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
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.