News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Bitcoin is not a Battery – it is a Sink. Parent comment

Re:Bitcoin is not a Battery – it is a Sink by ohgodplsno on Sunday March 28, 2021 @02:22PM (#26612775)
>how much energy does it consume?

I'll give you a hint: it's less than 1MWh/tx, which is what bitcoin uses today.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Bitcoin is not a Battery – it is a Sink by fredfoobar on Sunday March 28, 2021 @02:43PM (#26612977)
Can you share how you worked that out?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Bitcoin is not a Battery – it is a Sink by ohgodplsno on Sunday March 28, 2021 @02:56PM (#26613086)
Yearly bitcoin consumption: 120TWh Blocks mined per year: 52560 (One every 10 minutes: 6 * 24 * 365) Transactions per block: ~2000

2283MWh per block. 1 MWh per transaction.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Bitcoin is not a Battery – it is a Sink by fredfoobar on Sunday March 28, 2021 @03:09PM (#26613207)
This is misleading, why are you using "transactions per block"? that's an incorrect metric, because blocks will get mined regardless of the number of transactions in it (in fact, you can batch WAY more transactions into a block). In the future, when you can account for millions of transactions per block, will you tone down this "bitcoin consumes a lot of energy" rhetoric?

Also, you haven't spoken at all about the other side of the equation. Have you accounted for all the externalities for the other monetary network you are comparing Bitcoin to?

[ Parent | on HN ]