Help address a little naive Scepticism

[DaC0nsumeR]

Hi Community!

I just joined because after having followed crypto and Bitcoin specifically I wanted to dive deeper now that so many are saying that Bitcoin has bottomed and bigger institutions seem to be coming on board.

I am not a tech person and not a religious libertarian, but I am definitely sympathetic to, and partly share in, the passion of the latter.

What I am immediately curious to know is how some of you address the arguments made against Bitcoin. Of course we have all heard the old "Bitcoin is for criminals" jive, but I think there are a few serious arguments that the layman is curious about.

(So steel-man instead of straw-man, if you could!)

In my case, I was wondering about the following:

1) Is Bitcoin environmentally sustainable? (Argument: the amount of energy required for computing power in mining is inordinately high).

2) If it does not transition from being an asset speculated on to being used primarily as a currency, does that make it akin to a pyramid scheme or ponzi scheme with nobody in charge?

3) Are miners "painting the tape"?

4) What is the best criticism you have heard made against Bitcoin?

5) As it has not experienced a full business cycle before, what is most likely to happen to Bitcoin once the recession/depression that is around the corner finally hits?

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[odolvlobo]

1) Is Bitcoin environmentally sustainable? (Argument: the amount of energy required for computing power in mining is inordinately high).

2) If it does not transition from being an asset speculated on to being used primarily as a currency, does that make it akin to a pyramid scheme or ponzi scheme with nobody in charge?

3) Are miners "painting the tape"?

4) What is the best criticism you have heard made against Bitcoin?

5) As it has not experienced a full business cycle before, what is most likely to happen to Bitcoin once the recession/depression that is around the corner finally hits?

1. It's difficult to predict. The amount of energy consumed depends on the cost of the energy and the value of a bitcoin.

2. Yes, but there is no such thing as a "ponzi scheme with nobody in charge".

3. There is definitely a problem with exchanges reporting and generating fake volume, but that doesn't have anything to do with miners.

4. It is hard to use and not widely accepted.

5. It depends on the nature of the downturn, but I think Bitcoin will behave like gold.

[figmentofmyass]

Is Bitcoin environmentally sustainable? (Argument: the amount of energy required for computing power in mining is inordinately high).

is it really inordinately high? what's the context?

bitcoin functions as digital gold and could eventually become a traditional store of value asset. do you know how energy intensive gold mining is? not to mention bar and coin minting, vaults for storage, transportation inputs......

If it does not transition from being an asset speculated on to being used primarily as a currency, does that make it akin to a pyramid scheme or ponzi scheme with nobody in charge?

only in the sense that every other store of value asset is also a pyramid scheme or ponzi scheme. people putting their faith and wealth into a commodity money (like gold or bitcoin) is not the same as an orchestrated investment scam. whether you think bitcoin = beanie babies or gold or something else, none of these things are ponzis.

[pooya87]

(Argument: the amount of energy required for computing power in mining is inordinately high).

being "high" is a comparative characteristic, so when you say high you should argue high compared to what?
for example you can't say $1000 is high! high for what? high for a cup of coffee? yes. high for a house? no.
it is the same for bitcoin. the amount of energy it is consuming is going into sustaining a global, decentralized, censorship resistance payment system that is processing (on average) $2 billion worth of transaction per day!