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Bitcoin as a Battery

nickgrossman.xyz

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Re: Bitcoin as a Battery

#111

Post by SkipperCat »

A ham sandwich is a battery....

Bitcoin is not a battery. Its fiat currency that uses a lot of energy to perform a fraction of the transactions that would be needed for it to be used for normal day to day transactions (filling up your gas tank, buying a coffee, etc).

If anything, I'd say Bitcoin is the exact opposite of a battery, it's an energy sink. I say that because its fiat money. With the example used of aluminum, you've taken energy and made a durable good/commodity. You don't need to have faith in aluminum that it exists, it just there. Drop it on your foot and you'll have proof. With Bitcoin, it will just take a lack of faith and the whole thing becomes worthless.

Bitcoin is interesting, it might become a reserve/hedge investment like diamonds or gold. But let's not put it in the halls of the Duracell bunny.

Re: Bitcoin as a Battery

#113

Post by deepinsand »

Bitcoin is an amazing wedge to install distributed solar and storage throughout the nation. Right now, utilities and governments make it hard to monetize these assets, and bitcoin provide an easy alternative.

This builds the supply chain and labor force that are needed to perform a full clean energy transition. I don't have a strong opinion on cryptocurrency, but I have a strong opinion on energy supply chains.

Plug: I'm building https://cryptoclean.energy/ with this exact thesis. Check it out to get a renewable energy system for your mining rig.

Re: Bitcoin as a Battery

#114

Post by noxer »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #64

It's rational for people invested in bitcoin to try to justify its wasteful architecture. I sympathise with the need to break off governments and giant like Visa and MasterCard. But we need to be better than them before transitioning. Btc is pure speculation and fomo

see XRPL.org its basically BTC but better and actually usable

Re: Bitcoin as a Battery

#115

Post by PragmaticPulp »

Dzugaru wrote: post #105
PeterBarrett wrote: post #17

This seems like a pretty flawed idea and an attempt to justify the incredible amount of electricity required by bitcoin. If bitcoin was changed to require a fraction the amount of electricity all of these ideas would suddenly fall apart. Building renewable energy sources in the middle of nowhere to power a bitcoin farm is just completely nonsensical and does noting to help with the shift to renewables.

This is an excellent take on why the Grossman's idea is plainly idiotic [0]. You don't get more bitcoin for more electricity, you just get more security. The system itself can reach a state when you need 51% of whole planet electricity and computation devices locked into it to be perfectly secure. Thats frankly scary. [0] https://elad-verbin.medium.com/bitcoin-is-not-a-battery-it-i...

> You don't get more bitcoin for more electricity, you just get more security.

Specifically, more security for the next block, only. Once that block is mined, the process starts all over again for the next block.

The energy usage reset button is pressed as soon as each block is mined. No energy is "stored".

Re: Bitcoin as a Battery

#117

Post by noxer »

betterunix2 wrote: post #83

Batteries can release energy. Bitcoin cannot. Neither can aluminum. Bitcoin consumes vast amounts of energy, far more than "traditional" payment systems (per transaction), and denying that reality helps nothing. Bitcoin is an energy-wasting system. Fix that problem if you want to see wider adoption; don't just pretend there is no problem.

Aluminum actually can. Its made form aluminuum oxide + energy and you can oxidize (for example burn) aluminum back into aluminum oxide which releases energy. Certainly not what the author meant and certainly not possible with bitcoin where the energy is turned into heat and no chemical reaction happens at all.

Re: Bitcoin as a Battery

#118

Post by plater »

nickez wrote: post #31
PeterBarrett wrote: post #17

This seems like a pretty flawed idea and an attempt to justify the incredible amount of electricity required by bitcoin. If bitcoin was changed to require a fraction the amount of electricity all of these ideas would suddenly fall apart. Building renewable energy sources in the middle of nowhere to power a bitcoin farm is just completely nonsensical and does noting to help with the shift to renewables.

If bitcoin would be fully powered by renewables, do you still think its energy consumption would be a problem?

All energy generation is bad for the environment, just more or less bad. Solar cells and wind power might be "renewable", but it requires a lot of metals and material to build (and also energy), they disturb natural habitat etc. They are much better than coal, oil and gas, but they are not harmless. It's better to avoid using energy if possible than using renewable energy.

Re: Bitcoin as a Battery

#119

Post by noxer »

tonetheman wrote: post #19

GD... why did anyone bother reading this crap. Excessive energy usage from my made up currency is driving innovation. Gah. Crypto and the people hyping it need to be quiet or at least be honest about what is going on. We are draining energy really quickly so we can make sure someone isn't double spending the imaginary money... What a horrible article.

crypto and crypto people != BTC and BTC maxis

Re: Bitcoin as a Battery

#120

Post by hinkley »

elaus wrote: post #45
delaaxe wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin mining is good for the environment https://pomp.substack.com/p/bitcoin-mining-is-good-for-the-e...

I can't really follow the logic in this article – maybe I don't get it? The article states that Bitcoin uses a lot of energy and as miners want to maximize profit, they want cheap energy. This is good for renewables as that is cheaper than other forms of energy generation. Doesn't everyone want cheap energy, like factories or heavy industry? Are Bitcoin miners really more eager to push for clean energy than other ind…

> Doesn't everyone want cheap energy, like factories or heavy industry? Are Bitcoin miners really more eager to push for clean energy than other industries?

Yes. Given enough time, Bitcoin will gentrify the power grid.

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