"#Bitcoin #mining now consumes two whole percent of electricity in the US, all to perform math problems that are entirely pointless by design.
None of that touches on the vast architecture that has accreted around #cryptocurrency—the forums and the exchanges and the #NFTs—like some cancerous tumor."
@HeavenlyPossum
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/over-2-percent-of-the-uss-electricity-generation-now-goes-to-bitcoin/
@josemurilo the energy is being spent to buy bitcoin.
It's not that bitcoin consumes it but that people are willing to trade it for the value they get for Bitcoin.
No, that is the electricity wasted to perform math problems to “mint” new bitcoin.
@HeavenlyPossum not at all.
Bitcoin could be run from a solar panel and a car battery. It doesn't take that much energy to run the Bitcoin system.
However, people do decide that they would like to pay more in energy as they bid for new bitcoin. That is their choice, and It reflects the value of Bitcoin to each person exchanging extra energy for the Bitcoin.
Mining bitcoin doesn't have to be expensive. But people have decided it's worth more energy, so they trade more energy for it.
@volkris @HeavenlyPossum @josemurilo Deforestation doesn't have to hurt the forest. it's just that people believe the trees are more valuable as lumber than as live trees. It's their choice to cut the trees. It's their decision to turn the tree into lumber. Not the best analogy, I know. Things made of lumber have actual value, unlike crypto.
@brinnbelyea @josemurilo @volkris
Or perhaps: the lumber industry wouldn’t consume that many trees if people only wanted one toothpick worth of wood each year, but they want many more.
Bitcoin mining could be run on a car battery if people were content to mine one bitcoin a century, but they want many more.
It’s absurd to dismiss enormous costs on the grounds that those costs could be much lower in a counterfactual world.
@HeavenlyPossum @josemurilo @volkris Bitcoin's worst effect is that it crazes its proponents. It's absolutely bonkers. 2% of electricity used is an underestimate. It does count all of the bitcoin related electronic activity in addition to the blockchain. "But in a better world, Bitcoin would use less electricity. It's just some people want more bitcoin." What difference does that make? It's waste that is actually happening.
@brinnbelyea No that's not the argument.
Bitcoin provides value that is greater than the value of the energy that people are trading to get it.
That bitcoin can run on less electricity isn't some sort of excuse but rather it is highlighting how valuable bitcoin is to the people that put skin in the game and trade energy for Bitcoin.
YOU or I might not personally think bitcoin is that valuable, and that's fine, but other people do think it's that valuable, so they do trade for it.
