re: Why are so many ppl still hung up on the “non-physicality” or “non-productivity” of BTC?

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You’re ignoring the fact that it was and is used by dark money and illegal transactions.

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EPSTEIN SAYS HI
amongst PLENTY of others
CIA uses banks to smuggle all kinds of shite and move money around (buying and selling things they would arrest us for)


You are retarded

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sure, but the problem is that bitcoin is INSANELY inefficient in performing these tasks

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Define “insanely inefficient”.

Because the BTC network does everything my bank does but better. In every regard.

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Why would you want to support the US dollar?

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lol

It’s the legal tender for the United States where I’m a citizen!

Are you telling me you don’t support it?

When you trade in your bitcoin, what do you exchange it for?

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You’re ignoring the fact that it was and is used by dark money and illegal transactions.

And as long as it can trade with value, they will continue to do it.

Guess what tho: they ultimately exchange it for the USD and there’s a reason. The usd is the most stable currency.

Why would you want to support a currency that is used for , and favored by, illegal trade?

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I can't believe there are people in the year of our lord 2024 still parroting these talking points

You've got to be trolling us at this point, be honest you're messing with us right?

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it takes a similar amount of power entire developed countries use to transfer and verify that a value correctly goes from one wallet to the next

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That’s not how it works but since you mentioned it, the BTC network uses less than half the total power the global financial system uses.

I guess it’s too early to explain lightning to you.

I bet you thought you got us there huh……

You are correct that it currently takes massive amounts of energy to mine (not much to validate/transact, however). The data doesn't lie. Bitcoin mining accounts for 110 terawatt hours of energy usage per year, or 0.55% of global energy consumption. I understand and recognize the energy usage argument against bitcoin.

There are a couple ways we could debate this. What is your concern with the energy usage?

Is it emissions? That's valid. Estimates are that bitcoin uses anywhere from ~40% to 80~ renewable energy. That number varies based on sources and seasons. That still leaves 20-60% of the energy used for bitcoin to come from non-renewables. That's not great.

Is your concern it drains energy from other uses? That's not economically advantageous for miners. They'd much rather use cheap, excess energy in the system, such as excess hydro in rainy seasons that goes to waste or flared natural gas.

If we want to go really deep, how much energy does it take to create and support any usable currency? If we look at the dollar, it's actually inverse from bitcoin. It takes very little energy to create, but it takes massive amounts of energy to support the military and it takes massive amounts of energy in the banking sector to transact and verify.

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You’re ignoring the fact that it was and is used by dark money and illegal transactions.

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You're right. I am ignoring that, just as I ignore it for any other currency. It is estimated that around 2.7% of the global GDP is used for illegal purposes. All cryptocurrencies combined used for illegal purposes accounts for 0.2% of global GDP.

edit to clarify a stat.

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You are correct that it currently takes massive amounts of energy to mine (not much to validate/transact, however). The data doesn't lie. Bitcoin mining accounts for 110 terawatt hours of energy usage per year, or 0.55% of global energy consumption. I understand and recognize the energy usage argument against bitcoin.

There are a couple ways we could debate this. What is your concern with the energy usage?

Is it emissions? That's valid. Estimates are that bitcoin uses anywhere from ~40% to 80~ renewable energy. That number varies based on sources and seasons. That still leaves 20-60% of the energy used for bitcoin to come from non-renewables. That's not great.

Is your concern it drains energy from other uses? That's not economically advantageous for miners. They'd much rather use cheap, excess energy in the system, such as excess hydro in rainy seasons that goes to waste or flared natural gas.

If we want to go really deep, how much energy does it take to create and support any usable currency? If we look at the dollar, it's actually inverse from bitcoin. It takes very little energy to create, but it takes massive amounts of energy to support the military and it takes massive amounts of energy in the banking sector to transact and verify.

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This is an excellent overview.

In the end it comes down to why you think the energy use is bad. Then the big unknown is comparing it against the alternative which is a massive black hole of what type of energy is needed for traditional currencies. You can really get down a deep hole factoring in everything needed to keep the USD as the world reserve.

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How can anyone predict if BTC will be worth $10K or $100K the end of 2024? Seems like both are equally possible.

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Supply/demand

Demand far out pacing supply right now, mostly due to the ETFs. Then in about 1.5 months, the supply gets cut in half for the next 4 years. If demand continues at this pace, it will further accelerate the imbalance

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Sorry I thought we switched gears to a morality argument. If a currency is sometimes used illicitly, how could you bear to support it?

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Because the USD is not the favored form of currency for illicit activities.
Are trying to be obtuse or just don’t understand the difference?