Crypto mining has been getting a lot of negative press over the past few months.
Many forms of mining destroyed the land.
And new FUD has entered the mainstream
now that institutional players are getting more vocal with their criticisms.
You’ve seen the headlines and billionaire Twitter arguments,
and they all center around one thing,
proof-of-work mining,
specifically Bitcoin mining.
The concern is that mining is using an outsized amount of electricity
and contributing to the impending doom of the planet.
In this video, we break down the data and take a hard look at the facts
of the Bitcoin network and its environmental impact.
Stick around to the end of this video
to get my take on what the sustainable future of Bitcoin will look like.
Let's get it!
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Today, we are discussing the most taboo topic in all of Bitcoin right now,
mining and the inevitable destruction of Earth.
Where's Captain Planet when you need him?
Am I right?
In the cryptoverse, especially in terms of the environment,
you'll hear the terms proof-of-work, mining and FUD quite often,
so before we get too far into things,
I will define some of those terms for you guys who may be new to crypto.
FUD stands for fear, uncertainty and doubt.
It's a catchall phrase used to describe a piece of news or rumor that's being used to dissuade crypto adoption.
It comes from crypto haters and old money NPCs
who are afraid of the blockchain and losing their grip on centralized monetary power.
That's not to say we don't take criticism.
Crypto junkies are some of the most critically minded and passionate people
you will ever come across in your life.
And we're not even talking about the Bitcoin maximalist here.
We're always looking at data from multiple sources
to make sure we understand the complete picture.
The next term is proof-of-work,
which is the type of consensus algorithm used to verify a blockchain.
This differs from other proofing systems, proof-of-stake among others.
Proof-of-work means that the blockchain is verified among dozens and sometimes hundreds
of independent verifiers to ensure that one transaction on the blockchain is correct.
Proofing consensus is the hallmark of blockchain technology
and is part of what makes crypto so special.
The process of verifying is called mining.
Mining Bitcoin used to be done on a home computer.
That's what the founder Satoshi Nakamoto started out on,
but soon more powerful computers,
then graphics processing cards
and now application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC)
do most of the verifying.
ASICs do a great job verifying and securing the network,
but a single ASIC mining computer, no bigger than a toaster,
can consume more power than your microwave,
but it's running 24/7, 365 days a year.
And here lies the rub.
So what are the naysayers wringing their hands over?
They're concerned about one point of data,
ignoring all others.
This statistic from the University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance
that tracks the energy consumption of Bitcoin mining.
That number right there in the middle is what all the fuss is about.
It sounds like a lot.
And it is a lot.
Just look at these charts or this graph.
Look how high the lines are going up.
More energy than Argentina!
We're going to die!
What's that?
Saturday Night Live host and car salesman Elon Musk turned his back on Bitcoin?
Even though just last month he agreed with Jack Dorsey that it was good for the environment?
Why would Bitcoin do this?
Just looking at all the FUD would make you think that Bitcoin miners
are the archnemesis of Captain Planet 2.0.
But let's take a deep breath and look at the facts.
Does Bitcoin mining consume electricity?
Of course.
One of the ways you measure how advanced the society is
is by how much energy it consumes.
It's tied together.
Humanity is great at doing a lot of things.
One of them is finding ways to generate electricity.
Every year, the entire world generates over 25,000 terawatts of electricity,
and of that huge amount of fast moving electrons,
Bitcoin mining takes up less than half a percent
if we're going to use the debatable Cambridge University number
of 147 terawatts for the sake of argument.
On top of that, Bitcoin mining uses electricity in a very cheap way
and is considered the buyer of last resort.
Because Bitcoin is decentralized,
any single mining farm can turn off its power if the electrical grid needs it.
This means the mining farms are buying power at a very cheap price
and are able to use power that would otherwise be wasted.
That's important to understand
because while the world may produce 25,000 terawatts of electricity,
around 30% of that is wasted due to the fundamentals of electricity generation.
So Bitcoin proof-of-work mining is not only revolutionizing money and finance,
but it's doing so by using the scraps of electricity the world doesn't already use.
