Current Events > Bitcoin uses more power than the entire country of Argentina.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'd ask what blockchain is but I've done that before and shit's gotten really weird so I don't know

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Doom_Art posted...

I'd ask what blockchain is but I've done that before and shit's gotten really weird so I don't know

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain

@shockthemonkey

Doom_Art posted...

I'd ask what blockchain is but I've done that before and shit's gotten really weird so I don't know

All it is a ledger that can't be changed through and through. If somebody couldn't explain that to you then they were doing it wrong.

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Doom_Art posted...

I'd ask what blockchain is but I've done that before and shit's gotten really weird so I don't know

To try and put it simply, it's an architecture for maintaining a public ledger, where everyone's transaction history is in the open and available for viewing and transactions are grouped up in blocks in order of recency, i.e. each block stores transactions that took place during the time miners were mining for the rewards of that time period.

I've omitted a good deal of information (especially parts about being decentralized, how mining works) while still trying to be accurate. The most important thing is that it's a public ledger, everyone can see your transactional history so they know what wallet you sent crypto and how much you're worth. But this is a consequence of aiming to create a digital currency where no fraudulent transactions are possible.

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shockthemonkey posted...

Dont tag me, cryptobros havent had anything new to say in years

Weird, considering #6, #7, and #8 of my argument didn't come about until 2020.

@shockthemonkey

I still don't get it.

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TC here

Lol I bought 100 worth of bitcoins. It goes against everything I stand for but I'm keeping them saved away. If bitcoin crashes and burns, I'll be like "good riddance!", but if it doesn't I'll be rich. Either way I win!

According to the Ethereum Energy Consumption Index, a tracker created by Digiconomist a platform that monitors "unintended consequences of digital trends" the Ethereum blockchain's carbon footprint has been skyrocketing over the course of the last year as NFTs have started to gain steam. At the time of publication, the cryptocurrency was consuming just over 58 kilowatts of power per transaction the equivalent to the amount of power the average U.S. household uses in two whole days. Annually, Ethereum is projected to have about the same carbon footprint as the entire country of Panama, producing over 12 million metric tons of carbon emissions.

"The problem here is the energy-intensity of the underlying blockchain being used," Alex de Vries, the founder of Digiconomist and a data scientist focusing on financial economic crime for De Nederlandsche Bank, tells Mic. "Public networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum are notoriously energy-hungry, and that affects the NFTs being built on it. This will only get worse with the rising prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum."

Another tool, Cryptoart.wtf, was created to estimate the carbon footprint of an individual NFT to put into perspective the cost of creating and trading these digital pieces of art. A single NFT recently sold on the digital art marketplace SuperRare carried with it the same carbon footprint that the average person in the European Union would produce over three-and-a-half weeks. In some cases, the harm is much greater: When artist James Jean sold his first NFT, it was found to be responsible for more than 400,000 kilograms of carbon emissions. It would take the average person 194 years to match that carbon footprint.

Brendan McGill, a software engineer and the co-founder of Carbon.fyi, an emissions calculator for Ethereum wallets, says that it's important to note that while there is an environmental cost associated with NFTs, it's not quite as simple as saying "clicking 'mint' on an NFT will directly burn hundreds of kilowatt-hours of energy." According to McGill, 99% of the energy consumed in cryptocurrency transactions is consumed by people who are verifying that each transaction is legitimate. This process, known as mining, requires a lot of computing power, as a miner needs to decipher a series of very difficult codes that ultimately confirm each transaction. Because there is no central source to confirm everything, miners need to offer up the processing power of their own machines each time an equation needs to be solved.

"This computation happens totally independent of transactions or NFTs ... or any other data in the block," McGill explains. "Miners are not choosing to mine because they want to process your NFT. They are mining because they are speculating that sometime in the future, the value of Ethereum might go up." This is because miners are rewarded for contributing to the blockchain (by solving these codes) with Ethereum, a cryptocurrency token similar to Bitcoin.

While the fact that the mining process would likely be occurring without NFTs may take some of the climate burden off of the digital art trade, it's not exactly encouraging. After all, the takeaway is that a significant amount of carbon emissions would be burned no matter what. While some miners have tried to turn to clean energy solutions to minimize the impact of their mining, they are in the minority; Cambridge University's Centre for Alternative Finance found that over 60% of miners still rely on dirty-burning fuels like natural gas, oil, and coal.

