[Engelsstaub]

During all this Bitcoin frenzy it's worthwhile to notice the dark side of the blockchain technology. As Zerohedge points out it's terribly inefficient.

De Vries also estimates that the worldwide Bitcoin mining industry is now using enough electricity to power 2.26 million American homes.

Another way of looking at Bitcoin’s energy consumption is divide the electricity use in Bitcoin mining each day by the number of daily Bitcoin transactions. As the Motherboard notes, each Bitcoin transaction now requires the same amount of electricity needed to power the average American household for one week.

A single Bitcoin mine is responsible for 8000 to 13000kg of CO2 emmissions per Bitcoin it mines.

As Blockchain technology becomes more popular it'll become even more of an issue.

 

[Fennel]

Interesting. I was just getting interested in cryptocurrencies and thinking about their effects on banking and economies in general.
Bitcoin will be here for some time, sadly.

 

[Engelsstaub]

It will although everyone is kinda sure what we've been seeing recently is a huge bubble. We know nothing where it'll settle when it settles, whether it'll be $10 or $10k for one BTC. Now it's almost all speculation.

I had some thoughts of buying some after this bubble bursts, but I don't know whether I decide to.

 

[Fennel]

It will although everyone is kinda sure what we've been seeing recently is a huge bubble. We know nothing where it'll settle when it settles, whether it'll be $10 or $10k for one BTC. Now it's almost all speculation.

I had some thoughts of buying some after this bubble bursts, but I don't know whether I decide to.

I'd wait until another crypto comes that solves (or at least limits) the energy problem. That would be worth buying into.
Unless free energy comes first. :shocked:

 

[Crimson Ash]

Also doesn't the energy required to mine propagate exponentially the more people buy into crypto?

 

[Engelsstaub]

Not necessarily free energy, but if we had a feasible nuclear fusion solution it'd solve all the energy issues and running BTC transactions would be nothing in such case.

 

[Snouker]

Never used it

 

[The red spirit]

And imagine AMD FX 9590 running crossfire of four R9 290Xs. A complete AMD space heating set.