The idea that Bitcoin is environmentally a net negative - has been thoroughly debunked. Bitcoin mining is being done using emissions from volcanoes in a few Central and South American countries, as just one example. Mastercard, Visa, Amex, PayPal, Venmo-tracking all those transactions - has one helluva carbon footprint - and it's never talked about...
The decentralization of BTC along with it's fixed number may be the only way to save us from the totalitarian global banking cabal who want to track - and prevent - all our freedoms.
Hi Carlos, I am sorry but I far as I understand it, and I have looked at many different perspectives, both Bitcoin and Ethereum have an enormous ecological footprint because Proof of Work requires massive processing power. Here is one of many articles: "The process of trying to come up with the right nonce that will generate the target hash is basically trial and error—in the manner of a thief trying random passwords to hack yours—and can take trillions of tries. With hundreds of thousands or more computers churning out guesses, Bitcoin is thought to consume 707 kwH per transaction. In addition, the computers consume additional energy because they generate heat and need to be kept cool. And while it’s impossible to know exactly how much electricity Bitcoin uses because different computers and cooling systems have varying levels of energy efficiency, a University of Cambridge analysis estimated that bitcoin mining consumes 121.36 terawatt hours a year. This is more than all of Argentina consumes, or more than the consumption of Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft combined." https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/09/20/bitcoins-impacts-on-climate-and-the-environment/
I appreciate the link, but that article doesn't seem like it's full of hyperbole to you? I suggest looking up Mark Moss on YouTube. He wrote one of the first crypto newsletters for 4 years - and has been writing about all the FUD around BTC - and debunking things in real time as the mainstream narrative propagandists create it..as we've seen with covid, the MSM has an agenda to KILL anything outside what the cabal wants you to do.
Mark has a specific video talking about how much energy Bitcoin used to use - 3 years ago, compared to.what it uses now...and how smart Bitcoin miners have cut it's footprint by over 60% in less than 3 years. It's pretty compelling ...I'll try to grab it and post it here.
There is an incentive for Bitcoin miners to find the cheapest available energy sources, thus they will seek out stranded and otherwise wasted energy.
The actual question we should ask is 'is it worth it?'
The legacy system uses far more energy when taken as a whole.
The legacy system uses 'proof of war' to secure it. How much energy do you suppose the entire US military uses per year?
Daniel, can I suggest you dig deep into Bitcoin and the history of money itself and set aside the noise, greed and hype created by alt coins. Whilst some of them may(or may not) have utility, the real breakthrough is Bitcoin.
Money is not something that's created by the State (or anyone else), it emerges due to certain key properties.
Satoshi gave us the hourglass and people are looking at is as a good place to store things rather than an instrument to measure a perceived passage of time.
Please take a look at the work of Robert Breedlove, Jeff Booth, Alex Gladstein and John Vallis.
This documentary should clarify the energy use issue.
Always look forward to your essays. Good luck selling the milky chicken yacht! May it lead to a store of value that helps you take the conversation further my friend.
In my opinion, we hadn't had real money until Bitcoin was discovered. Bitcoin fulfills the ideals of money better than any other asset thus far. There may exist thousands of "cryptos" but none will be able to achieve the hardness/soundness of Bitcoin—it is a once-in-a-species discovery that cannot be replicated.
Thank you Daniel for the intellectual curiosity, nuance, and honesty present in these collection of newsletters. I have been finding the past thoughts on cryptocurrencies, bitcoin, and NFTs particularly helpful.
As a curious human being in my 20s trying to make sense of these (abstract, or is it just me?) phenomenona while navigating the double reality of 1) getting my life together in terms of advancing my financial independence and steering my professional life (while observing numerous mostly white privileged familiar faces turning to crypto initiatives seeking short term benefits) and 2) trying not to give up on our species even though it is absolutely depressing that we re leading ourselves to environmental collapse, while figuring out what are the single most effective things I can do to ensure im genuinely contributing to the solution; yours words remind me and encourage me to keep choosing sanity and hope in times of despair.
My personal conclusion regarding this particular crypto discussion: with so many things we can do out there to foster social change, environmental action, and the evolution of human consciousness, why put my focus into exclusive, speculative, ambiguous initiatives?
Yet, and also admitting my lack of proper mathematical skills, it has been enlightening to read about some of the crypto projects that seem to be proposing useful economical alternatives to our centralized financial system. After all, the development of blockchain tech and cryptocurrencies will most certainly keep advancing either way, might as well have some more responsible innovators on board.
Will keep suggesting these thoughts to my circles, especially to the crypto enthusiasts!
i must confess, i understand none of this although i have read all your articles on it. the psychedelic absurdity of what i am seeing and reading is hilarious and overwhelming. it seems like this is the future so i dont want to be totally left behind, but i do not have the motivation to invest my time and attention to do the research. what will happen to people like me?!? i feel amish over here with my cash.
The idea that Bitcoin is environmentally a net negative - has been thoroughly debunked. Bitcoin mining is being done using emissions from volcanoes in a few Central and South American countries, as just one example. Mastercard, Visa, Amex, PayPal, Venmo-tracking all those transactions - has one helluva carbon footprint - and it's never talked about...
