Posted on 05/17/2018 12:52:27 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
By now, we’re all tired of hearing about the virtual currency turned investment craze known as Bitcoin. Created in response to the 2008 financial crisis, anarcho-capitalists hailed it as the decentralized future of commerce.
But as prices soared and the biggest names on Wall Street bought in, Bitcoin became mostly known as a speculative, unregulated investment. Think Beanie Babies, but you can also use them to buy drugs and engage in human trafficking.
Perhaps the most remarkable Bitcoin storyline recently has been just how much computational horsepower it takes to create the virtual currency: some 26 quintillion calculations per second. That adds up to tremendous energy bills.
But it’s been tough to put exact numbers on Bitcoin’s massive energy consumption. Most estimates have been “back-of-the-envelope” type calculations. A study published Wednesday in the journal Joule attempts to change that. Economist and digital currency expert Alex de Vries applied traditional economics to better understand Bitcoin’s current and future energy consumption....
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.discovermagazine.com ...
wow, and at the same time we’re told not to waste electricity or be ‘energy hogs’.... nobody NEEDS Bitcoins or whatever they are....and that’s a horrible amount of energy!!!!! wow!!! more than entire countries, just for something (?) called a Bitcoin?
ps: advertisement/”public service announcements” run all day (and night) on the radio, so maybe these ads are also wasting energy? ha!
Quantum computing cannot come soon enough. How many computers are recording Bitcoin ledgers now, I wonder?
Steel cage match: crypto currencies fans versus ecoweenies
Does anybody remember when a Big Mac and fries came in these awesome Styrofoam containers that kept them hot for a long time? McDonalds had to give them up because the Left when ballistic and wouldn’t shut up as they Left said those containers were the energy equivalent of several pounds of coal. (This was back when coal was still cool. My, how things have changed.) The point is that a major corporation had to give up something that made the product last longer and taste better simply because the Left created such a stink about the energy it supposedly used to produce those containers. (I think the numbers were total bunkum, but McDonalds couldn’t take the undying, continuous screaming about the energy they supposedly used. So, they switched to paper so you could no longer pick up dinner and drive it home to the family.)
Shocking waste of energy. How do they make a profit after the electric bill?
Bitcoins should be called tulips. /s
“How do they make a profit after the electric bill?”
Simple...speculate in more BitCoin!
Big Macs first appeared in silvered paper. They put a stiff paper ring around the sandwich to hold it all together. The ring went away when they switched to styrofoam.
Why don’t democrats scream “GLOBAL WARMING!!!”?
Unfortunately quantum computers (decoding cyphers these crypto currencies are based on is one of the few tasks those ‘fad’ computers are good for) wont be sufficiently capable for about another 15 years.
Once the quantum computing matures, the whole scheme the cryptos are based on falls apart.
So let the speculation continue - its no worse than going to Las Vegas.
I had some bitcoin that I sold. I bought it thinking that it would be cool to buy stuff with it. I thought it was a currency. The IRS declared that it is not a currency, that it is property subject to capital gains rules. When you purchase from an exchange, they require your social security number among other things.
As long as you keep your transactions within the exchange they can give you the necessary documentation (an audit trail) required by the IRS. If you sell bitcoin or purchase something with it, you are required to record the bitcoin basis and the capital gain or loss on that transaction.
You do not have to do that with dollars. That makes bitcoin less fungible; you have to jump through hoops to legally use it.
If the IRS ever changes things and Bitcoin is made back into a true currency, it will explode in value. Until then, I am out.
Unfortunately, it takes a lot more energy when you program in the Austrian language.
Can you tell me what computers have to do with bitcoin? Why do you need computers and energy be be dealing with bitcoin?
They don’t. It’s criminal organizations that nowadays mine for coins, they do it by stealing electricity. It is no longer economically viable for the law abiding.
They don’t. It’s criminal organizations that nowadays mine for coins, they do it by stealing electricity. It is no longer economically viable for the law abiding.
My understanding is limited as to the underlying technology, but bitcoin is based on a distributed digital database called a blockchain. The database is only accessible by the use of digital keys. This is all accomplished by using very, very powerful computers to mathematically “discover” the blocks that make up the data base.
It takes a lot of electrical power to run the Bitcoin “mining” systems.
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