3 ms·

Simply put: Bitcoin was to be an alternative to FIAT, but it ended up being nothing more then a meme-stock that consumes more energy than Poland or Argentina.

Simply put: Bitcoin was to be an alternative to FIAT, but it ended up being nothing more then a meme-stock that consumes more energy than Poland or Argentina. Its sad really. But the greed in people turned it into shit.

mirekrusin 10mo ago
I never understood why bitcoin is winning popularity/pricing over ie. ethereum - which doesn't burn energy anymore and you can actually do programming on it, not just moving money from a to b.
- munksbeer 10mo ago
  Because it's based on narratives. Bitcoin has the strong narrative and the "network effect". Because bitoin keeps surviving, the narrative reinforces itself. At this point surely most people know, even if they're unwilling to admit or fooling themselves, the utility value is basically dead. The utility value is now a pure gamble that a person tomorrow will pay me more than I paid for it today, thinking that a person in the future will pay them more than they paid. And that can be a powerful enough narrative to keep it going. But if bitcoin disappeared today, 99.99999% of the world wouldn't even notice, that is how little of a problem it solves. Anyway, the point is, imagine the scenario if ethereum overtook bitcoin in value. What will this actually do to the ecosystem? In my view, it would be catastrophic to the value of all coins, because it suddenly destroys the narrative of a "store of value" (the last lingering narrative). Any other coin could just overtake ethereum, and out of all the thousands of coins, which one? At that point, I think the whole thing comes down.
  - l___l 10mo ago
    One interpretation of this comment, if viewed from an adversarial angle, is that comments like this, although perhaps not this comment specifically, are designed to dissuade people from buying crypto days before a bull-run starts. Accurate data illuminate a lot of things.
    - munksbeer 10mo ago
      I would benefit enormously from people buying crypto to keep the price going up. I've owned bitcoin for 9 years. I bought it when I realised that the narrative was strong enough to overcome any technical arguments and I wanted to profit from that. One day I'm assuming it help me retire. (I just wish I'd bought more)
- l___l 10mo ago
  One theory backed with proprietary data is that it's because bitcoin was created by the US government and money printed by the Fed goes in bitcoin so the government will one day pay its projected $113T of debt by dumping on everyone.
- kayamon 10mo ago
  Bitcoin has a longer proof-of-work history, which is the only thing that secures any blockchain.
  - mirekrusin 10mo ago
    Stake also secures blockchain and doesn't waste energy.
l___l 10mo ago
A different metric of comparison isn't Bitcoin's energy consumption compared to other countries but compared to the existing banking system it's trying to replace, which burns more energy than Bitcoin and allegedly burns more energy funding wars with fiat. Mining gold instead of Bitcoin burns more energy than Bitcoin too. Compared to that for energy consumption, Bitcoin is superior really.
- troupo 10mo ago
  The comparison is moot because Bticoin barely functions as a currency. Banking system provides a lot of other functionality beyond just money.
- jcgl 10mo ago
  > compared to the existing banking system it's trying to replace I don't think it's appropriate to compare it to the existing banking system (whose featureset goes far beyond payments and managing account balances). It's appropriate to compare it to existing payment and account systems. And on that front, compared to e.g. Mastercard, there's no way Bitcoin is more efficient. TXs/watt, $/watt, however you want to measure it.
  - l___l 10mo ago
    > there's no way Bitcoin is more efficient No way? You studied this personally and can prove it? Transaction Fees On Bitcoin Lightning Network Are 1,000 Times Cheaper Than Visa And MasterCard https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/447705 https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/447705
    - jcgl 10mo ago
      Lightning isn't Bitcoin. It's an L2. It helps implement actual practical payments for Bitcoin, and doesn't (afaiu) manage account balances. In other words, you cannot seriously compare it to Mastercard; you've gotta include Bitcoin itself.
      - 10mo ago

mirekrusin 10mo ago

I never understood why bitcoin is winning popularity/pricing over ie. ethereum - which doesn't burn energy anymore and you can actually do programming on it, not just moving money from a to b.

munksbeer 10mo ago
Because it's based on narratives. Bitcoin has the strong narrative and the "network effect". Because bitoin keeps surviving, the narrative reinforces itself. At this point surely most people know, even if they're unwilling to admit or fooling themselves, the utility value is basically dead. The utility value is now a pure gamble that a person tomorrow will pay me more than I paid for it today, thinking that a person in the future will pay them more than they paid. And that can be a powerful enough narrative to keep it going. But if bitcoin disappeared today, 99.99999% of the world wouldn't even notice, that is how little of a problem it solves. Anyway, the point is, imagine the scenario if ethereum overtook bitcoin in value. What will this actually do to the ecosystem? In my view, it would be catastrophic to the value of all coins, because it suddenly destroys the narrative of a "store of value" (the last lingering narrative). Any other coin could just overtake ethereum, and out of all the thousands of coins, which one? At that point, I think the whole thing comes down.
- l___l 10mo ago
  One interpretation of this comment, if viewed from an adversarial angle, is that comments like this, although perhaps not this comment specifically, are designed to dissuade people from buying crypto days before a bull-run starts. Accurate data illuminate a lot of things.
  - munksbeer 10mo ago
    I would benefit enormously from people buying crypto to keep the price going up. I've owned bitcoin for 9 years. I bought it when I realised that the narrative was strong enough to overcome any technical arguments and I wanted to profit from that. One day I'm assuming it help me retire. (I just wish I'd bought more)
l___l 10mo ago
One theory backed with proprietary data is that it's because bitcoin was created by the US government and money printed by the Fed goes in bitcoin so the government will one day pay its projected $113T of debt by dumping on everyone.
kayamon 10mo ago
Bitcoin has a longer proof-of-work history, which is the only thing that secures any blockchain.
- mirekrusin 10mo ago
  Stake also secures blockchain and doesn't waste energy.

l___l 10mo ago

A different metric of comparison isn't Bitcoin's energy consumption compared to other countries but compared to the existing banking system it's trying to replace, which burns more energy than Bitcoin and allegedly burns more energy funding wars with fiat. Mining gold instead of Bitcoin burns more energy than Bitcoin too. Compared to that for energy consumption, Bitcoin is superior really.

troupo 10mo ago
The comparison is moot because Bticoin barely functions as a currency. Banking system provides a lot of other functionality beyond just money.
jcgl 10mo ago
> compared to the existing banking system it's trying to replace I don't think it's appropriate to compare it to the existing banking system (whose featureset goes far beyond payments and managing account balances). It's appropriate to compare it to existing payment and account systems. And on that front, compared to e.g. Mastercard, there's no way Bitcoin is more efficient. TXs/watt, $/watt, however you want to measure it.
- l___l 10mo ago
  > there's no way Bitcoin is more efficient No way? You studied this personally and can prove it? Transaction Fees On Bitcoin Lightning Network Are 1,000 Times Cheaper Than Visa And MasterCard https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/447705 https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/447705
  - jcgl 10mo ago
    Lightning isn't Bitcoin. It's an L2. It helps implement actual practical payments for Bitcoin, and doesn't (afaiu) manage account balances. In other words, you cannot seriously compare it to Mastercard; you've gotta include Bitcoin itself.
    - 10mo ago