I came across this horrific product on Amazon that people are actually buying and that puts them at risk of losing all of their investments. It is a large, physical coin with a private key etched into the back and the public key taped over said private key. I won't link to the actual product…
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There have been many studies that have highlighted the carbon footprint and electricity usage problems of Bitcoin transactions. Founder of Digiconomist Alex de Vries and researcher at MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, Christian Stoll, released a new study that shines a light on the electronic waste that Bitcoin generates. Related Reading | How Elon Musk Is The Answer To Bitcoin Energy FUD This study, “titled Bitcoin’s growing e-waste problem”, provides new insights into another major component of Bitcoin’s wasteful design. The Electronic Waste Problem Of Bitcoin Most studies have ignored the fact that Bitcoin miners go through a large amount of short-lived hardware that could increase global electronic waste growth. “E-waste represents a growing threat to our environment, from toxic chemicals and heavy metals leaching into soils, to air and water pollutions caused by improper recycling.” According to the study, a single transaction generates 272 grams of e-waste, the same amount of electronic waste as throwing two iPhone 12 minis in the bin. In 2020 the bitcoin network processed 112.5m transactions (compared with 539bn processed by traditional payment service providers in 2019). “Bitcoin’s annual e-waste generation adds up to 30.7 metric kilotons as of May 2021,” they claim. “This number is comparable to the amount of small IT and telecommunication equipment waste produced by a country like the Netherlands.” This figure could increase to more than 64.4 metric kilotons of waste. They also point out that the demand for mining hardware already today disrupts the global semiconductor supply chain, which is currently suffering a global shortage due to increased need in the coronavirus pandemic, as well as a US-China trade war and drought in Taiwan. BTC trading at $47.6K | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com Additionally, Bitcoin mining has evolved from a simple activity done on a laptop to a complex and very expensive game done through powerful ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits). These ASICs are specifically designed to mine crypto transactions. And as technology changes, miners have to constantly replace their ASICs with newer, more powerful ones to stay competitive. Therefore, these single-purpose ASIC chips quickly become waste. According to the researchers, “The lifespan of bitcoin mining devices remains limited to just 1.29 years,” Researchers in Europe and the U.S. also claim that miners have been dumping tens of thousands of tonnes every year of ASIC rigs and contributing to the ever-growing environmental challenge. Alex and Stoll also warn that the e-waste problem will probably grow further if the price of the cryptocurrency continues to rise since it will incentivize further investment in and replacement of ASIC hardware. Related Reading | Why Bitcoin Could Rise To $53K, Here Are The Risks Bulls Must Overcome If the community were to try to reduce its e-waste problem, the paper concludes, it would need to replace the bitcoin mining process in “its entirety with a more sustainable alternative,” One of those alternatives is “proof of stake” instead of “proof of work”, as an experimental replacement. “The first miner who finds a PoW [proof of work] that satisfies predetermined conditions broadcasts the block to all nodes in the network. The receiving nodes express their acceptance of the new block by building on top of it”, the paper explains. Featured image from Interesting Engineering, Chart from TradingView.com
The Mina Protocol is a smart contract compatible proof of stake (PoS) cryptocurrency blockchain. It’s designed to have a constant blockchain size of 22 kilobytes. On the other hand, traditional blockchains like BTC and ETH grow larger as each block is added. As these blockchains keep growing, eventually the data will be so large that…
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I full expect to get downvoted to oblivion because this Sub loves altcoins. Out of the top 100 coins from 2017, only 32 are in the top 100 now. Around 10 of them don’t even exist anymore. My point here is that it is easy to get excited about the next big altcoin, when in…
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An AT&T customer filed a lawsuit against the company last week accusing it of failing to provide “reasonable and appropriate security to prevent unauthorized access to its customer wireless accounts.” This has led to the theft of cryptocurrency from the plaintiff’s crypto exchange account. AT&T Sued by Crypto Investor An AT&T customer, Jamarquis Etheridge, filed […]
Posts like these (which are likely fake) keep popping up from time to time about people getting the kid in their life crypto as a gift. Please don't do this instead of giving them a toy. If you want to do this supplementally? Totally cool, a nice gesture. But if you're just giving them crypto…
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I got a message from my bank a month ago saying something like, “investing in crypto is not safe and it’s dangerous”, I have stopped using that bank now. This is actually hilarious, because as I like to bet some money on sports (just a little bit for fun) and I’ve never received a message…
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The analogy appeared in anticipation that Bitcoin could post a 2017-like bull run, in which the price rose by more than 1,900%.
