Sep. 29, 2022
I and many others (including SEC Chairman Gensler, who owns BTC) expect cryptocurrencies to be increasingly dominant in the fiscal world. Bitcoin's protocol has been programmed to use an increasing amount of energy over time. A characteristic of global warming is positive feedback: Factors that are both effects and causes of warming include melting permafrost and water vapor concentrations. This is why global warming represents a potentially catastrophic phenomenon that threatens human inhabitability--the potential for a positive feedback loop in which warming leads to ever more warming. I think this threat's underappreciated by many in our country. Proof of stake represents an environmentally friendly means of achieving consensus--an alternative to bitcoin's environmentally-intensive proof of work. Mr. Gensler has suggested recently proof-of-stake protocols would be in the SEC's crosshairs. It would be cruelly ironic for Democratically-appointed leadership to crush the environmentally-friendly means of achieving consensus and king the environmentally-toxic means. Bitcoin's energy usage may not seem like a lot when btc's $20000. But if and when bitcoin's at $2 million or $20 million (which is fully in the realm of possibility), how proof of stake is handled may very well be regarded in retrospect as the most important moments of the Biden administration.