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A lot has been said about fossil fuel producers not bearing the full costs of the externalities of the products they produce.

I think the same now has to be said of cryptocurrency mining. Is this activity, and the vast amount of energy and resources it consumes, really something which is a net positive for society?

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Even if you disregard the massive ecological harm it does, bitcoin is still a big negative for society, due to the immense amount of crime it enables - ransomware, money laundering, scams and fraud.

I guess by your logic the US dollar USD is also a big negative for society then.

There is absolutely no comparison to be made there. The percentage of Bitcoin usage that is criminal is just massively, MASSIVELY bigger than the same for USD.

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