Does Bitcoin use fossil fuels?

in LeoFinance3 years ago (edited)

Does Bitcoin use fossil fuels?




Tesla will stop accepting Bitcoin due to what Elon says is an increased use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining. But does the Bitcoin network really use fossil fuels?

The Bitcoin network is no different to anything else in society that requires energy to run.

That energy must be generated somehow and as of right now, the cheapest way to produce energy is to burn fossil fuels such as coal.

So yes, you could say that Bitcoin uses fossil fuels.

But you could also say that about every single product that requires energy to create or run.

Most notably whatever device you’re reading this particular blog on right now.

Why did Tesla stop accepting Bitcoin?

The whole reason this question is being asked, is because Tesla this week stopped accepting Bitcoin as payment for cars.

Whether you believe that in this bull market anybody is stupid enough to part with their highly appreciative Bitcoin for a highly depreciative car is a whole other story.

But it was a possibility and this was the statement written on Elon Musk’s Twitter account, taking that possibility away:

“We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” being the key extract.

With climate science where it is today, any semi-intelligent human on the planet no doubt has an issue with carbon emissions from fossil fuel use.

It’s just whether energy consumed to run the Bitcoin network is really at the top of the list when it comes to reducing them.

Especially when we consider Tesla cars themselves literally run on the same electricity that the Bitcoin network runs on.

Yikes.

Is Bitcoin’s fossil fuel use really an issue?

Well, that depends on how you view the use of fossil fuels in general.

The real question then becomes how is the energy required to run the Bitcoin network produced and whether burning fossil fuels is the most efficient method?

There is one viewpoint which sees Bitcoin’s economic incentives from mining actually encouraging the use of more efficient, green energy production.

Twitter’s Jack Dorsey for example, last month shared a white paper on the topic which you can find here:

Ironically if you click that tweet, one of the top replies is from Elon Musk agreeing with that line of thinking.

Obviously there’s more at play here, with regulatory pressure no doubt being applied to Tesla behind the scenes.

What, you think Elon’s SNL appearance mentioning his autism was just him being vulnerable for the cameras?

Come on.

Elon obviously believes in Bitcoin’s future, but is certainly going to cover as many legal bases as he can when it comes to Tesla.

Best of probabilities to you.




Direct from the desk of Dane Williams.
This blog is exclusive to leofinance.io

Why not leave a comment and share your thoughts around Bitcoin's fossil fuel consumption in the comments section below? All comments that add something to the discussion will be upvoted.

This Bitcoin blog is exclusive to leofinance.io.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

Sort:  

legal bases

Honestly I don't really think its related to legal bases. I don't think it will be easy to determine whether or not a BTC is mined using fossil fuel or not. What happens when people group their hashing together? If 99% of the hashing power was using clean energy but 1% isn't, is this considered "unclean" BTC?

I think the environmental and fossil fuel argument against BTC to be irrelevant. We are slowly transition off fossil fuels since the cost is slowly going down. I feel like he is only appealing to a certain portion of the population and not really about the actual issue.

Also what would happen if we consider the energy we use now. If a EV is built at a factory getting energy from fossil fuels, would this be considered not clean? It would mean a bunch of things in our normal lives would fall under the same criticism. The only difference is that BTC uses a lot of energy and the rest don't use as much.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

When I said that Elon was likely to be covering his legal bases, I was referring to the fact that he could be using his autism as part of the case against what has obviously been flat out market manipulation.

For me, that's the crux of his decision to stop accepting Bitcoin as a payment method for Tesla.

Nothing to do with the environment, just a way of getting the regulators off his back for a second.

Like you said, the fossil fuel argument against Bitcoin is irrelevant because the entire world is slowly moving toward green energy anyway.

We're right on the cusp of clean energy actually being cheaper and more efficient than coal and it's only a matter of time before the entire world makes the switch.

Because it's cheaper and not to save the planet.

Saving the planet is just a bonus to them haha.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

I will always say it that the reason behind to refusal to accept bitcoin is very sneaky and carbon emission is not the main reason.

I think he is using his influence for his own good and confusing the gullible ones. Whatever Elon says cryptocurrency still remains the future of the financial system.

Anyways fuck Elon( a new project to laugh about)

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

I agree that there are definitely more factors at play when it comes to Tesla's decision to stop accepting Bitcoin.

There are certainly plenty of new, gullible crypto investors that hang on every word he says like gospel.

And that ties into the point above where I think he may be starting to run into some problems from regulators and the like.

He can pretend to be innocent, but his tweets are pure market manipulation and with skin in the game, he's gotta be at least facing questions.

Finally lol at the fuck Elon site.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

Thanks for the easy explanation @forexbrokr. Elon is trying to be diplomatic that is all. Trying to make everyone happy.

For a creative explanation, Sqaure made a website to debunk Bitcoin Myths.

https://bitcoinmythology.org/

First volume is about Bitcoin Mining. Waiting for other volumes to come.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

Elon is trying to make everyone happy, but instead he's just pissing everyone off haha.

He's gone from the darling of the crypto world to public enemy number one, overnight.

Poor guy ;)

Finally, thanks heaps for sharing that Bitcoin Mythology link.

I didn't know it existed but it's in my favourites now and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for new ones going forward.

Their writer is good!

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

Yes, the writer is quite creative! I have bookmarked it too. So that I can show it to ignorant souls.

Elon's PR would ask him to take a break from Twitter. Doing too much damage. 😂

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

It’s an interesting dilemma. Fossil fuel burning is shortening the life of the human species on the planet, however, no one is willing to address the issue in any concrete way as capitalism is too strong and the $$$ rules society at the moment. I am not worried about myself or even my children, but not to address human population growth and the effect on the planet will definitely impact my grandchildren.

Ironically, the amount of energy needed to produce a battery for a Tesla is significant, nearly deleting the benefit of having an electric car over a petrol version . Lithium batteries are currently hard to recycle as well......

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

It is an interesting dilemma, but it's certainly not a Bitcoin-centric problem.

I'm actually on Jack's side, where the economic incentive of mining Bitcoin can actually encourage more efficient, green energy production.

We're pretty much at the tipping point where renewables are cheap and efficient enough to replace the fossil fuel industry.

But obviously a number of major industries, not to mention government itself, is so reliant on the money that renewables just keep getting yanked back.

(I've got some serious bungee jump imagery going in my mind, where the operator keeps yanking you back after you've psyched yourself up enough to go over the edge yourself haha)

There's no doubt this whole Elon thing was an entirely designed play.

We'll have to just wait and see whether it was just a market manipulation play or he was pushed by the regulator.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

Well put. This sound more or less like a business decision and flimsy reason to back it. Are Miners using a different power source than say, everybody else on the grid?

Surely not!

Posted using Dapplr

The argument could be that with a large number of Bitcoin miners based in China, their energy is definitely coming from coal.

But with Tesla being a large multinational with integrated supply chains throughout the globe, it's certainly hypocritical.

Where do you draw the line?

Don't buy rare Earths for your batteries dug up in Australia because they primarily sell coal to China?

Ridiculous.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

@forexbrokr, this is a super cool post! Thank you for sharing it!

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

Thank you my friend :)

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta


Your post was promoted by @finguru

Cheers guys, I'll pop in and say hello again a bit later.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

You say Tesla had to make a decision, but I don't think they did.

Tesla's decision to stop accepting Bitcoin as a payment method has nothing to do with trying to be green.

Just dig into what goes into Tesla's batteries and how those rare earth metals are mined.

Let alone how the old batteries are discarded after their lifespan has played out.

We'll have to now just wait and see how this all plays out.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta