Re:NFTs Are a Dangerous Trap
by jules-jules on Sunday March 07, 2021 @09:24AM
(#26376040)
The energy used to secure PoW networks is indeed wasteful. But just a heads-up, Ethereum is currently transitioning to Proof of Stake consensus mechanism which will reduce electricity costs by an order of magnitude.
How long and how often have the announce the transition yet?
Well Phase 0 is already live with a lot of people staking..
Don't pretend like it's never going to happen
This is only a short term issue. ETH is currently transitioning to proof of stake with ETH 2.0
Re:NFTs Are a Dangerous Trap
by 8fGTBjZxBcHq on Sunday March 07, 2021 @12:26PM
(#26377711)
OK read the article again because it addresses two different and significant reasons why that doesn't solve the problem.
Their arguments seem to be
1) Eth2 has been "coming soon" for a long time, so it will never happen. (Yes progress has been slow, but it's happening, with phase 0 live now.)
2a) In PoS, the rich get richer. (Not true in a meaningful sense. Staking rewards are neutral with respect to economic inequality, since everyone has access to the same rate of return.)
2b) PoS is a social issue. Climate change is also a social issue. Therefore, a PoS is a climate issue. (This is a converse error.)
Mining hardware will always run at 100% capacity, regardless of the amount of transactions, unless mining becomes unprofitable.
The issue is, while the energy used by mining is not directly dependent on the amount of transactions, it is dependent on the amount of people and money invested into the network, which raises the price, which causes an expansion of mining effort. With more people investing, the amount of transactions also increases.
If NFTs were to become a popular thing, mining will obviously increase at an even faster rate