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whatever1

Bitcoin uses almost as much energy we spend to run the internet datacenters [1],[2].

121 TWh/y for bitcoin (just bitcoin, not crypto), 205TWh/y for the Internet data centers.

Just pause for a second and think about the magnitude of the waste.

[1] https://energyinnovation.org/2020/03/17/how-much-energy-do-d...

[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56012952

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Unbelievable. Is it really worth boiling the oceans? It's critical that we move to text only internet that has a per site cap of 100kb. That would cut the energy usage by 99% with virtually no difference to the experience.

To put things in perspective, a single Bitcoin transaction (transaction, not block), consumes roughly as much energy as driving a Tesla Model 3 from Los Angeles to New York.

But do the trading apps actually transact? When I buy crypto in Robinhood, I really doubt that there is a dedicated transaction for me. Probably RH is buying batches of crypto and “distributes” their value equivalent to the buyers/sellers.

That's my understanding, too. On some (most?) exchanges, you're not really buying Bitcoin, you're buying a balance on that exchange - a right to withdraw or transact BTC at moment's notice.

Given the amount of shady practices, it wouldn't surprise me if some exchanges operated on fractional reserves, being vulnerable to bank runs, a practice that many BTC adherents decry the traditional banking sector for.

No. But what is the effect on BitCoin demand and the pressure to produce more BitCoins when you make that trade?

What fraction of the global "energy throughput" is this?

It looks like the world as a whole consumes > 100,000 TWh per year:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_consumption#Energ...

That is not the electricity produced. That number includes for example wood burned for heating.

The electricity is around 20,000. So the Internet consumes ~ 1% of that.

Hmm, where do you see that information? I admittedly am not reading the entire article, but this section seems to be in agreement with my original comment. In any case, I'm not sure why we should be excluding energy used for heating from the discussion.

> In 2014, world primary energy supply amounted to 155,481 terawatt-hour (TWh) or 13,541 million tonne of oil equivalent (Mtoe), while the world final energy consumption was 109,613 TWh or about 29.5% less than the total supply.[12] World final energy consumption includes products as lubricants, asphalt and petrochemicals which have chemical energy content but are not used as fuel. This non-energy use amounted to 9,723 TWh (836 Mtoe) in 2015.[13]

0.11 % of all energy, 0.47 % of electricity, using 2017 numbers from Wikipedia [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_consumption

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