Bitcoin doesn't waste energy, it eats energy that would get wasted.
Let me explain.
Bitcoin mining is a highly competitive industry that requires a lot of capital and cheap energy. Cheap energy sources have a low opportunity cost, which means that they cannot be utilized for generating and selling electricity for human settlements.
For example, let's say you have a good source for hydroelectricity, but located in a stranded location thousands of kilometers away from human settlements. Abundand energy but transporting it wouldn't be economical.
For bitcoin mining though, you only need the miners and an internet connection on site, and tada, you can store energy in a monetary form on the Bitcoin network. This is what blew Jordan Petersson's mind.
Another example is methane that comes as a byproduct of digging oil. It cannot be transported, so it's simply flared. Or used to mine Bitcoin.
So no, Bitcoin mining isn't making your electricity more expensive nor will it do so in the future as the network grows. Bitcoin will always be hyper competitive industry due to Bitcoin mining's difficulty adjustment, and the energy required is a low opportunity cost, cheap energy that would've not been used to power your fridge anyway.
The amount of ignorance and the fud about using energy for "useless computations" (on a network that might just very well save your ass from a crumbling fiat house of cards) is just too damn high so I thought I'd explain it.
You're welcome, and lucky to read this here. Because it took massive amount of research to come across myself.
The countries with a lot of sun should be setting up solar arrays and earning on their non-transportable natural resources.
Could be profitable especially if local government gives subsidies for solar. There are businesses who take advantage of this and mine bitcoin. Overall though, I would erase subsidies altogether, they've only managed to distort the market and create malinvestments for solar and wind, while underinvesting for fossil and nuclear which are much more cost efficient and necessary for stable grid, without which renewables wouldn't even function.
Dear @celestal, we need your help!
The Hivebuzz proposal already got important support from the community. However, it lost its funding a few days ago and only needs a few more HP to get funded again.
May we ask you to support it so our team can continue its work this year?
You can do it on Peakd, ecency,
https://peakd.com/me/proposals/199
Your support would be really appreciated.
Thank you!
Pretty interesting take, the methane example is on point. I think that cheap energy on cheap parts of the world could easily be used for btc mining (whereas your take goes south when people are mining btc in places where they actually need the energy ie europe during the '22 winter). Great post man!
By the way, I noticed you are holding some Leo Power, so here's a few Leo initiatives you might want to check out!
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