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Jake
Jake
8 years ago

So, here’s my 1 and only problem with bitcoin/cryptocurrency.

Energy consumption. The sheer amount of energy and resources used to keep the system running.

Steven Harris
8 years ago
Reply to  Jake

that ‘problem’ is the largest load of crap I’ve heard. If you want to talk energy do you have ANY idea how much energy it takes to melt metal, punch out blanks and then to run the stamping press and then the energy to haul those coins to banks and the increase in gas consumption of your car because of the added weight of coins in your pocket.

Steve

Jake
Jake
8 years ago
Reply to  Jake

Maybe I’m wrong, I’m willing to be.

If you’re going to factor in the metal melt and all that including the mining then you have to factor in the resources that go into the mining rigs.

I’m not saying coins are better per se, but at least they dont continue to effectively consume resources sitting in your pocket.

If you compare bitcoin to the banking system its a no brainer though (I wonder how much energy the chase building in phoenix cost for example just to build let alone run daily)

Still, I think the proof of stake model could be used to help solve the resource issue.

Jake
Jake
8 years ago

It matters if its to be “the holy replacement to the us dollar” as all the cryptobugs seem to think it is.

One basic ASIC mining rig is around 2500 bucks with all the embodied energy included from all the circuitry. Basically like buying a couple decent gaming computers.

Not sure why you guys are getting so upset over this….

Also this: https://blog.nem.io/what-are-poi-and-vesting/

Derek
Derek
8 years ago
Reply to  Jake

Yea… that “concern” is pretty myopic. One fault in that logic is that most bitcoin were mined a lot more cheaply during the early phase. That and the amount of energy presently being used in the endeavor is a very tiny tiny fraction of what is used in the creation of other currencies. And the big thing is that it completely ignores the fact that the whole concept is entirely dependent on it taking energy to make. If it didn’t take any effort to make then it wouldn’t have value.

But here is what I think is a valid criticism. You need access to the internet to process a transaction. Hard currencies like gold and silver will certainly retain their value due to the ease of just handing someone something solid with out any other mechanism required.

And one more point I would like to make. The whole point of bitcoin and block and chain currencies is to be one of many options. Not to be the only option. Truly the anarchist option for currency. Point being that this isn’t an “either or” type issue.

txmom
txmom
8 years ago

NSA handicaps itself. Programmers who have smoked weed even just once in their life can’t get the security clearance to work for them and the private sector seems to pay better. BTC doesn’t limit itself.

Doc
Doc
8 years ago

Take a look at CureCoin instead of BitCoin if you are worried about expending resources. While with BitCoin the energy is used to hash the Block Chain, which is important, with CureCoin you are actually doing medical research for Stanford Medical. So, with CureCoin you get “paid” or “rewarded” in CureCoins for doing medical research that could someday save your life, or the life of a loved one. Pretty neat! Spending CPU cycles to do something to make the world a better place.

Jay
Jay
8 years ago

The transparent ledger of Bitcoin is going to serve some great purposes in the future, and I am a huge fan of Bitcoin, but libertarians are going to regret getting behind this when tainted coins, illegalized mixers and block chain analysis are used by governments to bend everyone to their will. Monero (XMR) is truly the currency that the government cannot stop nor track, and it won’t be hindered by scaling upgrades (dynamic blocksize and none of the politics to keep users from using second layer solutions) so it actually has a chance to be a global, peer-to-peer system of electronic cash. It’s the only other decentralized CC that is open-source, not a scam, has real use cases and utility TODAY, has a phenomenal developer team and governance system. Of course, do your own research but I think you’ll be pleased with what you find.