Bitcoin Mining Energy Use Set To Overtake Homes In Iceland

[Kongar]

Being a bit of a blockchain noob - I have a question. Why does the difficulty have to go up? Does it have a purpose, such as maintaining the integrity of the ever increasing chain? Or is it simply an artificial means to slow down the production of coins? Why not simply cap the # of coins introduced at a set rate, keep power consumption low, and let a lottery / luck based system figure out who "wins" that coin every ten minutes.

Just seems silly to consume so much if there isn't a reason.

Help me be less noob please

 

[tacohunter52]

Mindless global waste of energy is much more serious than that.

Oh nooooz the big bad crypto maximizer.

BTC is using .22% of the worlds electricty, ETH in comparison .07%.

I mean, yeah maybe if we start seeing the networks expand by orders of magnitude in a short period of time..., btc did grow by about half an order of magnitude this year.

I think there are bigger factors involved in the global waste of energy though, and more important is the expending of fossil fuels.., that's not crypto's fault though. Miners will use any kind of energy you give them.

@ guy above me

Difficulty is indeed to keep the distribution consistentish in PoW. PoW is used to keep the ledger secure. For more info use google.

There are luck based consensus systems.

 

[triwolf]

It's really no different than gold. "I spent hours over a stream panning for this soft, yellow metal that has no practical purpose! I'll sell it to you for $1250 an ounce!"

That said, I hope crypto currencies all collapse and we never hear from them again because of what they've done to the GPU market.

And how is it different than a bank going into excel and creating millions at a whim? They do this, so is that better than bitcoin? Money is worth what people think it is. If you can send money cheaply and quickly, isn't that the best solution?

Going back to gold isn't going to happen unless there is a huge world problem and then money will be the least of yours.

 

[triwolf]

Being a bit of a blockchain noob - I have a question. Why does the difficulty have to go up? Does it have a purpose, such as maintaining the integrity of the ever increasing chain? Or is it simply an artificial means to slow down the production of coins? Why not simply cap the # of coins introduced at a set rate, keep power consumption low, and let a lottery / luck based system figure out who "wins" that coin every ten minutes.

Just seems silly to consume so much if there isn't a reason.

Help me be less noob please

Here you go:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty

 

[NeoNemesis]

And how is it different than a bank going into excel and creating millions at a whim? They do this, so is that better than bitcoin? Money is worth what people think it is. If you can send money cheaply and quickly, isn't that the best solution?

Going back to gold isn't going to happen unless their is a huge world problem and then money will be the least of yours.

That isn't how the banking system works in any way shape or form. Blows my mind you would actually think this is true.

 

[triwolf]

That isn't how the banking system works in any way shape or form. Blows my mind you would actually think this is true.

They claim lots of science and reason for when and how much to print. Believe that all you want. Go look up the history of banking and you will see so much pseudoscience and lies your head will spin. There is a case from the 1800s where the banks admitted they basically just make an entry and create the money from nothing. I'm busy looking to the future where banks have less power, it's up to you. One thing is for sure. The banks care zero for you and will charge you huge interest and do everything they can to dupe you.

CAUTION, this may scare the living crap out of you:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/18/truth-money-iou-bank-of-england-austerity

"The central bank can print as much money as it wishes. But it is also careful not to print too much. In fact, we are often told this is why independent central banks exist in the first place. If governments could print money themselves, they would surely put out too much of it, and the resulting inflation would throw the economy into chaos. Institutions such as the Bank of England or US Federal Reserve were created to carefully regulate the money supply to prevent inflation. This is why they are forbidden to directly fund the government, say, by buying treasury bonds, but instead fund private economic activity that the government merely taxes."

 

[triwolf]

That isn't how the banking system works in any way shape or form. Blows my mind you would actually think this is true.

Also, please tell everyone you know how insane this all is and demand it to change.

Here is some more life changing information, did you know that when you deposit money in the bank, your deposit receipt is essentially an IOU from the bank? Can't get your money out of the bank? Guess what, you are now like a credit card company that has loaned money, get in line and hope you can get some back if they go bankrupt! Yes, you don't own your money when you deposit it!

Guess whose money will be used to bail out the banks next time there is a market crash instead of the Governments? YOURS!

https://sandiegofreepress.org/2015/...ill-be-parted-during-the-next-banking-crisis/