Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
That's a second order effect. Mining doesn't require massive inputs, but people who want to get rich quick running mining rigs instead of earning them. The competition heats things up. The real metric is compared to what. Citation needed of course, but IIRC mining gold requires more energy than Bitcoin. And then you get to banks and credit card system that could be rendered redundant.
Once the Bitmine runs dry, the system will continue to run on transaction fees.
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There are a lot of metrics that I just don't know.
Gold mining is energy intensive. But not everyone mines for gold.
How much money and CO2 is generated from the total gold, iron, lithium, silver, petroleum, gas, diamond, etc. etc. etc. industries? How much is used for the entire Bitcoin industry?
One thing I do know, is Bitcoin doesn't offset some other mineral that's being mined literally. It only adds more money and more CO2. This is different than a gold mine that opens up and causes more supply and therefore less demand which in turn can cause other gold mines to slow production or maybe even close and therefore doesn't necessarily increase CO2 production.
Another thing to think about, is Bitcoin isn't the only crypto currency. Once it's all mined out, the question is could another crypto currency emerge, followed by another, then another, then another, causing a perpetual use of energy that may even continue to increase?