Let's take a look at how Bitcoin mining electricity consumption compares with other financial sectors.
How about, let's say, gold?
Gold mining has been one of the most power intensive industries for many decades,
consuming over 157 terawatts a year.
And that's just a drop in the bucket
compared to one of the biggest consumers of electricity in the world.
That's right,
your air conditioner.
Air conditioners consume over 10% of the electricity generated worldwide every year.
So if you love your planet,
you better learn to sweat.
But that's not the whole picture.
The real bait and switch with all this FUD is equating energy consumption with carbon output.
They're not the same thing.
And that's where the real FUD comes from.
Looking at all numbers from all the sources of carbon emissions,
Bitcoin mining contributes a tiny 0.13% of the world's carbon emissions.
Bitcoin mining isn't just a small impact on the environment
in comparison to other types of technology.
It's incentivizing the adoption of green energy solution
that's bringing innovation at a rapid pace.
It's doing all of this while upsetting the fiat money printing jamboree that old money just can't quit.
Not to mention the entire petrochemical output from the militaries
you need to back up your worthless currency.
Old money doesn't just fear the decentralization.
It hates it.
That's truly where this is coming from.
Banks and governments that are desperately trying to hold on to their power
by manipulating interest rates and inflating worthless currencies,
well, they're happy to pound their fist of FUD on the table
to distract people while they rob them of their financial independence.
They've been in control for a long, long time
and are playing to win.
So they are more than happy to let a few out of context data points run wild across the media.
Bitcoin and other crypto assets are giving people more control of their money
and, by extension, more freedom.
From the steel mill workers in Pennsylvania looking for a store of value to hedge against inflation
to a young father in the Congo who's afraid to put his money into the town bank
run by the corrupt local government.
Crypto assets are democratizing money and changing the world for the better.
In my opinion, the future of Bitcoin and crypto in general is looking bright.
The more adoption,
the faster green energy solutions will come on board.
It only makes financial sense moving forward,
and the big players know this.
Bitcoin mining is location-agnostic,
meaning it can happen anywhere there's an internet connection.
This allows for any proof-of-work mining company to set up shop next to any clean source of energy.
Be it solar, wind, geothermal, hydro or nuclear.
They can support the network and mine new blocks in the middle of nowhere.
Waving back is Captain Planet
as he flies overhead smiling down on them.
That's him right back there,
you whippersnappers.
It's also possible that Bitcoin moves to proof-of-stake
like how Ethereum is doing.
Proof-of-stake means coin holders, in this case, Ethereum owners,
would set up a stack of their coins as a verification node or a validator node,
which would verify the network in exchange for a networking fee
but on an as-needed basis instead of racing to complete a processor intensive work proofing algorithm.
This would be a massive and controversial undertaking for the Bitcoin network,
but it is within the realm of possibility.
This would immediately dispel any energy argument.
Depending on how it's done,
it could mean that staking would be done by anyone who is holding on to their Bitcoin long term
and wants to participate in staking,
which is a great way to grow their stack of Satoshis.
No one back in the '70s thought that sending ones and zeros over a telephone line
would fundamentally change the world.
But it did.
And now we have millions of hours of cat videos readily accessible in the palm of your hand.
In a similar but more profound way,
Bitcoin is doing the same.
Not giving us more cat videos. We don't need those.
It's fundamentally changing the world
so that more people have access to more freedom.
The internet was all about freedom of information.
Bitcoin and crypto assets like Ethereum are giving everyone more freedom with their money.
You guys, leave a comment down below
and let me know what you guys think about the energy future of Bitcoin and crypto assets.
Is it sustainable?
Will Bitcoin switch from proof-of-work?
Make sure to let us know.
If you haven't already, smash that like button while you're at it.
Tomorrow, we're actually going to have a video
where we show the top coins that can benefit from the current Bitcoin narrative
that it's bad for the environment.
And you're definitely going to want to tune into that one.
But that's all I got.
Be blessed.
BitBoy out.