Re:The Bitcoin hash rate has increased by 28.2% over the las...
by wlesieutre on Thursday April 21, 2016 @02:19PM
(#11544242)
Most of those energy-intensive services are providing a useful service that makes the energy expenditure worthwhile. Bitcoin has some novel features like its decentralization, but I don't believe its benefits outweigh the deliberately energy-guzzling architecture. That is, of course, just my opinion.
The bitcoin network's integrity basically boils down to "Waste so much energy that a single adversary couldn't possibly waste more energy than everyone else." It then rewards individual actors for wasting more energy to make sure that stays true.
How is that different from any other of thousands of energy-intensive services?