Re:BitTorrent inventor announces eco-friendly Bitcoin compet...
by sillysaurus3 on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @05:01PM
(#15657547)
This is a strawman argument. I'm trying to think of a charitable interpretation, but it's difficult.
The world's currency isn't ever going to be 100% bitcoin. It's an invalid basis to start from.
I kind of see what you're trying to hint at, but it would be helpful for discussion if you could think of a more persuasive example.
(It may be difficult though, because it seems true to say that if Bitcoin starts becoming a significant fraction of the world's GDP then it's fine if it uses a little power. Where "little" is relative to the ratio of BTC's wealth vs the world's wealth, vs BTC's power usage to the world's power usage.)
Re:BitTorrent inventor announces eco-friendly Bitcoin compet...
by Dylan16807 on Thursday November 09, 2017 @01:10AM
(#15660257)
> Where "little" is relative to the ratio of BTC's wealth vs the world's wealth, vs BTC's power usage to the world's power usage.
If that's your metric then bitcoin gets an F- right now. Its world power usage fraction is much much higher than its world wealth fraction.
World GDP is around 100 trillion.
So by your own figures, if it were denominated in BTC or equivalent cryptocurrency, we'd require more than 100% of the world's current power output just to store and send people's money.
That's more power output than is currently required for all the world's homes, factories, hospitals, transportation networks and all the world's computing power, everything. Which also benefits everyone who uses it, and creates jobs for a few billion people
Do you now see why people don't think current crypto tech is a particularly optimal use of power?