Virtual currency that you purchase with real money should have been banned a long, long time ago.
Should get rid of crypto while we’re at it.
Why?
Bitcoin alone uses more electricity than the entire country of Norway.
It’s a REALLY REALLY wasteful way to do transactions and is terrible for the environment.
Other than that, it’s fueled the black market and illegal business, it doesn’t really have any real world benefits you can’t get from regular banking for the vast majority of people.
One bitcoin transaction is estimated to use between 50 and 700kwh of electricity. Your average dutch household uses ~2000kwh, so ~10 transactions burn more electricity than a whole household.
https://coinshares.com/nl-en/insights/research-data/closer-look-environmental-impact-of-bitcoin-mining/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/26/climate-hero-villain-fossil-fuel-frenzy-challenges-norway-green-image https://www.dw.com/en/norways-big-green-lie/audio-74144534
Bitcoin is a far superior way to control your own finances. Transactions are more transparent helping to prevent corruption for one thing. As long as we let the banks control everything, we will never be able to fix most of the problems causing climate damage. If you are still intent on complaining that Bitcoin is evil, it is a necessary evil. It has unfortunately been adopted by the big companies at this stage so they will benefit immensely from it, but taking everything and the alternatives into account, it should actually help the environment in the long run.
Bitcoin doesn’t have the arbitration that banks can offer. Bitcoin also uses ridiculous amounts of energy, so much so that I don’t think the network could even handle taking over the volume that the banks currently handle. The idea that it is somehow a saviour for the environment is laughable.
I don’t think that anyone claimed it is somehow the saviour for then environment. There is a lot more to bitcoin than was possible to reply.
