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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

#111

Post by bogwog »

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.

Any legitimate use of cryptocurrency will never materialize as long as people are gambling with them.

The intrinsic value of Bitcoin is nowhere near the current price. When the speculators all sell and the only demand comes from people looking to actually use them, the price will drop by a lot.

But, when that happens, the speculators/grifters will simply move to another coin. That other coin will see a similar bubble, and bitcoin’s value will drop even further as people perceive it as “dead” or worthless (as maybe it should have always been perceived)

So until this shit gets under control somehow, cryptocurrency is going to remain the exclusive domain of the speculator/gambler/criminal/grifter/gullible. And of course, the world will suffer increased energy usage, pollution, and GPU shortages.

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

#112

Post by tryonenow »

asutekku wrote: post #42
HPsquared wrote: post #27

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

Absolutely not. Bitcoin’s value increases because it’s a speculative asset and there’s almost zero reasons for it to go down since it’s not really tied to anything tangible.

Well, there's at least one speculator (myself) who is also using BTC as a hedge against an uncertain petrodollar. Metals and volatility funds also are purely speculative assets - risk mitigation itself is tangible value.

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

#113

Post by trident5000 »

jorvi wrote: post #99
read_if_gay_ wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're going to question the validity of an assertion please provide more than just a counterassertion.

That's not how it works. If I claim the moon is made of cheese and someone says he doesn't believe me, the onus is on me to prove it is, not on them that it isn't.

The burden is on both people making statements/claims.

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

#114

Post by cblconfederate »

base698 wrote: post #75
cblconfederate wrote: post #53

Well if they 're so upset they can ban the mining of new bitcoins, the price of existing ones will go through the roof

Mining validates the transactions as well. No mining would mean it was worthless over night.

they could still make money from transaction fees. Thats the plan for bitcoin after 2140

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

#115

Post by konjin »

maxharris wrote: post #97

What is the energy cost of the entire USD-based financial system? At a minimum we need to total up what the US Mint, the Federal Reserve, Visa, Mastercard, Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JP Morgan, Citibank, Goldman Sachs and thousands of other companies and government entities do. It is obvious that amount of energy used to keep the USD going absolutely dwarfs Bitcoin.

Smaller than the energy required to run Ireland, unlike bitcoin. An algorithm designed to be wasteful in energy wasting energy is not something we should be shocked at.

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

#116

Post by DennisP »

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.

I see that claim about hydro all the time but I've never seen a quantitative study, can you link one?

According to the BBC, a recent survey found that Bitcoin is powered by two-thirds fossil: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56215787

Inner Mongolia just announced it will shut down Bitcoin miners, apparently on climate grounds: https://news.bitcoin.com/chinas-inner-mongolia-plans-to-shut...

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

#118

Post by gruez »

ohgodplsno wrote: post #67
HPsquared wrote: post #27

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

Cryptobots really believe this? Even as a European citizen, I have faith that the US Dollar will stay the US dollar, and keep value. The Euro will keep being the Euro. Hell, even the Yuan will stay the Yuan. Just accept that you're willing to shit on the planet to make a few bucks, it's fine.

>Even as a European citizen, I have faith that the US Dollar will stay the US dollar, and keep value.

Clearly the market doesn't think so. Nearly every asset class is getting inflated in the past year, in the middle of a pandemic no less.

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

#120

Post by CapmCrackaWaka »

nostrebored wrote: post #58
CapmCrackaWaka wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Well this something else is usually just nothing. Demand drives electricity production.

Yes this discussion has happened hundreds of times on HN at this point.

> "Bitcoin uses too much energy[1]"

> "It's only using surplus energy which would go to waste anyway[2][3]"

> "But it still has an environmental impact [4]"

I guess I'm just tired of seeing the same things repeated on every single thread about Bitcoin. When I saw a lazy comment like OPs, I overreacted, sorry.

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56012952#:~:text=Cambrid.... [2] https://www.coindesk.com/the-last-word-on-bitcoins-energy-co... [3] https://www.wsj.com/articles/bitcoin-in-the-wilderness-11553... [4] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/05/bitcoin-btc-surge-renews-wor....

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