Even if miners do increasingly switch to clean energy sources, de Vries would still have concerns. "I don't think the energy transition provides an excuse to waste as much energy as we want," he says. "An obvious problem here is that cryptocurrencies may be using green energy that we could have used to clean up the grid elsewhere."

https://www.mic.com/p/nfts-are-the-latest-crypto-trend-that-our-planet-cannot-afford-65677022

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In terms of energy consumption of the ETH network, they're working on it. Scaling is a number 1 priority. ETH 2.0 is moving towards Proof of Stake which is considerably less computationally intensive. In addition there are other scaling solutions coming into play like Arbitrum that moves transactions onto the Chainlink network to minimize the amount of transactions needed to settle on the ETH blockchain.

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Even with all of the ETH "fixes' ALGO will still be superior
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Eh, I'd be fine pulling the plug on it

Or at least regulating it to hell and back

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shockthemonkey posted...

Stop tagging me in your irrelevant crypto meltdown

Stop saying stupid shit if you don't want me to tag you when I point out how stupid it is.

MarthGoomba posted...

Even with all of the ETH "fixes' ALGO will still be superior

Problem with every Ethereum competitor is what are they offering that would cause the development community to move on from ETH? The NFT industry is flourishing on ETH, DeFi is all on ETH. How would a competitor recreate the same community and market? It's not enough to have as good as tools or better than ETH because they have the community that is developing all the tools to make ETH succeed.

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Problem with every Ethereum competitor is what are they offering that would cause the development community to move on from ETH?

We can start with not having to pay $50 extra to buy $25 worth of crypto.

shockthemonkey posted...

why are cryptobros so butthurt all the time?

You want to address how your "haven't heard anything new in years" argument is complete bullshit when a significant chunk of my argument only applies to things that were introduced as early as 2020?

You just refuse to read anything that could possibly contradict your slanted world view. You really can't get anymore closed minded than you actually are.

Also, spamming emojis just deflects from the melty you're projecting.

34_ShaqRule_34 posted...

We can start with not having to pay $50 extra to buy $25 worth of crypto.

Every ETH competitor in the market has scaling as their advantage over ETH. But I do agree, the gas fees are too. Damned. High.

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shockthemonkey posted...

What a pointlessly wasteful resource

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LivingLegend posted...

I would support legislation to outlaw bitcoin

I would support legislation to prevent YWS from making accounts.

LivingLegend posted...

I would support legislation to outlaw bitcoin

buy some instead buddy, this way you won't feel as jealous

Dont tag me, cryptobros havent had anything new to say in years

when a significant chunk of my argument only applies to things that were introduced as early as 2020?

You either have a significant reading disability or you are willingly not reading anything I say.

shockthemonkey posted...

why are cryptobros so butthurt all the time?

Like I think stuff like this is cool but a lot of guys get way too wrapped up in it

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LivingLegend posted...

Reminder: there were tons of people who killed themselves when the stock market crashed a few years ago.

Criminalize money

shockthemonkey posted...

Yeah its interesting but Jesus Christ I wanna invest not join a fucking cult

Do you want to elaborate on why you refused to acknowledge that your "haven't heard anything new in years" argument is straight up bullshit?

LivingLegend posted...

Dont misquote me.

Bitcoin crashed, not the stock market.

I forgot you were like 3 when 2008 happened.

So you were 3 when the 2008 financial crisis happened.

LivingLegend posted...

Reminder: there were tons of people who killed themselves when the Bitcoin bubble popped a few years ago.

they could have just waited LOL

TIL pointing out that a significant chunk of my post can only be applied to concepts introduced after 2020 is "sealioning"

I would not cite Stone Toss comics as being on my side of an argument, personally

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lmao he blocked me

Freeze the United States's bank account.

"stop tagging me in a topic i will melt down in after blocking you anyway"

shockthemonkey posted...

Youre just saying that because hes a Neo Nazi though

hmmm to me reading the comic felt like it was not working in your favor?