Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem
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Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem
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Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem
#2If you are going to do PoW the least harmful way is inherently CPU algorithms like Monero’s RandomX. At least the left over parts have an aftermarket use as CPUs, and at least you are incentivizing production of something useful. It can even run as a lowest priority process with other compute in some cases.
Note that Chia’s form of proof of space does not count since it actually consumes SSDs. CPUs are not (meaningfully) consumed by running RandomX.
(CPUs at dense process nodes do degrade slowly but their life spans are usually far longer than their useful life anywhere in the market.)
Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem
#3Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28562287
Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem
#4If you are going to do PoW the least harmful way is inherently CPU algorithms like Monero’s RandomX. At least the left over parts have an aftermarket use as CPUs, and at least you are incentivizing production of something useful. It can even run as a lowest priority process with other compute in some cases. Note that Chia’s form of proof of space does not count since it actually consumes SSDs. CPUs are not (meaningfu…
Or you do something like "proof of useful work" as discussed in https://eprint.iacr.org/2017/203.pdf
Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem
#5We don’t deserve this beautiful planet.
Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem
#6If you are going to do PoW the least harmful way is inherently CPU algorithms like Monero’s RandomX. At least the left over parts have an aftermarket use as CPUs, and at least you are incentivizing production of something useful. It can even run as a lowest priority process with other compute in some cases. Note that Chia’s form of proof of space does not count since it actually consumes SSDs. CPUs are not (meaningfu…
I think we need a way better (re)use of the heat generated by the hardware instead cooling it or placing the hardware in cool places.
Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem
#7This reminds me of that tweet from BP about their environment calculator, can't find the source right now. But the idea is they "care" about environment while they did the biggest oil spillage in history, otherwise known as the old proverbial: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_pot_calling_the_kettle_bla...
Do I really need to point who is the biggest e-waste generator in the world? Solve that problem first.
Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem
#8If you are going to do PoW the least harmful way is inherently CPU algorithms like Monero’s RandomX. At least the left over parts have an aftermarket use as CPUs, and at least you are incentivizing production of something useful. It can even run as a lowest priority process with other compute in some cases. Note that Chia’s form of proof of space does not count since it actually consumes SSDs. CPUs are not (meaningfu…
Or you do something like "proof of useful work" as discussed in https://eprint.iacr.org/2017/203.pdf
isn't that somewhat against the whole idea of PoW? It is supposed to make cheating expensive, because you have to waste a lot of computing power to do it. If that power is not wasted, but instead used for something useful (outside of crypto transaction verification) work that can be sold for money, then cheating becomes profitable again.
Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem
#9Congratulations on the publication. Am I correct in thinking this is a higher estimate than the one you were using before?
Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem
#10[deleted]