Re:Many Bitcoin Miners Are at Risk of Turning Unprofitable
by marvin on Wednesday April 18, 2018 @10:36AM
(#16867703)
Burning cash is a poor analogy, apart from the destruction of the physical paper (which is very cheap). Burning cash causes a small amount of deflation, which increases everyone else's fortune a tiny amount, but does not waste any human effort.
A better analogy would be digging a hole and filling it up again. Or maybe better, causing a small amount of destruction to something that other people value.
Re:Many Bitcoin Miners Are at Risk of Turning Unprofitable
by hn0 on Wednesday April 18, 2018 @12:17PM
(#16868571)
So if I take a truckload of 100$ bills, a bottle of gin and a can of gasoline, drive into the dessert, out of sight of the authorities, and burn the entire lot, then the next night all retailers will have a vision which tells them to lower their average prices by 0.573%?
Re:Many Bitcoin Miners Are at Risk of Turning Unprofitable
by marvin on Thursday April 19, 2018 @06:50AM
(#16874775)
It's a hypothetical point; a small reduction in money supply will affect prices far less than the uncertainty or random fluctuation in the measurement of prices.
Re:Many Bitcoin Miners Are at Risk of Turning Unprofitable
by BoiledCabbage on Wednesday April 18, 2018 @01:33PM
(#16869219)
Is this comment sarcastic? I can't tell.
The money supply affects prices. It's basic econ.
Re:Many Bitcoin Miners Are at Risk of Turning Unprofitable
by vageli on Wednesday April 18, 2018 @02:34PM
(#16869762)
How fast does a change made by a private actor to the money supply propagate? Surely not instantaneously?
Re:Many Bitcoin Miners Are at Risk of Turning Unprofitable
by marcosdumay on Wednesday April 18, 2018 @03:13PM
(#16870129)
By the time you fill your truck with those $100 bills, the prices will have already adjusted. If you decide to not burn them, but spend them quickly, the prices will adjust again.
Re:Many Bitcoin Miners Are at Risk of Turning Unprofitable
by craftyguy on Wednesday April 18, 2018 @12:00PM
(#16868413)
> causing a small amount of destruction to something that other people value.
Yea, like the environment.
Note that chemical batteries and pumped storage hydroelectric both store large amounts of electricity very effectively (there lots and lots of deployments that were done by commercial interests seeking to improve the economics of their operations, some going back decades).