• makeasnek@lemmy.mlOP
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      4 months ago

      Bitcoin uses <1% of global electrical usage, mostly from renewables since miners must chase the cheapest electricity and renewables at off-peak times are it. They turn off during times of peak demand since they can’t afford higher-priced electricity. How do you think that compares to banks? Remittance services? All the infrastructure used to move money from point A to point B? It takes energy and even more valuable: human capital to move value around.

      For reasons why Bitcoin isn’t a huge waste of energy and why it actually helps stabilize grids, increase efficiency, decrease electrical costs, and subsidizes the provision of new renewable infrastructure, see https://endthefud.org/

      • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
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        4 months ago

        Considering how much of a nieche Bitcoin still is: 0.5% of global energy usage is one hell of a lot of energy!

        In what universe is proof-of-work more efficient than conventional banking systems?

        • Dymonika@beehaw.org
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          4 months ago

          Let’s talk about banks.

          Let’s talk about all the vaults and their maintenance, the security guards, the Brinks armored cars, all the tellers, wire transaction-handling, and so on and so on.

          No, gee, hmm, they’ve never calculated how much a vast, global expense all of this is per second.

          Maybe they want you to keep believing that it’s more efficient.