Bitcoin

[AtW]

So some magic beans are down or up, WGAF?

 

[d000hg]

I was reading last week that Mastercard is planning to natively support crypto, but only within narrow parameters what they'll use. USDC(oin) was suggested as a likely first choice.
But this is tied to USD as I understand it, which means there is no scope to speculate - so what is the point over using actual USD?

 

[_V_]

So some magic beans are down or up, WGAF?

 

[DealorNoDeal]

Bitcoin's estimated annual electricity consumption has increased around 30-fold since Jan 2016, from 4TWh/year to over 120TWh/year. Source:
https://cbeci.org

Total worldwide annual electricity consumption is about 25,000 TWh/year. So, bitcoin currently only accounts for about 0.5%.

But if it kept on going up 30-fold every 5 years or so...

And at a time when we should be trying to reduce energy consumption.

Not exactly what you'd call sustainable.

 

[d000hg]

This does seem more worrying than other objections I've heard. Is there any conceivable workaround, to a system which is designed around needing significant computational power? Are there currencies which come from a different direction than a computation 'arms race'?

 

[administrator]

How much does it cost to produce gold? Not declaring whether or not I have any crypto

 

[DealorNoDeal]

How much does it cost to produce gold? Not declaring whether or not I have any crypto

Gold mining is energy intensive, so probably quite a lot. (The $cost is very dependent on the price of oil.)

However, unlike bitcoin, I doubt the energy consumption is increasing much year on year.

 

[Whorty]

How much does it cost to produce gold? Not declaring whether or not I have any crypto

But how much gold have you got?

 

[Andy2]

Bitcoin will accelerate global warming
ban this damn thing already

 

[administrator]

Bitcoin will accelerate global warming
ban this damn thing already

I can see a future full of renewable energy production and energy storage to make full use of it. This will make the energy argument redundant in the next decade. By that time BTC will either have gone to the moon or will be worth beggar all due to a better class of electronic token having come to the fore. How high will it go though? Too many variables and, like AtW said, too many "playas" who are rigging the market.

If anyone has any suggestions for stocks in renewable energy and energy storage feel free to shout...