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In reply to the discussion: 'Black Swan' author Nassim Taleb says bitcoin is an open Ponzi scheme and a failed currency [View all]Emrys
(7,233 posts)17. Meanwhile, its envronmental impact is shamefully staggering:
Why Bitcoin Is Bad for the Environment
Cryptocurrency mining uses huge amounts of powerand can be as destructive as the real thing.
Money, its often said, is a shared fiction. I give you a slip of paper or, more likely these days, a piece of plastic. You hand me eggs or butter or a White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino, and we both walk away satisfied. With cryptocurrency, the arrangement is more like a shared metafiction, and the instability of the genre is, presumably, part of the thrill. Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that was created as a spoof, has risen in value by eight thousand per cent since January, owing to a combination of GameStop-style pumping and boosterish tweets from Elon Musk. On Tuesday, which backers proclaimed DogeDay, the cryptocurrency was valued at more than fifty billion dollars, which is more than the market cap of Ford. Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, went public last Wednesday; almost immediately, it became worth more than G.M.
The mainstreaming of cryptocurrency, as its been called, is obviously a big deal for the world of finance. Its also a big deal for the world of, well, the world. This is particularly true in the case of the ur-cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. Like Dogecoin, bitcoin has recently surged in value. In April, 2020, a coin was worth about seven thousand dollars; today, its worth more than fifty-five thousand. (It hit a record high of $64,895.22 on April 14th, but has since fallen off.) As the cost of investing in bitcoin has soared, so, too, has the potential profit in mining it. Bitcoin mining is, of course, purely metaphorical, but the results can be every bit as destructive as with the real thing.
According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, bitcoin-mining operations worldwide now use energy at the rate of nearly a hundred and twenty terawatt-hours per year. This is about the annual domestic electricity consumption of the entire nation of Sweden. According to the Web site Digiconomist, a single bitcoin transaction uses the same amount of power that the average American household consumes in a month, and is responsible for roughly a million times more carbon emissions than a single Visa transaction. At a time when the world desperately needs to cut carbon emissions, does it make sense to be devoting a Swedens worth of electricity to a virtual currency? The answer would seem, pretty clearly, to be no. And, yet, here we are.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-bitcoin-is-bad-for-the-environment
Cryptocurrency mining uses huge amounts of powerand can be as destructive as the real thing.
Money, its often said, is a shared fiction. I give you a slip of paper or, more likely these days, a piece of plastic. You hand me eggs or butter or a White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino, and we both walk away satisfied. With cryptocurrency, the arrangement is more like a shared metafiction, and the instability of the genre is, presumably, part of the thrill. Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that was created as a spoof, has risen in value by eight thousand per cent since January, owing to a combination of GameStop-style pumping and boosterish tweets from Elon Musk. On Tuesday, which backers proclaimed DogeDay, the cryptocurrency was valued at more than fifty billion dollars, which is more than the market cap of Ford. Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, went public last Wednesday; almost immediately, it became worth more than G.M.
The mainstreaming of cryptocurrency, as its been called, is obviously a big deal for the world of finance. Its also a big deal for the world of, well, the world. This is particularly true in the case of the ur-cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. Like Dogecoin, bitcoin has recently surged in value. In April, 2020, a coin was worth about seven thousand dollars; today, its worth more than fifty-five thousand. (It hit a record high of $64,895.22 on April 14th, but has since fallen off.) As the cost of investing in bitcoin has soared, so, too, has the potential profit in mining it. Bitcoin mining is, of course, purely metaphorical, but the results can be every bit as destructive as with the real thing.
According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, bitcoin-mining operations worldwide now use energy at the rate of nearly a hundred and twenty terawatt-hours per year. This is about the annual domestic electricity consumption of the entire nation of Sweden. According to the Web site Digiconomist, a single bitcoin transaction uses the same amount of power that the average American household consumes in a month, and is responsible for roughly a million times more carbon emissions than a single Visa transaction. At a time when the world desperately needs to cut carbon emissions, does it make sense to be devoting a Swedens worth of electricity to a virtual currency? The answer would seem, pretty clearly, to be no. And, yet, here we are.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-bitcoin-is-bad-for-the-environment
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'Black Swan' author Nassim Taleb says bitcoin is an open Ponzi scheme and a failed currency [View all]
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
Apr 2021
OP
I worked briefly a few years ago for some guys that were into the Blockchain Bitcoin stuff
kimbutgar
Apr 2021
#1
"The best strategy for investors is to own things that produce yields in the future." cf GOLD
speak easy
Apr 2021
#6
Massive and fatal flaws in that analogy- tulips are not fungible assets, bitcoins are.
Celerity
Apr 2021
#44
Taleb is also a defender of homeopathy, a rabid, paranoid anti-GMO CT purveyor, came close in the
Celerity
Apr 2021
#45
Watching people who I would charitably characterize as "not that smart" pumping Doge last
greenjar_01
Apr 2021
#12
Probably the all-time cringe AF thread winner, but hardly surprising, as if my life would be forfeit
Celerity
Apr 2021
#28
and the US has a horrific digital gap, hopefully we can help bridge that, I know its a priority for
Celerity
Apr 2021
#61
I agree. The question is whether Bitcoin will take the entire economy with it when it fails . . .
StatWoman
Apr 2021
#15
There's a huge energy cost per transaction as well, even after the coins are "mined."
hunter
Apr 2021
#33
As a marker of greed, of history shattering proportions - crypto currencies have no peer.
empedocles
Apr 2021
#27
One major solar flare like the carrington event and bit coin's value vanishes...
Binkie The Clown
Apr 2021
#32
Especially since almost all transformers are made in China these days.
Binkie The Clown
Apr 2021
#53
I only have BTC, and I do not trade it at all, I do not invest in other crypto atm
Celerity
Apr 2021
#48
of course it will not increase forever, and there are a finite amount of bitcoins
Celerity
Apr 2021
#55