The decentralization of BTC along with it's fixed number may be the only way to save us from the totalitarian global banking cabal who want to track - and prevent - all our freedoms.
Hi Carlos, I am sorry but I far as I understand it, and I have looked at many different perspectives, both Bitcoin and Ethereum have an enormous ecological footprint because Proof of Work requires massive processing power. Here is one of many articles: "The process of trying to come up with the right nonce that will generate the target hash is basically trial and error—in the manner of a thief trying random passwords to hack yours—and can take trillions of tries. With hundreds of thousands or more computers churning out guesses, Bitcoin is thought to consume 707 kwH per transaction. In addition, the computers consume additional energy because they generate heat and need to be kept cool. And while it’s impossible to know exactly how much electricity Bitcoin uses because different computers and cooling systems have varying levels of energy efficiency, a University of Cambridge analysis estimated that bitcoin mining consumes 121.36 terawatt hours a year. This is more than all of Argentina consumes, or more than the consumption of Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft combined." https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/09/20/bitcoins-impacts-on-climate-and-the-environment/
I appreciate the link, but that article doesn't seem like it's full of hyperbole to you? I suggest looking up Mark Moss on YouTube. He wrote one of the first crypto newsletters for 4 years - and has been writing about all the FUD around BTC - and debunking things in real time as the mainstream narrative propagandists create it..as we've seen with covid, the MSM has an agenda to KILL anything outside what the cabal wants you to do.
Mark has a specific video talking about how much energy Bitcoin used to use - 3 years ago, compared to.what it uses now...and how smart Bitcoin miners have cut it's footprint by over 60% in less than 3 years. It's pretty compelling ...I'll try to grab it and post it here.
Carlos is correct.
There is an incentive for Bitcoin miners to find the cheapest available energy sources, thus they will seek out stranded and otherwise wasted energy.
The actual question we should ask is 'is it worth it?'
The legacy system uses far more energy when taken as a whole.
The legacy system uses 'proof of war' to secure it. How much energy do you suppose the entire US military uses per year?
Daniel, can I suggest you dig deep into Bitcoin and the history of money itself and set aside the noise, greed and hype created by alt coins. Whilst some of them may(or may not) have utility, the real breakthrough is Bitcoin.
Money is not something that's created by the State (or anyone else), it emerges due to certain key properties.
Satoshi gave us the hourglass and people are looking at is as a good place to store things rather than an instrument to measure a perceived passage of time.
Please take a look at the work of Robert Breedlove, Jeff Booth, Alex Gladstein and John Vallis.
This documentary should clarify the energy use issue.
https://youtu.be/b-7dMVcVWgc
There's a whole psychological class of people for whom their biggest fantasy is to be able to:
* Create their own currency
* Attribute value to it
* Increase and realise that value through hype
For me, this is what condemns most crypto projects. Haydn Wilks brutal and somewhat OTT novel "$hitcoin" is a fun read on this.
Still, might buy a few Tagcoin, cos you never know!
Always look forward to your essays. Good luck selling the milky chicken yacht! May it lead to a store of value that helps you take the conversation further my friend.
In my opinion, we hadn't had real money until Bitcoin was discovered. Bitcoin fulfills the ideals of money better than any other asset thus far. There may exist thousands of "cryptos" but none will be able to achieve the hardness/soundness of Bitcoin—it is a once-in-a-species discovery that cannot be replicated.
Thank you Daniel for the intellectual curiosity, nuance, and honesty present in these collection of newsletters. I have been finding the past thoughts on cryptocurrencies, bitcoin, and NFTs particularly helpful.
As a curious human being in my 20s trying to make sense of these (abstract, or is it just me?) phenomenona while navigating the double reality of 1) getting my life together in terms of advancing my financial independence and steering my professional life (while observing numerous mostly white privileged familiar faces turning to crypto initiatives seeking short term benefits) and 2) trying not to give up on our species even though it is absolutely depressing that we re leading ourselves to environmental collapse, while figuring out what are the single most effective things I can do to ensure im genuinely contributing to the solution; yours words remind me and encourage me to keep choosing sanity and hope in times of despair.
My personal conclusion regarding this particular crypto discussion: with so many things we can do out there to foster social change, environmental action, and the evolution of human consciousness, why put my focus into exclusive, speculative, ambiguous initiatives?
Yet, and also admitting my lack of proper mathematical skills, it has been enlightening to read about some of the crypto projects that seem to be proposing useful economical alternatives to our centralized financial system. After all, the development of blockchain tech and cryptocurrencies will most certainly keep advancing either way, might as well have some more responsible innovators on board.
Will keep suggesting these thoughts to my circles, especially to the crypto enthusiasts!
i must confess, i understand none of this although i have read all your articles on it. the psychedelic absurdity of what i am seeing and reading is hilarious and overwhelming. it seems like this is the future so i dont want to be totally left behind, but i do not have the motivation to invest my time and attention to do the research. what will happen to people like me?!? i feel amish over here with my cash.
PS - I'm interested, did you get paid in Tagcoin to write this article?
Did you read the piece? I said I was given a hashtag as partial payment.
Ah okay. I must have missed that. I did read the piece
I am the proud owner of #shamanism - please use it in all your future posts and amplify my crypto wealth.
How much do you get per mention?
interesting, did you get traction?