Re:Beyond the Bitcoin bubble
by Rebelgecko on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @02:48PM
(#16161633)
Bitcoin mining (not even counting other cryptocurrencies) uses more electricity than most countries in the world. If you look at transactions per Watt, I would guess that the banks are doing better by multiple orders of magnitude
Re:Beyond the Bitcoin bubble
by gamblor956 on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @03:44PM
(#16162330)
If reports are to be believed, the entire sum total of energy consumed by banks, credit card processors, their computer systems, offices, and personnel...is dwarfed by the amount of energy wasted on Bitcoin alone.
Banks and credit card processors can handle billions of transactions per day. Bitcoin, ethereum, and the other cryptocurrencies struggle to handle a few thousand, and are technologically incapable of non-linear scaling.
What is the energy consumption of all the bank offices and computer systems in the world? Even without this comparison, I think the amount of energy required is not a flaw in itself, but rather an aspect of the technology we should seek to improve upon (for instance, proof of stake is an attempt at this). I don't think it's sustainable long term (2400 baud internet wasn't sustainable long term either), but that doesn't mean we don't have the kernel of a great idea today. I agree with you 100% that we're not there yet, but I disagree with those who say this road leads to nowhere.