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A comment on When Bitcoin miners take over a town (2018). Parent comment

Re:When Bitcoin miners take over a town (2018) by mtalantikite on Sunday February 21, 2021 @03:15PM (#26216720)
I mean sure, but this is sort of a straw man - of course bubbles can exist even if the underlying asset has fundamental value. The Internet, housing, and tulips are all great things with value. But it’s not entirely clear to me that Bitcoin provides more value than the energy cost it requires to sustain it.
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Re:When Bitcoin miners take over a town (2018) by oarsinsync on Sunday February 21, 2021 @05:07PM (#26217745)
Consider the costs, both environmental and financial, to mine, secure and transport gold.

How does it compare against Bitcoin? What intrinsic value (besides "ooh, shiny") does gold actually have?

I agree that BTC and cryptocurrencies generally are utterly wasteful, but what too many look at is the headline figure of energy consumed, and not what energy is being consumed.

Disclaimer: I think BTC is a total waste of time, and I am long BTC because I think it'll buy me a house one day too.

(EDIT: I also have gold too)

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Re:When Bitcoin miners take over a town (2018) by Qwertious on Sunday February 21, 2021 @06:49PM (#26218571)
Gold is used to make electronics cheaper, and it's used in medicine.
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Re:When Bitcoin miners take over a town (2018) by AdrianB1 on Sunday February 21, 2021 @08:03PM (#26219298)
Shiny gold prevents oxidation on electrical contacts and makes your computer work. In most chips there is a bit of gold, not a lot, so there is value in that.
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Re:When Bitcoin miners take over a town (2018) by scotty79 on Sunday February 21, 2021 @09:32PM (#26220112)
Isn't platinum better for that?
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Re:When Bitcoin miners take over a town (2018) by kralos on Sunday February 21, 2021 @10:11PM (#26220416)
platinum is more electrically resistive (less conductive) and more expensive than gold
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Re:When Bitcoin miners take over a town (2018) by fakedang on Sunday February 21, 2021 @05:14PM (#26217802)
Gold can be used to make jewelry which is a big cultural thing in most of the Old World. It's still "ooh shiny" but it has value in being a tangible "shiny" good used to keep up appearances and show status.

I don't know how you can show status with Bitcoin though. Maybe show your server farm or something.

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Re:When Bitcoin miners take over a town (2018) by kralos on Sunday February 21, 2021 @10:13PM (#26220427)
Most of the bitcoins i bought are super shiney! did you get dull ones?
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