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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

#101

Post by miahi »

eigenvalue wrote: post #22
ath92 wrote: 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 was a political decision. Having your own grid means that you also have your own power frequency regulation, and importing power from a different network is not as simple as connecting wires - you need to connect them using DC instead of AC. These transfer points (interchanges) are sized just for temporary power import or export, you cannot use them to power the whole Texas grid. You can see more details about the interconnects here: https://www.eia.gov/realtime_grid/#/status

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

#103

Post by johndoe42377 »

Bullshit. Such correlation cannot be established by scientific method (reproducible experiments). It just abstract bullshitting we call models.

Even if there is a correlation (there isn't one) the causation must be established separately by scientific evidence.

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

#104

Post by skinkestek »

crumbshot wrote: post #41
eigenvalue wrote: post #6

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.

> Most of this electricity comes from the cheapest source of power, which is hydro. This has become almost a religious belief amongst cryptocurrency acolytes, but it's simply not true. -- Edit: please see my comment¹ and piplikoc's comment² below for more detail on this. 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26342411 2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26342366

Do you deny that hydro is cheap or do you claim that miners choose to use power in more expensive locations?

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

#106

Post by malikNF »

ath92 wrote: post #12
eigenvalue wrote: post #6

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.

So what do you propose we do? Do we create the energy police and tell people what you can and cannot do with energy? Do we stop people from mindlessly browsing the internet?

This argument really annoys me because, bitcoin has a purpose, I can buy things with bitcoin, just take a walk in Huaqiangbei and see how many shops accept bitcoin, talk to the people who's governments failed their national currency and they will agree the energy we spend on bitcoin helps them.

Until btc is replaced with a POS crypto currency like cardano[1] the energy we spend on btc is worth it for the people using it.

[1]https://ucarecdn.com/8673f817-d83b-441a-8281-45e8ae68bbec/-/...

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

#107

Post by k2enemy »

eigenvalue wrote: post #6

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.

Did you read the article, or just the abstract? Do you have any specific points to refute or insights to add? Or is your comment not constructive and just sensationalist propaganda? And I ask this as someone who would benefit from BTC going up relative to USD.

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

#109

Post by exo762 »

IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #54
alephnan wrote: post #24

If Bitcoin is here to stay, would increasing the dollar value of Bitcoin improve this ratio / metric implying society is better off?

No. Power usage is proportional to Bitcoin value. At $ 1 million, the network will consume as much power as the continental US. The willingness and ability of nations/humanity to allow such a state should probably factor more into investment decisions than it currently does.

> Power usage is proportional to Bitcoin value

Not precise enough. Power usage is proportional to block reward USD value, which is proportional to BTC value. But once in 4 years number of BTC awarded for mining a block is halved.

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

#110

Post by cwhiz »

Pungsnigel wrote: post #38
te_chris wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It’s easy and cheap because it is bypassing all the money laundering, KYC, and other money movement rules.
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