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Re:Bitcoin’s Overnight Collapse Probability Is About 50% by centimeter on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @11:35AM (#26155644)
Maybe when someone invents a “free” consensus scheme that actually competes with PoW’s security properties. There are plenty of reasons to suspect this isn’t possible.
Re:Bitcoin’s Overnight Collapse Probability Is About 50% by 6gvONxR4sf7o on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @12:10PM (#26156105)
If proof of work is necessary, how much work does proof of work need to do fundamentally? Is there any reason a cryptocurrency can’t be made that uses very little energy?
Re:Bitcoin’s Overnight Collapse Probability Is About 50% by centimeter on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @12:30PM (#26156358)
The structure of your comment suggests you don't grasp the fundamental point of proof-of-work, which is precisely to prove that a certain amount of (physical) resources were expended.

> Is there any reason a cryptocurrency can’t be made that uses very little energy?

As far as proof-of-work is concerned, if you don't use enough energy, you are vulnerable to 51% attacks.

As far as other schemes (e.g. proof-of-stake) are concerned - none of them have the same desirable security properties as PoW.