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Re:Bitcoin’s climate damage is similar to beef and crude oil... by fsflover on Thursday September 29, 2022 @12:44PM (#33023310)
But it's easier to attack bitcoin than those...
Re:Bitcoin’s climate damage is similar to beef and crude oil... by 8as746fd4a5df on Thursday September 29, 2022 @01:01PM (#33023666)
Isn't it obvious?

An uncensorable store of value/currency is like an amphibious vehicle for most: pretty cool but they are never going to need one.

It's easy to see the utility of food and oil.

Re:Bitcoin’s climate damage is similar to beef and crude oil... by mikymoothrowa on Thursday September 29, 2022 @01:25PM (#33024134)
The problem isn’t that people are never going to need “An uncensorable store of value/currency”

the problem is that bitcoin is simply video game money masquerading as “An uncensorable store of value/currency”

Re:Bitcoin’s climate damage is similar to beef and crude oil... by squarefoot on Thursday September 29, 2022 @01:38PM (#33024360)
Bitcoin and friends eat energy (lots of) without producing anything of collective value: there is no more creating businesses, research, jobs, products, that is, progress. A family can easily manage a mining farm that eats the same energy of a business block that normally would provide jobs for a hundred people or more; can you see the implications?

Also, since energy is turned directly into money, it then becomes money, which translates in its price being dictated by the highest bidder. Read this as: building 100 more nuclear plants per country won't solve the problem because the sudden increase in available energy will shortly be defeated by more and more of it allocated for more mining, creating in a few years a new shortage.

Re:Bitcoin’s climate damage is similar to beef and crude oil... by rufusroflpunch on Thursday September 29, 2022 @01:50PM (#33024550)
This is not a correct analysis. Firstly, Bitcoin is far more price sensitive to electricity than almost any other industry. Remaining profitable requires very low electricity costs, and are usually not competing in the same price bracket as other uses of electricity. Bitcoin mining is most prevalent in places where the energy is already wasted (thus very low price at market). Because Bitcoin miners can act as a buyer of last resort, it actually incentivizes energy development, not only for Bitcoin, but for every use.

Also, Bitcoin miners aren't destined to grow infinitely, consuming all spare electricity. There will be an equilibrium point where Bitcoin mining computers can only get so efficient and so fast.

Re:Bitcoin’s climate damage is similar to beef and crude oil... by actionfromafar on Friday September 30, 2022 @09:31AM (#33034600)
There will be an equilibrium point - but that equilibrium will be between how many mining computers there can be run on the one side, and how much of the economy is parked in Bitcoin on the other side.

How efficient the computers are is completely beside the point, by protocol design.

Re:Bitcoin’s climate damage is similar to beef and crude oil... by ok_dad on Thursday September 29, 2022 @01:20PM (#33024036)
Plenty of people have been saying not to eat as much beef or use oil.
Re:Bitcoin’s climate damage is similar to beef and crude oil... by pcthrowaway on Thursday September 29, 2022 @01:20PM (#33024028)
Weird, I've been vegan for a while, hopped on the bitcoin train when its energy footprint was negligible, hopped right back off when I read that it used as much energy as a small country. Animal farming also has the characteristic of enslaving animals for the entirety of their lives, and in factory operations, those lives are usually non-stop suffering.

How does one make the argument that Bitcoin is easier to attack?

Re:Bitcoin’s climate damage is similar to beef and crude oil... by anm89 on Thursday September 29, 2022 @12:45PM (#33023340)
you say that and yet it's been sitting their out in the open for 11 years without an event with a billion $ bounty
Re:Bitcoin’s climate damage is similar to beef and crude oil... by sjsdaiuasgdia on Thursday September 29, 2022 @02:01PM (#33024709)
Ok, you develop a way to break bitcoin keys, and you use it to take satoshi's stash. Now what?

Dumping that will cause massive downward price pressure, reducing the total effective value. See Musk's bitcoin dump earlier this year.

Inactive addresses with large balances are watched closely. Coins moved from those are going to be noticed and followed. It will be very hard to extract meaningful value without compromising your identity. Legal authorities may not agree that your possession of a particular string of digits entitles you to the proceeds.

People follow the path of least resistance - there is much to be made via malware and scams. Soft targets are plentiful, why make life harder on yourself while also taking on greater risk?

Re:Bitcoin’s climate damage is similar to beef and crude oil... by greyface- on Thursday September 29, 2022 @04:17PM (#33026532)
Even just 1% of Satoshi's stash at current prices is hundreds of millions USD. It would still be worth an attacker's time, unless you're suggesting that it would go all the way to zero immediately.
Re:Bitcoin’s climate damage is similar to beef and crude oil... by kinakomochidayo on Thursday September 29, 2022 @01:12PM (#33023877)
We’ll see about that in about 10 years when security budget goes down with each halvening
Re:Bitcoin’s climate damage is similar to beef and crude oil... by bitxbitxbitcoin on Thursday September 29, 2022 @12:47PM (#33023383)
I think OP meant attacking Bitcoin in the disparaging way that HN commenters do as opposed to actually attacking the Bitcoin blockchain :).
Re:Bitcoin’s climate damage is similar to beef and crude oil... by peteradio on Thursday September 29, 2022 @12:49PM (#33023412)
Can't eat bitcoin.