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Comment by tshaddox | Hacker News Reader

I think that’s highly unlikely. Surely the people mining Bitcoin would be doing something else if Bitcoin didn’t exist. Or to think of it the other way, if there was some better way of making money with electricity then the Bitcoin miners would be doing that instead.

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Have you considered that they wouldn’t be trying to turn electricity into money and might be making money some other way?

And to your point, likely a way that doesn't have global implications? Even other bubbles of the past didn't have quite the reach that the likes of Bitcoin has (maybe with the exception of the entire stock market in the Roaring 20s leading right up to the crash of 1929). That's why this time, this is much more dangerous in the long run.

What about the hypotesis that a global shared ledger under no-one's control with thermodynamical guarantee of immutability actually has some value?

There is no thermodynamic guarantee in Bitcoin.

Last I checked too, Bitcoin is not quantum safe either.

Making money without using electricity? I suppose that’s not impossible, but it sounds unlikely at any appreciable scale.

Turning electricity into money is different from using some electricity while you make money.

I fail to see the distinction. Bitcoin mining, just like farming, traditional mining, etc. doesn’t literally have electricity as its only input.

> I fail to see the distinction. Bitcoin mining, just like farming, traditional mining, etc. doesn’t literally have electricity as its only input.

If your are referring to the wasted hardware, then sure, but once the equipment is in place, Bitcoin mining itself does in fact have electricity as the only input.

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