When Bitcoin miners take over a town (2018)
I am beginning to wonder if energy is what will eventually doom Bitcoin. Currently, Bitcoin consumes more energy than Argentina [1].<p>Another article suggests the carbon footprint of Bitcoin is equivalent to New Zealand [2].<p>It's not just the cost of mining new coins (which will ultimately end) but the cost of maintaining the network. The more valuable the collective Bitcoins are, the more energy you need to spend defending it against 51% attacks.<p>To the apologists claiming there's no other good use for that energy, it's not simple. Using too much electricity can raise the price that everybody pays [3].<p>Miners will keep chasing cheap power but I expect, much like ArbBnB, municipalities, states and even countries will increasingly clamp down on it.<p>The thing is... Bitcoin solves a problem for almost nobody. It's almost entirely a speculative bubble. Citizens of stable countries are almost entirely better off with traditional currencies. Try and see ordinary people deal with a Bitcoin wallet and discover there's no recourse if a vulnerability in their computer means the contents are irreversibly stolen.<p>I realize there are corner cases (eg sending money to and from Venezuela). There's also a lot of illegal use cases.<p>Thing is, blockchains aren't really as immutable as pundits suggest. Bitcoin and Ethereum have had forks.<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56012952#:~:text=Cambridge%20researchers%20say%20it%20consumes,Bitcoin%20undermines%20its%20environmental%20image" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56012952#:~:text=Cambrid...</a>.<p>[2]: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/05/bitcoin-btc-surge-renews-worries-about-its-massive-carbon-footprint.html#:~:text=Bitcoin%20has%20a%20carbon%20footprint,Netherlands%2C%20Cambridge%20University%20researchers%20say" rel="nofollow">https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/05/bitcoin-btc-surge-renews-wor...</a>.<p>[3]: <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/cheap-power-drew-bitcoin-miners-to-this-small-city-then-came-the-backlash" rel="nofollow">https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/cheap-power-drew-bitcoin-m...</a>