Why invest in ₿itcoin? A guide for the intelligent skeptic
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Why invest in ₿itcoin? A guide for the intelligent skeptic
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Re: Why invest in ₿itcoin? A guide for the intelligent skeptic
#2“ In the west of China where there’s a lack of ultra-high-voltage (UHV) power lines Bitcoin mining may be one of the only suitable consumers of the excess hydro energy. Without UHV lines, much energy is lost to resistance during electrical transmission. Bitcoin mining can, in theory, transfer the equivalent value of the energy to the main cities in the east of China, avoiding loss due to resistance in the lines. If you think of a transaction over the blockchain network as the movement of stored energy it is frictionless and akin to sending an email.
This is just one example of how the bitcoin blockchain could be used to harness energy in a more efficient way. And it’s a good example of how the world of energy and the world of the blockchain are beginning to blend together.”
Does anyone else find this argument dubious?
Re: Why invest in ₿itcoin? A guide for the intelligent skeptic
#3“ In the west of China where there’s a lack of ultra-high-voltage (UHV) power lines Bitcoin mining may be one of the only suitable consumers of the excess hydro energy. Without UHV lines, much energy is lost to resistance during electrical transmission. Bitcoin mining can, in theory, transfer the equivalent value of the energy to the main cities in the east of China, avoiding loss due to resistance in the lines. If y…
Technically it makes sense. I don't know how that would work economically, especially in China. In theory, the org/company/gov that wants to do high electrical consumption activities that are location agnostic would move to the low cost areas because that would be most attractive to their profit margins. The part that gets more tricky would be who is generating the bitcoin and how are they using it to send values to the big cities? You could have the government mining the coins and then selling the coins to others and using that money to offset the higher costs in the cities. But there are other questions, such as why do this when you could incentivize companies to move the the cheaper electric area or let the economics for companies into those areas?
Re: Why invest in ₿itcoin? A guide for the intelligent skeptic
#4“ In the west of China where there’s a lack of ultra-high-voltage (UHV) power lines Bitcoin mining may be one of the only suitable consumers of the excess hydro energy. Without UHV lines, much energy is lost to resistance during electrical transmission. Bitcoin mining can, in theory, transfer the equivalent value of the energy to the main cities in the east of China, avoiding loss due to resistance in the lines. If y…
Technically it makes sense. I don't know how that would work economically, especially in China. In theory, the org/company/gov that wants to do high electrical consumption activities that are location agnostic would move to the low cost areas because that would be most attractive to their profit margins. The part that gets more tricky would be who is generating the bitcoin and how are they using it to send values to…
What seems dubious to me is that it seems like it’s just repricing energy by moving money.
As far as I can see the oversupplied energy isn’t actually ‘moved’ or put to any productive use.
Mining Bitcoin in this instance seems like a pure loss of energy through conversion to heat, even if it results in the creation of money.
Re: Why invest in ₿itcoin? A guide for the intelligent skeptic
#5Earlier quoted context omitted.
Technically it makes sense. I don't know how that would work economically, especially in China. In theory, the org/company/gov that wants to do high electrical consumption activities that are location agnostic would move to the low cost areas because that would be most attractive to their profit margins. The part that gets more tricky would be who is generating the bitcoin and how are they using it to send values to…
What seems dubious to me is that it seems like it’s just repricing energy by moving money. As far as I can see the oversupplied energy isn’t actually ‘moved’ or put to any productive use. Mining Bitcoin in this instance seems like a pure loss of energy through conversion to heat, even if it results in the creation of money.
Yeah, part of the assumption is that the bitcoin creation in the cheap area makes it impractical to do it in the expensive area. Essentially moving the existing bitcoin production to the cheaper area. Whether or not the economy for the two items in question would actually work that way, it's anyone's guess.