[kinnth]

This is actually the same principle as BTC. High volume cheap electricity is used to process random numbers and the value is stored as BTC allowing it to be freely transferred once first mined.

The green economics of this need some serious consideration as i'd be really aware if you can reprocess it and get a second reaction for less energy than it cost you to turn the rust back into free iron metal.

[noodlesUK]

There's a pretty big difference between BTC and a burnable fuel. It is not possible to turn BTC back into electricity directly, it is only possible to turn it into electricity by first turning it into money, which then buys more electricity (from any, renewable or non renewable) power source. You can't ship someone a container of memory sticks containing BTC and then they get power out of them without burning more fuel or building more solar panels/other renewables. The much better comparison would be hydrogen, which can be produced using readily available water and renewable electricity, shipped, then burned. The difference is that hydrogen doesn't really produce much in the way of by products when burned.

[cr__]

> the value is stored as BTC

What value? Where did any value originate in this process?

[a3w]

The maniacs who claimed that something had a price on a market and cost to create claim that this means value was created. From an ecological perspective, nonsense. Economically, somewhat sound.

Misappropriated rare resources cause destroyed nature for the reason that capitalism said it was sound.

Every joule can only be spent once, but and as long as there is no moral coercion, there is a profit to be made from pillaging it from the supply.

[jshorty]

Not sure I agree, on one hand you have actual, physical potential energy, on the other hand you have numbers on a computer that could become worthless depending on unpredictable economic factors.