Bitcoin is the worst waste of resources and energy in human history. It is solely used for financial speculation, with no genuine utility…

Bitcoin is the worst waste of resources and energy in human history. It is solely used for financial speculation, with no genuine utility.

This is a call to ethical hackers: through targeted and repeated computer attacks, we could undermine the confidence of speculators and burst this irrational and destructive financial bubble.

  • glennsl@lemmy.mlOP
    3·
    4 years ago

    I think you underestimate how much effort a major cyber attack takes.

    I think you underestimate the power ordinary people have if they manage to organize.

    All I’m saying is that in terms of CO2 emissions reduced per hour, there are probably better ways of doing it.

    There’s also the added benefit of giving the middle finger to wealthy speculators, which seems to be in vogue these days.

    There’s actually an Ethereum mining craze going on right now

    Ethereum is in the process of transitioning to proof-of-stake, but it’s not there yet. Until then it’s pretty bad too, yes. Proof-of-stake is also highly experimental, and not without other issues, so there’s still a good chance it won’t work out either. But at least there’s a possibility, unlike Bitcoin.

    The whole reason new cryptocurrencies are popping up left and right is because the the initial wave of trading is often when most of the money is made

    That’s because there’ very little to no inherent value in any cryptocurrency. It’s just pretend-money. An illusion. And the illusion breaks if people stop believing in it. That’s the point! To get anywhere they would then (hopefully) need to demonstrate actual value, not just empty promises.

    I’d also like to repeat what throwaway96581 said because I think this needs to be taken into account

    That’s a whole bunch of what-ifs. And gold and real estate is used as value stores, safe havens, because they’re relatively stable, which in turn is because they’re real assts with real scarcity. Bitcoin is the complete opposite.

    keep in mind that shaking the trust in cryptocurrency in such a big way (knowing there’s a large group actively attacking cryptocurrency) might cause all of them to come crashing down

    I don’t see the problem… They should, at least to the extent that they’re just balloons full of empty promises. Bubbles have never been good for anything other than making rich people richer, and having it burst sooner rather than later will cause less damage. What substance is there will remain, as it did after the dot com bubble, for example.