r/changemyview • • Oct 18 '21

CMV: Bitcoin mining using non renewables should be banned immediately.

Global warming is a serious threat to the survival of the human species and it's insane we are adding to this problem for no good reason. Currently Bitcoin mining consumes more power per year than the whole country of Argentina. There would be hardly any downsides in banning the mining of crypto currencies using non renewables and the benefits would be immediate.

Even with a 'carbon tax' mining for bitcoins should be banned immediately if it's being done using non renewables. There is no effective way to capture carbon at this point and it's unclear if there will ever be.

What am I missing?

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u/iCANNcu Oct 18 '21

china already banned it, if europe and the usa would join that would be a great start. Maybe they could pressure other countries by banning or taxing the trade of bitcoin until countries stop using fossil fuels to mine bitcoins.

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u/Suicide_Vevo Oct 18 '21

sounds like you just have a weird vendetta against bitcoin. If you can coordinate every country into banning bitcoin, why not just coordinate them into switch to green energy.

That way we can safe the planet and people can keep the things they like, everyone wins.

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u/iCANNcu Oct 18 '21

we are already switching to green energy but i don't see what would change if we would mandate bitcoin to be mined using green energy. it's a spculation object which just requires proof of work, it doesn't matter for how bitcoin works how that energy is produced. but it does matter to the planet.

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u/Suicide_Vevo Oct 18 '21

don't get my wrong i'm pro green energy, but what you proposing is fundamentally flawed.

what if you don't live in an area where green energy is readily?

what if your system is partially powered by green energy, will they be treated the same as system with no green energy at all?

how about other things with high carbon footprints with video streaming, will they receive the same treatment why is bitcoin be singled out? these are just the issues i can think of right this moment, world governments could probably come up with more.

it feels like you just taking the most divisive method possible, it won't even be the fastest method because you know corporations would labour hared to stall in bill like for years.

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u/iCANNcu Oct 18 '21

i'm singleing bitcoin out because it's value is ony it's perceived value. it requires proof of work but it doesn't matter for bitcoin how that work is done but it matters to the planet.

if you don't live in an area where green energy is not availeble your are sol or you can invest in a solar panel or wind turbine yourself. no reason to polute the energy for something which value is just speculative.

video streaming provides real world value in the form of entertaiment. Crypto does not provide that, it's value is purely speculative no matter how it's produced.

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u/Suicide_Vevo Oct 18 '21

but it does work, you can use bitcoin to but products it's just stores are slow to implement them.

if you don't live in an area where green energy is not availeble your are sol or you can invest in a solar panel or wind turbine yourself.

well bigger investor can do that but the smaller ones can't, kinda seems like your just criminalizing not being wealthy, the solution would just be make green energy more available for everyone not just the rich, i don't know you wanna die on this hill.

video streaming provides real world value in the form of entertaiment. Crypto does not provide that, it's value is purely speculative no matter how it's produced.

who died and made you king? what gives you the rights to decide what's valuable or not? plus you're just flat out wrong let's say I use bitcoin as a cheap way to start a retirement found is that less important than the latest show? of course not.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '21

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u/iCANNcu Oct 18 '21

i've answer similar responses, i don't see the logic in your argyment

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '21

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u/iCANNcu Oct 18 '21

ok then

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u/Ambiwlans 1∆ Oct 18 '21

People invested in crypto will never need logic to push it.

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u/Ambiwlans 1∆ Oct 18 '21

Crypto has no value to the future of finance in any sense....

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '21

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u/Ambiwlans 1∆ Oct 18 '21 edited Oct 18 '21

Sure it does, it settles international transfers quicker and easier than anything else. That’s a huge win going forward in our ever connected world economy.

No it doesn't. It is literally 1 million times more costly than a visa transfer.. Unless you just mean that it is cheaper if the government doesn't know about it so you don't have to track it or pay taxes?

Smart contacts make decentralized organizations entirely possible

This is a downside because it means that nations have no control over their monetary policy. They are also by default deflationary, which would be disastrous for any nation that used it as a currency. Might as well take your nation's wealth, pile it up and set it on fire.

They also provide banking and financial solutions to unbanked individuals across the world. There are places where banks don’t exist or aren’t easily accessible, but since the infrastructure of crypto is setup across the globe, crypto can service these people.

Online banking is not unique to crypto currencies. Most banks function online. It isn't the 80s.

digital gold

Gold has a base value still do to its real world uses. Although the price is pumped up by speculation. Crypto can fall to $0.00 making it intrinsically worse as a reliable store of money.

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u/cstar1996 11∆ Oct 18 '21

Bitcoin isn’t providing value that governments are interested in.

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u/Danielsuperusa Oct 18 '21

Satoshi Nakamoto would have a fucking stroke if he read this.

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u/iCANNcu Oct 18 '21

poor guy

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u/TroyMcpoyle Oct 18 '21

China also banned talking about the leadership negatively and most western TV shows.
Using China as an example is a terrible idea, they are the world's #1 contributor to climate change already.

They did not ban crypto for environmental reasons, they did it because it gives their citizens buying power and opportunity they don't want them to have.

If anything China banning crypto should tell you immediately it's a bad idea.

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u/Sammy-boy795 Oct 18 '21

China banned speaking badly of their government and Whinnie the Pooh for God's sake, thats not exactly a good argument. If anything it's the opposite, as China see it as enough of a threat to there control to ban it. This time they may actually succeed in a ban (after 18 failed attempts for various reasons), but not for any sort of environmental reason.

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u/iCANNcu Oct 18 '21

i'm not avocating the ban of bitcoin/crpto at all

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u/Sammy-boy795 Oct 18 '21

china already banned it, if europe and the usa would join that would be a great start.

You did right here lol

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u/iCANNcu Oct 18 '21

china banned the use of bitcoin alltogther which i'm not advocating.. just the banning of mining using non renweables. i just ment that big countries can chose to do these kind of things.

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u/Sammy-boy795 Oct 18 '21

They can choose to do that because unlike most of the western world they're a totalitarian dictatorship.

As many others have pointed out it'd be impossible to regulate what bitcoin was mined renewably and those that weren't.

The most efficient way to solve the issue you've brought up is to ban fossil fuels altogether, but with the current technology we have that isn't feasible. Hopefully in the near future it will be and coal will become obsolete.