Bitcoin = Clean Energy
The Blurb
“Proof of Work”
Do people realize where the gold in their products comes from? Mining Gold “can displace communities, contaminate drinking water, hurt workers, and destroy pristine environments.” (EarthWorks.org)
Proof of Work is what economist say drives the value in Gold. Hence, Golds core value comes from the difficulty and MASSIVE amounts of energy used to extract the mineral. The media has become obsessed with attacking Bitcoins energy usage, but seem to have forgotten how we extract our “BEST" store of value. Gold is responsible for roughly 1.8 BILLION pounds of chemical waste annually, which equates to more than 40% of all reported toxic releases.
40-75% of Bitcoin mining is made up of RENEWABLE energy. Bitcoin miners are tapping into DISCARDED Nuclear Energy, Solar, and Wind. They’re literally taking nuclear waste that would be DUMPED and using it to power the Bitcoin Network. The countries who generate the most electricity are China and the U.S. Our “Green” country uses only 30% renewable electricity and China’s is less than 15%. So maybe instead of criticizing the innovation being built around the Bitcoin Network we could take some notes.
So let’s break it down, our planet generates 160,000 terawatts of electricity a year. 50,000 or 30% is wasted/dumped as toxic waste EVERY year. Only 120 terawatts is used to run the WHOLE Bitcoin Network. “If you eliminated Bitcoin…. you wouldn’t stop any waste. Your still going to waste 50,000 terawatt-hours of energy.”- Michael Saylor. The Bitcoin community is actively trying to build and use this 30% of WASTED electricity. The network secures $1 trillion and is secured by just $2 billion of energy each year. In comparison, it was reported in 2019 that the U.S spends $81 billion a year to protect oil supplies. That number has risen due to current inflation rates.
The large amount of energy used to power the Network comes from its DECENTRALIZATION. Instead of having 10 centralized servers securing all the money in the world, there’s HUNDREDS of miners who’ve invested billions to create security in different jurisdictions. You have people in Dubai, India, Ireland, Nigeria etc. all fighting to secure YOUR transactions. Country’s are coming TOGETHER like we’ve never seen before. By 2035, 99% of Bitcoin will be mined and the Network’s energy usage will fall DRASTICALLY. At that point, the energy usage will only come from transaction fees.
Bitcoin Co-ops all energy producers WORLDWIDE to support the network. Energy used on the Bitcoin Network costs around 2 cents per kilowatt-hour(renewable/wasted). Normal industrial energy averages 9-11 cents per kilowatt-hour. The energy producers can then sell this energy to the network for 45-50 cents per kilowatt-hour; making it the most profitable form of energy.
Jack Dorsey (CEO of Square Inc. & Twitter) is a HUGE proponent of the Bitcoin Network. So much so that Square partnered with BlockStream Mining to build a solar powered mining facility . The $5 million investment is being used to build a mining facility using 100% RENEWABLE energy. It’s been proven that the Bitcoin Network comes close to negligible in its energy usage. We haven’t been presented a better alternative, instead it’s been an attack on the one technology that threatens the Gold and Fossil Fuel industry.
There’s a saying, “Entrepreneurs not the government is what drives innovation.” If there’s ever been a better time for global innovation it’s now. Make no mistake of looking past the top tech entrepreneurs like, Elon Musk(Tesla), Tim Cook(Apple), Jack Dorsey(Square/Twitter), Mark Zuckerberg(Facebook) all coming out publicly saying they own Bitcoin. These are the individuals who’ll be pushing innovation and changing the World.
See you Monday. Peace