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Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

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Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#41

Post by lifty »

JustFinishedBSG wrote: post #29
ludditetech wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fiat system costs a lot to run too, pretty sure this assertion debunked.

Good thing you are only pretty sure then because it's entirely false. Bitcoin needs several orders of magnitude more energy per transactions.

It's better to think of Bitcoin efficiency in terms of transaction throughput (value moved) instead of transactions per second. This tweet makes a comparison with Fedwire: https://twitter.com/nic__carter/status/1358155385081888778?s...

2nd layer solutions will scale Bitcoin transaction capacity in terms of transactions/s

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#42

Post by Swenrekcah »

dcolkitt wrote: post #28
exabrial wrote: post #3

Legitimizing Bitcoin more than offsets the environmental benefits of electric vehicles.

What percent of the electricity used by Bitcoin miners is generated by fossil fuels? My impression is that most miners are located to take advantage of locales with very cheap hydroelectric/geothermal or take advantage of subsidized/overbuilt renewables. But I could be wrong. Any data on this?

Hydro and geothermal aren't without environmental cost. They don't destroy the whole world but can be fairly destructive locally.

If you're going to flood a valley, please make it for something actually worthwile.

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#43

Post by codenotmath »

dcolkitt wrote: post #28
exabrial wrote: post #3

Legitimizing Bitcoin more than offsets the environmental benefits of electric vehicles.

What percent of the electricity used by Bitcoin miners is generated by fossil fuels? My impression is that most miners are located to take advantage of locales with very cheap hydroelectric/geothermal or take advantage of subsidized/overbuilt renewables. But I could be wrong. Any data on this?

There are many who mine on subsidized fosil fuel. Especially in argentinia.

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#44

Post by londons_explore »

dcolkitt wrote: post #28
exabrial wrote: post #3

Legitimizing Bitcoin more than offsets the environmental benefits of electric vehicles.

What percent of the electricity used by Bitcoin miners is generated by fossil fuels? My impression is that most miners are located to take advantage of locales with very cheap hydroelectric/geothermal or take advantage of subsidized/overbuilt renewables. But I could be wrong. Any data on this?

Even if that was the case, this excess power would very rarely go to waste. If bitcoin mining farms didn't pop up, then aluminium smelters would appear instead. Aluminium is pretty much electricity in a form that can be put on a truck.

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#45

Post by phreeza »

pearjuice wrote: post #4

I have been bearish on BTC for a long time, but when I realized a few years ago that the fiat system we have in place is unsustainable, I see it as a safe hedge against it and the inevitable hyper inflation which will happen in our lifetime. I know HN is highly skeptical of anything crypto and I agree that blockchain as a technology doesn't have any notable usages. But right now, Bitcoin is the safest deflationary as…

Why not buy something useful like real estate?

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#46

Post by aww_dang »

ludditetech wrote: post #22
exabrial wrote: post #3

Legitimizing Bitcoin more than offsets the environmental benefits of electric vehicles.

Fiat system costs a lot to run too, pretty sure this assertion debunked.

There are other alternatives to BTC, which are more efficient in terms of energy usage, more effective in terms of transaction speed and transaction fees.

BTC is a cryptocurrency, but not equal to cryptocurrency for the sake of this discussion.

BTC is arguably not effective as an actual medium of exchange. Many BTC maximalists have retreated from the actual currency use case in favor of "store of value" arguments.

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#47

Post by legulere »

Waterluvian wrote: post #30

I bought $100 of BTC a while ago for fun. I watched it go up and down and mostly up. I got bored, and sold it for cash to donate... literally an hour before the big spike just earlier. I know about the fallacies of predicting the market. I understand 20/20 hindsight. But to actually experience it is such a strong lesson. To be flooded with, "ohhh I'm such an idiot!" and then think about how there's just no way I coul…

I mined some bitcoins when they were worth around 5€ and sold them when they were around 300€. I still made a profit. Don’t try to hang on the things that could have been, but concentrate on the good things that happened. I bought some nice headphones from that money I still use and which make me happy.

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#48

Post by dylkil »

exabrial wrote: post #3

Legitimizing Bitcoin more than offsets the environmental benefits of electric vehicles.

Hes legitimizing crypto in general. PoS will be proven to be more efficient in almost every way, people will gravitate towards that. Bitcoin has the network effects of being the first mover right now. Ethereum is surpassing it on many metrics, txs/day, $ volume processed per day, etc [1].

[1]https://www.blockchaincenter.net/flippening/

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#49

Post by calabroa »

Waterluvian wrote: post #30

I bought $100 of BTC a while ago for fun. I watched it go up and down and mostly up. I got bored, and sold it for cash to donate... literally an hour before the big spike just earlier. I know about the fallacies of predicting the market. I understand 20/20 hindsight. But to actually experience it is such a strong lesson. To be flooded with, "ohhh I'm such an idiot!" and then think about how there's just no way I coul…

Now would be a great time to cash out

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#50

Post by dcolkitt »

DennisP wrote: post #38
dcolkitt wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What percent of the electricity used by Bitcoin miners is generated by fossil fuels? My impression is that most miners are located to take advantage of locales with very cheap hydroelectric/geothermal or take advantage of subsidized/overbuilt renewables. But I could be wrong. Any data on this?

If they're on an electric grid that also has fossil fuels, then it doesn't really matter. More clean energy to them is less to other customers, who have to make up for it with more fossil.

That assumes that the demand for electricity is not price elastic.
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