Mastodawn

Martin Seeger Apr 17, 2024

If you do 12 Bitcoin transactions per year, you use a higher amount of energy than we use for a complete family (including: heating, warm water, electricity, car charging) in the same year. We do all via electricity.

From: @tkinias
https://historians.social/@tkinias/112283441665687815

Thanasis Kinias (@[email protected])

I just read that a single Bitcoin transaction requires upwards of 1,000 kW-hr of electricity. That’s like running a small air conditioner 24/7 for a month and a half. Edit: This got way more attention than I expected from an offhand remark; I guess it hit a nerve on here! But I’m going to have to mute this, as it’s taken over my notifications...

Mastodon

Show thread

gavinisdie

Apr 17, 2024

@masek @tkinias honestly, what about "blockchain" technology and that kind of shit requires ridiculous amounts of energy?

Show thread

PB Livin'Apr 17, 2024

@gavinisdie @masek @tkinias Well for Bitcoin in particular, it's poor design.

It's a decentralized network, it exists bc it's being run on thousands of computers worldwide, operated by independent actors (Rather than having one single company run it)

Now, there has to be an incentive in order to get people to run the software on their computers. For Bitcoin, it's set up so there's a race for processing a batch of transactions (ie, a block). Whoever gets it processed the fastest, gets a

Show thread

PB Livin'

@gavinisdie @masek @tkinias reward. Unfortunately the side effects of this are:
- You have a bunch of people racing to all solve the same computational problem, but only one wins, and everyone else's energy is wasted
- It's an arms race where everyone needs the fastest computers possible in order to have a chance at winning the race
- The higher the price of Bitcoin, the more incentive there is for more players to get into the game and expend more resources to try to win.

Show thread

PB Livin'Apr 17, 2024

@gavinisdie @masek @tkinias
So it's a runaway train of competition that's based on a poorly designed incentive structure. It does what it's meant to do (sustain a decentralized network) but with unforseen consequences.

I say this is particularly a Bitcoin problem, bc other blockchain networks have been designed in other ways to avoid this problem. Ethereum a few years ago changed the way their network processes transactions/awards prizes specifically in order to fix wasteful energy use.