[Taek]

It's a bad stat. The electricity that goes into a block doesn't just confirm the transactions in the block, it also confirms all the transactions in all blocks prior to that block, and those transactions have a cumulative value of about $70 billion.

The bleak picture painted on the article is an incomplete one by far.

[lttlrck]

Why is it a bad stat? Is having to confirm all transactions in all prior blocks not a direct result of a transaction? Why is the cumulative value relevant? I can see how there is a perceived value there but if the transaction didn’t happen it wouldn’t have been needed?

[Taek]

If the block had zero transactions in it, it still would have cost just as much energy to create.

Similarly, if the price of the coin were 1/1000th but the block were full, it would have cost 1/1000th the price to confirm those transactions.

What determines the cost/mining reward of a block is not the transactions in it, but the value of the chain as a whole.

[lttlrck]

Ah got it. Thanks.