[jonhendry18]

"Calling out the BTC network on its energetic inefficiency completely misses the point that the work put into the network is exactly the scarce digital asset, and hence the store of value."

That's no excuse for the obscene waste of resources.

[inter_netuser]

It's much cheaper than maintenance of a nuclear arsenal to enforce the USD reserve status around the globe.

What's the CO2 footprint of standing armies around the world? Have you tried cancelling that?

[cycomanic]

So I just looked this up the 2017 footprint of the US army which I think accounts for more than half the worldwide military budget around the world was ~60 M tonnes. The numbers for bitcoin vary between 20 M and 60M per year (and are increasing). So both bitcoin and the US military are on the same order of magnitude.

Now regarding you imply that we should worry more about the emissions from armies than bitcoin, why is that an either or question? Yes we should worry about both wastes, but they are on the same order of magnitude. Moreover there is no evidence that bitcoin does reduce military spending or emissions, so again not making this an either or question.

[tsimionescu]

It would be great to get rid of the armies of the world, but that's neither here nor there. Armies and military spending wouldn't go away if people dealt in Bitcoin.

Oh, the purpose of the US army and nuclear arsenal is not to "enforce the USD reserve status", it is to advance America's imperial goals, which vary a lot. The status of the US dollar is a second-order consequence of America's power.