[gnaritas]

Because that point is just silly, far more energy is burned on the old system making paper bills than on bitcoin; don't hear you complaining about that. If energy is such a big concern to you, why aren't you screaming to replace the old energy inefficient system with the new more energy efficient bitcoin?

[JoeAltmaier]

citation needed. There is no limit to the energy burned to create bitcoins; it is increasing by design.

And, other digital currency implementation don't require 'mining' at all; just the paranoid ones.

[gnaritas]

> There is no limit to the energy burned to create bitcoins

Nonsense. No one will burn more energy to create bitcoins than those bitcoins are worth, the limit is market price. And if you think bitcoin is burning more energy than the existing banking system, well then you're just not in touch with reality my friend.

> And, other digital currency implementation don't require 'mining' at all; just the paranoid ones.

Which is why all of those other coins are little more than failed experiments; lacking proof of work, you lose the main feature of bitcoin, trust-less transactions. None of the other ideas work to achieve the actual goal of a digital currency, trust-less transactions.

[JoeAltmaier]

They are independent (trust and mining). Mining is just one solution to minting, and only chosen to limit the rate of inflation. Other solutions exist. Don't get the cart before the horse.

[gnaritas]

> hey are independent (trust and mining).

Oh but they are not. People wish it so but it just ain't so.

> Mining is just one solution to minting

Yes, the only successful one. Every other solution that tries to remove mining comes with bigger flaws which why no other coin has taken off. Every alt coin that exists today is a failed experiment.

> Other solutions exist.

Other failed solutions that have prevented any other coin from being able to process payments of the scale Bitcoin processes.

Mining is core to Bitcoins success as it's the only solution that actually works well enough to have gained traction.

[EdHominem]

The ones that don't involve a small list of nodes that you are required to trust to get anything done.

[JoeAltmaier]

Exactly. Its a matter of trust (i.e. the paranoid part), and we're burning the planet's limited resources so that we feel better about that.

[EdHominem]

Do you know how many resources we "waste" making non-copyable bills, staffing the Secret Service, running payment networks, etc?

[VMG]

> Because that point is just silly, far more energy is burned on the old system making paper bills than on bitcoin;

Plus they still manage to destroy economies with hyperinflation. They're more wasteful in providing a worse product.