Last time I checked (EVERY time I checked), Ethereum was still based on proof of waste.
My thoughts are the same as they've been for many years straight, on everything crypto-"currency": it's a massive scam at best; more realistically, along with everything else in the proof of waste category, somewhere on the top 10 list of things most harmful to all life on Earth.
I don't understand how anyone even tries to mis-represent it as anything else.
I will quote someone far more informed and eloquent:
> So the stock market and the bond market are a positive-sum game. There are more winners than losers. Cryptocurrency starts with zero-sum. So it starts with a world where there can be no more winning than losing. We have systems like this. It’s called the horse track. It’s called the casino. Cryptocurrency investing is really provably gambling in an economic sense. And then there’s designs where those power bills have to get paid somewhere. So instead of zero-sum, it becomes deeply negative-sum.
> Effectively, then, the economic analogies are gambling and a Ponzi scheme. Because the profits that are given to the early investors are literally taken from the later investors. This is why I call the space overall, a “self-assembled” Ponzi scheme. There’s been no intent to make a Ponzi scheme. But due to its nature, that is the only thing it can be.
I agree on your points about Ethereum and all alt-coins. Bitcoin is another matter though, because it has the majority hash rate. Please note that bitcoin mining is a fraction of a fraction of all energy use in the world, and as an industry, well ahead of its peers in terms of green energy usage. Using electricity is not a problem; carbon emission are, and there a a very substantial number of other industries that are in orders of magnitude worse to our environment (among which is gold mining, clothes dying and disposable plastics). Using electricity to separate money and state is well worth the cost to me.
> Please note that bitcoin mining is a fraction of a fraction of all energy use in the world
A fraction of a fraction is still a fraction. If you're going to make an argument about actual energy usage, please quote actual numbers.
> [...] as an industry, well ahead of its peers in terms of green energy usage.
Bitcoin is not an industry. An industry has a product or service. Bitcoin's "service" is subsidising greed and speculation using natural resources - at the expense of everyone else. Blockchain, as a data structure, is a solution in search of a problem. So far the only "value" I'm seeing is runaway speculation.
It does not matter which source of energy Bitcoin is using, it's fundamentally still based on the premise of proof of waste. It doesn't matter that it's "green", the same green energy could have been used to burn less coal elsewhere; or we could've avoided building the power plants to begin with. Ethereum is at least trying to move to proof of stake, although they're consistently under-delivering.
> [...] there a a very substantial number of other industries that are in orders of magnitude worse to our environment [...]
This is very true. But what is also true, is that another actor being worse doesn't justify your endeavor's own crimes. Just because your neighbor is beating their partner, doesn't mean you can kick a stray cat.
> Using electricity to separate money and state is well worth the cost to me.
And that's exactly what is wrong with proof of waste: it's worth the cost to *you*. You've never asked *me*, if it's OK for you to destroy the planet that *I* am also living on, let alone if I share your views on how noble the goal is.
Please don't take this comment as an attempt at a personal attack - I have no way of knowing your actual stake, what I'm trying to protest is the game itself.
> edit: bring forth thy downvotes, HN.
Don't worry, they're coming to both sides. I would always prefer to see arguments rather than downvotes, so thank you for taking a stance.
> GUSD is an Ethereum ERC-20 token
Last time I checked (EVERY time I checked), Ethereum was still based on proof of waste.
My thoughts are the same as they've been for many years straight, on everything crypto-"currency": it's a massive scam at best; more realistically, along with everything else in the proof of waste category, somewhere on the top 10 list of things most harmful to all life on Earth.
I don't understand how anyone even tries to mis-represent it as anything else.