Re:Beyond Bitcoin – Part II: Blockchain-based systems withou...
by TheDong on Tuesday August 09, 2016 @11:52PM
(#12259408)
Mining hashrate is related ot the value of bitcoin because mining is how you secure the existing bitcoins.
The more valuable bitcoins are, the more incentive there is to secure the system such that they retain their value and security.
Consider the extreme case: Tomorrow, the block reward changes such that only one bitcoin is mined a day @ $600/coin. The hashrate would definitely drop in that case, even though the price stayed the same!
> The last couple of halvings appeared to have little effect on the global hashrate, and so had little effect on the energy consumption.
True, but the system was not at equilibrium--the cost to mine a bitcoin had not yet approached the value gained from selling one, so after the halving most miners were profitable, and the hashrate stayed the same.