[zucker42]

If you think that proof of stake will take over, do you think that Bitcoin will crash? When will Bitcoin stop having the insane environmental impact it has now? If proof of stake is the future, why is the market cap of BTC so high compared to other cryptocurrencies?

[G3rn0ti]

Well, Bitcoin was the first of its kind, it’s time and battle tested and technically it might still be the most reliable of all cryptos. Part of the reason for that is “Bitcoin script” not being Turing complete unlike Ethereum’s virtual machine and less prone to software bugs.

People, especially newbies trust it much more than other blockchains. That’s why everybody buys Bitcoin, currently.

I believe Bitcoin’s going to take on an important role in a value storage once it’s market value stabilizes. Essentially, it will become digital Gold. As the gold price didn’t “crash” to zero when it lost its utility as a currency, I believe we will never see a complete crash of the Bitcoin value. It will serve a niche application and, hence, keep having value. But it’s continued growth of its value will flatten over time in the future, I am sure. So I wouldn’t worry too much about its energy usage.

[zucker42]

So it seems like to me you are saying that PoW has energy issues but that's not a problem because of PoS, but at the same time PoW (BTC) will continue to exist and consume at least the same amount of energy as it currently does.

It's concerning to me that there's not even a "light at the end of the tunnel" as far as BTC's energy usage goes.

[G3rn0ti]

> but at the same time PoW (BTC) will continue to exist and consume at least the same amount of energy as it currently

No, I said that BTC is _currently_ more popular for the reasons I describe and _predicted_ it to become a niche crypto asset in the future. I might be proven wrong but this scenario I described should you make you sleep well at night, again. ;-)

[jjnoakes]

> People, especially newbies trust it much more than other blockchains. That’s why everybody buys Bitcoin, currently

How do you know this is the reason? Couldn't another reason (like bitcoin getting the most press/hype) be true instead?

(I do not know the real reason, I'm just wondering why you think the one you stated is the real reason - care to elaborate?)

[ceilingcorner]

Probably a lot of that is simply branding and first mover advantage. Everyone knows what bitcoin is and the name is nice and simple. The second largest coin, to my understanding, is ethereum, which has to be the worst name I’ve ever heard.

[mindcandy]

Proof of Stake requires that what you are staking has value. The future I'm looking forward to is POS taking over by leveraging the existing Proof of Work already invested in Bitcoin and Ethereum. So, Bitcoin will slowly go away by being burned to transmute it into the foundational value of new POS coins. During that process, the total supply of unburned coins will decrease. Eventually the market cap will decrease. Less POW mining will be necessary. And, eventually it will drop off to effectively zero.

[Geee]

Proof-of-work is still the most secure way, and also the most fair way to distribute new currency, because it's just energy converted into currency.

If proof-of-stake or something else actually works, then bitcoin's algorithm can be changed to that.