- Yoric 3y agoAmen to that. Of course, just as most of yesterday's crypto experts are today's AI experts, the main wastage seems to be moving towards LLMs these days.
- mcpackieh 3y agoYeah, let's get a ban on video games (waste) and video game achievements (proof of waste.)
- eastbound 3y agoThis part takes the least to claim the worst isn’t here. Akin to saying Al Capone was “just doing dishes” when he was arrested, why would you. There are various illegal parts: Creating a currency for example. But even if one can walk around the definition of a currency, exchanging it for dollars is most probably questionable: You give banknotes to someone in exchange for a token which you don’t know how it was obtained. In most cases, it is facilitating drug exchange and hitmen, so, unless one can prove where a Bitcoin comes from, I’m surprised it is even legal to exchange it for tender money. The whole thing should have been sued from the start.
- matheusmoreira 3y ago> Creating a currency Shouldn't be illegal. > exchanging it for dollars Shouldn't be illegal. > You give banknotes to someone in exchange for a token which you don’t know how it was obtained. It doesn't matter how it was obtained. > In most cases, it is facilitating drug exchange and hitmen Oh... Just like USD then. Why don't you go after them for those crimes? Without coopting us into your warrantless global surveillance network? > unless one can prove where a Bitcoin comes from That it is even possible to prove that is actually a failure of bitcoin's design. Thankfully Monero fixed it. Money should be fungible. There should be no dirty/clean bit attached to coins.
- MattPalmer1086 3y agoThere's a huge difference between physically transporting a large amount of cash and disposing of it usefully without being detected versus electronically moving it around the world and exchanging it for fiat currency entirely anonymously. Here's a clue: one of those is hard to do and massively increases your risk of being caught, and the other actually enables further criminal activity which would not otherwise be easily possible. So no, not just like USD.
- matheusmoreira 3y agoAnd yet every criminal out there seems to be using USD. Funny how that works. Maybe we should ban USD too.
- jowea 3y agoUnless you're stealing electricity or computing of course.