Anyone big in Crypto?

[Swervin_Mervin]

That’s not true, Bitcoin still has around 3 mil to be mined on it’s own.

The energy consumption of crypto miners has rocketed over the last year.

Yes but once they’re mined then it’s pretty negligible. Can’t remember but someone big on Twitter recently said that to pay via Bitcoin at a local coffee shop is the equivalent of driving a V8 to Paris and back in terms of CO2 emissions. Which it is if it’s a newly mined Bitcoin but that doesn’t apply each time that segment of an existing coin is then used over and over again.

Well yes, but the vast majority of the energy used is from non renewables so the damage has already been done.

This is the equivalent of the NFT argument that as people work on them the technology will become more efficient. So it's fine to waste large amounts of energy now on something that's essentially completely useless.

And isn't the energy consumption required for mining exponentially linked to how much is left to mine?

When you consider the level of focus that is on so many areas of our lives to cut energy usage, switch to renewable sources etc, it's appalling that there's so little focus on this specific issue.

[ZedLeg]

Yeah, stupidly the more people running mining rigs the harder the mining becomes. So people build more and more rigs to try and give themselves an advantage.

[V8Granite]

So is it literally the electricity used by those running computer set-ups specifically for mining ?

Argentina, bugger me I never realised it was that bad!!!

Dave!

[Simon]

Beany and Rich are correct.

And to be honest the thing that really makes me smile is when I read of anyone losing a shit ton of money on crypto. Because frankly, people deserve it. It's not a tangible creation, it's a waste of electricity, it's used by criminals to buy stuff anonymously, people never ever declare it and pay their taxes on it and lastly, but by no means least, Elon Musk likes it. I hope everyone involved loses their shirt frankly, and now that Tesla are accepting bitcoin hope they bankrupt themselves over it.

Blockchain does have some (limited) uses. Cryptocurrencies are for paedos and losers.

[Beany]

Beany and Rich are correct.

And to be honest the thing that really makes me smile is when I read of anyone losing a shit ton of money on crypto. Because frankly, people deserve it. It's not a tangible creation, it's a waste of electricity, it's used by criminals to buy stuff anonymously, people never ever declare it any pay their taxes on it and lastly, but by no means least, Elon Musk likes it. I hope everyone involved loses their shirt frankly, and now that Tesla are accepting bitcoin hope they bankrupt themselves over it.

Blockchain does have some (limited) uses. Cryptocurrencies are for paedos and losers.

Basically this.

Cryptocurrencies are like furries - they ruin everything.

[Foz]

Beany and Rich are correct.

And to be honest the thing that really makes me smile is when I read of anyone losing a shit ton of money on crypto. Because frankly, people deserve it. It's not a tangible creation, it's a waste of electricity, it's used by criminals to buy stuff anonymously, people never ever declare it any pay their taxes on it and lastly, but by no means least, Elon Musk likes it. I hope everyone involved loses their shirt frankly, and now that Tesla are accepting bitcoin hope they bankrupt themselves over it.

Blockchain does have some (limited) uses. Cryptocurrencies are for paedos and losers.

[Gwaredd]

I looked into it for about 7 minutes years ago when there was grumblings about it. The second I started reading about mining and e-wallets, my eyes glazed over and I closed the browser page. I've never looked back even though I could have been a millionaire or something.

[Nathan]

BRUTAL

IMG_20210324_185249.jpg (85.28 KiB) Viewed 1237 times

[Pete_]

I bought a few hundred £ worth of crypto when there was a price peak three years ago then it crashed. I only remembered about it when prices started climbing again in January and, expecting history to repeat itself and there be another crash, I was happy to sell it for about the same amount that I bought it for (then was planning to buy more at lower prices), but it's gone up about 80% since then.

If bitcoin goes back to £10k I might buy some but I can't see that happening now!

[Simon]

A colleague left a couple of weeks ago. On his leaving email that he sent round was a link to his NFT 'wallet' showcasing all the art he'd bought and was trying to shift. He's spent a not inconsiderable amount of money on what are essentially just pixels. Some of them were animated. Some of them had silly names. All of them were ridiculous.

[speedingfine]

A1 posts from Simon on this thread

[DeskJockey]

It's not great but its going to happen regardless, I'm just saying that I'm okay with owning crypto from an environmental aspect.

