Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future • Hacker News Board

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

#111

Post by emteycz » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

Swenrekcah wrote: post #42

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?

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.

Nobody is building a dam because of Bitcoin. Bitcoin is what's done when there is egress electricity (which there always is, somewhere).

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

#112

Post by Tepix » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

cies wrote: post #81

speedgoose wrote: post #11

That's not good for the environment.

Tesla is not about being good for the env. It's about making money. Same thing with SpaceX not being about going to Mars. It's about making money too! The going to Mars/ good for env stories are to get some public goodwill behind them from a certain crowd.

Both companies were unlikely to succeed (and nearly failed). To me that is a strong indicator that profit is not the primary objective.

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

#113

Post by rapsey » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

deadalus wrote: post #25

Soon, a nation might realistically buy $100 B + of bitcoin and declare it a national currency.

They won't for the same reason currencies are not on the gold standard anymore. You can't print bitcoin and that actually is NOT a good thing. Unless you like falling into a great depression like event.

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

#114

Post by paulgb » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

fasteddie31003 wrote: post #88

I don't understand all the Crypto hate on this site. Since when have hackers become the luddites to new ways of finance?

HN was one of the first sites on the crypto bandwagon in the early 2010s. I can't speak for everyone but it seems like a lot of us turned against PoW when the amount of energy waste became clear.

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

#115

Post by ben_w » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

jC6fhrfHRLM9b3 wrote: post #99

exabrial wrote: post #3

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

All EV's are worse for the environment than buying a used Petrol car.

Highly likely a used petrol car will be bought by someone even if not by you personally, so not a fair assessment.

A fair assessment would be a new BEV versus a new petrol versus a new diesel versus a new hybrid.

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

#116

Post by TacticalCoder » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #78

In a way, buying Bitcoin is a bet on the timing of quantum computing.

Interesting comment!

Note that there are cryptographers out there working on blockchains that are quantum resistant: David Chaum for example and its "xx" blockchain (which is still in beta but already has a few hundreds nodes running).

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

#117

Post by apexalpha » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

jC6fhrfHRLM9b3 wrote: post #99

exabrial wrote: post #3

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

All EV's are worse for the environment than buying a used Petrol car.

How do "used Petrol cars" start out their life?

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

#118

Post by mordymoop » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

Pyramus wrote: post #77

2020 has completely changed my perception of Tesla and Musk. I had this image of a benevolent genius who is sometimes misunderstood ("funding secured", "pedo guy", "Autopilot"). Came across Teslacharts' podcast [1] (now the Chartcast) and oh boy was I wrong. This is only the latest in a long series of red flags around Tesla/Musk and however it ends, it will not end well. [1] https://thechartcast.com/

Could you describe a couple of red flags?

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

#119

Post by simonebrunozzi » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

PunchTornado wrote: post #12

So this is legal and ok to do: - You buy a lot of bitcoin personally. - Then as a CEO you make your company invest in bitcoin. Make it news. Prices go up. - You've made a lot of money for yourself.

I don't think that Elon Musk bought bitcoin personally, but of course I could have missed it. Do you have a source for this claim?

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

#120

Post by emteycz » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 1:43 PM UTC

codenotmath wrote: post #43

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?

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

And yet you label Bitcoin as the problem instead of resolving the actual problem of subsidized fossil fuel.