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Every $1 of BTC value responsible for $0.49 in health and climate damages in US

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Re: Every $1 of BTC value responsible for $0.49 in health and climate damages in US

#31

This is about the furthest thing from “science”. Just sensationalist propaganda. It’s so far from being even remotely plausible. Maybe 1 BTC is responsible for $0.49 of “damage” if you could ever actually quantify it. Most of this electricity comes from the cheapest source of power, which is hydro.

How much damage is the current financial system responsible for?

Whataboutism has no place in any intelligent discourse.

Re: Every $1 of BTC value responsible for $0.49 in health and climate damages in US

#33
post #12

This is about the furthest thing from “science”. Just sensationalist propaganda. It’s so far from being even remotely plausible. Maybe 1 BTC is responsible for $0.49 of “damage” if you could ever actually quantify it. Most of this electricity comes from the cheapest source of power, which is hydro.

Energy is not an infinite resource. The energy used to mine bitcoin could have been used for something else instead.

First Law of Thermodynamics anyone?

Yes there is a lot of power being used to mine crypto, I mine but it is done on a system that I would normally have running 24/7 regardless of mining. Yes large mining specific "server" or "ASIC" farms use alot of energy but so does every other serverfarm. Maybe we should be talking about the energy cost of watching Pr0n, or TikTok videos both of whic IMHO provide far less benifit to society.

Re: Every $1 of BTC value responsible for $0.49 in health and climate damages in US

#34

And I'm especially angry at hypocrites like Elon Musk who are profiting from climate change and then proceeds invest those profits in bitcoin that accelerates climate change.

If you were sitting on billions and wanted to accelerate climate change then investing in BTC is probably the most inefficient way to do that. I doubt that idea ever even crossed his mind. It’s just about the profit.

Re: Every $1 of BTC value responsible for $0.49 in health and climate damages in US

#35
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Energy is not an infinite resource. The energy used to mine bitcoin could have been used for something else instead.

That’s not true at all. There is a huge amount of stranded power. Electricity is not fungible across large distances. Otherwise people in Texas wouldn’t be paying $9,000 per mwh during the storm— power certainly didn’t cost that much in other states then.

WRT Texas, that was a deliberate political choice rather than physics: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_power_transmi...

Re: Every $1 of BTC value responsible for $0.49 in health and climate damages in US

#36
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Energy is not an infinite resource. The energy used to mine bitcoin could have been used for something else instead.

That’s not true at all. There is a huge amount of stranded power. Electricity is not fungible across large distances. Otherwise people in Texas wouldn’t be paying $9,000 per mwh during the storm— power certainly didn’t cost that much in other states then.

lol yes it is, texas is huge btw, but also has no interconnects with the rest of the grid, hence the price rise at a time of zero supply and high demand

Re: Every $1 of BTC value responsible for $0.49 in health and climate damages in US

#37
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Energy is not an infinite resource. The energy used to mine bitcoin could have been used for something else instead.

That’s not true at all. There is a huge amount of stranded power. Electricity is not fungible across large distances. Otherwise people in Texas wouldn’t be paying $9,000 per mwh during the storm— power certainly didn’t cost that much in other states then.

That’s a function of the rather peculiar decision of Texas not to connect to the rest of the grid.

Every neighboring state is connected to the eastern power grid, which can transfer power from the Mexican border to Vermont.

Re: Every $1 of BTC value responsible for $0.49 in health and climate damages in US

#38

The rise of Bitcoin is a reflection of low trust in the existing currencies. Low trust leads to inefficiency.

Oh please. It has almost no use as a currency, it's the rise of an asset bubble.

Still has usage as a potential store of value and a means of cheap global transfers. My mother in law use it monthly to transfer money to her home (third world) country, which is crazy easy and cheap compared to traditional means.

Re: Every $1 of BTC value responsible for $0.49 in health and climate damages in US

#39
post #12

This is about the furthest thing from “science”. Just sensationalist propaganda. It’s so far from being even remotely plausible. Maybe 1 BTC is responsible for $0.49 of “damage” if you could ever actually quantify it. Most of this electricity comes from the cheapest source of power, which is hydro.

Energy is not an infinite resource. The energy used to mine bitcoin could have been used for something else instead.

Ugh this is such a tired argument. Energy used to watch TV could be used for something else instead. What is this mystical “something else” which couldn’t be powered because Bitcoin was using up all the electricity, and what good fortune would it have brought us?

Re: Every $1 of BTC value responsible for $0.49 in health and climate damages in US

#40

All these Crypto posts are getting pretty tiring.

What's special about today and increasing frequency of these posts?

BTC has surged which leads to a general interest in the topic. People looking for clicks try and figure out new ways to talk about the subject using whichever lens suits their agenda/objective and their audiences interests/convictions.
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