Also it's not necessarily a failure of crypto that it takes how ever many tonnes of CO2 to mine per coin but rather a failure of our electrical infrastructure worldwide - much like people who bitch that EVs aren't green because they're being charged via a coal power station.

Why is it going to happen regardless? It isn't an inevitable fact. And while the electricity infrastructure may be part of the problem in terms of power production, it doesn't help that miners are wasting the equivalent of Argentina's energy consumption (and if that's without taking into account the energy consumed in making the components for the mining infrastructure, that makes it even worse) on a completely useless pursuit of nothing.

[mik]

A1 posts from Simon on this thread

Seconded

[V8Granite]

A1 posts from Simon on this thread

Seconded

He is full of pith and vinegar and I applaud his stand on the matter

Dave!

[Beany]

A colleague left a couple of weeks ago. On his leaving email that he sent round was a link to his NFT 'wallet' showcasing all the art he'd bought and was trying to shift. He's spent a not inconsiderable amount of money on what are essentially just pixels. Some of them were animated. Some of them had silly names. All of them were ridiculous.

The fucking imbecile didn't pay good money for a bloody jpeg did he?

I think your org has dodged a bullet, he's clearly not that bright.

[Simon]

A digitally signed JPEG I'll have you know. One of them cost more than 4 figures. It looked like an outfit for a World of Warcraft character. Insane.

[Sundayjumper]

The whole thing smacks of a very complicated, very clever, Ponzi scheme. I’m sure a bunch of people are getting rich but it’s not going to be the retail investors who are piling in right now.

[Mito Man]

It's not great but its going to happen regardless, I'm just saying that I'm okay with owning crypto from an environmental aspect.

Also it's not necessarily a failure of crypto that it takes how ever many tonnes of CO2 to mine per coin but rather a failure of our electrical infrastructure worldwide - much like people who bitch that EVs aren't green because they're being charged via a coal power station.

Why is it going to happen regardless? It isn't an inevitable fact. And while the electricity infrastructure may be part of the problem in terms of power production, it doesn't help that miners are wasting the equivalent of Argentina's energy consumption (and if that's without taking into account the energy consumed in making the components for the mining infrastructure, that makes it even worse) on a completely useless pursuit of nothing.

The current Bitcoin surge is mainly due to institutional investors, it’s not going to be something that goes out of fashion any time
Soon.
It’s becoming another way to invest and diversify portfolios for hedge funds now which is why they’re all piling into it and trying to get ETFs approved.

The environmental aspect of it is a bit like gold, although I imagine mining gold is actually worse considering the amount of virgin ground that has to be ripped up for it, and most of it is merely stockpiled as an alternate form of money or jewellery compared to what is mined to make electronics.

[DeskJockey]

Be that as it may, it is still a waste of resources in the pursuit of a nothing that only carries value because people decide it has value (like any fiat currency). It is a folly built on greed with no regard for the consequences.

At least gold, mining aspects aside, has uses beyond what value it is ascribed as a form of currency.

[Rich B]

It's not great but its going to happen regardless, I'm just saying that I'm okay with owning crypto from an environmental aspect.

Also it's not necessarily a failure of crypto that it takes how ever many tonnes of CO2 to mine per coin but rather a failure of our electrical infrastructure worldwide - much like people who bitch that EVs aren't green because they're being charged via a coal power station.

Why is it going to happen regardless? It isn't an inevitable fact. And while the electricity infrastructure may be part of the problem in terms of power production, it doesn't help that miners are wasting the equivalent of Argentina's energy consumption (and if that's without taking into account the energy consumed in making the components for the mining infrastructure, that makes it even worse) on a completely useless pursuit of nothing.

The current Bitcoin surge is mainly due to institutional investors, it’s not going to be something that goes out of fashion any time
Soon.
It’s becoming another way to invest and diversify portfolios for hedge funds now which is why they’re all piling into it and trying to get ETFs approved.

The environmental aspect of it is a bit like gold, although I imagine mining gold is actually worse considering the amount of virgin ground that has to be ripped up for it, and most of it is merely stockpiled as an alternate form of money or jewellery compared to what is mined to make electronics.

Gold is tangible though, it has lots of uses and can be used over and over again, almost indefinitely.

What can you do with the product of Bitcoin? Nothing, because there is no product. It's just being paid to burn as many resources as you can with no purpose.